Tens of thousands of Venezuelans will go to vote today as the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, once again tries to legalise unlimited-presidency-terms through a new referendum.
Currently a president's terms in Venezuela lasts seven years, due to the changes that Mr. Chavez made to the constitution a few months after he got to power in 1999. This is the third time Mr. Chavez tries to change the electoral terms.
Mr. Chavez is a very controversial president. He's recently celebrated his 10-years in power and has made that date a national holiday. He's also made many changes in the constitution and regional laws in his now 10-year-long-term.
Mr. Chavez still has a remaining time of four years in power, but is very confident and persistent that this time he will win.
But what happens in Venezuela is more complex than it looks like. The president extraordinarily popular among the poor communities due to the increase of help-care and education Mr. Chavez has provided them with. On the other hand, business people and higher classes have stopped supporting the president because of the way he's been using private and public business in Venezuela for his own purposes. Venezuela's biggest oil company would be an example.
But according to many Mr. Chavez's intentions are not honest. Mr. Chavez has expelled many embassies in Caracas (the capital of Venezuela). Among them is the American embassy and the latest Israeli embassy, which according to Venezuelan officials was expelled because Mr. Chavez disliked the way the government of Israel attacked the Gaza Strip a few weeks ago.
Mr. Chavez fired more than 20,000 oil workers (from highly-paid engineers to minimum-wage workers, all qualifies to do their jobs) of the then third biggest and most influential oil company in the world, Venezuelan PDVSA for protesting in what was the country's biggest strike in history. This happened in 2002 and since then PDVSA has declined from the third biggest oil company in the world to the fifth due to the unqualified personnel the Mr. Chavez has hired.
Another industry that isn't very supportive towards President Chavez is the media. President Chavez has since gotten to power 10 years ago closed the most popular and oldest Venezuelan TV station RCTV, and at least three newspapers because of their anti-government policies.
President Hugo Chavez is with no doubt a very polemic person. He's called former US president George W Bush by many names, including a "devil" while a speech in the UN back in 2007.
But what makes this controversial South American president - loved by many and hated by many others - so different from other presidents? Mr. Chavez has created a anti-America "socialist-revolution" among many countries in South American and the world.
The fact that Mr. Chavez has created a link between countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba and other countries around the world like Iran, and Soudi Arabia - all of which do not totally agree with American-foreign policies - make President Chavez a legend, because no other president in the world has managed to go against a US president with such confidence before.
But according to many Mr. Chavez's intentions are not honest. Mr. Chavez has expelled many embassies in Caracas (the capital of Venezuela). Among them is the American embassy and the latest Israeli embassy, which according to Venezuelan officials was expelled because Mr. Chavez disliked the way the government of Israel attacked the Gaza Strip a few weeks ago.Mr. Chavez has a change to win. Many of Mr. Chavez's supporters believe in him and will vote for him just to keep obtaining the loans that Mr. Chavez has provided them with. But many others like university students, the opposition media and thousands of mid-class workers no longer believe in the president.
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Hey Michel,
ReplyDeleteGreat initiative to do a blog like this. I like the fact that you are very neutral in all of the topics you cover.
Well of course, the Chavez-topic caught my attention very much. Especially since, this morning we found out he won the referendum with 54% of votes pro.
Well, I think, the majority of Venezuelans are poor which is why he has been able to make all of these changes in law both on national and regional level. Everytime there is something new in the news about Chavez, it still surprises me how he can still be in control. It is incredible. I wonder what's next for Venezuela...
Anyways Michel, goodluck with the blog, I will be reading...
Saludos from Holland,
Luzmari
if the question was "Is Chavez the right president for Venezuela?" then 54% of votes has clearly and simply answered the question by YES.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting because half the people who I've talked to about this matter - people who still live in Venezuela - the only thing the want to do is leave the country because they know that the worst times for Venezuela are ahead of then. Now that Chavez has won everything is going to be worse - more like a dictatorship.
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