I attended my first South American political rally a few days back. Hugo Chavéz, the president of Venezuela, was here in Buenos Aires meeting with the president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, before holding a large rally in a football stadium in the city. The purpose of his visit was part of a larger tour of Latin America in direct opposition and protest to a similar tour the president of the U.S., G. W. Bush, was undertaking of allies in the region. I will get into the details a bit more later, first let me tell you how I found myself in the middle of such an interesting spectacle.
There I sat, sharing a beer with Fede and talking politics at some street side parrilla, the local grills found everywhere in Buenos Aires. It doesn’t take much to get Fede going on politics; he always has something to say no matter what the topic is. A local Porteño with a passion for politics, revolution, history, beer and grass, Fede has become a good friend of mine in the few months that I have been here in his city. He is incredibly involved within the local scene, an avid activist and member of the MST (Socialist Workers Movement); he is pretty much my window into the world of Argentine political movements. Eventually our conversation turned to Bush and his pending visit to Montevideo, Uruguay on Friday. As we took turns seeing who could come up with the best criticisms of Bush’s failed and failing policies around the world and domestically, Fede suddenly had a question to ask of me. “Che, what are you doing on Friday?”
“Well I am moving into my new pad in San Telmo around 5. Do you want to come check it out?”
“Oh at 5, that’s to bad, Chavéz is coming to town to hold a big rally, I was going to see it you wanted to go.”
“You mean Hugo Chavéz? What is the rally for?”
“It’s, you know, a big rally. He is going to speak and people will be there to support it.”
The vagueness of Fede’s description only left me more intrigued. I have followed the Chavéz story for some time now with a great deal of interest. His path from former military man attempting to topple the government of Venezuela in 1992, to his subsequent conversion to democratic means, to his winning of the presidency, to himself being ousted in a coup supported by the USA, to his subsequent regaining of the office is a story filled with all the drama and suspense of Hollywood movie. And that’s just one side of his story. An incredibly charismatic leader, his own brand of populism has gained him the support of a majority of the Venezuelan people and has allowed him to begin to implement radical reforms in what he calls the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’. To top it all off he has been a constant thorn in the side of the Bush government and has been a vocal critic prompting harsh responses from Washington.
I wondered what was going to happen when all those people converged on a stadium to hear the very popular president of a foreign country give a speech? I mulled it over in my head and decided that this was an opportunity not to be missed. To read about the exploits of a government that has been condemned by the Bush administration as a ‘threat to democracy’ in the U.S. is a tough proposition. Whether you like it or not most news coverage is going to be heavily jaded against Chavéz and his program, if you even want to call it coverage. The chance to see him for myself in his own environment would hopefully provide the perspective I had been looking for. I told Fede I would try to postpone my move until Saturday.
A few phone calls and a couple of days later I found myself waiting to meet Fede on the corner of Avenida Avellaneda y Segui in the Barrio of Caballito in central Buenos Aires. Fede had made it very clear beforehand that I had to meet him at 4 pm sharp so that we wouldn’t be late. Chavéz was due to speak at 7 pm so I wasn’t quite sure why we needed to be three hours early, nonetheless I made sure I was there on time. Now for all of you who don’t know the Argentine conception of punctuality, let me just make it clear that I had made a mistake in showing up at the agreed upon time. This was far too early, as I should have known, and I found myself alone in a continuously growing crowd of demonstrators, drummers, chanters and communists (as displayed by the various emblems and logos on their respective clothing). I don’t have anything about communist, its just that you often see large crowds of them in the U.S. and its only natural to be a bit apprehensive about the unknown. Not really knowing what to expect from the crowd and speaking shaky Spanish, I was feeling a bit out of place to say the least, but I soon realized that the vibe coming from the crowd was a positive one and I had nothing to fear. I simply had to bide my time and watch as the spectacle grew until Fede showed up.
After 45 minutes and a couple of cell phone calls in vain I was beginning to contemplate heading into the melee on my own, when I finally saw Fede approaching from the opposite direction.
“Che, you made it,” he said followed by the mandatory kiss on the cheek and slight embrace.
