Martes, 15 de enero de 2013

Para cerrar de una vez este tema. Jon Chait lo dice sobre un tema totalmente distinto, pero esto más o menos resume lo que pienso de la habladuría sobre las facciones del chavismo:

The drone of right-thinking sentiment has certain distinct qualities. One is that it is, in almost the purest sense of the term, a meme — a way of looking at the world that individuals pass one to one another without a great deal of conscious thought, even though thoughtfulness, or the appearance of thoughtfulness, is one of the qualities the opinion imbues upon its proponents. They don’t engage with alternative analyses. They seem to have no idea that their own ideas even could be contested. They are merely performing the opinion journalism equivalent of wishing passersby a Merry Christmas.

Déjenme matizar un poco. Lo que me hizo citar a Chait son sobre todo las partes en negritas. La gente oye lo que escucha y lo repite sin pensar ni tratar de comprobar si lo que escucha es cierto. Pero ¿por qué ocurre esto?  Creo que en buena parte Francisco Toro tiene razón: para rellenar un vacío informativo. Hay que rellenar espacio, ¿no? En el chavismo existen fuertes divisiones, ¿no? Los incentivos, pues, para repetir lo que otros están diciendo sin pruebas convincentes son poderosos. Más cuando forjar un análisis alternativo requiere de mucho más trabajo.

The Economist, por cierto, demuestra que tampoco es tan difícil llenar espacio meramente con lo que sabemos:

The problem is that nobody else enjoys Mr Chávez’s unquestioned authority over the PSUV. Many chavistas are on the far left. Others, including many in the armed forces, are more pragmatic, or are opportunists; some of this group have made fortunes from government. Mr Maduro is an ardent admirer of Cuba’s Fidel Castro (as is Mr Chávez). Mr Cabello, who has influence in the army, is seen by the left as a closet right-winger and militarist. The PSUV’s inner circle also includes Rafael Ramírez, who runs PDVSA, the state oil monopoly which provides the regime with much of its revenue; Adan Chávez, the president’s elder brother who is an ultra-leftist; and Jorge Arreaza, the science minister and son-in-law of the president.

After a meeting of this group in Havana, Mr Maduro said that he and Mr Cabello had sworn a unity pact in the presence of Mr Chávez. Since the president is in no condition to chair meetings, some analysts speculated that Raúl Castro, Cuba’s president, may have done so. The Castros have a history of broking deals among competing factions of their leftist allies in the region. Both Mr Cabello and Mr Maduro deny that any such factions exist. But after Mr Cabello’s re-election as speaker, Mr Maduro stressed the importance of maintaining “military-civilian unity”.

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