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Last updated on July 13th, 2017 at 01:31 pm
Venezuelans vote against Hugo Chavez’s plan to abolish term limits, among other power grabs:
The outcome is a stunning development in a country where Mr. Chávez and his supporters control nearly all of the levers of power. Almost immediately after the results were broadcast on state television, Mr. Chávez conceded defeat, describing the results as a “photo finish.”
Quico says: “Venezuela rejects authoriarianism. It’s a historic day. The myth of Chávez-the-invincible is no more.”
Thank God for decent people! Hopefully Chavez doesn’t have a snit, and do something stupid.
Of course, I’m sure that leftie idiots everywhere will still heart this swine, in spite of his blatant grab for dictatorial powers.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 03 at 03:14 AM • permalink
“…leftie idiots everywhere will still heart this swine, in spite of his blatant grab for dictatorial powers.”
Because of his blatant grab, Jeffs.
World ain’t gonna change itself y’know.Posted by ooh honey honey on 2007 12 03 at 03:38 AM • permalink
I am sure those who said no are being rounded up as we type.
Posted by surfmaster on 2007 12 03 at 03:38 AM • permalink
World ain’t gonna change itself y’know.
Touché, ooh honey honey. Touché!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 12 03 at 03:52 AM • permalink
This made me smile after a day of enduring wall to wall MSM brown nosing of Rudd for signing Kyoto.
Posted by CanberraNeoCon on 2007 12 03 at 04:31 AM • permalink
I despise Chavez, and my colleagues from Venezuela swear that he is the devil. But I have to admit that I did not expect him to concede or accept defeat. So some credit must be given to him for that. What ever his many faults – economic idiocy, populist demogaugary, ideological extremism, meglomania, squandering vast oil profits to spread neo-marxist ideology and the accompanying misery etc. etc. – we cannot call him a dictator, in the full sense of the word (my Venezuelan colleagues would never concede that). I hope I do not speak too soon. Chavez may very well have something up his sleave – I don’t trust him at all. But, as we continue to lament his faults, we cannot continue to call him a dictator (overbearing and authoritarian – yes, but not a dictator).
Posted by John in Tokyo on 2007 12 03 at 04:47 AM • permalink
In other news, yet another endorsement of the economy inherited by Labor:
New federal Treasurer Wayne Swan says after his first week of department briefings he remains optimistic about the future of the Australian economy.
It’s on YOUR ABC who fail to note the irony.
Swan. What a useless, tyre-kicking, wannabee.
Posted by Abu Chowdah on 2007 12 03 at 06:32 AM • permalink
I am surprised that Chavez has yet to blame the CIA and the U.S. of course now he has an escuse to blame all his economic problems on the fact that he lost the vote.
Posted by Torontosteve on 2007 12 03 at 07:24 AM • permalink
We all need to raise a toast to King Juan Carlos. Without his “porque no te callas?” to Hugo this would not have hapened.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2007 12 03 at 08:18 AM • permalink
Well said.
I despise Chavez because he’s a socialist and he’s virulently anti-American, but he’s certainly not acting like a dictator in this particular case.
We’ll see what happens over the long haul.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 12 03 at 08:22 AM • permalink
#25 Bingley: I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you are right about that. His Most Catholic Majesty’s snub made Hugo look like a chump (or rather, helped to reveal to the world the kind of chump that he is).
As to losing the referendum: what an amateur! Good thing Castro was too sick to give him detailed instructions on how to run something like this.
#27: One of the many little ironies of the Kyoto negotiations is that the Chinese (who have signed and ratified) are planting bio-fuel crops – several million acres (an area about the size of the state of Louisiana) of bio-fuel crops. Not in some wasteland mind you, but in an area now covered by forest.
Yes, the Chinese are clear-felling millions of acres of forest in order to create Kyoto offsets. Of course clear felling forest causes far more (an order of magnitude more) CO2 (and NO2) to be released into the atmosphere than could ever be saved by the creation of bio-fuels.
(This information is from a Heritage Foundation podcast on biofuels I was listening to the other day)
Chavez told his people that a “no” vote was a vote for George Bush. When does Chavez appeal to the Florida Supreme Court?
Posted by Some0Seppo on 2007 12 03 at 11:01 AM • permalink
That was close. It’s always been comforting to know (and damning to say) that no population has ever voted itself Communist in a free and fair election. This plebiscite would have been just that—a bold-faced victory for a Marxist by majority vote.
That was his mistake. He should’ve prefaced the referendum with another to rule that all you need is 1/3 of the vote to win. Or, less facetiously, a third choice on the ballot so he could claim to win by plurality.
Shoulda studied his Lenin, Ortega, Allende, and Hitler a little more closely.
Posted by Rittenhouse on 2007 12 03 at 11:40 AM • permalink
I got rid of my Yugo years ago.
Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 12 03 at 02:23 PM • permalink
- A hyena can’t change his stripes.
