By Nora Boustany
Friday, September 22, 2006
The first time Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez came to The Washington Post seven years ago, the former paratrooper spoke about the poverty in the hinterlands of his native country, which he had toured by donkey. He vowed then to be a reformer, to crush corruption and to lift millions of Venezuelans from poverty.
We wondered, would he prove to be a dictator or a true populist and innovator?
A bullying streak was manifested when he barked at his wife as she coached a waiter on what to serve him while he was speaking. "Pardon," she whispered.
Chávez hinted last week that he would come to U.N. meetings in New York on horseback if he had to, evoking a romanticized image of himself. His brash performance there Wednesday merits closer scrutiny of how he fits into the Latin American puzzle and U.S. policy on that continent. His visits to Baghdad, Damascus and Havana have been intriguing, to say the least. He has hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his private plane.
Over the past decade, some remarkable characters have wandered into Washington, focusing my attention and yours on their struggles, their causes and their peculiar forms of leadership.
Among them was John Garang , the late leader of southern Sudan who commanded a separatist movement for many years but came to recognize the importance of bridging differences in a diverse country. The legacy he sought is still being tested as the world tries to help disgruntled segments of Sudanese society find a peace with a highly centralized national government.
The many novice ambassadors from sovereign countries that emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago have come back for visits as foreign ministers, prime ministers and presidents of democracies in progress.
The passing of Jordan's King Hussein in 1999 as one of the last enlightened Middle East leaders, as a man who learned from mistakes and became a visionary and peacemaker, have also been noted in this column. Prisoners, activists, actors and ordinary people who have made their mark have shared their stories and crusades with us.
Jung Sung San , a North Korean who was arrested and tortured for listening to a South Korean radio broadcast when he was a soldier, triumphed over his fate and is bringing a musical to Washington this fall.
Shirin Ebadi , Iran's first and last female judge, was interviewed here seven years before she became a Nobel laureate. She returned for a visit this year, but her office offering pro bono help to Iranians who were treated unjustly was shut down by Iranian authorities this summer.
Other women have risen to prominence as noted decision-makers, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel . Diplomatic Dispatches talked to them, profiled some and recorded their incredible stories.
Last night, the diplomatic party season kicked off with the Ambassadors Ball, hosted by Jeanne Oates Angulo , chapter president of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, who is retiring after 12 years of goading embassies into making a charitable cause more glamorous.
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, shifted our focus from the many crises that still plague us. The undertow of religion and culture has become more precarious in the context of disgruntled communities. Poverty, human rights and development and the shifting trends in dealing with these issues are occupying a larger share of the concerns of multilateral institutions and academia, as transnational forces and globalization gallop ahead of comprehension.
The lives and experiences of historians such as Martin Gilbert , the biographer of Winston Churchill , have been a precious addition to our news mill. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski , the former foreign minister of Poland, author, dissident and historian, now 84, regaled us with his righteous accounts of rescuing Polish Jews in Warsaw under Nazi occupation.
The legendary Vartan Gregorian , now president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, rose from humble beginnings as an Armenian Christian in Iran to travel the world and make it to the heights of American academe as president of Brown University. His words remain an inspiration: "I came with such great faith in America and so much idealism, no one had the heart to disappoint me."
After my long absence since the end of July to contribute to the coverage of the war in Lebanon, Diplomatic Dispatches signs off today as I move on to new assignments that will build on the many themes devoted to in the column.
To sum up this wonderful journey, I leave you with this, my Ode to Diplo:
There have been unnecessary wars and opera balls,
Love stories interrupted, and chic memorials sculpted.
'Tis somewhat painful to endure, this transformational allure
For things non-diplomatic that end up so problematic.
Ready to serve with all our verve, to hook you up as you observe
As muckety mucks line up their ducks, activists, diplomats and jocks
Parade onto our Washington scene, raising hell just to be seen.
As for all Diplo Babes, they will dance and sing to their very graves.
Interact, if you will, to share in the revelry, and to glimpse worldly misery.
There are heroes and angels among us, we forget to note with all the ruckus
Created by our man-made folly, yet try I did to make you jolly.
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