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Hugo Chavez Presents President Obama With A Gift

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Let the Wingnuts Go Crazy Over This

You know they will.

Voters reject Chavez's referendum

As per CNN.com

Voters reject Chavez's referendum

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Venezuelans, by the slimmest of margins, rejected a constitutional referendum that would have allowed President Hugo Chavez to seek re-election indefinitely and tightened socialism's grip on the oil-rich Latin American nation.

By 51 percent to 49 percent, voters shot down a referendum that included 69 proposed amendments to the 1999 constitution, according to Monday reports from the National Electoral Council. In all, 9 million of Venezuela's 16 million eligible voters went to the polls.

"Don't feel sad. Don't feel burdened," Chavez told supporters after the results were announced.

In Washington, the White House applauded the vote.

"We congratulate the people of Venezuela on their vote and their continued desire to live in freedom and democracy," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Thousands of Venezuelans gathered in the streets of Caracas, many of them university students who worked to defeat the measure, and burst into singing their country's national anthem upon hearing the news. Watch what led to the referendum's defeat »

One of the more controversial proposed amendments would have abolished term limits, allowing the firebrand Chavez to hold office indefinitely as long as he is re-elected.

The 53-year-old Venezuelan president was voted into power in 1998 and has twice been re-elected by large margins. The present law prohibits Chavez from seeking re-election when his term ends in 2012.

Another amendment on the ballot would have pushed the country more toward socialism. The leftist Chavez has said he should have full authority over the autonomous Central Bank as well as the nation's economic policy. These measures, Chavez has said, are necessary to move the economy toward socialism.

Since winning a second six-year term in December, Chavez has promised to push forward with his particular brand of socialism and his "Bolivarian Revolution."

Chavez has used skyrocketing oil revenues, which reportedly account for about 90 percent of the nation's export earnings, to garner support in the country's poorer neighborhoods.

In Venezuela, the poor receive free health care and education, much like in Cuba, which is under the rule of Chavez's friend and mentor, President Fidel Castro.

In the last year, Chavez has nationalized oil, telephone and power companies and refused to renew the broadcast license for RCTV, an opposition television station that had been broadcasting for 53 years. The Venezuelan government later threatened to investigate broadcasters it said were inciting the public to violence over the decision.

Rest of article is here.







If Chavez does honestly and truly respect the vote, then he will be even more popular, and be able to diffuse his critics at the same time.

Will Chavez Pull The Trigger?

Hat tip: Los Angeles Times.

Will Chavez pull the trigger?
Venezuelans may give their president the power to restrict oil production -- and cause a global recession.
By Michael Rowan and Douglas Schoen
November 13, 2007


On Dec. 2, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez can tip the world into a recession.

On that day, if Venezuelan citizens pass the dozens of constitutional amendments on the ballot, Chavez will essentially be granted dictatorial powers -- an elected strongman reminiscent of Spain's Franco, Italy's Mussolini and Orwell's Big Brother. The day could easily deteriorate into one of violence, martial law and suspension of oil production, the latter calculated to inflict maximum damage on the U.S. economy.

With the price of oil hovering near $100 a barrel and markets skittish because of the sub-prime housing crisis (not to mention the stability of U.S. banks, the U.S. trade deficit, the weak dollar and deteriorating domestic consumer confidence), such a move on Chavez's part would go a long way in triggering a recession. An oil crisis during the Christmas season -- with its 40% share of annual retail sales -- would be especially detrimental in the U.S.

Rising oil prices have caused global recessions in the past. The Saudis and other oil-producing countries have tried to increase output to offset rising costs. But working against stability and for high oil prices are Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who are in a strategic alliance to push up the price of oil.

Oil economists calculate that on a supply-and-demand basis alone, the price of oil would be about $50; the remaining $45 in the current price is a political premium caused by uncertainty in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran's suspected nuclear plans, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and social unrest in Pakistan, Nigeria and Venezuela. But where the world sees a threat, Ahmadinejad and Chavez see opportunity: Civil discord lines their pockets.

In Chavez's eyes, a world economic crisis would prove that capitalism is a failure and the U.S.' "evil empire" is historically over. Chavez's Bolivarian socialist economic order would supposedly move to the forefront. For his part, Ahmadinejad can use world chaos to gain hegemonic strength in the Middle East. The two, working in cahoots, could then reach out to partners in Syria and elsewhere in the region.

Chavez is a brilliant military strategist who has reportedly spent or committed $110 billion since 2004 (an amount equivalent in today's dollars to what the U.S. spent in the Marshall Plan after World War II) in political investments in the Americas and elsewhere. His plan is to spread the revolution against capitalism and the United States. So far, he has a string of victories to show for it. Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua are already in his camp; Argentina owes him $5 billion, and his candidates came within 1% of winning elections in Mexico and Costa Rica in 2006.

Alarmingly, Chavez is also building support in the U.S. He subsidizes winter oil available for up to 2 million American families in 17 states and promotes his revolution through photo-ops with celebrities such as Sean Penn and Naomi Campbell and dealings with politicians such as Jimmy Carter and Joseph P. Kennedy II. He has retained consulting firms connected to such politicians as Jack Kemp and Rudy Giuliani.

Chavez has succeeded because he was grossly underestimated by his opponents. It's happening even now. The Bush administration has ignored Chavez in the hope that he would go away or that his neighbors would isolate him. But he has done just the opposite and isolated the U.S. within the Americas.

Rest of article is here.

This article interested me for several reasons.

1. I've been watching Chavez work his ' magic' in Latin America, with respect. He really is the modern day incarnation of Fidel Castro - but, with OIL,which makes all the difference.

2. The way that Chavez has opened his doors to the President of Iran. For one of our ' enemies - over there' to have such a good friend ' over here', in this hemisphere, can't be too good for us.

3. I'm wondering when the rumblings will begin about military action in Venezuela - you know it's coming, people.

4. Our dependence upon oil is truly beginning to bite us seriously, and the proposition that Chavez could manipulate things on such a scale as this, well, shows the present vulnerability of the United States.

5. Is he a dictator if the people give him the power? Hmmmm.....

December 2nd could be a very interesting day indeed.