| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| 'Mr. Fraud' Chavez tells foes 'accept defeat' | |
| 2004-08-21 | |
| Chavez is living in a leftist dream world. Venezuela's president has urged his opponents to accept his victory in last Sunday's referendum on his rule. "I invite my countrymen to talk, while he murders even to my most bitter enemies I offer my hand," said Hugo Chavez, whose populist policies have split Venezuelan opinion. Mr Chavez officially won 59% of the vote, sparking allegations of vote-rigging from the opposition. The country's electoral authorities say preliminary results of an audit on the vote show there was no fraud. (Sure, not one little vote out of place.) The result has also been endorsed by international election monitors. Mr Chavez said his opponents were "embarrassing themselves in front of the whole world".
(This problem is not over by a long shot.) It is being carried out by the official electoral authority - the Venezuelan National Electoral Council - and international observers from the Carter Center and the Organization of American States (OAS). They are checking the results produced by voting machines in 150 polling stations against paper records, in the presence of government and opposition representatives. The main opposition parties have refused to send representatives, saying the review would not properly investigate their allegations of massive fraud in the vote. They are calling for checks to include touch-screen voting machines, saying many were rigged - allegations rejected by electoral officials. Announcing the audit on Tuesday, former US President Jimmy Carter said he and the OAS had suggested the move to allay fears over the validity of the outcome. He stressed that he himself had "no reason to doubt the integrity of the electoral process or the accuracy of the referendum itself". The opposition has fought a tireless campaign to see Mr Chavez ousted. The president survived a short-lived coup in April 2002 and a two-month strike that badly damaged the economy later that year. The referendum was called after the opposition collected signatures from 20% of the population - a recall mechanism inserted into the Venezuelan constitution by Mr Chavez in 1999. | |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #9 Well, if Jimmuh says it's OK, that's good enough for me - NOT! |
| Posted by: A Jackson 2004-08-22 12:01:02 AM |
| #8 One of the many tragedies flowing out of the Watergate coup is Jimmy Carter, perhaps the most sanctimonius and ineffectual president in the history of the Republic. I doubt that the reaction of the nation to his eventual death will be more than a quick and perfunctory national funeral. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-08-21 4:24:36 PM |
| #7 Anon -- We apologize for Jimmy Carter's grant of legitimacy to Chavez. Understand that Carter's a sick man, who hates the US and sees Chavez as a way to strike back at what he hates. He doesn't really understand that the people of Venezuela are real, that they deserve free, peaceful lives. It used to be a joke to call Carter "history's greatest monster", but after his performance in Venezuela, I think it's an apt description. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-08-21 2:28:12 PM |
| #6 wow! That's saying something anon! I really didn't mean "you" as in yourself. I meant you as in the collective "you". Don't worry, sooner or later, someone else will probably do it for you!! |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-21 11:58:44 AM |
| #5 I don't suppose Chavez ever flies in a helicopter or airplane? I would think that would be a nice target for a cruise missle. |
| Posted by: Charles 2004-08-21 11:52:44 AM |
| #4 "I invite my countrymen to talk, even to my most bitter enemies I offer my hand," said Hugo Chavez. Translation: "Let's just MoveOn, okay?" |
| Posted by: eLarson 2004-08-21 9:16:42 AM |
| #3 I have dreammed of doing that many times but I have an eleven year old son to raise. I cannot afford to go jail right now. |
| Posted by: Anonymous6134 2004-08-21 8:15:13 AM |
| #2 can't you just shoot him? |
| Posted by: B 2004-08-21 8:00:35 AM |
| #1 Mark, Unfortunately for the rest of Venezuelans (like me and my family)who did not vote for this asshole to remain in power, there is nothing that we can do now. I said long time ago that Chavez would not fall by democratic means. He has had 4 years and all the petrodollars in the world to buy votes through a red of populist social programs. Free cuban doctors and government run pharmacies, subsidized food, makeshift schools, etc. By the time he runs out funds to run all these free programs, it will be too late to try to remove him. He will alreaday have total control of all branches of the government and a centralized economy where every single being will depend on his government for the most basic needs. |
| Posted by: Anonymous6134 2004-08-21 7:59:18 AM |