Ready for a Recall Vote (Chávez writing in WP!)

mods, i know this is an op-ed piece, but given that it's written by chávez and the storm it will almost certainly create, i felt this was news in itself. feel free to move/lock if u disagree

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55957-2004May25.html

Ready for a Recall Vote

By Hugo Chavez
Wednesday, May 26, 2004; Page A27

CARACAS, Venezuela -- For the first 24 hours of the coup d'etat that briefly overthrew my government on April 11, 2002, I expected to be executed at any moment.

The coup leaders told Venezuela and the world that I hadn't been overthrown but rather had resigned. I expected that my captors would soon shoot me in the head and call it a suicide.

Instead, something extraordinary happened. The truth about the coup got out, and millions of Venezuelans took to the streets. Their protests emboldened the pro-democracy forces in the military to put down the brief dictatorship, led by Venezuelan business leader Pedro Carmona.

The truth saved my life, and with it Venezuela's democracy. This near-death experience changed me. I wish I could say it changed my country.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55981-2004May25.html

Mr. Chavez's Claim

Wednesday, May 26, 2004; Page A26

IN A COLUMN on the opposite page Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez makes the remarkable assertion that he hopes his opponents will succeed in triggering a recall referendum that could cut short his term in office. Remarkable, because polls consistently show that Mr. Chavez would lose the referendum -- less than 40 percent of the population supports his eccentric, quasi-authoritarian populism. Contrary to his claims, he has impoverished as well as polarized his country: Venezuela's per capita income has declined by a quarter in the six years he has been in office, and the poor are worse off than ever.

More to the point, the president's words conflict with his actions. He has spent the past year doing everything in his power to prevent a democratic vote on his tenure -- and has repeatedly vowed that no referendum will take place.

So why would Mr. Chavez claim otherwise? Because the latest propaganda strategy of this would-be "Bolivarian revolutionary" is to portray a complicated petition verification process scheduled for this weekend as an impartial procedure whose outcome should be accepted as a fair resolution of the country's political conflict. In fact, the procedure should not be taking place at all: It is the result of an attempt by Mr. Chavez's appointees to invalidate on bogus technicalities 1.6 million out of 3.4 million signatures the opposition collected to trigger the recall election. By all rights, the election should have occurred months ago, because the opposition gathered 1 million more signatures than required by the constitution and has now collected more than enough signatures for a recall vote on two occasions. Instead, after protracted wrangling, authorities have set aside two days in which hundreds of thousands of would-be voters must return to confirm their signatures. Unless at least 600,000 manage to do so despite numerous procedural obstacles and intimidation by government goon squads, Mr. Chavez and his cronies will declare the recall a failure.

...

From: Venezuela Information Office <vio@veninfo.org>
Date: Wed May 26, 2004 3:08:44 pm Europe/London
To: vsglist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: ACTION ALERT! Write to the Washington Post!

ACTION ALERT:
CONTACT THE WASHINGTON POST TO SUPPORT DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA

Today, 26 May 2004, the Washington Post ran an Op-Ed by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez calling on the opposition and the Bush administration to commit to
respect the results of the signature repair process that will take place this
coming weekend The Op-Ed is available online at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55957-2004May25.html, and is
included at the end of this e-mail.

Opposite the Op-Ed, the Washington Post's editorial page printed a factually
inaccurate attack on the Venezuelan government (This editorial is available at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55981-2004May25.html).
Moreover, the Op-Ed will undoubtedly provoke a flurry of e-mail from right-wing
radicals in the U.S. seeking to spread misinformation about Venezuela.

Therefore, the Venezuela Information Office is asking people to write
publishable letters to the editor of the Washington Post, in order to provide
factual information about recent events in Venezuela and point out the factual
inaccuracies contained in the Post's editorial.

GUIDELINES FOR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
--Send to: letters@washpost.com.
--Remember to include your home address and evening and daytime telephone
numbers.
--Letters to the editor should no longer than 200 words long -- the shorter the
better (roughly one-third of a page, single-spaced, maximum).
--Mention in your letter the date and title of the Op-Ed you are responding to.

If you would like help drafting or editing your letter to the editor, please do
not hesitate to contact the Venezuela Information Office at vio@veninfo.org or
202-737-6637, x.27.
__________________________________________________________________
In your letter, you may want to discuss on one or more of the following points:

--While the Hugo Chávez and other Venezuelan government officials have
repeatedly pledged to respect the rule of law and obey the upcoming ruling by
Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE), the opposition and the Bush
administration have yet to offer such a guarantee.