So to speak.Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 12 03 at 03:56 PM • permalink
#11—But I have to admit that I did not expect him to concede or accept defeat.
No, neither did I. Next time he won’t bother with, or submit to, such democratic niceties.
As I’ve said in the past and no doubt will say again in future, this biofuels nonsense will turn out to be one of the biggest, most costly mistakes we’ve ever made.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 12 03 at 04:37 PM • permalink
I predict that he will “discover” that the CIA was tampering with the election results and that he, did, in fact, win.
Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2007 12 03 at 05:35 PM • permalink
After all, he set that up earlier, with that whole “a vote against him is a vote for Bush and the CIA” nonsense. Wasn’t he complaining about a CIA operation going on, too?
Posted by MikeTheLibrarian on 2007 12 03 at 05:37 PM • permalink
I think it’s more likely that he will blame the Jews for his loss
Police raid Venezuela Jewish center
And from the Guardian letters:
‘We call on the international community to respect the outcome of the coming referendum and support the sovereign and democratic right of the Venezuelan people to self-determination.’
Ken Livingstone
Colin Burgon MP
Chair, Labour Friends of Venezuela
Jon Cruddas MP
Treasurer, Labour Friends of Venezuela
Harold Pinter, Tony Benn, Ken Loach, Diane Abbott MP, David Chaytor MP, Julie Morgan MP, Lembit Opik MP, Linda Riordan MP, Caroline Lucas MEP
Billy HayesNICE to know they will ‘respect ’ the results of the referendum is it not?
- #11:
Watch Chavez over the next 2 years. I will bet he’s not going to take this decision.
He’ll declare himself president for life within 24 months.
He’s following the same script all dictators do. And I’ll bet John Pilger will say it’s justified when he finally does declare himself president for life.
What does a would-be dictator do when the vote is 80/20% against him?
If he fudges the polls so he wins (as was the plan with a 60/40% loss) then there will be a mass uprising against him, as the ballot-rigging will be too obvious to ignore.
So he takes a loss – but by the smallest possible margin, thereby gaining credibility. 51 to 49. As long as it’s a loss, no-one will protest too much.
The only minor problem is stopping the canned announcements of victory, some might leak through before everybody gets the word.
Anthea Jones, a PhD student from Canberra University, says there is still enormous support for Hugo Chavez’s vision.
ANTHEA JONES: Education and universities – the majority of universities is free, completely free and you even have a lot of support that we don’t have here in Australia such as students can go and have a fairly decent meal at university for about I think it was 150-Bolivars which is, I don’t know, about 20 cents.
But the students attending said universities are less impressed by eight-cent meals and the Bolivarian Revolution:
Marches, beats, press conferences, tear gas, government attacks, and everything else university students lived over the last five months was rewarded early on Monday, when the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that most Venezuelans said NO to President Hugo Chávez’s proposed changes to the Constitution.
Amidst a joyful celebration, at the headquarters of the No bloc electoral command, the outgoing president of the Federation of Students’ Councils, Central University of Venezuela, Stalin González, urged Venezuelans to celebrate the victory with moderation. [small picture]
If I had the money I’d set up a ‘scholarship’ for the likes of Ms Jones to study in Venezuela.
“ANTHEA JONES: Education and universities – the majority of universities is free, completely free and you even have a lot of support that we don’t have here in Australia such as students can go and have a fairly decent meal at university for about I think it was 150-Bolivars which is, I don’t know, about 20 cents.”
The socialists are destroying the economy (which was none too robust to begin with), just as they always do.
Washington Post article from earlier this year…
“CARACAS, Venezuela—Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices.”
“President Hugo Chavez’s administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Authorities on Wednesday raided a warehouse in Caracas and seized seven tons of sugar hoarded by vendors unwilling to market the inventory at the official price.”
“Major private supermarkets suspended sales of beef earlier this week after one chain was shut down for 48 hours for pricing meat above government-set levels, but an agreement reached with the government on Wednesday night promises to return meat to empty refrigerator shelves.”
“Shortages have sporadically appeared with items from milk to coffee since early 2003…”
It’ll keep getting worse as time goes on.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 12 03 at 08:58 PM • permalink
From 30 Nov 07:
With signs emerging that even Hugo Chavez’s supporters and allies are uncomfortable with his proposed constitutional reforms, the Chavistas are blaming a reliable old boogeyman:
“Well, what a surprise. It is now being reported that a CIA memo from the US Embassy in Caracas has been intercepted. It contains a detailed plan of destabilization activities leading up to, and following, the current referendum.”
Via Damian Penny; to answer #24 Torontosteve.
Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 12 04 at 03:07 AM • permalink
The leftoids will simply say something on the lines of “see, Hugo believes in democracy unlike the fascist dictator Chimpy McHitlerstein”, etc, etc, etc. I guess Hugo will have to resort to burning down the parliament or something. Perhaps he can just appoint a new electorate?