Recently in Chavez Category
Updated: Reuters now reports that Chavez has lost!
The "No" camp won with about 51 percent of the vote, beating the anti-U.S. president who scored around 49 percent support, election officials said early on Monday.Celebrations immediately erupted throughout Caracas with caravans of opposition activists cheering, honking horns and waving flags out of car windows. Many said Venezuela had narrowly escaped the imposition of authoritarian rule.
Congratulations to the Venezuelan People!
_______________________________________________________________
...over the Venezuelan people.
Via Reuters/Yahoo:
Chavez wins close Venezuela vote, say ministers
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed for victory on Sunday in a referendum on allowing the leftist to rule for as long as he keeps winning elections, three government ministers said, citing early data.Exit polls and early counts by party members showed the anti-U.S. leader won by at least six percentage points in a vote where turnout was low, said the three ministers, who asked not to be named.
I'll go out on a limb and predict that we'll be hearing some reasons why the turnout was so low, and it wasn't apathy.
Not everyone agrees with the unnamed minister's assessment, though, and I fear that there are some rough times ahead in Venezuela:
"They are trying to create rumors to present themselves as winners, as victors," Andres Velasquez, an opposition leader said. "We want to deny it categorically, emphatically."
If you haven't been following, much is at stake:
If approved, the referendum vote on a raft of reforms would allow Chavez -- in office since 1999 -- to run for reelection indefinitely, control foreign currency reserves, appoint loyalists over regional elected officials and censor the media if he declares an emergency.Chavez has said he wants to rule for life and turn the major oil exporter into a socialist state.
I wonder if the irony is wasted on the left here, who have been claiming for years that Bush would set himself up as dictator for life even though there's never been any evidence to support it, yet supported and praised Chavez throughout his mad grab for power.
