President Chavez is inviting Latin America to find in its past and history, new road to develop. "I know History, and I think Europe should keep a low profile", he said recently. Mamadou Bocoum believes that President Chavez might be an example to follow for Africa and tells us a tale about a tree of three roots, Chavez, and the end of 40 years of a corrupted regime: This tale does not take place in Venezuela but in Senegal!!!.

A year ago, President Chavez, on his way back from a very long tour, had to stop in Senegal for few hours. This visit was obviously quite short, nevertheless it was enough for the young leader of the Bolivarian revolution to bring some hope to Senegalese people. Soon they were going to put an end to 4 decades of a one party ruling system.

Thus, fortnight after Hugo Chavez left Senegal the regime of the social Senegalese party came it end ,after having been pulling the strings for more than four decades.

It had been in power since Senegal got its so-called independence from France(1960). A fact which has allowed its leaders to boast about.

The country was first led by Leopold Sedar Senghor, the so-called president poet whose poetry led to defend colonizers by expressing his total contentment in favour of colonization( La colonization c est un mal necessaire ). Uncle Tom as a nickname would have probably suited him more. Did he ever take consideration about what was happening in other side of the oceans?

I think he ought to be placed among those to whom Eduardo Galeano qualified as "cheap writers and expensive sage who have always dedicated themselves to absolving the guilty of all guilt `` It wont be out of place to recall the words of this great thinker concerning this matter once again " The bourgeoisie has enlisted to foreign invasion force without shedding tears or blood". The European colonisers might have left by the door, however they were going to come back through the window thanks to the help of leaders like Senghor and co.

Anyway, I do not think that it is worth to issue this more deeply . However, I take this opportunity to remind our readers that Senghor remained in power until 81 , when he handed it to Abdou Diouf . This move was in fact the result of the difficulties and the inability of Senghor to resolve the economic crisis and the Casamance conflict. "The Poet President was not able to offer a Senegal for all its habitants .Now he is living happily in France where he is feasting on his part of the cake .

Diouf the so called father of the nation and the keeper of the constitution, the one who described himself as the generous president with open handed ( to the wealth of the country of course), decided to follow the steps of his predecessor yet the word modernity was going to be its leitmotif.

He remained in power until 2000. A week after the visit HUGO CHAVEZ, its party lost the election: what a surprise, he was not supposed to lose an election!! .This is why some of members of Social Senegalese Party see CHAVEZ as the one who had watered the tree of the hope ( is it its Tree of three Roots?) and brought them bad luck. For the majority of the people, those who I qualified as patients who were undergoing some treatments from oligarchy doctors, these people see the visit of the inheritor of SIMON BOLIVAR as a sign of new beginning and hope. The same hope that Chavez is offering not only to the people of Venezuela but of all Latin America.

I hope that the Senegalese new government which was fighting for ages for a real democratic country and offer to Senegalese people a really development ought to take consideration about the utopia that CHAVEZ is offering to his people.

Latinos, Africans, all united together against Neoliberalism

and

Neocolonialism!!

Mamadou Bocoum (Senegal)