Carter:Venezuela's Chavez Promises to Quit If He Loses Any Recall

Associated Press ^ | January 27, 2004 | ALEXANDRA OLSON

[demnomo]

Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told him that he would step down if a recall referendum is held and he loses.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was wrapping up a three-day visit to observe the election council's verification process of more than 3.4 million signatures collected by the opposition to demand the recall. If the signatures are determined to be valid, a vote could be held in May.

[demnomo]

Yeah, Jimmie and the commies told you they wouldn't invade Afghanistan and North Korea said... Oh, never mind!

[Simmy2.5]

And this is assuming that the recall succeeds in getting on the ballot. Chavez isn't going to put any road blocks for it right? *wink* *wink*

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[demnomo]

Yup. Maybe Chavez knows the recall count in advance so he can promise Carter what Carter (and the liberal press types) want to hear.

On the other hand, Carter has a reputation of being a gullible dweeb to most despots, so Chavez can promise the moon and the stars and not have to deliver should the recall succeed. Chavez has the added bonus of not being castigated too much in the world media should he decline a recall against him due to the press types not wanting to embarass poor Jimmy further. ;)

[RedWhiteBlue]

"If the decision is for a referendum, then he (Chavez) will participate in the referendum in accordance with the law,"

Well, that settles it. Chavez already knows that he is going to meddle with the results so that there will be no referendum. Of course many of us suspected that all along.

[KC_Conspirator]

Jimmuh is such a useful idiot.

[demnomo]

I keep picturing North Korea's "Beloved Leader" on the phone with Chavez giggling over that sucker Carter...

[demnomo]

The Commies and their newest pals, the Islamofascists, sure have Carter's number, that's fer sure...

[livius]

I agree. Carter, of course, is a total twit and will believe anything any dictator tells him. However, Chavez is not a twit, but a dangerous monomaniac, and I think he knows he's already got the "referendum" bagged.

[MonroeDNA]

I am embarrassed that this guy was our president.

Now he's a communist enabler.

[dr_who_2]

...and only Carter would take him at his word.

[KC_Conspirator]

The Commies and their newest pals, the Islamofascists, sure have Carter's number, that's fer sure...

On speed dial.

[marron]

Carter said Tuesday that elections officials agreed to allow OAS observers to be present at all aspects of the signature verification process.

I am no fan at all of Carter, but he babysat the elections that saw the Sandinistas out, and has done the same thing elsewhere. If he has managed to worm in there with foreign observors that is at least one hopeful sign.

"We always have to ... prepare ourselves mentally and work every day thinking about the worst that could happen," Chavez told reporters after meeting with Carter. </>

This could be read two ways, that he is prepared to accept the referendum, or that he has prepared contingencies in case he loses. I lean to the latter. I believe first that there won't be one unless he is sure he has it locked, but defectors have said again and again that he has prepared a doomsday scenario for the day he is pushed out, with weapons caches not only in the cities but along the Colombian border as well.

His armed civilian goon squads have already shown what they can do in a pinch, and he has brought in foreign troops and secret police since then. I fully believe that we are in for quite a ride before this is over.

I would like to be wrong but I don't think he will leave office standing up.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

Yea, Yea, yea!! Heard it or something like it before.

[demnomo]

For Venezuela's sake, I hope that Chavez gets the boot via a recall election. I'm just not a fan of Carter--who has been duped more than once by a despot.

I certainly agree with you that Chavez won't leave quietly...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"I'm sure they have the well-being of the nation at heart," Carter said.

And Chavez will define "well-being."

Thanks for the ping and the post.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jimmy Carter 'satisfied' with recall process - urges Venezuelans to trust the NEC's tallying***Carter, who has long been trying to mediate a negotiated end to the political crisis racking Venezuela as opponents try to oust the leftist populist president, was scheduled to hold a news conference before returning to the United States.

The Organization of American States, which also has an observer mission in the country, meanwhile is insisting that it should be allowed to put some of its own monitors at critical points of the CNE signature-verification process.

On Friday, the OAS mission requested access to two stages of the complex, seven-stage verification procedure that it considers ''critical.'' These are the ''quality-control'' stage and the deliberations of a technical committee that will determine whether any of those signatures considered dubious are to be rejected outright.

These elements, the OAS said in a statement Sunday, ''will be vital in the final decision'' by the electoral authority as to whether enough signatures were gathered.

Two members of the CNE's five-person board of directors considered close to the government have said that such access would violate Venezuelan sovereignty, but the council has yet to make a decision.***