--Opposition leaders, including former President Carlos Andres Perez and former
union leader Carlos Ortega, have recently made statements suggesting they plan
to once again resort to violence in their drive to unseat Hugo Chavez. This
raises the alarming possibility of renewed political violence in Venezuela.

--Venezuela remains a democracy.
-Hugo Chavez was elected in both 1998 and 2000 in elections declared free
and fair by international observers.

-The opposition controls 48 percent of the seats in Congress and regularly
blocks legislation supported by the government.

-The Supreme Court is independent, and has repeatedly ruled against Hugo
Chávez, finding his land reform decrees unconstitutional and releasing from
prison military officers charged with participating in the 2002 coup.

-The Venezuelan media is completely free, and attacks Chávez in the
harshest of terms on a daily basis

-The opposition regularly holds large, peaceful demonstrations without fear
of police harassment.

--The Chávez administration has implemented a wide variety of new social
programs benefiting poor Venezuelans. These include clinics in impoverished
neighborhoods, new schools, adult literacy classes, infrastructure projects in
poor areas, and land reform.

--The opposition blames Chávez for Venezuela's economic woes; in fact, the
country fell into economic decline in the 1980s due to mismanagement and
corruption. The economy has been no worse under Chávez than under his
predecessors. Moreover, the single most economically destructive event in
recent Venezuelan history was last year's opposition shutdown of the state oil
company, which cost the economy billions of dollars.

--The Bush administration supported the 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez. U.S.
officials continue to make very hostile statements about the Chávez
administration, and have said that they will not accept anything other than a
recall referendum, regardless of whether the legal requirements for such a vote
have been fulfilled. The administration should declare its support for
Venezuela's independent electoral authorities and pledge to abide by their
decision.

--The editorial response to Chávez's Op-Ed contains multiple factual errors,
some of which you may want to point out in your letter. These include:
-Since 1999, the Venezuelan economy has contracted 14 percent, not 25
percent as the editorial claims. Most of this contraction is due to the 2003
shutdown of the state oil company, which was organized by the opposition.

-The Post's editorial claims that Hugo Chávez appointed the National
Electoral Council (CNE) that is overseeing the recall process. This is false.
The CNE was appointed by Venezuela's Supreme Court, which is independent.

-The Post's editorial says that the signature verification process
scheduled for this weekend will be two days long. This is false. It will be
three days long.

-According to the Post's editorial, Hugo Chávez "tried to exclude"
international observers from the Carter Center and the Organization of American
States last week. This is false. Hugo Chávez had nothing to do with the
dispute between electoral authorities and the CNE last week, and never publicly
commented on it.

-The Post's editorial expresses concern about " intimidation by government
goon squads" during the signature confirmation period this weekend. In fact,
there has been no systematic intimidation of voters or petition signers since
Hugo Chávez took office in 1999.

the Post has to put their propaganda spin on the one decent op-ed they've published in months.. :argh:

What else could be expected from the whores that unhesitatedly backed the coup against Chavez?

it's so rare that ANYONE who is vilified by US government is EVER allowed to speak for themselves in US media.

I can't understand what the problem is with Chavez. He lets the media corporations plot coups against him, and he has solid support among the majority of the working class. What's the problem?

... with those profits building up a middle class which will never again let a small group of extremely wealthy people enjoy ALL the benefits and ALL the wealth the Venezuelan economy produces.

And it's not so much only Venezuela the right wingers are worried about. In Zimbabwe, land reform was bad because it would be a problem if it spread to the rest of Africa (and it's spreading to Namibia next). Venezuela is bad news for the right wing because it could spread all over South America.

The right wing is worried abotu a real domino theory problem. These reforms are going to work to create functioning economies with wealth middle classes and healthy democracies, and that's bad news for big capital. It means less guaranteed profits for a few, and it means people have to compete to succeed.

the opposite of what the IMF says to do. I don't suppose an economic model that actually works makes him very popular. The first rule for 3rd world country leaders. Help the poor, build a middle class and we'll destroy you. It happens evertime. Just like clockwork.

Under the original agreement in the early 20th century, Venezuela got 7%.

At least, I'm putting together stuff from the travel books I'm reading. Visiting in July.

