Posted on 08/15/2007 7:08:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez called for changes to Venezuela's constitution Wednesday night, delivering a key address pitching reforms that are expected to allow him to be re-elected indefinitely.
Chavez, speaking to the National Assembly, said the changes affect "less than 10 percent" of the constitution but would bring Venezuela "new horizons for the new era." Chavez, who is seeking to transform Venezuelan society along socialist lines, denied he wants lifelong power as his opponents allege.
"They accuse me of making plans to be in power forever or to concentrate power. We know it isn't like that. It's power of the people," Chavez said. "So many lies in the world. I doubt there is any country on this planet with a democracy more alive than the one we enjoy in Venezuela today."
Critics accuse Chavez of seeking to remain as president for decades to come, like his close friend Fidel Castro in Cuba. They argue his main goal is to expand his power and ensure he will be able to run again in 2012.
Chavez's political allies firmly control the National Assembly, which is expected to approve the reform plan within months. The plan then would have to be approved by citizens in a national referendum.
Chavez has previously stressed the need to do away with presidential term limits that currently prevent him from seeking re-election in 2012. But he began his speech discussing what he called a transition to "a new society" and other reforms, including territorial changes.
"There are 33 articles that starting tomorrow will begin to be read, analyzed, criticized," Chavez said, adding that with the speech "a great debate" begins. He made clear who he expects to oppose him, saying: "We can defeat the forces of (U.S.) imperialism and the servile oligarchy."
Before lawmakers, Chavez held up a small copy of the country's current constitution, dating to his first term in 1999, and called it one of the world's "most advanced" but said he and members of a presidential commission have been "working intensely" on ways to improve it.
Chavez waved to a crowd of cheering supporters as he walked into the legislature with fireworks exploding overhead. His opponents, meanwhile, attacked the reform plan.
"Chavez is seeking to reduce the territory held by the opposition and give his intention to remain in power a legal foundation," said Gerardo Blyde, an opposition leader and former lawmaker.
He said many other reforms are likely to be "red capes" like those used by a bullfighter "to distract Venezuelans from his real objective."
Venezuela's Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference has also complained that Chavez's reform proposals were drafted without public involvement.
Chavez, a former paratrooper commander who was first elected in 1998, denies copying Cuba and insists that personal freedoms will be respected. He and his supporters say democracy has flourished under his administration, noting he has repeatedly won elections by wide margins.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that the United States would wait for details of Chavez's proposal before commenting on it. He added that Chavez in the past "has taken a number of different steps ... that have really eroded some of the underpinnings of democracy in Venezuela."
Since his re-election to a new six-year term in December, Chavez has alarmed opponents who claim that he is headed toward Cuba-style communism.
Chavez, a former paratrooper commander who was first elected in 1998, denies copying Cuba and insists that personal freedoms will be respected. He and his supporters say democracy has flourished under his administration, noting he has repeatedly won elections by wide margins.
Chavez pushed through a new constitution in 1999, shortly after he was first elected. He said the charter must be redrafted so that Venezuela's capitalist system "finishes dying" to make way for socialism.
Ahead of Chavez's speech, actors sang in the National Assembly as they performed a scene from the life of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar, the spiritual father of the socialist movement that Chavez calls the Bolivarian Revolution.
Crowds of red-clad supporters cheered outside the National Assembly, holding flags and signs reading: "Yes to the reform, on the path to 21st Century Socialism." Giant video screens were set up, and folk music blared from sound trucks near a two-story-tall inflatable figure of Chavez.
Hours earlier, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that the United States would wait for details of Chavez's proposal before commenting on it. He added that Chavez in the past "has taken a number of different steps ... that have really eroded some of the underpinnings of democracy in Venezuela."
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez applauds prior to deliver a speech at the National Assembly in Caracas, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007. Chavez presented his blueprint for sweeping constitutional changes expected to allow him to be re-elected indefinitely, a move his critics call a threat to democracy. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez poses for pictures with Haiti's President Rene Preval (L) and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega (R) at the third Petrocaribe summit at Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA headquarters in Caracas August 11, 2007. Picture taken August 11, 2007. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout
Bolivia's President Evo Morales, left, and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wear coca leaf necklaces as they inaugurate the construction of a thermoelectric power plant in the the village of Entre Rios, Bolivia, Friday, Aug. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Nano Cartagena)
Much as I don’t care for Pat Buchanan, I have to admit that on the subject of Hugo Chavez, he was ahead of his time.
A couple years ago, Pat had a suggestion that would’ve allowed Hugo his dream of ruling for the rest of his life, no constitutional changes required!
If you know what I mean.
He has a way to go before he can garner 99% of the vote as that paragon of democracy Saddam Hussein used to do on a regular basis.
Translation from the breathtakingly dishonest "Associated Press Speak" into English: : "Chavez has seized absolute power as Dictator for Life."
Chavez is not going anywhere because the KGB agent in the Kremlin backs him.
And the penalties for opposing Hugo are???
“Much as I don’t care for Pat Buchanan, I have to admit that on the subject of Hugo Chavez, he was ahead of his time. A couple years ago, Pat had a suggestion that would’ve allowed Hugo his dream of ruling for the rest of his life, no constitutional changes required!”
I think you are thinking of Pat Robertson rather than Pat Buchanan.
Perhaps he has, but I have my doubts. As Uncle Joe Stalin was supposed to have said, "The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."
Whoops! You're absolutely right. Boy is my face red! Please let me rephrase that:
Much as I don’t care for Pat Robertson, I have to admit that on the subject of Hugo Chavez, he was ahead of his time. A couple years ago, Pat had a suggestion that would’ve allowed Hugo his dream of ruling for the rest of his life, no constitutional changes required!
If you know what I mean (and now you do...)
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez called for changes to Venezuela’s constitution Wednesday night, delivering a key address pitching reforms that are expected to allow him to be re-elected indefinitely.
Just like Castro.......
assasinate this Scumbag Now!
"It makes elections so much easier to steal"
we can spend the money for one bullet now.....
or Billions later.
My cost for a bullet was intended for Chavez...not the following photo of the Woman in sunglasses....
DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!
Absolutionizing
First we have (once again) reports that the bearded cadaver is presently in very very ill health.
snip....
But add to that the fact that now, there are reports that all internet in Cuba has been routed through one central domain, Enet.cu, including the net connections of all Cuban journalist and reporters, and things get a little more interesting. The Cuban government has stepped up its control of information like never before.
Well, Chrostopher ,I would suggest an extraction or a root canal.(Or a lobotomy—would benefit all AP ‘journalists’)
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