Temporary Modesty
When President Chavez first took over the presidency, seven years ago, he promised to wave his salary and to donate a presidential house, La Guzmania, to the poor. “I can’t live like a king among paupers,” he said. Seven years later he has gained a reputation for his lavish lifestyle. He wears hand made shirts and posh watches, and only flies is his brand new A319 valued in US$60 m, socialist class of course. Indeed only in 2004 the Venezuelan President spent more than US$ 100K in laundry.
Now Evo Morales is showing to follow the footsteps of his mentor. He is so modest that he will only move to the presidential house under one condition, to have flatmates. The chosen ones are the presidents of all parliamentary chambers and the vice president, all of them single mates. By sharing the house they will be able to work round the clock 24 hours per day.
The question is not if this is a good or a bad idea, the question is how long will his modesty last?
posted by Camilo Pino @ 1/25/2006
1 comments
1 Comments:
"When President Chavez first took over the presidency, seven years ago, he promised to wave his salary and to donate a presidential house, La Guzmania, to the poor. “I can’t live like a king among paupers,” he said. Seven years later he has gained a reputation for his lavish lifestyle.He wears hand made shirts and posh watches, and only flies is his brand new A319 valued in US$60 m, socialist class of course. Indeed only in 2004 the Venezuelan President spent more than US$ 100K in laundry."
This is the typical line of attack against Latin American leaders who aren't subservient to U.S. prerogatives. In the 1980s, all the right-wingers couldn't stop talking about Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega's Ray-Ban sunglasses. When someone doesn't have any relevant criticisms to make of Chavez, he or she makes a big deal out his Armani suit.
In the greater scheme of things, this sort of thing has no relevance whatsoever.
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