On the podium is a map of the world, a map of Venezuela and a desk piled with charts, reports, books and pens: essential navigational tools for a tour through the mind of Hugo Chávez.
The Venezuelan president is three weeks away from an election and has assembled Cabinet ministers, aides and journalists at the presidential palace, Miraflores, for a rhetorical journey.
He wants to show that his socialist revolution is transforming the country into a progressive beacon, that his enemies are on the run, and that his eight years in power are just a warm-up.
”Good,” says Mr Chávez, scanning the phalanx of cameras. Instead of the red beret and T-shirt, he is in statesman mode with a navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie. ”Here we go.”
Like a pilot checking instruments he rearranges his desk, clears his throat and soon we are airborne. Flying conditions are excellent, which is just as well since it is a long haul.
”I just heard that Bush has been beaten up by the Democrats,” he beams. ”It’s a reprisal vote against the war in Iraq, against the corruption.”
It is Wednesday afternoon and US midterm election results are bringing joyful tidings to a leader who used to call the US president ”Mr Danger” before downgrading him to ”the devil”.
More good news from Nicaragua, where his ally Daniel Ortega has won a presidential election, and from Brazil, where his friend Lula held power with a landslide. ”This has been an extremely positive year for Venezuela.”
A sip of coffee, a glance at the map and we zoom across the Atlantic, first to Africa, where Venezuela has been appointed an African Union observer, then north to meet the ”amigos” of Belarus and Russia. ”I felt I could touch the Russian soul,” says Chávez, reminiscing about his latest trip.
Since his election in 1998 the former soldier is estimated to have spent more than a year overseas, prompting a comedian and marginal presidential candidate, Benjamin Rausseo, to note that while they both look similar, ”the difference between us is I live here”.
Chávez continues reeling off his visits, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and anticipates adding to that list outer space, in the form of a Venezuelan satellite due for orbit in 2008. A sea of tar has been reclassified as oil, making Venezuela a world energy power, he adds.
Two hours have passed and Chávez, on to a third coffee delivered by a waiter in a bow tie, reads a note. Donald Rumsfeld, who once compared him to Hitler, has resigned. The smile widens. ”Heads are beginning to roll.”
Selected journalists are invited to ask questions, which are answered in great, looping discourses that quote Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, cite Mao Zedong and Clausewitz, distinguish between transitive and comitative properties in mathematics, and define the meaning of friendship. Just when he seems ready to finish a synapse surges, neurons flash and another idea occurs.
The actual question is sometimes lost in the vapour trail. Though Chávez finally admits, when pressed three times, that a trumpeted oil pipeline through South America has stalled. Social progress at home, however, steams ahead: new health clinics have notched up 208m consultations and treatments, not including 20-million dentistry cases.
Compare that to previous governments which pocketed oil wealth and ignored the poor, says the president. ”How many people have we rescued from the gates of hell? And schools with computers, the internet.” His fingers dance across an imaginary keyboard. ”I’m not a populist, I’m a revolutionary.”
He says he would accept defeat on December 3, but with polls putting him more than 20 points clear of his main rival he expects another term to begin a more radical phase of his revolution.
An aide sneaks a glance at his watch as we pass the fourth hour. The pilot finally decides to land. ”OK, finished.”
For now. Air Hugo has many more miles ahead. – Guardian Unlimited Â