I see you are a recent member of FR, I want to welcome you.
There are several of us here who follow Venezuelan politics fairly closely, so I appreciate what you posted here. I wasn't familiar with your website, but I will be checking it out.
I was in Caracas during Chavez' original coup attempt, I was out and around in the streets once the shooting slowed down, and I have followed that little nutball's career with morbid fascination ever since.
It is my conviction that he will not leave office alive.
There is a profound lesson to anyone paying attention, that Democracy and Liberty are two very different things, and it is possible to use one to destroy the other. Liberty relies on the rule of law; if one person can make the law, there is no law.
There is another lesson; never enter into a democratic contest with someone who does not believe in law and liberty. Under no circumstances should such a person ever be allowed near the institutions of power. You don't debate such a person, you must confront them and defeat them by whatever means available.
I think we all realize by now that Caldera's pardon of Chavez was criminal and shameful in itself. When Chavez promised, prior to his first election, that he would throw out the constitution, he in effect declared war on Venezuela (again) and should have been dealt with on that basis right then.
At this point there is only one more peaceful opportunity to rid the country of him, and that is the next election. After that, there should be no more illusions about what it will take to remove him from office.
Forget about winning elections whilst Chavez remains in power, it is simply impossible with such outlandish rigging of the electoral system.
And you are very correct indeed in thinking the way you do about Chavez, Democracy and Liberty.