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...last? Poor Venezuelans know from experience the pain of the bust that follows a boom, and with oil hovering around $40 a barrel some of Chávez's socialist agenda will surely face cuts after the referendum. Many people have begun asking why the radical who so boldly stands up to the U.S. can't confront the violent crime that plagues the country and leaves scores dead each weekend. "I know in my heart that life is better here than it was 10 years ago," says Tobías Caravallo, 42, who owns an electronics repair shop...
Polls suggest that Chávez has a narrow lead. Places such as La Silsa are likely to decide the outcome - though in a previous plebiscite, in 2007, his supporters failed to turn out in big enough numbers and voters rejected scrapping term limits, among other proposals. But even if Chávez fails a second time, few doubt he'll try again before 2012. Fans say he needs to complete his revolutionary goals. "He's leading a transformation of our society," says Chávez's former ambassador to the U.S., Bernardo Alvarez. "And we should let voters...
However you see it, ending term limits seems increasingly popular around Latin America. Chávez remains the standard-bearer of the region's resurgent left; and after his first attempt to change the constitution, leftist Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador had their own term limits relaxed by popular vote. Colombia's conservative President, Alvaro Uribe, won't deny that he hopes to engineer a constitutional fix letting him seek a third term when his second mandate ends next year. The trend has democracy watchdogs fretful about a return of the Latin caudillo. (See pictures...
...despite his authoritarian image, Chávez is not a dictator nor a 21st century Castro. He's been democratically elected three times, subjected himself to a 2004 recall vote (which he defeated) and permits a noisy opposition press. But John Walsh, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America, an independent think tank, says Chávez's political hegemony already threatens checks and balances on the government. Like other analysts, Walsh points to the hundreds of opposition politicos, like López, barred from running in regional elections last year due to obscure corruption charges leveled...
...opposition, whose leadership includes holdovers from the corrupt élite Chávez overthrew, has done little to offer a viable political alternative. Its weakness is another reason Chavistas insist their hero should be able to run again. "Chávez is the only leader who can hold all the nation's poles together,' says Tarek William Saab, the pro-Chavez governor of Anzoategui state on Venezuela's eastern coast. "His opponents are panicked because they know they can't win if he's the candidate." Former Chávez Information Minister Andrés Izarra says fear that...