Remember Venezuela ?

[KellyW]

Some folks might remember there was a coup followed by a brief totalitarian takeover last April (or was it the April before last ?).

There was also an intense national strike last December and January. It seems that back then, the right-wing was saying that they could not wait until August to have a referendum to remove President Chavez.

Well it is almost August. It seems that the right wing now doesn’t think it can win the recall election. Dam-that-Democracy ! The right wing just hates it when the guy with the most votes wins !

Some excerpts from vheadlines

The problem of signatures, the editor says, could be decisive. The Sumate January signature campaign was considered an outstanding success but inside the opposition itself there were voices doubting the validity of the signatures. The new CNE will have to decide on the issue, even though it would seem that the signatures may have to be collected again.

The problem facing Sumate in a new signature campaign is that conditions have changed after the national stoppage failure. Opposition leadership has suffered in credibility and the latest rallies and marches have been poorly attended. "It will not be easy to collect 20% of signatures needed to request a recall referendum."
President Chavez Frias could order a NO vote. What would happen if the NO votes win? The opposition is currently no longer convinced that it can do it and seems to have turned its attention to State Government, municipal and local council elections in July 2004 that do not need a collection of signatures.

[dArKeR]

1. I forgot all about Venezuela since our children are dying and

Bush is funding raisig and the Bush team is playing with firehoses on the airport runways.
http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/

[bemildred]

2. Oil production is higher than before the "strike".

Oil prices are up too.

The "opposition" will never give up, but they have really
screwed themselves, and Unca Sugar is too busy and needs the
oil badly right now.

The hydrocarbon and land laws are in effect.

Now Hugo needs to take care of business while he has time.