ARTICLE: “Seeking United Latin America, Venezuela’s Chavez Is a Divider: Some Neighbors Resent His Style as Meddlesome,” by Juan Forero, New York Times, 20 May 2006, p. A1.

Great story on how Chavez’s antics are working largely in the Gapish Andean but not finding good purchase among the emerging New Core players in the southern cone.

Chavez’s offer is one of continental disconnectedness: South American countries should come together to disconnect from the imperial United States. “You either have one or the other. Either we’re a united community or we’re not.” So either join up to Chavez’s tired sort of oil-fueled socialist welfare or submit to the devils of free trade to the north.

Chavez is just shrill enough on this point to even piss off the Andean Community of Nations, because Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are seeking a free trade accord with the U.S. No, he insists they follow the shining example of Cuba or the resurrected Daniel Ortega (another brilliant economic track record in Nicaragua).

Take away Chavez’s oil money and he has nothing to show for his reign. His is a classic patronage model, and we’re already seeing the limits of his appeal in the region.