Loathed by the rich

[acmavm]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1278213,00.html

Why Hugo Chávez is heading for a stunning victory

Richard Gott in Caracas
Saturday August 7, 2004

<snip>

To the dismay of opposition groups in Venezuela, and to the surprise of international observers gathering in Caracas, President Hugo Chávez is about to secure a stunning victory on August 15, in a referendum designed to lead to his overthrow.

First elected in 1998 as a barely known colonel, armed with little more than revolutionary rhetoric and a moderate social-democratic programme, Chávez has become the leader of the emerging opposition in Latin America to the neo-liberal hegemony of the United States. Closely allied to Fidel Castro, he rivals the Cuban leader in his fierce denunciations of George Bush, a strategy that goes down well with the great majority of the population of Latin America, where only the elites welcome the economic and political recipes devised in Washington.

While Chávez has retained his popularity after nearly six years as president, support for overtly pro-US leaders in Latin America, such as Vicente Fox in Mexico and Alejandro Toledo in Peru, has dwindled to nothing. Even the fence-sitting President Lula in Brazil is struggling in the polls. The news that Chávez will win this month's referendum will be bleakly received in Washington.

<snip>
Yet their third attempt to derail the government is clearly doomed. The Chávez campaign to secure a "No" vote has struck the country like a whirlwind, playing to all his strengths as a military strategist and a political organiser. A voter registration drive, reminiscent of the attempt to put black people on the election roll in the United States in the 1960s, has produced hundreds of thousands of new voters. So too has a campaign to give citizenship to thousands of long-term immigrants. Most will favour Chávez, and Chávez supporters are already patrolling the shanty towns and the most remote areas of the country to get the vote out on August 15. One unexpected bonus for Chávez has been the dramatic and perhaps semi-permanent increase in the world oil price. As he explained to me a few days ago, he is now able to direct the extra revenues to the poor, both at home and abroad, for Venezuela supplies oil at a discount price to the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, including Cuba. Chávez celebrated his 50th birthday last month, and he has talked of soldiering on as president for years in order to see through the reforms he envisages. That is not such an improbable proposition.

-MORE-
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I'd be thinking about increasing the number of bodyguards if I were Chavez.

[4morewars]

1. Close the School of the Americas !!!!!

More here:

http://www.soaw.org/new/

Tell all your friends, thanks!

[bemildred]

2. Arms Cache Destined for Venezuela Intercepted in Brazil

Caracas, August 6, 2004-An arms cache valued at US$53
million discovered in Brazil last month has reopened
concern that Venezuela?s presidential referendum scheduled
for August 15th may be marred by violence. Initial
investigations by the Brazilian police proceeded under the
assumption that the weapons were headed to Colombia?s
FARC guerrillas. However, that hypothesis has been all but
discarded now due to the characteristics of the material
apprehended and logistical questions. The second line of
investigation now taking precedence suggests that the arms
were headed to an armed group in Venezuela, although it is
not clear whether the suspected group is pro-, or
anti-Chávez.

Discovered on July 15th in Brazil during a drug-bust,
recovered material included 15,058 cartridges of a calibre
used by the Brazilian Police, .50 calibre cartridges for
anti-aircraft guns used exclusively by the Brazilian military,
500 uniforms, and 5,000 electric detonators. The initial
Colombia hypothesis has been discarded largely for the
following reasons:

more

[bemildred]

3. Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic

Counterpunch article on polls in Venezuela, etc.

http://www.counterpunch.org/delacour08072004.html