April 29, 2010

The love life of Hugo Chavez

Back in 2000, I wrote in VDARE.com:
After almost twenty generations of intermarriage between whites and Indians, Mexico has ended up with an almost wholly white elite, a vast mixed race (mestizo) working class, and at least 10 million extremely impoverished pure Indians who have never assimilated into Hispanic culture. And the ruling class is becoming ever whiter. How did this happen? 

Since then, I've gotten dozens of emails from Mexicans thanking me for helping them finally understand the basic mechanism of their social order:
... Now, in Mexico every century or so, there is a massive upheaval like the Revolution of 1910. The white monopoly is fractured. Up through the cracks come the most talented mestizos and Indians. They start dynasties that persist to this day … but their grandsons and great-grandsons are notably whiter than they were, since the men of the family have been exploiting their social ascendancy to marry white women. (Of course, many rich Mexican men father second families with their lower-ranking mistresses. But these kids seldom get the breaks in life that the legitimate children do.)

I was thinking tonight that it would be fun to test whether this works for Latin America's most famous nonwhite politician, Hugo Chavez, fire-breathing President of Venezuela, who portrays himself as the leader of the dusky masses against the white elite. Chavez is a "pardo" of mixed black, Amerindian, and European ancestry. He claims his family used to be big landowners, but had their estate confiscated in a 1920s political struggle. His parents were fairly poor schoolteachers in an obscure town.

Wikipedia says:
Chávez has been married twice. He first wedded Nancy Colmenares, a woman from a poor family originating in Chávez's own hometown of Sabaneta. Chávez and Colmenares remained married for eighteen years, during which time they had three children: Rosa Virginia, María Gabriela, and Hugo Rafael. They separated soon after Chávez's 1992 coup attempt. 

I can't find a picture that specifically says its his first wife, but I'm guessing this is an old picture of Hugo with his first wife and two daughters by her. If that's his first wife, she she was perhaps a little fairer than him, but not too different.
During his first marriage, Chávez also had an affair with historian Herma Marksman; their relationship lasted nine years.[9][10] 

Wikipedia describes Prof. Marksman:
Herma Marksman is a Venezuelan historian. Marksman was born of a peasant woman and a German immigrant who worked as an ironworker union organizer. When she was in her 30s she met the future Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who was then married and in his twenties. She became his mistress. They both were students of socialism and idealistic and she helped him in his academic studies. After the failed 1992 coup attempt Chavez left both his first wife and mistress.[1] Marksman now repudiates him, and describes his government as imposing a "fascist dictatorship."

She's a rather sour looking older woman, half German, but, presumably, he was attracted to her because she could teach him about the big picture topics that he'd need to discuss if he were to make a plausible Presidente. 

But, when he became a celebrity with his failed, but rather popular 1992 coup attempt, Chavez dumped his peasant first wife and his smart but dowdy mistress and married a media personality:
Chávez is divorced from his second wife, journalist Marisabel Rodríguez de Chávez.[11] Through that marriage, Chávez had another daughter, Rosinés.

No surprise here about his second wife's looks. Judging from video footage of her, I'd guess she's part Eastern European. Hugo's ex-wife became a leader of the opposition in the 2008 election.

And here's Chavez's daughter by his second wife.

Who has replaced the second Mrs. Chavez appears to be obscure. Google Translate comes up with this version of a Spanish-language article in Petroleum World: "After his second divorce, amatory life of Hugo Chávez has shielded beneath the mysterious mantle of power." (He's probably trying to get in touch with Amanda Seyfreid.)

So, Chavez Release 1.0 has three legitimate children who are just a little fairer than him, while Chavez Release 2.0 has, no surprise, one child who is blonde. 

By the way, Venezuelan politics are awesome. For example, one of Chavez's main political opponents is Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of Chacao, who recently ran ahead of Hugo in a poll for the 2012 election (assuming Hugo allows such a thing). He has the handsome but clueless good looks of a 1970s sit-com star, such as John Ritter. But who cares about what he looks like because here's a picture of his wife, the potential First Lady of Venezuela, a famous kite-surfer named Lilian Tintori.

35 comments:

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

He's probably trying to get in touch with Amanda Seyfreid.

Oh stop it, Steve. You know I have a thing for the girl.

Anonymous said...

Some of this happens with Jews as they become wealthier- some Schiffs, Oppenheimers, and Sulzburgers are Episcopalian due to intermarriage.

John Craig said...

This country is really not all that different. Successful blacks often marry whites, or at least very light-skinned black women. How often do you see a dark-skinned black professional athlete marry a similarly dark-skinned woman? Almost never.

