With growing signs that President Hugo Chavez may be suffering from an advanced stage of cancer, his brother, Adan, seems to be positioning himself as the heir apparent, which could foment the more corrupt elements in the Venezuelan regime.
Adan, the oldest of the six Chavez brothers, is currently
the governor of the western state of Barinas. The area is home to the Chavez
family and has some of Venezuela's highest homicide and kidnapping rates. But
it is not just the worsening security in Barinas which casts doubt on Adan's
ability to rule effectively. The state, previously governed by the Chavez
patriarch, Hugo de los Reyes, is Venezuela's poorest. It is also home to
several large, unfinished infrastructure projects -- including a soccer
stadium, a mall and a museum -- pointing to, at best, poor management of the
state budget, or, at worst, the embezzlement of funds by corrupt officials.
Adan previously served as the minister of education, as
well as the ambassador to Cuba. These are both key political jobs, and signs
that he is one of Hugo Chavez's most trusted confidants. Early in life, Adan
was the more politically involved of the Chavez brothers, adopting a hardline
Marxist ideology and joining the Venezuelan Revolutionary Party (Partido
Revolucionario Venezolano - PRV). In the 1980s, it was Adan who reportedly put
Hugo in touch with Douglas Bravo, former leader of the guerrilla group the
Armed Forces of National Liberation (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional -
FALN). Bravo later became an important influence on some of Hugo Chavez's
political ideas. Adan, meanwhile, has remained a committed Marxist.
Adan's closeness to Hugo means he may be responsible for
ensuring the continuation of the current regime, should the president's health
continue to worsen. But this closeness also means that Adan is unlikely to
begin pressuring the most corrupt elements in the administration, including
those with links to organized crime.
One outspoken critic of the Chavez regime, Roger Noriega,
who served as assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush,
recently suggested that Adan had close ties to two high-profile military
officials accused of drug trafficking. Noriega, a conservative ideologue, has
previously expressed rather sensationalist opinions about the Chavez
administration. Still, it is worth examining Adan's links to organized crime in
Venezuela.
One of the more corrupt officials in the administration,
allegedly, is General Henry Rangel Silva, current defense minister and head of
the armed forces. In 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control (OFAC) said that Silva, alongside two other government
officials, had trafficked drugs on behalf of Colombian rebel group the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia - FARC). Silva is also accused of handling the cover-up for a bizarre
scandal in 2007, involving the administration's alleged attempt to fund the
campaign of Argentina's now-President Cristina Kirchner.
Adan Chavez is unlikely to oust Silva, who Hugo named as
the country's top military commander last year. Silva is another loyalist who
said, at the time of his promotion, that the military might not accept the
election of an opposition president. Nor is Adan likely to put the spotlight on
Hugo Carvajal, a former head of military intelligence who has also been accused
of criminal ties. The OFAC charged him with aiding the FARC: protecting drug
and arms shipments, and even providing the rebels with government IDs that
would allow them to move more easily in the country. Both Silva and Carvajal
were also named conspirators in the drug trade by Venezuelan trafficker Walid
Makled, who said he used to pay Carvajal $50,000 to allow drug flights to leave
the country.
If there is little chance that Adan Chavez would shine a
spotlight on military involvement in drug trafficking and crime, it is also
unlikely that he would begin pressuring Hugo Chavez's most important political
allies, several of whom have been accused of corruption. According to claims by
Makled, the drug trafficker paid off members of Venezuela's Congress and
donated money to Chavez's party. Another top adviser, Diosdado Cabello, the
former vice president, state governor and leading member of the country's
ruling party, may have made a personal fortune as a result of the government's
nationalization of its ports, according to a report by Colombian newsweekly
Semana.
It is unclear how much Hugo Chavez has groomed Adan for
succession. But given Adan's long-time role as Hugo's trusted adviser and
mentor, there is little reason to think he would shift away from the current
administration's policies if he inherited power. This include the unofficial
tolerance of corrupt elements in the military and in the political arena. And
considering Adan's recent comment that the "armed struggle" is an
"acceptable" form of political participation, critics will find the
fodder needed to accuse Adan of being even more left-wing than the current
president. This may yet prove to be the biggest difference between the two
brothers.
*http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/1276-chavezs-brother-tipped-as-heir-unlikely-to-crack-down-on-organized-crime