Hugo Chavez’s “roller-coaster is going down,” declared Carlos Ocariz, a mayor that is part of the anti-Chavez Coalition for Democratic Unity, this week.
Ocariz and other Venezuelan opposition activists had reason to be hopeful. Hugo Chavez’s transformation of Venezuela into an anti-American harbor for drug traffickers and terrorists ran into resistance on Monday. The Venezuelan opposition took away the two-thirds majority in the National Assembly held by Chavez’s party, winning 52 percent of the vote and at least 61 of the 165 seats. All of Chavez’s dirty tricks to undermine his opponents failed to prevent a majority of voters from acting to arrest their country’s decline into dictatorship.
Predictably, Chavez declared victory because he still holds a majority in the National Assembly. He mocked the celebrations of the opposition, saying it was he who won. “[I]t has been a great election day and we have obtained a solid victory: enough to continue deepening Bolivarian and democratic socialism. We need to continue strengthening the revolution!” he wrote on Twitter. The state media played an obedient tune, describing the election as showing the country as “red, very red.”
Thor Halvorssen, President of the Human Rights Foundation, told FrontPage that although what the democratic opposition “pulled off is extraordinary” and “exceptionally significant,” Chavez still has the power to bring Venezuela down the path to tyranny.
“Already, the government has stated today that they have a three-fifths majority and that this is sufficient to pass an ‘Enabling law’ granting Chavez wide powers. The government of Venezuela manipulates rules, laws, and institutions as it sees fit,” he said.
It remains to be seen how Chavez will react to his loss, but he can be counted on to act in an undemocratic fashion. In 2008, he hamstrung the newly-elected mayor of Caracas because he was an opponent and hit him with steep funding cuts. He punished the city of Petare after they voted for one of his opponents by taking 16 garbage trucks away from them the following day.
He has taken extreme measures to crush dissent, which makes the opposition’s victory all the more impressive. A slight majority voted against Chavez even though his government dominates the media. He issued an arrest warrant for the president of Globovision, Venezuela’s final independent media outlet, forcing him to flee to the U.S. Chavez now controls 72 T.V. stations, 400 radio stations and 18 newspapers.
The wave of support for the opposition was so large that these disadvantages were overcome. The Venezuelan economy is in tatters, with the GDP projected to decrease by 6.2 percent this year and inflation set to become the highest in the world, climbing above 30 percent. Chavez’s approval rating has fallen to 36 percent. Power outages have become common, and the sale of oil has dropped from 3.5 million barrels per day in 1998 to 2.5 million barrels per day. The oil industry is suffering from the nationalizing of foreign companies and cronyism that has led to strikes. The crime rate has soared, with more murders in 2009 than in Iraq or Mexico.
Sean Penn wants me and others arrested for publicly suggesting Chavez is a dictator. That's right, First Amendment be damned! We can only imagine Penn in the early 30s, as Hitler cooked the books to cobble together his majority, our resident Hollywood hysteric would be insisting that the future Fuhrer was indeed a democrat and anyone who said otherwise should be arrested..
Sean is very deep, folks.
Sean Penn is an ignorant , rich, spoiled leftist. No way should what he has to say ever be taken seriously. At best he should be ignored.
On the contrary, Penn's delusional rants are instructive in exposition of the Leftist mindset.
It is just so exciting to see the true Venezuelan people take back the reins of their country!! Viva!
Where there is a fire for reform, that is not being realized in this tyranny of hugo, there will be kindling's of other fires to hit this strong thug where it hurts. Maybe we are seeing the beginning of the end of this thug. maybe not. In any event once a people Begin to see there is a way to confront and fight for what they believe is their right to a free society, they get brazen in their attempts to continue and take further their cause.
Hugo offers nothing less than slavery to the people of Venezuela and they know it. It will be difficult for the people to get another stronghold to their wishes as he controls the means to their information and the sense of their security, but there is still hope. My only thought of this matter is we are seeing the beginning of this type of strong arming in the prince of the madhi, known as obamas Bin Ly'n here in our country. We really need to take a bit of this history pertaining to hugo, and rapidly apply it to this disaster of a supposed free world leader, he is a pox on our house and like any other pox, it is in need of disinfectant and soon.
Spoke to a passionate opponent from Columbia this year who explained why Chavez will not last like Fidel: She said, that he is not on an island like Fidel, where he can easily control the truth. So he is toast.
It would figure that the likes of Penn, and other leftists, would back this fascist. How can a person favor such evil people. You cant even say that his intentions are good. Nothing about him is good.
I know there are leftist that come to FPM, but where is the rabid support of this tyrrant?
You people realize, of course, that Chavez can just jail or excecute his opposition until there isn't any, right? You know that despots will do that if they have to, yes? You also realize that this is coming, and soon, don't you?
Thought so.
As to Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, etc,. how about emplacing them to confess how much money did they get from this tropical IDI AMIN DADA to sing his praises, who not only graduated from officers school but reached Lt. Colonel rank only because late twice president CALDERA was his godfather ??
As to the last elections, does anybody believe that having all the power as any dictator
does, is he going to relinquish power ??
These results were negotiated, either by greenbacks persuasion or offers no one could refuse….
The only way to get rid of such regimes is radical surgery but….
With his Bolivarian revolution, and his Cuban advisors, to remake the prosperous nation of Venezuela into a cookie-cutter copy of his dear friend Fidel's Cuban model, Chavez has given the world yet another example that communism is the ideology of failure and darkness. Of course, we know what happens when such a man seizes power — he maintains it by intimidation and repression of the masses, by censorship of free expression, and ultimately by declaring himself the supreme leader with no elections to change the fate of the nation. Chavez and his revolution are very much admired by Obama Czar Mark Lloyd and other unconstitutionally-appointed commissars in the U.S. government. I wonder how long it will be before our beloved republic is mired in the same Chavista quicksand of destruction and fear.
"Chavez Meets Defeat"
May he meet Death very soon as well.
When you see what is happening in Venezuela look in the mirror, Obama is attempting to accomplish this in America. As it stands I see corrupt national elections in 2012. Obama needs to be stopped.
About a week ago I was in Costa Rica and met a Venezuelan man. He had "escaped" to Costa Rica and he said they were killing people. No one could predict who was next. He was very frightened.
What these leftists see as "good" boggles the mind.
Why is the opinion of a hollywood bonehead like Penn of importance to those commenting? There are people in the US government, appointed by The One that publicly praise Chavez. I would think that would be more worth mentioning. As to the gist of the story, this is the point where Chevez becomes even more dangerous. Venezuela currently holds the dubious award for having the most murders in the world per capita, outstripping Iraq, Nigeria and even Mexico, oh yes, and the US. Great cover for a purge ain't it?
Looking forward to seeing the Chavez regime collapse. It's been a long time coming.
Sean Penn, Barack (H.) Obama– check out the history of their fathers.
Thats what you need to know.
What a great article, I found this to be quite an enjoyable read.
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