Watching Hugo Go Crazy

As the world tries to ignore him, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gets increasingly close to doing something crazy — just to get some attention.

And when it happens, when Chavez declares war on a neighboring country or wages an oil war against the United States, there will be many who will be surprised. "Why didn't we see this coming?" they will ask.

Well, some of us have seen Chavez coming, and we have been telling our fellow Americans that this madman represents a major threat to our national security and economic stability, but it usually falls on deaf ears. Many Americans don't take us seriously. They don't see what we Latinos see on the Spanish-language TV networks. They don't see his deteriorating mental health.

On Univision and Telemundo, we not only get a daily account of Chavez's antics but also a clear view of his rapidly increasing need for psychiatric treatment.

Now he is on a new, nonstop campaign to pick a fight with Colombia. While Colombia demands respect, he calls Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "a liar and a coward." And he keeps suggesting that his discomfort — for no apparent valid reason — could lead to armed conflict between Venezuela and Colombia and that in such a conflict, Colombia would be a surrogate of the United States.

It started a couple of months ago when the Colombians foolishly allowed Chavez to intervene as a mediator with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla group, in an effort to seek the release of hundreds of hostages held by the rebels. They should have known that you don't make deals with the devil.

From the beginning, it was obvious that Uribe was reluctant to let Chavez meddle in Colombia's affairs, but pressure from the hostages' relatives made him cave in. The relatives obviously believed that a leftist leader such as Chavez was the best emissary to talk to the leftist guerrillas about hostages. But it was naive for them to think that would be the end of the Chavez-FARC relationship.

Only one day after playing the role of impartial negotiator and securing the release of two hostages, Chavez showed his true colors. Overnight, he went from playing a humanitarian role to supporting rebels who are trying to overthrow the democratic government of a neighboring country. He said the guerrillas are part of his Bolivarian Revolution, and he called on Colombia and the international community to stop classifying the FARC as a terrorist organization. He got his own puppet legislature to recognize the Colombian guerillas as legitimate armies.

Mind you, these are the rebels who have kept Colombia in a civil war that has lasted decades, the drug-trafficking thugs responsible for hundreds of kidnappings and thousands of violent attacks on innocent civilians.

These are the guerrillas who once killed and maimed hundreds by planting car bombs all over Colombia, the ones who now have changed their modus operandi: Now they keep hostages for years in horrifying, inhumane conditions — chained to trees in jungle camps. Shortly after they released the two hostages, they captured six others.

Yet Hugo Chavez doesn't believe we should call them terrorists. He said the FARC and the National Liberation Army, another leftist and bloody guerilla group, "are not terrorists; they are true armies. ... They must be recognized. … They are insurgent forces that have a political project."

Of course, in Colombia, where the victims of leftist rebels are quite numerous, Chavez's remarks were met with angry protests. Many of the same people who had been thanking Chavez for helping to free two hostages were now calling him a madman and telling him to butt out of Colombia's internal affairs.

The angry responses from Colombia gave Chavez an excuse to escalate the conflict. And because there is no boogieman, he needs to create one.

"We have the right to defend our sovereignty, which is being threatened by Colombia and the U.S. empire," Chavez charged in response to Colombia's pleas for respect.

In fact, with U.S. support, Uribe has gone after the rebels like never before, secured most of Colombia, significantly reduced terrorist violence, and brought his country back from the edge of anarchy. Chavez hates Uribe because Uribe is not only the U.S. government's best friend in South America but also a leader who has proved that democracy works. At a time when Chavez is using Venezuela's oil wealth to sway other Latin American countries to join a revolution of socialist dictatorships, Uribe — who also looks and acts like a real president — makes Chavez look like a buffoon.

Since the Venezuelan people rejected constitutional changes that would have allowed him to become a constitutional dictator, Chavez, instead of taking a breather, has been on the warpath. On Spanish-language TV, you see him turning more and more schizophrenic.

Perhaps because he admittedly chews coca on a daily basis, Chavez's bizarre delusions are getting worse.

After U.S. drug czar John P. Walters charged Sunday that, by its failure to act, the Chavez government is facilitating the flow of drugs from Venezuela to Europe and North America, the president/dictator went berserk. In another barrage of insults, he called Uribe a "liar," a "coward," a "pawn of the U.S. empire," and compared him to a Mafia boss. He threatened to militarize the Venezuelan border with Colombia.

"The next step is war," he said, "because they are coming for me."

He is a paranoid schizophrenic, the leader of an oil-rich country in our own hemisphere, a major U.S. oil supplier, and he is itching for a fight against the United States. Americans should take notice: When Chavez does something crazy, let's not act surprised, por favor, even if didn't you see his mental deterioration on Spanish-language television.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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