Posted on 01/11/2002 1:57:24 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Singing ``Happy Birthday'' and holding a single candle, President Hugo Chavez celebrated the anniversary of his re-election Thursday with a call to supporters to continue his ``revolution,'' dampened recently by his fading popularity.
At a political rally Thursday, Chavez inaugurated the leaders of the new Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement, an organization composed of thousands of neighborhood committees aimed at maintaining ties between citizens and the government.
Some analysts say the new movement is aimed at counterbalancing Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement political party, some of whose members have adopted dissenting positions in Congress.
Chavez has been in power for three years but he cut his own first term short in 1999 by pushing through a new constitution that mandated the renewal of all public offices.
Chavez was easily re-elected for a fresh six-year term in 2000, vowing to consolidate what he calls a ``revolution'' to bring social equality to Venezuela. But during the last year of his presidency, Chavez's popularity has dropped from more than 60 percent to about 34 percent over public frustration with crime and unemployment, according to a December poll by local firm Datanalisis.
Chavez urged his supporters to combat the mounting opposition with street protests, praising a demonstration earlier this week against a newspaper that the president accuses of lying about his government.
The purpose of these neighborhood committees is to reward people for ratting on their neighbors with the incentive that they will get to keep what is confiscated or receive some pat from the dictator. Chavez will have the children "reporting" on their parents too, now that he has re-written the school curriculum.
Last month, for example, Chávez announced a plan to form "Bolivarian circles," neighborhood clubs that would instill the principles of the 19th-century hero such as moral character, love of country, and solidarity. That plan immediately stoked fears that Chávez, feeling besieged, really wants a network similar to Cuba's Revolutionary Defense Committees. Chávez support fragile, but remains intact (growing unease of drift toward dictatorship) (July 17, 2001)
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In June, Chavez decided to create citizens' groups charged with taking care of their neighborhoods. To some, the move evoked images of Cuba's infamous revolutionary block committees. Most criticism has been leveled by Venezuela's teachers, who oppose Cuban funding and Cuban-inspired curricula in public schools. -- Cuba, Venezuela Increasing Ties (August 5, 2001)
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Venezuela leader discounts setback (Chavez loyalists attack legislators)
Venezuela Paper Calls Chavez Dictator-- ``What a poor and tragic destiny awaits us if we don't stop this apprentice dictator in time,'' the newspaper said.
(January 10, 2002) Put's brother in charge of land and agriculture
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