Word: vez
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...Chávez is a very Latin American problem. Like his hero Simón Bolívar, he thinks he is indispensable to Venezuela, an oil-rich country that has terrible internal problems, most notably a lack of durable democratic institutions and entrenched economic inequality. In fact, he was originally an army paratrooper who became famous in 1992 when he attempted to overthrow the constitutional government in a failed coup d’etat. Old habits die hard...
...following years, Chávez has worked within the system and eventually accessed power democratically in 1998, mainly supported by the urban lower classes. During his decade in power, he has made Venezuela a stronghold of anti-Americanism and political radicalism. A visionary critic of the Washington Consensus, he initially pledged to end Venezuelan inequality. After nationalizing oil contracts in the country and forcing out foreign investors, he has used the money for lavish projects in Venezuela that have bought him unprecedented support...
...Chávez has also used Venezuela’s petroleum wealth to extend his influence in the region while the Bush administration focused elsewhere. In particular, he has invested in his ideological allies in the region, including Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Evo Morales’s Bolivia, and Rafael Correa’s Ecuador. But, for all his hatred of the United States, Chávez remains a dutiful producer of oil for American consumption, delivering over a million barrels a day to the evil superpower in the north. As a result, he has become an unfortunate...
...some reports, he has already spent close to a third of the central bank’s assets. These unsustainable spending patterns would effectively doom the country’s future in the event of a crisis in confidence like the one that would follow a Chávez victory next week...
...Chávez is attempting to delay the painful but inevitable hard choices in the sphere of Venezuelan political economy until after the referendum. Much like the German parliamentary elections of 1933, this referendum is a high-stakes gamble for absolute political hegemony. With his grip on state power, it would be very hard to remove him democratically once indefinite re-election is constitutionally allowed. So nothing less than Venezuela’s democratic institutions are on the line. But, if Venezuelans manage to reject Chavez’s delusions of autocracy once more, there will most likely...