BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – THE death of Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for the last 14 years, has brought to an end a type of politics that many would not have associated with a region on the doorsteps of the USA, were the global environment similar to what existed 40 or even 30 years ago.
It gives rise to the question whether the Western Hemisphere will see a similarly strong leader not only emerging, but becoming a thorn in the side of the United States, which has come to view this part of the world stretching from from Alaska to the tip of South America as part of its backyard.
Chavez, whose style resembled several Latin American leaders before him – nationalist, regionalist, anti-American and a firm believer that Latin American solutions must be found for Latin American problems – died last week after a two-year battle with cancer. However, with the exception of Fidel Castro in Cuba not many survived for as long as the 14 years Chavez was in office.
