Hugo Chavez Would Like To Speak With “El Negro,” Barack Obama
3 November 2008, 3:15 PM. By Carlos Posas
Sure, the United States probably isn’t doing the best when it comes to diplomacy and foreign policy. But at least the President of our country didn’t refer to a potential world leader as “the Black,” right? Hugo Chavez — leader of Venezuela, coca enthusiast, alleged FARC funder, dater of supermodels, hot piece — recently expressed a desire to sit down with Barack Obama. Or, as Chavez, who is himself partly of Afro-Venezuelan descent, so eloquently dubbed him, “El Negro:”
“We’re not asking that he become a revolutionary,” Chavez has said. “We just want The Black who is about to become the President of the United States to have sufficient standing to deal with the circumstances that this world has him living in.”
“I want to have a conversation with The Black, to have him know that here we are Indians, Blacks, the South American race. I’m preparing to sit down with him and open a dialogue… I want us to enter a new stage in understanding.”
Spoken both nobly and savagely. Also, hi. On the world stage, as far as U.S.-Venezuelan relations are concerned, no one cares what Chavez’s countrymen look like unless they happen to be molded out of oil or Russian nuclear technology. We know some might find it tempting to dismiss Chavez’s statements as a product of cultural difference in talking about race, but this is a man who is in charge of a nation - not your uncle Tito watching “Sabado Gigante.” We hope that when Barack Obama does eventually fly on a winged Sean Penn over to Venezuela to have tea with Chavez that the first thing he does is refer to him as “El Loco” and punch him in the throat.
Chávez: “Quiero hablar con el negro” [El Pais]
Earlier: Online Polls Show Latinos Exist, Don’t Care If Barack Obama Sits Down With Hugo Chavez
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Isn’t Chavez’s use of “El Negro” just a reflection of the common racist language used in Latin America to describe non-whites? Whether it’s “negro,” “negra,” “mulatto,” or “indio,” or “morenito,” Latin American Spanish commonly dehumanizes people of color.
Whether in Cuba, Puerto Rico, or Venezuela, obvious African ancestry is considered a negative. Right? What about sayings that are common: “El es negro pero…” = He is black but..
White Hispanics in the U.S. enter the funny world of American racism and can have their white privilege cards revoked unless they look like Cameron Diaz or Andy Garcia. A shade darker like Selma Hayek and welcome to John Leguizamo’s “Spic-o-Rama” world of prejudice.
The reality is that in Latin America, racism is just as bad if not worse than in the United States. While there may not be a One Drop Rule, race matters. Whiteness still equates with beauty, intelligence, honesty, integrity, wealth, etc. in the eyes of bigots.
Of course, a trip down to Miami to visit many white Cubans would probably be a cheaper way to verify this than spending the money to visit Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela or Chile.
In the U.S., the image of who is Latino is dominated by thoughts of what Mexicans, white or mestizo, look like versus the reality that Latin America is multiracial, with far more victims of the African slave trade having been kidnapped and deposited there than in North America.
Hopefully, the election of Obama will offer some psychological aid to African diaspora in Latin America. Maybe Afro-Latinos will find a little more kick in their step (and less in their butts).
wow brad, thank the goddess you’re here to teach us all about ourselves.
Brad…never a truer statement uttered:
“Of course, a trip down to Miami to visit many white Cubans would probably be a cheaper way to verify this than spending the money to visit Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela or Chile.”
