Latin America’s Gang of Two

Ray Walser / September 25, 2009

When “good” President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and the “bad” President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez came to New York, both wooed the media. Newsweek declared Lula to be “the most popular politician on earth.” Chavez didn’t call Obama “the devil” and went mano a mano with Larry King.

Lula’s Brazil is a continent of a country on the rise with a multi-party democracy; Chavez’s Venezuela sits on ocean of oil that fuels his one-party democracy. Both leaders aim for more clout on the global stage

In the UN General Assembly, it was often hard to tell Lula and Hugo apart.

Lula demanded the return of populist Manuel Zelaya to the presidency in Honduras, ignoring the undiplomatic use of Brazil’s embassy to intervene in Honduran internal affairs. Chavez urged President Obama to free himself from the shackles of the Pentagon and restore Zelaya.

Both hammered away at U.S. economic restrictions on communist Cuba. (more…)