Chavez was not just the President of Venezuela, he was also an ardent Revolutionary, a patriot and a populist, a former paratrooper, a fiery socialist and also, undoubtedly, a hero to many of his people too. He was ferociously ambitious, intolerant of any opposition and, had he continued, likely to have become increasingly authoritarian and despotic. Unsurprisingly, his mentor and at the same time one of his greatest heroes, was Fidel Castro, a man who after about 50 years of uninterrupted power himself (some might say dictatorship), had yet to work himself up into any excitement over those annoying trivialities like democracy and freedom of speech or association.
Chavez's ambition was to be seen as the scourge of the former Imperial powers of the West, and in particular, as the South American leader of the pack against the great evil, formerly known as the USA. Like all good romantic stories of revolutionaries, his end needed to be heroic, fighting against massively superior forces (that’s the US and its imperialist lackys), encircled by treacherous "enemies of the people" (that's the Venezuelan opposition party) but supported by loyal comrades, who can be selected from those on the guest list for his funeral, including theocratic maniacs, ageing dictators and a couple of apologies from those, like Mr Assad, currently otherwise to occupied butchering his own people to spare the time to attend.
Cancer is a terrible disease and not to be belittled or made the subject of cheap comment. Yet, it does not quite fit the here's death ordained for Hugo Chavez. Fighting this cruel horrible disease from the media blackout of a hospital bed is not quite how revolutionaries are supposed to meet their end. The bad guy in the political narrative of Chavez's life is unfortunately absent at the critical moment in the plot.
So, in a makeover worthy of a good Hollywood epic, history must be re-written to meet it preordained outcome. Dark accusations are now being made about how the USA is responsible for his cancer and how it is the USA, the enemy of freedom, that is the evil hand behind the demise of the hero. Imperial enemies have given him this illness. The leader of the Russian Communist party concurs, claiming it was far from a coincidence. Well, I’m not sure how he knows but facts are not part of this novel or traditionally the lexicon of old school communists. Reassuringly though, it’s all contained in classified documents that, conveniently, will be only released in 50 years’ time. What has been going on? Perhaps there really is a shadowy CIA Oncology tactical hit squad roaming through South America led by Lt Colonel Oliver North (Rtd). Who knows?
In reality, few know. Chavez could have died some time ago, perhaps even in Cuba. Irrespective of that however, the narrative is gaining traction and events can now be manipulated to fit the required story line. The hero can die fighting to the end against the sinister forces of imperialism (read USA). His successors are fired up to continue the struggle (that means motivated to vote for Chavez's chosen political successor in the pending Presidential elections). His story continues and the struggle against imagined enemies goes on. Whats more, our hero, like so many other heroes (or mass murdering despots depending on your point of view) on the extreme fringes of the political Left, will undergo some bizarre form of secular immortalisation by being embalmed and kept on public view in a glass coffin where he can be “with his people" forever and ever amen.
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