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Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan
president.
Photo by: Bernando Londoy
/ CC BY-NC-SA
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The death of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez has garnered mixed reaction from the international development
community. Leaders from the country’s neighbors express great loss, while his
Western counterparts find hope in improving ties with the Latin American
country.
Chavez succumbed to cancer Wednesday
after battling the disease for two years. His vice president, Nicholas Maduro,
will be taking over as interim president. An election is expected to take place
30 days following his demise.
What changes — if any — will happen in Venezuela
remain to be seen. But Western leaders are hopeful this development would lead
to a more open relationship with the Latin American country.
“The United States reaffirms its
support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive
relationship with the Venezuelan government,” U.S. President Barack Obama said
in a statement. “As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United
States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the
rule of law, and respect for human rights.”
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, meanwhile, said: “Canada looks forward to working with (Chavez’s)
successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more
prosperous, secure and democratic.”
While a challenging partner to the
West, Venezuela has been noted for its generosity to its neighbors under
Chavez’s rule. He shared the country’s oil wealth to neighbors, supporting
government programs and assisting in their development, as many point to Venezuela’s support to
Haiti in the aftermath of the 7.0-magnitude quake that shook the
country in 2010.
“The world has lost a great leader in
President Hugo Chávez. Haiti will forever be grateful to him,” Haitian Prime
Minister Laurent Lamothe told The Miami Herald.
Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff, for her part, underscored Chavez’s efforts
in uniting the Latin American region.
“This death should fill all Latin and
Central Americans with sadness … Hugo Chavez was without doubt a leader committed
to his country and to the development of the people of Latin America,” she
said.
Her words were backed by U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “He provided decisive impetus for new
regional integration movements, based on an eminently Latin American vision,
while showing solidarity toward other nations in the hemisphere.”
Chavez, in 2009, proposed the creation
of a regional development bank for Latin America. He was vocal about his dislike
for other financial institutions’ policies, which he found “repressive.” That
regional bank remains in limbo, but many Latin American leaders support the
idea.
Nobel laureate and former World Bank
chief economist Joseph Stiglitz is also on board with
the proposal, arguing such a bank would “reflect the perspectives of
those in the South (while in contrast IMF and World Bank conditions) hinder
(regional) development effectiveness.”
Inter-American Development Bank
President Luis Alberto
Moreno had nice words for the late Venezuelan leader: “President
Chávez was known for his deep concern for the poor, his enthusiasm for Latin
American and Caribbean unity, and his solidarity with other nations … With his
passing, the cause of regional integration loses one of its great champions.”
IDB’s role in Venezuela has mostly
been limited to technical assistance. Priority sectors include energy, water
and sanitation, natural disaster risk management and social protection.
The country, meanwhile, has no
standing lending portfolio with the World Bank, and Chavez ended relations with
the International Monetary
Fund by paying off the country’s debt early on in his career.
Chavez has been cited by many as a
champion for the poor back home, using oil revenue to provide for social
programs such as education and free health care. Extreme
poverty in Venezuela went down from 32 percent to 19 percent between
1995 and 2005, according to the World Bank.
But his human rights record didn’t
fare well in comparison. His presidency “was characterized by a dramatic
concentration of power and open disregard for basic human rights guarantees,” Human Rights
Watch notes in an article profiling what the organization calls his
”authoritarian
legacy.”
It said the deceased leader “rejected
international efforts to promote human rights in other countries.”
“Venezuela consistently voted against
UN General Assembly resolutions condemning abusive practices in North Korea,
Burma, Iran, and Syria. Moreover, Chávez was a vocal supporter of Syria’s
Bashar al-Assad, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” the
organization noted.
Chavez had been criticized for his
policies that undermine human rights groups in the country. Nongovernmental
organizations focused on human rights work have been subject to restrictive
laws, put at risk of accumulating double fines if they receive foreign funding,
according to the NGO Law
Monitor. Local donors have also been very cautious in funding human
rights-related activities.
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