U.S. casts wary eye on Venezuela vote

[seemslikeadream]

By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


The United States will push hard for diplomatic pressure against Venezuela if President Hugo Chavez tries to rig the upcoming referendum on his rule, the State Department's Latin America point man said yesterday.
Roger F. Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said Mr. Chavez's government faces a "make-or-break exercise" as election officials this weekend decide whether to validate hundreds of thousands of disputed signatures in the referendum drive.


"It's very clear to us the requisite number of people supported the petition" for a referendum, Mr. Noriega told editors and reporters during a visit to The Washington Times yesterday.
"If through some very tortured bureaucratic process, those signatures are tossed out, it could have very dire consequences for Venezuelans and for those who support their rights under the constitution," he said.

more
http://washingtontimes.com/world/20040525-115702-2964r.htm

[seemslikeadream]

1. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez Says in Post He Welcomes Recall Vote

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez welcomes a recall election and said he would win, the Latin American leader wrote in a Washington Post commentary.

Chavez said Venezuela's election board has found more than 375,00 recall signatures were faked. The president said in the Post he doesn't expect to be voted out of office because large majorities have elected him twice in the last six years.

Chavez said in the newspaper he faces opposition from leaders of a failed 2002 coup, and from upper-class people who object to his policy of using part of the country's oil wealth on social services.

more
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aSs4Qd18a17U&refer=latin_america

[seemslikeadream]

2. 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.

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



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.

Sadly, the odds are that Mr. Chavez will carry out this coup-by-technicality and thwart a democratic resolution to Venezuela's long-running political crisis. The president points out that some of his opponents previously supported a coup against him (Mr. Chavez doesn't mention that he also once led a military rebellion against a democratic government); but now that the opposition has committed itself to an electoral solution, Mr. Chavez refuses to allow it. About the only hope for a fair outcome is the presence of observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Carter Center who could call attention to acts of overt fraud and intimidation; Mr. Chavez tried to exclude them from the verification process but was obliged to give in late last week.

Mr. Chavez swallowed the observers for the same reason he penned his op-ed: He hopes not only to block the referendum but also to head off any subsequent decision by the OAS to invoke its democracy charter, which calls for sanctions against governments that interrupt the rule of law. Even if it decided to act, the OAS probably wouldn't be able to stop Mr. Chavez from destroying what remains of democracy in Venezuela. Already, the president's only real friend in the outside world is Cuba's Fidel Castro. But if he proceeds to deny his country a democratic vote, Mr. Chavez should, at least, be denied the pretense that his actions are legal, or acceptable to the region's democracies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55981-2004May25.html

[w4rma]

8. That WP editorial (by the WP, not by Chavez) is pure hyperbolic bull. (nt)

[seemslikeadream]

9. It's important to note their take on it, yes?

Venezuela seeks arms edge over Colombia

By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas
Published: May 26 2004 0:00 | Last Updated: May 26 2004 0:00


Venezuela has embarked on a weapons procurement programme to gain the advantage in its military balance with neighbouring Colombia, edging the two countries towards an arms race.


General Jorge Garca Carneiro, Venezuela's defence minister, said on Monday he would unveil, in the next few days, an "integral national defence plan", including a strengthening of "operational capability".

But according to defence industry sources, President Hugo Chávez has in recent weeks initiated closely guarded plans to buy military equipment from suppliers in Europe and the Middle East.

Four European companies - Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK - are competing in a tender for 200 armoured and tactical vehicles, in a deal estimated to be worth about $80m.


more
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1084907825252

[AP]

11. I will never pay money for the WP ever in my life after reading that.

[trotsky]

3. Clearly, they are setting things up.

So that when Chavez wins, they've already planted the seeds of an illegitimate victory.

Astounding, the irony there - coming from the Bush* White House.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Agreement on both counts

watching Venezuela today!

[seemslikeadream]

5. Venezuela's Chavez says US to blame for high oil prices

Venezuela's Chavez says US to blame for high oil prices

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

(05-25) 12:35 PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that the U.S. government is responsible for oil prices reaching $40 a barrel.

"It's not our fault," said Chavez, claiming that the U.S.-led war in Iraq has pushed fuel prices to historic levels.

Chavez, an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy, told a group of businessmen that the U.S. government should take measures to receive oil "at the prices it wants."

Chavez has repeatedly said Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter and a main supplier of crude to the United States, considers $30 a barrel a "fair" price for oil.

more
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/05/25/financial1535EDT0189.DTL

[seemslikeadream]

6. Leftwing dictator or saviour of the poor: Chávez faces new challenge to hi

Leftwing dictator or saviour of the poor: Chávez faces new challenge to his rule


It may also be the last chance to avoid a civil war, experts say. In a country so deeply polarised over the president, the potential for violence is high. Dozens of people have died in clashes between pro- and anti-Chávez groups during the past several years. The latest deaths came in February, when at least 14 people died in opposition demonstrations and as many as 200 were wounded. Several of those detained were ill-treated or tortured by members of the security forces, according to Amnesty International.

