Coup and counter-coup in Venezuela

It took only two days for Venezuela's ousted president Hugo Ch & aacute;vez to be restored to power after military and business leaders tried to depose him following violent protests in that nation's capital. Whether Ch & aacute;vez, buoyed by an outpouring of support from the poorest Venezuelans, will have learned anything from the experience is unlikely. However, his talk of reconciliation allows for a flicker of hope.
There can be no doubt that Ch & aacute;vez, like Argentina's erstwhile populist dictator Juan Peron, has struck a cord among the economically disdvantaged in his country.
But while Peron's support was also on the right, Ch & aacute;vez' support is largely on the left, enhanced by his relationship with Cuba's Fidel Castro, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Colombian rebels.
Little to show for wealth
But Venezuela is no Argentina. And as one of the oil-richest nations on earth, Venezuela should have something more to show for its petroleum wealth than a putative dictator, a severely troubled economy and military and business leaders risking their lives to change their nation's direction.
Speaking for the Bush administration, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice said, "We do hope that Mr Chavez ... takes advantage of this opportunity to right his own ship which has, quite frankly, been moving in the wrong direction for some time. & quot;
But ships do not turn on a dime -- or in this case on the bolivar. Ch & aacute;vez must do more than talk about reconciliation if his and his nation's problems are not to become worse.