An Analysis of Hugo Chavez's Speech to the United Nations

In September 2005, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela gave a speech to the United Nations that has been hailed in the media as the most recent "great" speech in history, comparable to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech or John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. Chavez spoke of the need for reform in the U.N. and spoke of how new and better changes should be enacted. He picked his examples and diction carefully, however, mainly due to his audience and the amount of impact he wanted to leave them with. His primarily global audience forced Chavez to appeal to ethos and establish credibility on a world stage: by using solid statistics to back up his proposal, criticizing U.S policies and siding with mainstream world opinion, and displaying his accomplishments in his own country and how they should be emulated on the world stage.

Chavez starts off his speech with key words that establish the existence of a problem. He states that there "has been a so-called reform process" that "overshadows...urgent issues" and that it does not deal with "real problems that block and sabotage...real development." The emphasis on the words "urgent", "block", "sabotage" and especially "real" is almost palpable. The audience knows that he is going to set forth and make a "real" point, especially when he uses the phrase "harsh reality" in the very next line. And that harsh reality is that goals set by the U.N. are almost worthless. He backs this up with logos, that a goal (cutting world hunger in half) set for 2015 will only be met in 2215 at current rates. He then asks, "Who in this audience will be there to celebrate it?" He talks directly to his global audience and asks them a rhetorical question about a global issue that forces them to listen to what he has to say because obviously they are not on track despite their words and should feel ashamed. By shaming them, they are then much more ready to listen to what he has to propose.

Chavez also takes the point to talk to his audience as equals, and share their general opinion. In his proposal, he starts off "Friends of the world" and he goes on to use the pronoun "we" instead of "I" at every opportunity to establish rapport. "This U.N. does not work. We have to say it. It is the truth." Since Chavez is part of the "we" or rather, the collective, then since he has said it he is implying that his audience has also said it and is of the same opinion he is, that it is the "truth". He then goes on to point the finger at the U.S. and state, "We know there were never any weapons of mass destruction," criticizing the U.S. for being in Iraq in the first place despite the general world (or specifically U.N.) consensus that it should have stayed out. In the same train of thought, however, he also mentions Hurricane Katrina and expresses his "deepest condolences" so as not to alienate the American people. He even takes care to include them in his audience by stating that, "Their people are brothers and sisters of all of us in the Americas and the rest of the world." This statement is completely tailored to this specific audience, uniting the globe to listen to what Chavez has to say.

Furthermore, Chavez goes on to explicitly use his own country of Venezuela as a model for the United Nations to follow. He sprinkles references to Venezuela throughout his paper ("More than just reforms we in Venezuela call for," etc.) but at the very end he dedicates half a page to the "important social and economic advances" of Venezuela, accomplished "in just seven years." He makes sure to mention that soon, the country will be "illiteracy-free", that "70% of the population" is receiving universal healthcare," that over a "million seven hundred tons of food" are reaching "12 million people at subsidized prices" and that "700 thousand new jobs have been created." Listing all of these accomplishments that happened during his reign as president implies that he was the cause for all of this positive change, especially hitting home because it is the sort of positive reform that is one of the sole purposes of the U.N.'s existence. Chavez, by listing his own accomplishments, has called out the U.N. by subtlety asking the question, "I was able to do this. Why can't you?" And of course, they can, but only if they listen to his proposed reforms.

In short, the whole of Chavez's speech is completely tailored for his audience, and his way of establishing credibility, challenging his audience, and creating rapport with them at the same time proves it. Chavez ends his speech very vaguely, as only a speech to a global audience can be concluded. He states that "we reaffirm our faith in humankind" and "we are thirsty for peace and justice in order to survive as a species." Both of these refer to universal concepts (faith, peace, justice) and refer to the audience as humans, all relating as one species. "Now is not the time to allow our hands to be idle or our souls to rest until we save humanity." What a great ending line. It tells the audience straight out that if his reforms are not implemented, humanity is doomed to fail, and only by doing what he says will the world be "saved." It is a knockout punch by a veteran of the arena, because now, opposing him would mean opposing our own salvation. Which would mean opposing ourselves. And honestly, who wants to be a hypocrite? That's right. No one.

Works Cited
Chavez, Hugo. "President Chavez's Speech to the United Nations." Venezuelan Analysis. Trans. Nestor Sanchez. 16 Sept. 2005. 8 Mar. 2008 .