Rarely can a political leader have won such a decisive mandate to govern and then be faced with such a colossal task as President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The deaths of up to 50,000 people in last week's flooding disaster is a major calamity whose destructiveness is only now being fully appreciated. It deserves the most generous response from the international community as well as from the more fortunate sections of Venezuelan society less affected by it. As the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, told the Dail yesterday, there is an urgent need for humanitarian aid, including shelter, food aid and medical assistance. An initial £400,000 contribution from Ireland acknowledges that fact.
The floods struck on the very day people voted in favour of a new constitution committed to radical socio-economic and political reforms. This affected the turnout but not the direction of opinion. There was a clear majority for the changes among the poor. They are the people most devastated by the floods, whereas wealthier groups and the country's traditional professional, commercial and landed elites voted solidly against it. The new constitution endorses stronger public control of the economy, greater commitments to welfare and social justice and provides for new presidential, parliamentary, gubernatorial and mayoral elections in the new year. All eyes will be on the campaigning populist president to see how he uses his powers to cope with the disaster and then to develop the country.
He is loved and feared for his campaigning rhetoric. He was at his best on this occasion, attacking "rancid oligarchs" and "squealing pigs" among the country's elite and launching furious verbal assaults on the Catholic hierarchy. There have been some half-hearted attempts to characterise the disaster as the wrath of God following such anti-clericalism, but more sensible church people realise its scale must put such concerns to one side.
Social divisions are highlighted by the impact of this natural catastrophe. The many shanty towns around Caracas have been devastated, as buildings without foundations were swept way or buried in mountains of mud. The most urgent task now is to rescue and care for hundreds of thousands of survivors and prevent disease spreading.
A former army officer who led a failed coup in 1992, Mr Chavez has pampered the military but endeared himself to the poor by getting soldiers to help build roads, schools and man food kitchens. He has now mobilised troops to deal with the floods and promised that some of their land will be made available for resettling the displaced. He has appealed for immediate Christmas hospitality for them and promised to build new cities and open up land for farm settlements. All this will take time and involve confronting vested interests. It will also probably encounter resistance from those who have become used to city life. Although the country is rich in resources, especially oil, most Venezuelans are poor and its wealth is notoriously maldistributed.
Latin America has been the home of populism, with many leaders using it to gain broad support among the disadvantaged and the poor, without changing basic social or economic structures in any radical way. Such escapades have all too often ended up in deep corruption and alternative oligarchic rule. Mr Chavez now has a mandate to change Venezuelan society. How he handles this disaster will determine his wider agenda.