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Chávez wants to hear the screams
Published: November 19 2005 02:00 | Last updated: November 19 2005 02:00

Venezuelans have a colourful way of referring to endless, tit-for-tat exchanges. "It's the child who screams," they say, "and the mother who pinches him." Their president, the rambunctious former army officer Hugo Chávez, has become an expert pincher. And the screams can now be heard up and down the continent.

In the past two weeks, it has been the turn of the Mexicans, after Vicente Fox, president, made the mistake of picking a fight with Mr Chávez over his outlandish behaviour at the recent Mar del Plata summit.

But Mexico, with a long and proud diplomatic tradition, has a hard time dealing with a man who bypasses diplomacy's Queensbury rules with sharp jabs to the groin. In any case, Mr Fox is only a surrogate for Mr Chávez´s real target, the man he calls "Mr Danger", US president George W. Bush.

As targets go, Mr Bush is the equivalent of a barn-door on wheels. And it has taken Washington a painfully long time to realise that, by squealing, it only provokes more pinches. But under the guidance of Tom Shannon, the newly appointed US assistant secretary of state, the penny seems finally to have dropped. Mr Chávez's strategy, as Mr Shannon told a congressional hearing this week, is "based on confrontation and conflict, and in order to sustain it over time, it requires an ever-increasing search for enemies".

Mr Chávez responded appropriately with a speech that might have embarrassed an Iranian mullah, calling Mr Bush a "genocidal murderer and a madman". It was possibly a little over-the-top for an audience that included Brazilian business leaders.

His advantage, as ever, though, is the surprise factor. How do you deal with a man who blames the US for everything from hurricanes to Hallowe'en (a US-inspired "game of terror", claims Mr Chávez)? Gentle mockery is the response favoured by William Brownfield, the man with the unenviable job of US ambassador to Caracas. "How can I get any sleep, with so many conspiracies and plots?" Mr Brownfield pleaded the other day, after reeling off a list of more than a dozen of Mr Chávez's accusations.

Ultimately, however, the battle is for the hearts and minds of Latin Americans, many of whom will be electing fresh governments over the next 18 months in an atmosphere charged with "Chávez v Bush" controversy over the economic and political future.

Mr Chávez is appealing over the heads of the current crop of political leaders - including some he calls his friends - for a sharp turn away from what he calls "savage neoliberalism" towards socialist "solidarity". If there is clear evidence that, in doing so, he is interfering in his neighbours' domestic politics, they need to say so loud and clear and take appropriate steps. If not, they should shut up and avoid turning him into a victim, which is plainly what he wants. Or as a Venezuelan might say: "Don't scream every time he pinches you."