YOU ARE WRONG ON IRAN HUGO

OPEN LETTER TO HUGO CHAVEZ:

Dear Hugo

Let me say straight away, (at grave risk of being labelled sycophantic but I care not), that you are one of my heroes. Your charisma is unparalleled in 21st century world politics.

Every time I hear the European or American bourgeoisie moaning about your alleged abuses of power and how dangerous you are, I know that you are on the right track.

And no one can accuse you of being a spin merchant. You put your oil money where your mouth is. You are making serious inroads into poverty in your country and are introducing grass-roots democracy to the Barrios.

Whilst you talk about socialism and your Bolivarian revolution, I cannot see what is so worrisome to capitalists about allocating untilled land to 60,000 peasant families or creating 70,000 cooperatives within development zones. I accept that your desire to see the State oil company assume a controlling interest in multinational oil companies’ Venezuelan ventures, may be perceived as more of a threat, but I am sure the likes of Exxon and Shell will not leave because they will still be making billions of dollars in profits.

Nevertheless, I cannot defend your alliance with Iran and your blossoming friendship with its leader, Mohamed Ahmadinejad. With respect Hugo, you belittle yourself by associating so closely with such a tyrant and you give your detractors free ammunition.

The fact is that Iran is a totalitarian theocracy in which hundreds of thousands of people have been tortured, killed and ‘disappeared’ since the 1979 revolution. When the Mullahs eventually fall, mass graves will be found as they have been in Iraq.

Ahmadinejad himself is a nasty piece of work and used to be an assassin for the Mullahs abroad.

Anti-imperialism is all well and good but you have got Evo and Fidel to support you in that. You do not need Ahmadinejad or any other theocrats.

Please Hugo. Do the right thing and distance yourself right away from the Iranian regime. You can only tarnish yourself by continuing to be seen in public with your fellow Iranian polemicist.