Chavez was tooting his horn a bit early it seems
Chavez has now accepted his defeat in the attempt to be “President for Life”
Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.
That said, I have no doubt Chavez is working on a way to extend his rule and silence opposition via some contrived “emergency”. There is always another method for dictators to gain absolute power….
Chavez still wields special decree powers thanks to a pliant National Assembly packed with his supporters.
It is interesting WHO stands against Chavez and socialism:
Foes of the reform effort – including Roman Catholic leaders, media freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders – said it would have granted Chavez unchecked power and imperiled basic rights.
This group also includes university students. Do they know something our university students and human rights groups in the USA do not? But then, naive advocating of totalitarian socialism in the US is a lot different from being forced to exist under it.
The defeated reform package would have created new types of communal property, let Chavez handpick local leaders under a redrawn political map and suspended civil liberties during extended states of emergency. Without the overhaul, Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012.
This election was a huge victory for Freedom and Liberty and a defeat for socialism. However, the People of Venezuela are not out of the woods yet. Chavez is a dictator at heart and as I stated above, I have no doubt he will try to weasel his way into more power via an “emergency”. Freedom must be eternally vigilant against dictators like Chavez and socialist slavery.
Before the vote Chavez denounced anyone who supported the “NO” position as a “traitor” and tool of the Imperialist U.S.
As he has in the past, will he know use state run businesses and the police to punish opponents?
He already has the national legislature rigged and expanded the number of seats on the Supreme Court so he could pack it with his appointees. The only thing he really needed was the ability to run again when his term expires in 2012 and take direct control of the National Bank.
Sean Penn, Ed Asner, Jesse Jackson, Noam Chomsky, Cindy Sheehan and friends need not worry. Even though the Venezuelan people rejected Castro style imprisonment, Chavez has plenty of cards left up his sleeve.
In the end, Chavez also has the “Che” card: He could simply kill the opposition until there are none left in power to oppose him. US Leftists will, of course, look away from this….again.
The good news and bad news are the same; Chavez will be President until 2012.