CONTRERAS: Where do you want to take Venezuela? CHAVEZ: We want to raise the people’s standard of living in the areas of health, education, employment, housing, wages. We want to create a society where liberty, equality and justice reign. We are marching toward a truly democratic system with freedom of expression and belief, and a state that represents the society. We want a diversified and humanistic economy that will serve man.
As the democratically elected president, do you have any regrets over having tried to topple a previous government? I did not stage a coup; it is not that simple. There was a [popular] force that reacted against corruption, hunger and arrogance, and a group of us was carried along by that process. Don’t attribute to me so much power as to be able to mount a coup.
Do you think you did the right thing? Yes, I had to do it. Here was a country full of gold, oil, iron, aluminum, water and fertile lands, yet 80 percent of the population was living in poverty. President [Jaime] Lusinchi lived with his mistress. They had parties while the people were starving. And then [Carlos Andres] Perez did the same: he brought his mistress here while his wife lived in the official residence. What kind of moral example is that?
You have spoken of a country’s need for a real leader, and that you are the right man for Venezuela. No, no, I’m too humble to have ever said that. This is a process, and if another leader came along and took my place tomorrow, I would gladly go off to play baseball or teach children how to read and write and sing and paint. Here we are talking about a collective movement.
Washington recently expressed “growing concern” over clashes between your supporters and opposition congressmen. How are Venezuela-U.S. relations? It’s good that friends are concerned about each other. We respond with affection to that concern, and we, too, are worried about what happens in other countries.
Soldiers are trained to defeat the enemy. Do you constantly need enemies to overcome? I don’t have enemies. Political adversaries I do have, but I hope that one day they can become my friends. I believe that [Baron von] Clausewitz was right when he said that war is the continuation of politics by other means. The principles of military combat are identical to the principles of political struggle, and deep down human beings are motivated by the same objectives of winning, of achieving a goal.