“I made it? I was getting worried that you weren’t even going to show up,” I replied. Fede simply looked at his watch and made a face as if to say he didn’t even realize he was late. I decided not to pursue the matter any further. He led me over to a group of youths that were busy unrolling banners and signs under the direction of a middle-aged man in sunglasses. I was to find out from Fede later that the man in the sunglasses, nicknamed ‘Maradona’, was part of the central committee of the political party that Fede belonged to, the MST, and that the youths were all members of the party as well. The MST itself is broken into 3 different divisions; youth, workers, and unemployed movements all coordinated under the banner of the national MST party. Fede introduced me to the party members as his comrade form the U.S. Everyone received me with a kiss on the cheek and went back to what they were doing.
I took the moment to glimpse around to see what I was getting myself into. More and more people were pouring into the street from all directions and a constant flow of buses seemed to bring bringing more people towards the stadium and me. Wait a second, towards the stadium? A few minutes ago the traffic had been going away from the stadium and this was a one-way street, what was going on here? I quickly found the cause. The street was being blocked by the police and being used as one of 3 main corridors heading to the stadium. “Police lending a helping hand in a demonstration, that certainly is a novel idea” I thought. It suddenly dawned on me that these buses that kept coming in where bringing people from the partidos, the areas of Buenos Aires that fall outside the Federal Capital limits. It is in the partidos that most of the Greater Buenos Aires residents live, about 9.5 million or more than 80% of the total. It is also where the poorest of the people live. Chavéz’s appearance was clearly a big deal for these people; he was a hero and inspiration to them and they were coming out in droves to show support.
Meanwhile the MST crew had got most of there signs set up and were beginning to stake out strategic positions in the street close to the lane carrying all the buses. Fede had taken up the central pole of the main MST banner and beckoned me to come over. Noticing that I was still trying to figure out what was happening all around he said, “Che, this is time when you ask me the questions.” So I did. I asked him about what was going to happen exactly, what his party stood for, what the other parties stood for, what he thought of Chavéz and so on. Basically I gathered that the streets would eventually fill with parked buses and people gathering into different groups. We would then commence to march to the stadium and take our places on the field in front of the stage, each group having its own little space sort of like a delegation at a convention. The MST is a communist party that follows the ideas of Trotsky and advocates revolution, a radical change of the system, not a reform from within it. Fede and the MST both supported the Bolivarian Revolution begun by Chavéz in Venezuela, but were not necessarily for Chavéz himself. “It’s important to show solidarity”, Fede explained to me. “The process that’s going on in Venezuela is a true democratic revolution and we have to support that even if we don’t always agree with what Chavéz is doing. If the revolution continues as it is going now it will soon be beyond any one persons control.” The various other groups came from the left and central spectrum of Argentine politics. Even supporters of President Kirchner’s party were there, although strongly at odds ideologically with many of the groups. It just goes to show the kind of appeal that Chavéz has here.
All of a sudden the call ‘vamos!’ ran out among the people and the procession started to march forward. It was already about 6:30 at this point and we weren’t even in sight of the stadium yet, but having just learned my lesson about Argentine punctuality I wasn’t too worried if we didn’t make inside by 7:00. I had a sneaking suspicion that although Chavéz was Venezuelan he probably wouldn’t be a stickler about being on time either. As we marched down street the people joined together in various chants such as ‘Bush facista, vos sos un terroista’ – Bush you fascist, you are the terrorist, and ‘out of Iraq, out of Palestine, and especially out of Latin America!’ ‘No to terror, no to imperialism, forward with socialism, power to the people!’ Of course the were all in Spanish, you are just going to have to trust me that it sounded much better in the original than in my translations.
The march periodically stopped and started as we waited for different groups to enter the stadium and take up their place in their designated position. The MST members seemed a little annoyed about the wait but I didn’t mind. This way I got to see all the different groups as they walked by. The atmosphere reminded me of a parade of sorts, the feelings of outrage and anger directed at imperialism were easily overcome by the feelings of jubilation and solidarity in support of giving power to the people. In this sense it was different than any sort of large rally I have ever attended. The essence of the spirit wasn’t one of protest; it was one of support and approval. I can’t remember the last time there was such a public showing of support for government actions in the U.S.
As we continued to wait to enter the stadium Fede explained to me why seemingly everyone was entering before us. “We are the trouble makers for the government,” he said with a smile, “We don’t agree with them and we stick to our principles, for that they disapprove of us. Che, just watch, we will go in last and get the worst spot, of this I am sure.”
