Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘hugo chavez’

Hugo Chavez is trying again to become dictator-for-life, after being narrowly defeated last time around. Venezuelans vote in a referendum this Sunday to get rid of term limits. Observers are pessimistic that the opposition will be able to pull off a miracle a second time, but polls are close enough to think that the “no” side at least has a fighting chance.

Meanwhile, without George W. Bush in office anymore, Chavez has redirected his efforts towards the world’s favourite scapegoat: Venezuela’s Jewish community. In the past few years, antisemitism in Venezuela has reached staggering levels, and there’s every indication that things are only going to get worse.

Hugo Chavez’s referendum on his bid to become a sweeping dictator was narrowly defeated, 51% No to 49% Yes. (Hmmm, what other referendum do those results remind you of?)

The defeat was astonishing, particularly because Chavez had pulled pretty much every trick in the book to stack the deck, from bribing people with promises of a shorter workday and more pensions, to shooting protestors, to shutting down all non-state-run media. Didn’t he read the chapter in the megalomaniac how-to book on how to stuff the ballot boxes?

People are breathing easier today. But Chavez isn’t one to be graceful in defeat. What will happen next is anyone’s guess.

If you picked this week, you may want to start mentally planning what you’re going to do with all the cash. The secrecy surrounding Castro’s condition would seem to indicate that he’s going from bad to worse.

Luckily for Fidel, he’s already managed to pass his revolutionary torch.

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: Protests against the Left. In Venezuela, tens of thousands of protesters are marching to support a giant strike against President Hugo Chavez.

This isn’t exactly breaking news. Chavez hasn’t been winning too many popularity contests for a while now. But it occurs to me that we tend to associate large-scale strike or protest movements with the Left, but in this case, they’re protesting because they consider Chavez too far left.

Pro- and anti-Chavez demonstrations have taken place almost daily during the work stoppage called by business, labour and opposition politicians on Dec. 2 to force Chavez to resign or submit to early elections.

They say Chavez’s leftist policies and autocratic style have ruined the Venezuelan economy.

With all our focus on the Mideast, it’s easy to lose sight of important developments in other parts of the world. But the situation in Venezuela is getting more out of control by the day, and certainly merits a close watch.