Chavez Takes Talk Show to Argentina - "Populist" with 30% Approval Rating

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez took his weekly TV talk show to Argentina on Sunday, extolling his leftist revolution as he sang tango lyrics and sidestepped mention of opposition moves for a recall referendum at home.

The populist president, who typically speaks six hours at a stretch when broadcasting at home, squeezed his political patter into a two-hour transmission seen live here and in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan leader, who was festive as he watched tango dancers and talked of Argentina's mouthwatering beef, had no comment on rivals at home mounting a petition drive against him.

This was not the first time Chavez has transmitted his freewheeling show "Hello, President" from abroad. He has conducted programs from Brazil and the Dominican Republic and often makes news with the show - in October 2000 Cuban leader Fidel Castro joined him on air.

"How beautiful is Buenos Aires! Look at the people and all the happiness!" Chavez said, hobnobbing with left-leaning Argentine intellectuals, artists, and members of a jobless protest movement.

Hebe Bonafini, the kerchief-wearing leader of the human rights group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, joined schoolchildren in the audience. An Argentine rock band played briefly and Chavez at one point tried to sing a verse or two from a tango song, admitting frankly: "I sing badly."

Chavez also invoked the names of famous military leaders who rid the continent of Spanish colonial rule and saluted the late Ernesto "Che" Guevara, an Argentine-born revolutionary.

But Chavez said nothing about divisions bubbling at home, including a petition drive seeking a referendum on his controversial rule.

On Aug. 20, the opposition plans to present 2.7 million voter signatures demanding a recall vote. Such a vote is allowed after the Aug. 19 midpoint of Chavez's six-year term.

Chavez, who survived a 2002 coup attempt and a general strike earlier this year, has insisted there will be no recall vote in his country, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

On air, Chavez talked of the benefits of his revolution, citing rising literacy, health care for the poor and job programs.

A couple dancing tango closed out the performance and supporters shouted "Viva Chavez!" as he left for a late meeting with new Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.

Chavez is visiting Argentina for four days after stops in Paraguay and Uruguay. He returns to Caracas on Aug. 21.

Venezuela faces new turmoil*** Opposition plans legal challenge to oust president Will Chavez be `trapped in his own constitution'?***

Enrique Palacios of Sumate demonstrates examples of a petition demanding a recall vote on the rule of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2003. Sumate, the institution responsible for collecting the signatures, plans to present the 2.7 million voter signatures to the National Electoral Council on Aug. 20. Such a vote is allowed after the Aug. 19 midpoint of Chavez's six-year term. The original petitions are in an undisclosed location for security reasons. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)

U.S. Closely Watching Referendum Steps*** CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - The United States, which has clashed with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over policies, on Friday strongly backed plans for a national referendum on whether he should stay in office.

"The United States, like other nations in the hemisphere, backs a constitutional solution to the crisis (in Venezuela)," Stephen McFarland, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, told a news conference. "We are all following very closely the referendum process," he added.***

The Red and Gray: Recalling democracy -- two surprising examples.***FACING CERTAIN RECALL, THE STATE'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE has turned to his Leftist allies on the high court and in the legislature to block the recall election itself. All the boxes of voter petition signatures were challenged as invalid, and the Chief Executive issued directives to delay their counting. Strings are being pulled to circumvent the rules of law and the state constitution. And all during the months this has been happening, the Leftist Chief Executive and his apparatchiks have spewed propaganda denouncing the recall effort as illegitimate and politically smearing the reputations of those leading it.

Despite the close resemblance, this state executive is not Democratic Governor Gray Davis. The state is not California, named by Spanish explorers for the land of fabled Queen Califia, ruler of a magical island filled with talking animals. The state depicted instead was by Spanish explorers named "Little Venice," Venezuela, after the homes its native people had built on stilts above the waters around the oil-rich Lake Maracaibo basin. The executive depicted is Hugo Chavez, the brutal Marxist thug President who keeps his friend dictator Fidel Castro afloat with Venezuelan oil exchanged for Cuban I.O.U.'s that everybody knows will never be paid.

Polling finds that in a recall election 69 percent of Venezuelans would vote against Chavez, an overwhelming repudiation similar to what polls say California voters would deliver to Gray Davis. The response of both these Leftist rulers has been an attempt to postpone or prevent any such election, to stifle the democratic voice of the people. Chavez and his Marxist government allies have prevented the counting of petition signatures, an estimated four million of which remain locked away in 64 boxes in four-foot-high stacks.***

Members of the group 'Referendum Venezuela' pass boxes containing petitions bearing an alleged 3.5 million signatures asking for the recall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, at the OAS (Organization of American States) building in Washington, August 18, 2003. In more than four years of rule, Chavez has survived a military coup, a two-month general strike and massive opposition protests. His opponents are now pressing for a referendum on his mandate after August 19, when the constitution allows for such a vote. REUTERS/Jeremy Bigwood

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