[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela: Episodes of the "Bolivarian revolution"…***Another event, which seems like a page out of Alice in Wonderland, is the one about the naming of the new Electoral College ... which is indispensable to go ahead with the Presidential referendum. The government has said several times that it will not help to make the referendum come true. It will not help because they suspect it will be ejected from power. But what it cannot do is to oppose it with all kinds of legal, pseudo legal and illegal maneuvers.

Since the naming of the members of this college by the National Assembly requires a qualified majority of 75% of the deputies, the government has not been able to impose their unconditional supporters as members and have been obliged to try to compromise with the opposition. As they were not successful and, as they were in favor of postponing the decision indefinitely for the reasons explained above, three months went by without the naming of the college.

This forced the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to intervene and declare their intention to name the college, a move that is contemplated in the Constitution. At this moment the government cried foul and has threatened the Supreme Tribunal with over-ruling them if they go ahead and do that. In short, a coup…

As the days for the naming of the college by the Supreme Tribunal grow near, the political atmosphere becomes tenser. More Venezuelans now believe that Chavez will not surrender power peacefully, although he kept claiming all the time that the referendum was the proper way to go.

One has to ask: Why does Chavez want to keep the Presidency when he is not able to solve any of the growing national problems?

Why should he keep the pretense of a revolution when it has become apparent that the overwhelming majority of the population does not want to follow that path?***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuelan opposition plans march in Caracas to deliver recall petition [Full text]CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan opposition leaders have called on supporters to converge on downtown Caracas as they deliver some three million signatures calling for a recall vote on President Hugo Chavez. Government officials sought in vain Tuesday to get the protest postponed, saying they could not guarantee the marchers' security and rejecting the validity of the petitions collected by opposition groups. "We have not seen anything but disorganization and irresponsibility on the part of the organizers," said Carlos Bettiol, vice minister of public security.

Tuesday was the midpoint of Chavez's six-year term, the first day under which Venezuela's Constitution allows a recall vote. The recall is the third try by Chavez opponents to oust him, after a failed coup and a general strike, which hurt the country's crucial oil exports but did not topple the president. Venezuela is the third-largest oil exporter to the United States.

Opposition politicians, labor unions and business groups hoped to put an end to more than a year of turmoil with the recall vote after agreeing in May to use only legal means of trying to oust the president. Under the Constitution, opponents must collect valid signatures from 20 percent of voters to authorize a recall. "Obtaining those votes is not utopia, it is a reality," said Enrique Mendoza, a provincial governor and an opposition leader who aspires to replace Chavez. [End]