Mr Chávez, a paratroop commander responsible for one failed coup attempt, was elected in 1998 by a large majority of Venezuelans frustrated with the country's corrupt politics. But his support began to dwindle when his discourse became more left-leaning and he began attacking what he calls the "rancid oligarchy". Many fear that his friendship with Fidel Castro could herald a Cuban-style socialist system for Venezuela, and worry about his apparent sympathy with neighbouring Colombia's leftwing rebels.

General strike


The opposition used street demonstrations to try to force his resignation and last year staged a two-month general strike that paralysed the economy, but only led him to tighten his grip on power.

Spray-painted on the walls of Carácas's eastern neighbourhoods where the middle and upper classes live, is the cryptic message "RR or 350". Residents explain: either they get a recall referendum or they will apply article 350 of the constitution, which says that Venezuelans can rise up against any regime that violates democracy or human rights

more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,12716,1223812,00.html

[monkeymind]

7. hahahahahahaha

"the United States" should worry about our own elections being rigged.

[ugarte]

10. There won't be a civil war

The upper classes will just move to Miami, where their money already is.

[David__77]

12. So true... they already are fleeing.

Such patriots...

[Maine-i-acs]

13. Shrub wants to corner the market on vote-rigging.

How dare Hugo steal his thunder.

[seemslikeadream]

14. This is very amusing - Voting Machines

Venezuela picks untested voting machines



Caracas, , Apr. 20 (UPI) -- Venezuela's electoral council has chosen an untried touch screen voting machine made in Boca Raton, Fla., for use in its elections.

The decision to scrap its current voting machines after only six years comes as President Hugo Chavez tries to avoid a recall election, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday. The Herald said the decision was made in secret Feb. 16.

His opponents charge the new Smartmatic Corp. devices can be manipulated to influence elections.

"We have no trust in the new machines. We are afraid they are preparing to cheat us, and we have reasons to be worried," said Edgar Zambrano, an opposition congressman.

The current machines are optical scanners built by Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Neb. The system is considered one of the most secure and advanced in the world.


more
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040420-103256-7197r.htm


Honolulu, Hawaii:
Tom Eschberger, a vice president of ES&S, said a test conducted soon after the election on the software and the machine that malfunctioned in a Waianae precinct showed the machine worked normally. He said the company did not know that the machine wasn't functioning properly until the Supreme Court-ordered a recount, when a second test on the same machine detected that it wasn't counting properly. "But again, in all fairness, there were 7,000 machines in Venezuela and 500 machines in Dallas that did not have problems," he said.

Dallas, Texas:
Over 41,000 votes were not counted due to software programming errors. A recount was done and ES&S took the blame. A recount showed the error size was about 10 percent. Democrats picked up over 1,000 votes, not quite enough to overturn the election.

Caracas, Venezuela:
Venezuela's highest court suspended elections because of problems with the vote tabulation. Venezuela sent an air force jet to Omaha to fetch computers and experts in a last-ditch effort to fix the problem before the delay was ordered. Dozens of protesters chanted "Gringos get out!" at ES&S technicians. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who U.S. officials would very much like to see unseated, accused ES&S of trying to destabilize the country's electoral process. Chavez also asked for help from the U.S. government because, he said, the United States recommended ES&S.
more
http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=3

[cspiguy]

15. if Chavez holds on, any chance we might get Ortega back in Nick?

n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Watch and see if the Bushies try this trick:

In 1982, Nicaragua held its first free elections in generations, and the Sandinistas won.

The Reagan administration charged that the vote had been rigged and was no better than the elections in the Soviet Union because the Sandinistas won so overwhelmingly (69%).

The next time elections were held (1986, I think), the U.S. nominated its own candidate, somebody named Cruz, whose son happend to be dating Oliver North's secretary Fawn Hall. Cruz had not lived in Nicaragua for 14 years, but the Reaganites, led by Eliot Abrams, insisted that he was the true "people's choice." They badgered Daniel Ortega into letting Cruz be on the ballot. When Ortega relented, the Reaganites then complained that Cruz had not had enough time to campaign, so they demanded that elections be postponed for two months. Again, Ortega agreed. To no one's surprise (except for some fake outrage from the likes of Eliot Abrams), the Sandinistas won again, and again the Reaganites complained about rigged elections.

In the 1990 elections, Bush Sr. hinted loudly that the Contras, who had been bleeding the already impoverished country with their attacks on infrastructure, would be called off if the Nicaraguans voted for "democracy."

As a result, the opposition squeaked out a victory. When NPR reported the news, the Washington anchors seemed to want reports of jubilant crowds, but the onsite reporter insisted that there were no celebrations and that everyone seemed kind of shellshocked.

Nicaragua was now safe for the sweatshop owners of the world.

[seemslikeadream]

17. Just what was in Fawn's

boots?