Chavez is dead, the show goes on

Cuban oppositionist Carlos Alberto Montaner once told me: "It would be a gigantic historical irony if Fidel came to the funeral of his ideological heir Hugo."

Castro, 86, is unlikely to attend Chavez, 58's funeral—he's too weak already. But the historical irony remains - the veteran of the Latin American revolution outlived his ideological heir.

Authoritarian regimes die in different ways. But they have in common that when a strong personality leaves the other world or leaves the captain's bridge due to illness, numerous servants are completely at a loss. In Cuba, the process was relatively painless—Fidel had an experienced brother who could replace him. In Venezuela, things are much more complicated. Chavez himself three years ago, still quite alive and healthy, predicted: "After me there will be emptiness, there will be chaos."

But chaos began during his lifetime. More precisely, when he was between heaven and earth. The president's inner circle staged a shameful spectacle. For more than two months, it lied to the nation and the world that the leader was gradually on the mend, that he was talking with his successor for five hours and issuing orders. It seems that the former Panamanian ambassador Guillermo Coches was right - Chavez died in December last year, and his body was brought to Caracas in February this year.

All this time, the current acting. they did not know what to do, how to explain themselves to the people, how to distribute power among themselves. The country gradually began the election campaign of Nicolas Maduro, who allegedly appointed Chavez. The successors were in a hurry to buy time so that the opposition could not organize its ranks.

But the appointees look pathetic compared to Chavez. Amid violent protests from Caracas students who demanded that they see Chavez, dead or alive, they began to fuss. Contradictory statements rained down like potatoes from a bag full of holes. Maduro, finding no better arguments, blamed the Americans for Chavez's death and ordered the air force attache of the US embassy to be expelled from the country. Who allegedly spied and at the same time ... was one of those who gave Chavez cancer. Trying to appear as tough as the dead leader, Maduro presents himself as an "intellectual pygmy," as one Chekhov hero would say.

Hugo Chavez, who was called OneManShow, is no more. But the show is continued, with less success, by its successors. According to the constitution, they must announce elections within a month. But it is likely that the appointees will squabble among themselves. As it was after Stalin, on the 60th anniversary of whose death Hugo Chavez died.