whoa, i’m surprised at this bullshit… and at this blog
the word negro in the latin american context has a much different meaning than it does in the US, this article as much as i like this blog is such a pile of out of touch shit i’m honestly surprised to see it here, in the sense that it misrepresents latin american culture and how race is manifested in a place like Venezuela which would lead someone like Chavez or anybody else in the street to refer to someone who is black as “negro”
i was born and raised in Cuba and in my country “negro” is more a term of endearment or a nickname than it is a racial epithet, not that there isn’t racism in Cuba or in the rest of Latin America, the point brad and the writer of the article misses is that how the word “negro” functions in LA is different than how the word “the black” or “black” in the US
great job
Marcos, at some point, people (Latinos and otherwise) have to hold one another accountable for racist remarks and attitudes. Hugo Chavez is the leader of a country. For him to reduce Barack Obama to his skin color is embarrassing and, yes, it is racist. It reduces him to the shade of his skin and makes him less of a full, complete person. He has a name: Barack. Obama. To call him “That Black” is the equivalent of calling him “boy.” It’s disgusting and it has its roots in names owners would use to refer to their slaves. For a world leader to use this is insane.
I understand - also being Cuban - that the word “negro” has different connotations. That does not excuse its use. It just doesn’t. Let’s, please, stop being complacent and defending racist - no matter how subtle or culturally-ingrained its use may be.
Get a clue Marcos. He’s not talking talking to one of his compadres. He’s the leader of a country, talking to the possible leader of another. What you call “terms of endearment” should have no place in political dialogue. I’m sure the leaders of the world could also find some cute little nicknames for Chavez based on his physical traits.
right on, piruli & jrod. it may be a ‘term of endearment,’ but it is one that is rooted in racism. whether it is more acceptable in venezuela or latinoamérica (a sad reality) is really irrelevant.
the whole point of my post is that US racial constructs are being applied to LA culture, is Chavez being unwise with his word choice when referring to an American? of course, but he is being depicted as pretty much saying the equivalent of “the nigger” and that’s just not the case, he’s using a Venezuelan word with a Venezuelan meaning and he’s being depicted with an American word with a very charged American meaning that is VERY different from the context he used it in, again he puts his foot in his mouth when he should know better, it’s the guy’s schtick, but it’s still unfair because it doesn’t do justice to Latin American racial realities, what set me off was brad’s post because I can see how an American would see this and think OH WOW YOU TACO EATERS SURE ARE RACIST!
and also LaLa’s post, seriously? 1st generation Cuban exiles make the rest of us look bad, don’t put all of us in the same bag please…
We get it dude, you’re from Cuba.
ugh! and talk of the African diaspora and “afro-latinos” give me a break brad, go to Cuba and walk up to any brown person and ask them if they consider themselves “afro-Cuban” is my brother that came out 5 shades darker than me “afro-Cuban”? and i’m just “milk chocolate cuban?” go to DR and ask that same question, or Panama or Brazil… it definitely sounds like “african-American!” just being applied to people that don’t have a voice to represent themselves…
again, is there racism in LA? most definitely. does it function/manifest itself in LA societies the in same way as it does in the US? most definitely not!
Yeah Marcos…..tell that to the thousands of BLACK Haitians that were massacred under Trujillo in DR.
well which white hatians was he going to kill jrod?
I hate Chavez, don’t get me wrong, that’s why I left the country. But the expression “El negro” is absolutely in now way a racist term in Venezuela.
I’m not black, but all my friends call me, literally, “El Negro”.
In Venezuela, and Brazil, you’ll always have a nickname no matter where you go, its actually weird if they call you by your real name.
To put an example, I’ll list a few of the everyday nicknames my closest friends have:
El Chino - The Chinese (and he’s not chinese)
El Lolo
El Titi
El Melo
El Biri
El Paco
El Gorila
…
and so on. It’s never despective, it’s always just a fun way to recall people.
Probably the non-black ones, Marcos. Read a book man. I’m not here to here to give demographic lessons.
Chavez is a bigot, case and point. Is anyone really surprised that he would say something like that? Or does anyone really care what comes out of that mouth of his?
im a black guy from the states,and i feel hugo chavez is a hero.whites love to cause friction.they dont want blacks link up wit anbody
El loco, El Presidente Chavez is also anti-white, anti-Jewish, anti-Anglo-Saxon,anti-Yankee!!!! The Jews of Venezuela should immediately emigrate to Israel!!!