Monday, December 03, 2007
Did Juan Carlos help defeat Hugo Chavez?
I have nothing good to say about monarchy, but every now and then there is a monarch who fights for democracy. Has Spain's King Juan Carlos taken down a second dictator?
Hugo Chavez has lost his bid for lifetime absolute power in Venezuela, the voters there having apparently recognized that if they ever wanted to vote again they had better vote "no" this time. The official margin of victory was slim, which Glenn Reynolds believes is evidence that the actual margin of victory was large. No doubt. Fausta Wertz rounds up links, including this interesting observation from Gina Cobb:
I give partial credit to Spain's King Juan Carlos for helping to tip the margin of victory to the opposition. While it probably was not his intent to rally opposition to Chavez, when King Juan Carlos said "Why don't you shut up?" to Hugo Chavez, he was heard around the world.
This was a very embarrassing moment for a proud country. If the margin of victory were indeed as slim as Chavez claims, it strikes me as entirely plausible that the king of Spain's eruption might have made all the difference. Having already rallied his people against fascism in the wake of Franco's death, Juan Carlos has now given the people of Venezuela a window of opportunity to snatch their democracy from the jaws of tyranny. Let's hope they take it.
9 Comments:
By 
Michael, at
Mon Dec 03, 09:54:00 AM:
When John Paul II died I noted that there were few better signs of a life well lived than that both the Nazis and the Soviets had tried to kill you.
Juan Carlos, though not through personal danger, seems to be leaving a similar track record. The interesting thing is that he's supposed to be loyal to Franco personally and as his mentor, but when the moment came to perpetuate his regime, Juan Carlos simply said no and let it collapse. I'm sure when he looks at Chavez, he sees a buffoon comparable to the extravagantly-mustachioed Antonio Tejero whose attempted Francoist coup Juan Carlos put down.
By John, at
Mon Dec 03, 10:09:00 AM:
Students of Spanish may recall that there are two forms of address: the more formal usted, and the familiar tu. The fact that Juan Carlos said "por que no te callas" (using the tu form) added insult to injury. One head of state addressing another would almost always, universally, use "usted", so saying this with tu showed that Juan Carlos thinks of Chavez like an animal or an unruly child.
I myself think of him as a little chimp, with Fidel Castro as the organ grinder.
By Georg Felis, at
Mon Dec 03, 11:30:00 AM:
We need to celebrate the victory of the ballot box now, because Hugo has until 2012 to rig an election so dramatically as to get 99.97 percent of votes for an even more slanted “constitution” unless the people can get him forced from office before then.
By Joan of Argghh!, at
Mon Dec 03, 12:00:00 PM:
Two-hour concession speech as punishment for those who voted against him, too. Seems...harsh.
Why do dictators and people named Bill Clinton feel the need to drone on and on and on when they give a speech? It's a "tell" for sure.
Blessed are the brief.
By 
, at
Mon Dec 03, 12:41:00 PM:
Though if the official result had gone slightly differently people might be arguing the King's insult had rallied offended nationalists. I suspect Glenn Reynolds is correct about the actual result weighing much more heavily against Chavez. But I think to read much into the electoral impact of the King's remarks is interesting but purely speculative.
By , at
Mon Dec 03, 01:37:00 PM:
Nothing good to say about monarchy? Constitutional monarchs sometimes provide needed stability and continuity in government in countries that need it. Spain clearly needed it twice from Juan Carlos, and he delivered. Now, he has extended the favor to Venezuela. The assumption in countries like Spain that the monarch should be apolitical made the king's put-down all the more incisive.
By , at
Mon Dec 03, 05:30:00 PM:
Apparently many staunch opponents of monarchy praised Juan Calros I over the years.
"When Juan Carlos became King, Communist leader Santiago Carrillo nicknamed him Juan Carlos the Brief, predicting that the monarchy would soon be swept away with the other remnants of the Franco era. After the collapse of the attempted attempted military coup, however, in an emotional statement, Carrillo told television viewers: "God save the King". The Communist leader also remarked: "Today, we are all monarchists".
So don't feel bad, TH.
By , at
Mon Dec 03, 09:02:00 PM:
Just think, if he'd told George Bush to shut up, he could have scored a Nobel peace prize.
By , at
Tue Dec 04, 09:09:00 AM:
IMO its simply that the campesinos maybe aren't as stupid and gullible as Chavez thinks they are.
South and central America have had some considerable experience with defacto dictators in the past and recognize the smell of one.