Sure enough the MST contingent was the last group to enter the stadium and our spot was at the very back of the field. It was going to be impossible to see Chavéz through the sea of people and banners in between the stage and us. If the music blasting through the speakers was any indication though, we were certainly going to be able to hear him. As I looked around the stadium I thought that this could easily be a rock concert instead of a political rally. The stands were filled with people standing, clapping, dancing and singing. Huge banners in front of the sections indicated where the people had come from and I realized that this was more that just Buenos Aires affair. Certain sections had come from hours away and they were determined to enjoy themselves. Vendors walked through the crowd selling roasted peanuts, coke, and beer. People sat on the ground in small circles and brought out their mate gourds and thermoses of hot water. “Hey man, we should come to more of these, this is kinda fun,” I said to Fede.
“Chavéz is a showman,” he said, “that’s part of the reason people come out to see him.”
The crowd reached a fevered pitch when the loudspeakers began to play the Argentine national anthem. Behind me in the stands people were shooting off fireworks and had flares going and were literally bouncing up and down in unison. ‘This isn’t a rock concert,’ I thought, ‘this is a goddamn football match, these people are going nuts.’ (That’s soccer for all you back in U.S. by the way.) The Venezuelan national anthem came next, followed by a role call of all the political groups in attendance. The MST got snubbed by the announcer and was left out of the role call. Some of the members around me took it as badge of pride. “They don’t want to recognize us, but they can’t ignore us forever,” Fede confidently explained. “We are here and nobody can deny us that.”
Finally all the festivities came to an end and just like at a boxing match a speaker came on stage to introduce the main event for the evening, President Hugo Chavéz. The crowd erupted once again as Chavéz made his appearance and greeted the crowd. “Hola y buenos noches mi hermanos y hermanas,” he roared and was greeted back by the enthusiastic crowd. He proceeded to speak about the similarities and connections of the Argentine and Venezuelan people, emphasizing his close relationship with President Kirchner. This went on for a good 15 minutes, and to tell you the truth I really wasn’t that impressed. Where was the fiery orator that had captured the admiration and hatred of millions around the globe? I mean was this really the same man that hosts his own 6 hour-long TV show in Venezuela every single week? I was feeling a bit disappointed in the whole affair when Chavéz switched the topic from Latin American brotherhood and cooperation to imperialism and Bush. Building in a slow crescendo Chavéz worked himself and the crowd into a wild frenzy. Now I don’t profess to understand all or even most of what he said, but just by listening to the man speak I could feel the immense attraction that his voice held. This was clearly a man born for stage and public arena.
He was careful not to but at blame the American people, but rather made a quite clear distinction that the ones to blame were in the government, namely Bush and his followers. Chavéz denounced the policies of war and imperialism that Bush favors, the long standing history of U.S. imperialist involvement in Latin American affairs, and the failed social policies of the U.S. There were more than a few jokes shared at Bush’s expense. Luckily I had Fede close by to translate for me. One of the better ones was saying how Bush must have the lowest IQ of any president ever. Chavéz also brought up that Bush had recently compared George Washington to Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America from Spanish rule. I think Bush was somehow trying to equate a common history and ideal in U.S. and Latin American history, one that is and has always been at the heart of U.S. actions in the region. Chavéz took particular offence to this seeing as Bolivar is a personal hero of his. After ridiculing Bush about not following the ideals of Washington, let alone Bolivar, he uttered his one and only phrase in English during the whole night. “Yankee, go home!” The people loved it and I have to say so did I.
The entire speech lasted a good hour and a half, well into the darkness of a late summer evening in Buenos Aires. I left the stadium with a new understanding about Chavéz, Argentina, and the Americas in general. The Bush administration has repeatedly criticized Chavéz, calling him a threat to democracy and stability in the region, a ‘negative force’. Well that certainly wasn’t the man I saw. If calling for greater social justice and inviting the masses of poverty stricken people to have a say in how they are governed is a ‘negative force’ it only makes me wonder what is considered positive. The solidarity I saw on that night between people from all over the social spectrum, young and old, poor and wealthy, white and native, city and rural, foreign and local, was unprecedented in my experience. Never have I seen so many people come together to support something so positively. It begs the question, whose stability is Chavéz a threat to? Is it that of the peoples of the Americas or is that of the narrow band of leaders in Washington? You can decide for yourselves, but I am confident that I now know the answer.
