Word: chavez
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Floods and earthquakes usually spell political trouble for Latin American strongmen, but Venezuela's killer flood may affirm the popularity of President Hugo Chavez. The former paratrooper, who once served jail time for a failed coup attempt, personally took command of 1,000 elite paratroopers over the weekend and supervised the delivery of disaster relief. By deploying the military throughout the country to help Venezuela cope with the devastation that has killed at least 10,000 people, Chavez appears to be delivering on his populist commitment to share the oil-rich country's resources more equitably. And to underscore...
...Although he has alarmed the country's traditional elites as well as foreign investors with his left-leaning policies and his overt admiration for Cuba's President Fidel Castro, Chavez last week received a ringing endorsement from his electorate when 72 percent of voters supported his new constitution in a referendum. The constitution entrenches the president's power and allows him to potentially remain in office until 2012. It also affirms state ownership of Venezuela's oil industry, which Chavez hopes will fuel his "new economy" that redistributes wealth among the poor. While the flood is a win-win scenario...
...lineup in a friendly baseball game against Venezuela last week following a summit between the two countries. Ever the prankster, Castro slowly replaced his starting team of retired players with ringers from the country's championship Pan Am Games squad. Venezuela's team was led by President Hugo Chavez, 45, a fellow revolutionary who took office in February after having spent time in prison following a failed 1992 military coup. Acting as starting pitcher, Chavez walked two batters and gave up three runs in the first inning; he finished the game at first base. A former ball player, Castro...
...something seems awry with the picture of big business as the underdog, there is. Chamber president Thomas J. Donahue, who paints himself as a flip-side Cesar Chavez launching a grassroots campaign, argues that office-seekers will buckle to the onslaught of labor PAC money unless business catches up. However, an assessment of the 1998 election cycle by the Center for Responsive Politics, a middle-of-the-road think tank, found that businesses outspent labor unions 11 to 1 in federal campaign contributions. This underdog is no Chihuahua...
...Chavez scored an important victory Monday when the Constitutional Assembly, elected in July to draw up a new constitution, effectively dissolved the country?s center-right-controlled parliament. The protests of opposition legislators won?t resonate with the electorate, who are still overwhelmingly behind the 45-year-old former paratrooper and failed coup leader. "Most Venezuelans support Chavez because the country?s traditional parties were so corrupt," says TIME Latin America bureau chief Tim McGirk. But enthused though they may be by Chavez's promise to share the country?s oil wealth with the impoverished majority, they may be disappointed...