MEDIA REACTION - CHAVEZ'S SOCIALIST REVOLUTION

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000057 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL VE CI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - CHAVEZ'S SOCIALIST REVOLUTION ¶1. On January 11, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" (circ. 129,000) carried an opinion column by international analyst Karin Ebensperger entitled "The Conscience of the Global Left." Quote: ¶2. "OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza should not feel bad for becoming a member of the list of those offended by Hugo Chavez.... What is alarming is the weak reaction by certain politicians who give Chavez, and the totalitarianism that he is imposing under his so-called 'Twenty First Century Socialism,' the benefit of the doubt. These are the same ones that applaud the dictatorship imposed by Fidel Castro in Cuba for more than 40 years.... The Venezuelan's revolution is something to fear...and what is more dangerous is that he is preparing a single educational system 'to demolish capitalist values.' Should Chavez achieve (planting) ideology in education, then Fidel Castro could rest assured. He has a successor." KELLY