Mini Fidel and Montezuma

The one and only Joe Gringo has a great piece today on Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and his attempt to link himself with the reconquista movement that seeks to take sovereignity over part of the US for the mythical nation of `Atzlan'..

Montezuma’s Revenge, also called by some the Aztec Two-Step, is what tourists suffer after drinking bad water. If President Hugo Chavez gets his way, the name “Montezuma” will soon be associated directly with Hugo Chavez Frias, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and self-proclaimed leader of the new 21st century revolutionary socialism. Why? Because Chavez is convinced that he is a direct blood descendant of the Emperor Montezuma, the last lord of Aztec Mexica empire before Hernan Cortes arrived with a handful of homicidal Conquistadors backed the Holy Roman Catholic God, the Spanish Crown and a large number of pissed off local indigenous tribespeople who were sick and tired of being the sacrificial slaves of the Aztec Emperors.

Beyond gratifying his immense, narcissistic ego, let's cut to the chase, Chavez could potentially get some political mileage if he could successfully trace his blood lineage to Montezuma’s loins:

* If Chavez could legitimately claim some of Montezuma’s genes, he could project himself in the Americas as a true indigenous leader, and a royal one at that. Hypothetically this would relegate indigenous Bolivian leaders like Evo Morales and Felipe Quispe to a secondary status (at least in Chavez’s mind), since the Venezuelan president doesn’t recognize anyone’s leadership except his own.

* If Chavez and Montezuma were blood relatives, the Venezuelan president might demand that the United States return to its rightful owner – meaning Chavez – all of the territory the U.S. “stole” from Mexico, including California and Texas. Chavez also could demand that Mexico be returned to the descendant of the Aztecs. This may sound crazy, but is there anything in Chavez’s history over the past seven years that suggests he would not make such crazed demands?

Read the rest here at Joe Gringo