If you are a frequent reader of ThePhalanx.com, then you know that we would be remised if we went an entire week without saying something about Latin America’s most famous Mussolini wannabe, Hugo Chavez. This week has been a light week for Chavez, after being on a roll for most of September and October with one outlandish diatribe after another, perhaps Chavez had grown a little tired, or perhaps he felt even the people of Venezuela were growing a bit tired of his nasty habit of diverting attention away from problems at home to focus on imaged threats to his socialist paradise from abroad.

In any case, in spite of the fact that news has been slow from the Chavez camp this week, we were still able to find something interesting to report on the Mussolini of Caracas. You may remember that Chavez recently announced that he was expelling US-based missionaries from Venezuela. What has been Chavez’s gripe with the missionaries? Why they are in cahoots with the CIA of course, after all there is so much to be gained by US intelligence through an intense effort to infiltrate the indigenous tribes of remote Venezuelan rainforests. So much can be gained by providing them with food, medical supplies, clothing and safe drinking water and of course the gospel. Many of the indigenous tribes have openly acknowledged that the missionaries have done more for them than their own government. In light of this fact, hundreds of indigenous Venezuelans took to the streets in protest of Chavez’s plan.

Now we know that Chavez is a socialist and detests capitalism, but what is his gripe with the missionaries, beyond the imaged CIA threat. Is it symbolism or is there more to it? Well that’s quite simple. What is one thing that socialists embrace above all else? The primacy of the state, of course. And what is one thing they oppose above all things? Religion or spirituality of any type. Chavez is seeking to create a subject class of people in Venezuela subservient to the state and dependent upon the state for their very survival. He cannot allow a religious group to conduct charitable work right under his very noise. Chavez cannot allow people to embrace the notion that God, not the state, is supreme. Therefore, Chavez must strike and strike hard.

These missionaries are a threat, not only because of the threat posed by the spread of Christianity but also because their work demonstrates the failure of the government to provide meaningful opportunities for self help and individual achievement. In spite of all of Chavez’s promises, he has done nothing to alleviate poverty or encourage job creation or economic growth in Venezuela. All Chavez can be relied upon to do with any degree of consistency is blame others for his many failures. The missionaries in question are just the latest targets of Chavez blame politics.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1260317