Hugo Chavez: RIP

I thought I should write a few words about Chavez, who died this week of cancer.  Much has been written about Chavez in this country, most of it negative.  Yes, of course, he had character flaws, as do all politicians.  It goes with the territory.  Huge egos are politicians stock in trade, and that includes Obama, our own president.  But unlike Obama and most other politicians of recent memory, Chavez actually cared about the dispossessed in his own country, the poor, and did something about it.  Millions who previously were left to fare on their own now have health care, food, oil for their cars, etc.  Chavez also made free oil available to the poor in our own country (admittedly, to stick his finger in the eyes of our own uncaring leaders).

Obama, in contrast, made many promises when he first ran for office, and none that I can think of were kept other than a change in our health care laws.  And even that is a poor cousin to what other Western countries provide to their citizens. So to all those who want to criticize Chavez for poor management or for populist rhetoric, get over yourselves.  Unlike Obama who will disappear from the history records, beyond being the first mixed race president (and from what I've read that isn't actually the case), Chavez and the work he did to help the poor in Venezuela and other countries will have made a lasting contribution to humanity.  I don't believe in a higher being but Chavez did.  I hope if he's right he gets appropriate reward for the work he did among the poor.  Isn't it part of the Christian ethos:

'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25-40 

Rest in Peace, Hugo Chavez.