|
Venezuelan opposition crushed
Shoppers now crowd Venezuela's shopping malls, two years after they were padlocked during a national strike against President Hugo Chavez. The economy is robust once again. The mass demonstrations that paralyzed the capital are no more. But underneath the veneer of normalcy in this oil-rich nation is deep frustration felt by Chavez's opponents after three efforts to unseat him failed: a coup, a national strike and a referendum. They are in disarray and unable to challenge a president they accuse of steering Venezuela into a Cuba-style dictatorship. As Chavez moves to further centralize power and advance what he calls his revolution for the poor, the risk that extremists will turn to violence was underscored by the assassination Thursday of a state attorney who was intending to prosecute supporters of the failed 2002 coup. Meanwhile, what Chavez calls the "democratic opposition" is at a nadir. "The opposition has no legitimate leadership. Not at this moment," said Alberto Garrido, a leading Venezuelan political commentator and author of several books on Chavez. "We'll see if the opposition finds ways to develop a leadership. It will be a very slow process." Chavez, a former paratroop commander who tried to gain power in an unsuccessful 1992 coup, has done very well using democratic means instead to install his "Bolivarian revolution," named after his idol, Latin American liberator Simon Bolivar. First elected president in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, Chavez won the August referendum that sought to oust him by a 60-40 percent margin. In October, pro-Chavez candidates swept all but two of Venezuela's 23 governorships in regional elections. He is next set to strengthen his sway over parliament in congressional elections in July. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-11-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=49454 |