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August 16, 2007
Chavez Continues to Tighten His Grip
Posted by Dave Blount at August 16, 2007 9:23 AM
The anaconda wraps itself around democracy in Venezuela ever more tightly.
Yesterday Hugo Chavez proposed changes to the constitution that will allow for his indefinite re-election, the better to transform Venezuela into a socialist slave state on the Cuban model. The proposal was announced before the National Assembly, which is composed of 167 lawmakers, all of whom are Chavez supporters. He also controls the Supreme Court, the federal bureaucracy, public oil and infrastructure companies, and all but two state governments.
From the International Herald Tribune:
The project has already led to fierce debate over Chávez's expanding power. Critics in the Roman Catholic Church have been clashing with Chávez over the re-election proposals, with one cardinal, Rosalio José Castillo Lara, calling him a "paranoid dictator." […]
Since Chávez's re-election to a third term in December, he has surprised many with the breadth of the changes in his political and economic policies.
He has nationalized telecommunications, electricity and oil companies; forged a single socialist party for his followers; deepened alliances with countries like Cuba and Iran; and sped the distribution of billions of dollars for local governing entities called communal councils. […]
About 20,000 of the councils are expected to be created this year, with authority over issues like infrastructure and some social welfare projects transferred to them from municipal and state governments. Chávez's critics say the councils must remain loyal to his political ideology to receive funding.
But not to worry, Chavez was democratically elected — and it looks like he'll be the last Venezuelan to be able to say that for quite some time.
On a tip from Byron.