Anonymous said...

"She's a rather sour looking college professor, half German, but, presumably, he was attracted to her because she could teach him about the big picture topics that he'd need to discuss if he were to make a plausible Presidente."

Sour looking? Sure. But from that picture I'd guess she's not even half German; that Herma "Marksman" is probably a "Marx man", both ethnically and politically.

Anonymous said...

Far away here in Britain we dont much about the vibrant hispanic peoples except what the well meaning guys of the entertainment business tell us and they wouldnt lie.

How can we be expected to believe all this stuff about the indigenous people south of the border, we all know this is what South American descended folks really look like:

Eva Peron

Dorismar

Selena Gomez

Eva Longoria

Gisele Bundchen

Jessica Alba

Christina Aguilera

The ancestry of the proud Mayan and Aztec civilisations is writ large through these women.

Roger Chaillet said...

How true, how true.

A Mexican-American coworker of mine was extremely dark complected. Looked like an Amerindian. One day he mentioned his wife. Said she was light complected or "very Spanish" in his words. Later saw her photo. She could have been right off the streets of Madrid.

And what about Jeb Bush's oldest son?

His wife looks like a member of the Swedish Bikini Team.

gig said...

though the overall tone of paleocons remains that Latin American whites are not human, and that income disparity in Latam is exclusively due to white bigotry, with IQ playing no-role at all, Steve at least is making some effort of humanizing the upper classes of Latin America.

Anyway Steve, though Venezuela, Bolivia and Mexico suffered many social - racial - upheavals since independence, neither Colombia nor Brazil suffered any. Even the Colombian drug wars of the 70s and 80s had white Drug Barons ruling over peasant gangs. As a Spanish newspaper once wrote, Colombia is the only country, outside Spain, where the Spaniards never ceased to rule and where Spanish rule was never questioned.

Not to say anything about Brazil,, where the racial order is even more stable than Colombia.

SO why do you think that Mexico/Venezuela/Bolivia are always under racial conflict while Brazil and Colombia havce always had - some - racial stability?

Could it be that countries who relied on mineral exports tend to be more unstable than countries who historically relied on agricultural exports (mainly coffee)?

Anonymous said...

I find a lot of your political beliefs odious, but you're a damn funny writer, sir. " He has the handsome but clueless good looks of a 1970s sit-com star," is one of the best physical descriptions of someone I've ever read, and sure enough I click on the link and see a picture of a hispanic John Ritter.

CK said...

I think that this also explains the amatory success of Dennis Kucinich.

Anonymous said...

No way - not the "Big Love" chick!

She is uber-scrumptious.

Hey, ever-so-slightly off-topic, but did anyone see some guy named "George Lopez", on the TNT basketball coverage last night, with Charles Barkley, dissing the new Arizona enforcement mechanism?

The, ah, wavelength-selective absorption of the cinematography of the two of them hugging each other on the TNT set, was, I think, probably intended to be a little intimidating.

Oh well, we'll how softly they carry their big stick this Wednesday.

PS: Who is George Lopez, anyway? I think I was subconsciously expecting him to be Carlos Mencia, but then I realized that he must be a different person altogether.

ben tillman said...

I can't find a picture of Chavez's first wife, but here's a picture of Hugo with his three daughters by his first wife.

The Wikipedia blurb next to the photo says he had two daughters and a son.

Grumpy Old Man said...

Separated at birth:

Here.

Kylie said...

Steve Sailer said: "I suspect Hugo would like a son."

I wonder about Barry. At first, I thought it must be galling to him to have only daughters. But as his gargantuan ego became ever more apparent, I wondered if he might not prefer it this way. He seems small-minded enough that he'd view a son primarily as competition to himself rather than a part of his legacy. And surely he's aware of regression to the mean, which could prove embarrassing to him. Also, Michelle's getting up there. He'd have to cast his eye (and not just that) elsewhere to get a son, which could be political suicide. He's not interested in feminism so I doubt he'd groom either of his daughters to continue his dynasty.

Steve Sailer said: "I was thinking tonight that it would be fun to test whether this works for Latin America's most famous nonwhite politician, Hugo Chavez..."

Love your idea of fun. But you must have a much stronger stomach than I do. The visuals that this title conjured up made me queasy, yet another disadvantage of being too literal-minded.

SGOTI said...

If that doofus in the prison jumpsuit-looking shirt is pulling chicks like that, I am in the wrong business. Time for me to get on a ballot somewhere. . .

