A leading authority on Latin American politics spoke at Cal State Long Beach Wednesday afternoon about a better understanding of one of the biggest targets of current U.S. media: Venezuela.
Miguel Tinker Salas is a nationally renowned expert on the politics and history of Venezuela, an Arango Professor in Latin American history and Chicano/a studies at Pomona College in Claremont.
Introduced by Victor Rodriguez, professor of Chicano/Latino studies at CSULB, Tinker Salas addressed about 50 attendees, most of whom were from the Chicano/Latino studies department. He spoke on U.S. relations with the Venezuelan government and economy, especially in regards to oil.
Venezuela is the world’s fourth largest exporter of oil and the U.S. is Venezuela’s biggest oil customer.
“Oil is at the center of understanding the political, social and economic struggles in Venezuela,” Tinker Salas said. “It is the key that allows us to decipher [its] political and social reality.”
Moreover, Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez, is an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and is an advocate for the economic union of Latin American nations, similar to the European Union, the professor said. Also, major industries have been nationalized by Chavez in a push toward socialist reforms in a population where 80 percent is poor.
Tinker Salas addressed the differences between Chavez’s portrayal in the U.S. news media to Venezuelan news sources.
In the media, “rhetoric has replaced debate,” the professor said. Rather than an informed analysis and discussion of the real issues at stake, “[T]he reality of politics today is polarization.”
Tinker Salas outlined key points on the political, economic, racial and social history of Venezuela and how these relate to foreign and domestic policies today.
For example, the notion that Venezuela has been an “exceptional democracy” has undergone major re-evaluation by scholars since Chavez’s election, Tinker Salas said. That notion cast Venezuela as a model country of political stability and economic privilege, whose interests and cultural values became aligned with those of the U.S. over those of Latin America, the professor said.
Based on the country’s oil boom years and the “myth” that it was immune from the political and economic conflicts experienced by its Latin American neighbors, certain classes of Venezuelans came to believe it was””their birthright to expect increasingly higher standards of living,” Tinker Salas said. However, this self-image left the nation unprepared for the economic, political and social consequences that resulted from “the imposition of the neo-liberal agenda” of the 1980s.
By 1989, there was a tremendous reaction against the austerity measures of that agenda, Tinker Salas said. That resentment eventually led to the election of Chavez in 1998 by a large majority of the population.
Chavez has since reoriented the government’s focus to address ongoing political, economic, racial and social strains and disparities within the country. But the notion of exceptional democracy largely obscured those realities and accounts for much of the confusion about what is happening in Venezuela today.
A CSULB professor asked Tinker Salas about accusations that Chavez is manipulating the Venezuelan constitution to become president for life.
Tinker Salas said Chavez’s proposal to the constitution would allow a president to run for additional terms only if re-elected by the Venezuelan people. The professor encouraged the audience to read the 1999 and 2007 constitutions and decide for themselves.
Other amendments propose to empower local communities and municipalities to determine their own political, economic and social priorities, Tinker Salas said. Venezuelans will vote on the proposals this Dec. 2.
The professor expressed concern about the implementation of the changes which, if passed, potential obstacles of bureaucracy, corruption and how programs addressing social ills will be paid for.
He also spoke to concerns about press freedom under Chavez. He said all forms of media continue to flourish openly, including those aggressively opposed to Chavez.
Another attendee asked about jobs, which Tinker Salas said is a major concern in the country. Universities are opening their doors wide, but enough jobs to place skilled and educated graduates aren’t available, he said.
Dario Fernandez, junior political science and Chicano/Latino studies major, said he appreciated the lecture’s different perspective. “I thought it was a well-rounded presentation. [Tinker Salas] deconstructed a lot of the arguments put out by the U.S. that have miscast Chavez and Venezuela.”
Junior film and electronic arts major Adriana Slater said she thought Tinker Salas “was a very engaging speaker … I knew nothing about Venezuela’s history before today, but I’ve been listening about Chavez a lot in the news and his demonization in the news. I think whenever there’s demonization of someone in the news, we should step back and think.”
Diane Magnette, a junior architectural interior design and art history major, said, “I found [the] lecture particularly interesting [because Tinker Salas] did not try to convince us about the right or wrong of Chavez, but let us come up with our own opinion and views of [him].
“I think it’s crucial, especially for college students, to be informed about events beyond their borders.”
The lecture was sponsored the Latino Transitional Experience in the Caribbean, a program of CSULB’s Chicano/Latino Studies Department, and the journalism department.
