Hugo and the Hereafter
foreignpolicy.com
Is Hugo Chávez’s monstrous new mausoleum for his idol, SimĂłn BolĂvar, a hint that he may want to be buried there himself?
A lot of charges have been leveled over the years against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, but subtlety is not one. Facing what some think is terminal cancer, Chávez is building a $140 million extravaganza to house the remains of Venezuela’s founding father, SimĂłn BolĂvar. And rumors have it that the building may be intended for Chávez as well.
Erasing Venezuela’s 2 million-unit housing deficit has been one of the main priorities of Chávez’s socialist revolution, especially as the Oct. 7 presidential election nears. But the government’s latest “housing” project, a $140 million edifice for one man, is raising questions about the president’s priorities and motivations.
Chávez is expected to inaugurate an imposing 160-foot-high, earthquake-proof mausoleum for BolĂvar’s remains. The project has been shrouded in secrecy, as well as plagued by cost overruns and construction delays, and many Venezuelans also have the nagging suspicion that the mausoleum might also be intended for Chávez, who is battling what might be terminal cancer.
“This is a monument to Chávez’s megalomania,” says Juan de Dios, who heads the Caracas-based BolĂvarian Society, an organization that seeks to keep alive the memory and legacy of El Libertador, as BolĂvar is known. “It’s just too much.” BolĂvar is a hero in Venezuela and most of South America, thanks to his fight to liberate the continent’s Spanish colonies in the 19th century. BolĂvar, one of the few men in history to have a country named after him, is considered one of South America’s most influential political leaders.
For the last 170 years, BolĂvar’s remains have rested in the National Pantheon, a neo-Gothic former church located near the center of Caracas. BolĂvar died in neighboring Colombia in 1830 at age 47. His remains were brought to Venezuela in 1842 at the government’s request.
The Pantheon also serves as the final resting for place more than 100 famous Venezuelans — and therein lies the rub. In today’s Venezuela, many former patriots are now regarded with suspicion. Many dignitaries buried in the Pantheon “really aren’t heroes,” Vice President ElĂas Jaua claimed when the government announced that it was considering a new building. Among those interred are former presidents Cipriano Castro and Antonio Guzmán Blanco, whose records were at best spotty and whose administrations were riddled with corruption.
