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Thanks for the article.

Unfortunately, this attorney does not seem to understand that a socialist dictator does not bother the international media; for a good example, see Castro. The international media has more important issues, e.g., (a) criticizing the US, (b) creating a stronger UN, (c) making US law subject to the world court, (d) disarming citizens, (e) population control and other left wing goals.

Chavez is a goofy but dangerous dictator with much admiration for Fidel and his ilk. He has, indeed, damaged Venezuela greatly. It seems likely that an unholy alliance exists between the narco-terrorists in and around Columbia and all manner of fasco-communists such as Chavez, Fidel (and, it must be said, the IRA).

Throw Brazil into the mix and things could really ugly rather soon.

On the other hand, it seems the US is doing a decent job letting Brazil percolate for awhile and squeezing Chavez while the IRA has clammed up a bit and Fidel soon enough will go on to his hellish reward ....

Unfortunely, the Fellow travelers (the Marxists) shall turn a deaf ear to this (like they did w/ POL POT)...an internal problem...none of our business...(like they did w/ HILTER)...another internal problem...none of our business, but the minute, we try to help freedom-loving people fight an dictatorship...the Marxist Press (and/or Lawyers) who*es will scream bloody murder...WHY DO THE PRESS AND LAWYERS ALWAY CURL-UP TO STALINIST MARXIST DICTATORS?...Birds of an Feather, Flock together....Hmmmm

There will be a referendum in August on Chavez, is this correct?

Is there another chance to save Democracy for Venezuala?

Venezuela's conflict

No end to the pain

Feb 6th 2003
From The Economist print edition

Hugo Chávez's hollow victory spells wider problems

ONLY a generation ago, Venezuela was as rich as Spain. The country was widely hailed as one of Latin America's more solid and egalitarian democracies. It is extremely hard to believe that now. Years of decline have culminated in an extraordinary spectacle of self-destruction.

For the past two months, President Hugo Chávez stood unyielding as a broad opposition coalition sustained a general strike aimed at ousting him. The oil industry, the source of 14% of the United States's oil imports, was all but paralysed, contributing to an increase of $5 in the world oil price. Venezuela's economy shrank by 8.5% last year, not much less than stricken Argentina's. This year, with political conflict set to continue for many months, independent economists forecast a further shrinkage in GDP of 10-20%.

This desolation puts the proud claim of “victory” which Mr Chávez made last weekend in proper perspective. He has successfully faced down the strikers; most have given up, and the diehards in Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company, look close to doing so. The president has survived. But Venezuela itself has paid a heavy price for his victory.

Naturally, this is not how Mr Chávez and his supporters see it. In their view, a president who was elected twice and survived a military coup last April is a tribune of the poor who has defeated a small group of fascists and oligarchs which sought to remove him by unconstitutional means.

The opposition certainly faces some hard questions. It underestimated Mr Chávez, who probably still enjoys the support of one Venezuelan in three. It seemed to hope that the strike would provoke the army to force the president to negotiate. The generals failed to oblige. And although the opposition organised a do-it-yourself referendum, in which it claims 4m people voted for Mr Chávez to leave office, its own leadership lacks credibility. Devoid of a coherent programme beyond anti-Chavismo, the opposition relies too much on the newspapers and TV stations it owns to take the place of political parties. Rather than dragging out the strike, it would have done better to work for the “recall referendum” on the presidency which the constitution allows from next August.

Mr Chávez, a former army officer and coup leader, has proved adept at turning the mistakes of his opponents to his own advantage. During four years in office, he has methodically added to his power. He brought in a new constitution which gave him control over the country's political institutions and enabled him to extend his term until 2006. Last April's failed coup gave him control over the armed forces. Now the failure of the strike will increase his power yet again. He is close to gaining control of PDVSA, not least by refusing to take back 5,000 sacked oil strikers (see article). The strike also prompted the government to impose foreign-exchange controls, thereby giving it new power over the private sector, including the media. And because the defection of judges had imperilled his hold over the supreme court, Mr Chávez now proposes to expand its size. That could make it easier for the president to obstruct a speedy, free and fair vote in the recall election, if one is allowed to take place.

Onward to a referendum

It is now essential that one should take place. The opposition may exaggerate when it says that Mr Chávez wants to turn his country into another Cuba. He claims he is not against capitalism—just local capitalists. But he already acts like an elected version of that familiar Latin America figure, the military caudillo (see article). The future he offers Venezuela looks ominously like that of a backward satrapy of six-hour monologues from an all-powerful “revolutionary” windbag. For all the corruption and errors of the governments that preceded Mr Chávez, it is hard to imagine that this is the destiny of a large and fairly modern country. But oil, Mr Chávez's cunning, and his opponents' incompetence, are pushing that way.

All the evidence is that most Venezuelans want their country to remain a democracy, and that most believe that Mr Chávez is no longer governing as a democrat. If Venezuela fails to return to full democracy, the damage will spread beyond its own borders, sending a malign signal to the weaker democracies of Latin America. Brazil and Mexico, and even Colombia or Argentina, have distinctive political histories, and are probably immune to Chavismo. But the likes of Ecuador or Bolivia may not be. In setting up a six-country group to mediate in Venezuela's conflict, Brazil has recognised the problem. The mediators' aim should be to ensure a free and fair vote, preferably in August. Venezuelans deserve the chance to halt their own decline. Latin American strongmen and their ersatz “revolutions” have brought little but misery to countries that could otherwise prosper

More Neo-Stalinist/Communist/Totalitarian trouble.

There seem to be more hot spots erupting all at once. What the hell was Klintoon doing for 8 years?

Oh, nevermind.

I think we are seeing our future being played out in Venezuela. We should watch what they do right and learn from what they do wrong. It will come in handy.

Been there, seen it, lived through it right here in Panama. Until someone steps forward with cojones as leader of the opposition, nothing is going to happen to relieve the situation. It going to get worse.

Bumped for later reading.