Anonymous said...

Visit a Latin American university and you will see that the men and women have similar coloring. That trend is the same at the most prestigious and selective schools.

My impression at campuses in Central America is that the male future leaders and potentates are mostly interested in foreign women and light skinned locals. Smart mestiza women with bright futures and deep brown eyes were getting far too little attention before my visit.

Spearchucker McGee said...

Steve's on fire!

Anonymous said...

Chavez has a son. One of the children from his first marriage is named Hugo Rafael, hardly a girl's name.

I would imagine that the little girl in the first picture is his granddaughter, probably the child of the older daughter. Which brings up an interesting point - given the little girl's color, her father most likely is very dark, perhaps black.

Peter

Dutch Boy said...

If the Pres biz ever gets slow for Hugo, he can always get into the business of stopping clocks.

Anonymous said...

The ancestry of the proud Mayan and Aztec civilisations is writ large through these women.

Wow - separated at birth?

That's almost eerie.

Brent Lane said...

He has the handsome but clueless good looks of a 1970s sit-com star.

Well, maybe so, but the pic you selected immediately made me think of this.

fbj said...

LOL LOL LOL :DD

Sailer's law of latin-american politics...great post!

Anonymous said...

I bet she'd rather be with Tiger Woods.

fbj said...

Leopoldo López looks like a "diverse" version of Luke Skywalker

Svigor said...

No way - not the "Big Love" chick!

She is uber-scrumptious.


I thought the youngest wife was by far the hottie of that show. I always thought Seyfreid was kinda bug-eyed.

What was really funny was when Chloe Sevigny (sic?) dressed like a slut for a couple episodes. Before that you had no idea she had that much va-va-voom under there.

Anonymous said...

Tigre Woodez.

Svigor said...

Since then, I've gotten dozens of emails from Mexicans thanking me for helping them finally understand the basic mechanism of their social order

Which implies it isn't common knowledge among the mestizo working class. Which might explain why they look like such perfect serfs to a certain class of people...

adfadfafasdf said...

Is it like Hugo the Sluggo is going after blonde women or like blonde women go after powerful men?

Did anyone see Che's first wife? She was UGGGGLLLLLLYYYYY. His second wife was much better looking.

Simon in UK said...

gig:
"income disparity in Latam is exclusively due to white bigotry"

Ah yes, those paleocons, always blaming white bigotry for the ills of the world...

I don't often say this, but: WTF?!

Simon said...

Svigor:
"Which implies it isn't common knowledge among the mestizo working class. "

I get the impression it's not even common knowledge among the white middle class, in many South American countries. I had a conversation recently with a white Brazilian woman from the south of the nation, who recounted how surprised she was to discover the existence of non-whites in her country.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

I wonder about Barry. At first, I thought it must be galling to him to have only daughters. But as his gargantuan ego became ever more apparent, I wondered if he might not prefer it this way.

It wouldn't shock me if Obama "upgraded" to a younger and possibly whiter woman after leaving office. He's certainly cold-blooded enough to do it. He needed a black wife for his political ambitions, but after he leaves it won't much matter. I'm surprised Clinton hasn't left Hillary, but I'd be really, really, really surprised if Obama didn't leave Michelle - and I say that as a guy who actually thinks Michelle's quite attractive (for her age).

Anonymous said...

It wouldn't shock me if Obama "upgraded" to a younger and possibly whiter woman after leaving office.

Or maybe a nice middle-aged white woman, like, oh, say... Lindsey Graham?

SGOTI said...

Or maybe a nice middle-aged white woman, like, oh, say... Lindsey Graham?

Pffscchhnorrttt!!!!!! Man, that made me laugh- time to break for lunch on a high note. My Senator...

Truth said...

"And what about Jeb Bush's oldest son?"

And what about Jeb Bush?

Truth said...

"I had a conversation recently with a white Brazilian woman from the south of the nation, who recounted how surprised she was to discover the existence of non-whites in her country..."

Uh...yeah, but she left out the part, "when I was three years old..."

Anonymous said...

Men are men who want to try different women as long as they are attractive. I guess many choose their wife for the family money, prestige, last name etc...
However Chavez first marriage lasted for more than 15 years. THe other women he couldn't stand for more than 4 years.
Tiger Woods Cheated like crazy. Why wasn't he happy with a very fair, blond?
I guess as a men you have to ask yourself a question: Do you want a woman of high status in society who is also spoiled and high maintenance???
Or... Do you want a woman sho is going to cook for your children, raise them and be agood companion for you??