Contrary to his claims, he has impoverished as well as polarized his country: Venezuela's per capita income has declined by a quarter in the six years he has been in office, and the poor are worse off than ever.

We really shouldn't take your word for this.

IMF Says Venezuela’s Economy Will Grow 8.8% in 2004

Tuesday, Apr 27, 2004 Print format
Send by email


By: Gregory Wilpert - Venezuelanalysis.com

The International Monetary Fund released its World Economic Outlook report for 2004, in which it states that Venezuela’s economy is expected to grow by 8.8% in 2004. However, for 2005 the IMF says the economy will grow by only 1.1%. The growth rate for 2004 is the highest in the western hemisphere, which is largely attributable to the recovery of the economy following declines of 8.9% in 2002 and 9.2% in 2003, due to the effects of the 2002 coup attempt and the 2003 oil industry shut-down.

The 8.8% growth prediction of the IMF is substantially higher than the one the Venezuelan government used for its budgeting, which had predicted a 6.5% growth rate. Currently, however, the Finance Ministry is predicting a growth rate of between 9 and 10% for 2004.

The report explains that the economies of Latin America will generally recover in 2004, following the “deep recession” of 2001-2002. It says that “Despite the improvement in economic conditions, unemployment remains high, and together with wide income inequalities and pervasive poverty, this has contributed to an increase in social tensions in a number of countries.”

With regard to Venezuela, the report says, “the projected rebound in activity is critically dependent on an orderly resolution of the political crisis and a corresponding recovery in consumer and business confidence.” It went on to add that “urgent corrective measures” were needed to ensure fiscal stability.
(snip)

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1257

I think it's safe to assume Chavez knows what he's doing. The right-wing opposition pigs nearly brought the economy to a complete halt, would have been more than pleased to destroy the entire operation in order to grab back their power, and they obviously slowed things down a great deal. The economy's rebounding now. Any sentient person can figure this out.

but right now, Chavez' most faithful supporters seem to be white liberals posting from the comforts of a middle class lifestyle in the USA.

that the way liberal gringos project their fairytale dreams of good v. evil on Latin America's tragedies is naive and insulting.

as well as communication with friends who know Venezuela well.

Here's an inspriring article worth noting, as it's representative of many other articles available concerning conditions improving in Venezuela for people who were kicked to the curb by previous administrations:

Posted on Sun, Jun. 15, 2003





Venezuela's poor stick by Chavez

BY GARY MARX

Chicago Tribune


CARACAS, Venezuela - (KRT) - Five years ago Julio Cesar was held up at gunpoint and shot in the legs point-blank. He lost both to amputation.

A carpenter with three children, Cesar relied on friends and family to survive until Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited his impoverished barrio, listened to his story and got him fitted with prostheses. Cesar now ekes out a living selling detergent and other cleaning products on the street.

"I would prefer to be hungry with Chavez than have the opposition return," said Cesar, who lives in Catia, one of Caracas' largest and most dangerous slums. "Chavez is the only president who came here to the barrios. He loves the people."

Throughout Caracas' impoverished neighborhoods that hold half of the city's 5 million people, residents praise the paratrooper-turned-politician for everything from eliminating the annual enrollment fees in public schools to sending a loved one to Cuba for medical treatment to opening "popular markets" that provide discounted food.
(snip)

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/6094390.htm

America Latina telling us who our leaders should or shouldn't be. Especially when we get decent rulers such as Salvador Allende, Jacobo Arbenz and yes Hugo Chavez. What is even more "insulting" is how these same gringos always seem to side with the same oligarchic assholes who steal everything and then flee to California, Florida, etc.

Venezuela's problems are way older than Hugo Chavez and at least he is trying a different approach. Isn't it ironic, that he gets the blame for economic problems which have more to do with coups and strikes than his policies?

He was elected to get rid of corruption and that's what's he's doing. He's delivering on his campaign pledge. BushCo hates him because he's honest. I love him. He has moral values.

from his Post editorial:

"Venezuela's National Electoral Council -- a body as independent as the Federal Election Commission in the United States -- found that more than 375,000 recall petition signatures were faked and that an additional 800,000 had similar handwriting. Having been elected president twice by large majorities in less than six years, I find it more than a little ironic to be accused of behaving undemocratically by many of the same people who were involved in the illegal overthrow of my government. "

Over 1,000,000 signatures need to be thrown out for the recall. If what Chavez says is true, he's right to oppose it.

saved his life..... we are sorely missing the truth here in the US.