Chavismo without Chavez

Colegas:

Attached is a Washington Post article that speculates on the question of whether there can be chavismo without Chávez. The answer appears to be no, because no one can replace his charisma, his touch with the people. This is the dilemma faced by winner take all, personalistic, populist authoritarians who leave the scene with a corrupt political system. Democracies, however imperfect, at least have an electoral process to determine who wins. A democratically legitimate political process in Venezuela is not in the cards in the short term. The problem lies in getting from the short term to the longer term, how will that be managed? The authors inject the caution of the peronista analog in Argentina. Forty years after Peron died they’re still a potent factor in national politics.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/venezuelans-ask-if-chavezs-movement-will-outlive-him/2013/02/22/9a1d32dc-7c42-11e2-9073-e9dda4ac6a66_story.html?hpid=z1

Gabriel Marcella