Chávez wrecks Venezuela, democracy

By Roger F. Noriega - Only the most zealous or naive outsider would challenge the right of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to wreck his own country. But we now know that he has converted his politics of rant and division into policies of criminality, terror and aggression. And that is our business. Guerrilla computer records captured on March 1 in a terror camp in Ecuador have confirmed lingering suspicions of Venezuela's substantial support to the narcoterrorists of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Thus far, U.S. authorities have used these data to sanction three senior Chávez aides for aiding and abetting the FARC. One-by-one, other Chávez's co-conspirators will be identified publiclyand sanctioned summarily. And the ''Bolivian Republic'' will be unmasked as an aggressive, bandit state that has provided material support to criminals, terrorists and trouble makers who have sown instability through out the Americas.Let's be clear: Our friends in the region can no longer pretend that this is a tug-of-war between the United States and Venezuela. Chávez's decision to expel U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy and his rehashed assassination plots are merely desperate attempts to whip up anti-U.S. sentiments as a smoke screen to conceal his own shaky position at home. But, despite years of Chávez's idle threats, the United States continues to get at least 13 percent of its oil from Venezuela. Chávez knows that were he to interfere with these U.S. sales, he would be committing economic and political suicide. So the United States is doing better than most in its dealings with Chávez. Venezuelans and their LatinAmerican neighbors are paying the price for Chávez's corruption andimperialist project. It is clear that Chávez has squandered the oil wealth of the Venezuelan people to fund the political campaigns of acolytes throughout the region. He has funneled money to internal groups that sow unrest andagitate against democratically elected governments. He backs politicalleaders who are committed to dismantling fragile democratic institution sand replace them with authoritarian, intolerant regimes that thrive on political polarization and social division. These governments cloak themselves in anti-U.S. rhetoric as a cynical tactic to corner their internal enemies and horde power -- and perhaps because the United States is the only country willing to criticize their march backward to strong-man populism. In Bolivia and Ecuador, for example, Chávez spear-carriers are warring with their own people, and it is difficult to see how any good is coming of their destructive agendas. But that is the way Chávez wants it; he makes trouble for trouble's sake. That is why he:• Arranges warm greetings in Latin American capitals for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just as his Iranian regime is defying international nuclear safeguards.• Props up the gasping Castro brothers' regime to prolong the torment of 11 million Cubans.• distracts weak Central American and Caribbean governments away fromfree-market solutions with the lure of debt-laden oil deals.• Has willfully surrendered Venezuelan airspace to drug smugglers.• Provides weapons, ammunition and refuge to a terrorist group fightinga democratically elected neighbor and preying on his own people.• Invites Russian bombers into the Western Hemisphere as if he is playing the last of his well-worn cards in an old, dangerous game. So, how can such a rotten leader be so popular at home? The answer issimple: He isn't. Although he holds sway with a cadre of poor who relyon his hand-outs, Venezuelans are not fools. They see how he has wrecked their economy and spent billions of their money on vanity projects in foreign countries as their own infrastructure crumbles. They suffer from the rampant street crime bred by his law less and unaccountable regime. They witness the staggering greed among his corrupt, s. They know that no good can come of supporting terrorists. If elections in Venezuela were not hope lessly rigged, they would have the democratic option of reining in Chávez at the Nov. 23 regional elections. One way or another, expect Venezuelans to tell their reckless leader, ''¡Basta, ya!'' Enough, already! Roger F. Noriega was a senior Bush administration official in 2001-05. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a director of the Miami-based law firm Tew Cardenas LLP, which represents U.S. and foreign clients.