Word: chavez
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...Still, unlimited re-election is another matter. More of a concern, says Jones, is the reason that Chavez's measure will probably pass. Jones notes that one of the fundamental weaknesses of Chavez's leftist, anti-U.S. Bolivarian Revolution is "its inordinate dependence on Chavez, its one-man-show aspect. If he were to leave the scene, there's a feeling the whole revolution would unravel tomorrow." That's why Chavez supporters, especially the majority poor who feel politically and economically enfranchised for perhaps the first time in the nation's history, may be more prone to give...
...Hugo Chavez was being re-elected to a second six-year term as Venezuela's President last December, I had a long talk with National Assembly Deputy and constitutional lawyer Carlos Escarra inside the legislature's colonial-era chamber in downtown Caracas. Escarra, a close Chavez ally, is a driving force behind the campaign to eliminate presidential term limits in Venezuela - a reform that Chavez's critics fear would let him rule for life and create a left-wing dictatorship...
...admit, I said, given Latin America's brutally autocratic history, that whenever an oil-rich, radical populist like Chavez makes it easier for himself to rule indefinitely, it raises more flags than a Caribbean regatta. "But we're not Cuba," Escarra insisted. "How many times do we have to prove that? President Chavez has now won three elections [including his original 1998 victory] and a recall referendum, and all were declared transparent by international observers. So he could still lose the next election [in 2012] because it's still up to a majority of the voters...
...Escarra was telling me then what Chavez himself told his critics this week from his lectern at the National Assembly, as he formally proposed the term-limit reform and a host of other constitutional changes: "I recommend," said Chavez, "that they take a Valium." In other words, Chill out. If French Presidents can seek re-election indefinitely, say the chavistas, why can't Venezuela's? If Americans could re-elect Franklin Roosevelt four times, they ask, why can't we re-elect Chavez as many times...
...hand, they've got a point. If Chavez had a reputation for winning the presidential palace by trashing the ballot box - like, say, most Mexican Presidents of the 20th century - then the news this week would be genuinely alarming and the Bush Administration's attempts to pair Hugo with his buddy Fidel Castro might be more credible. But respected groups like the Carter Center in Atlanta have deemed his victories fair, the result of a remarkably incompetent Venezuelan opposition rather than rigged voting. And rather than ramrod the constitutional amendments by fiat, he'll put them to a national referendum...