Chavez set to rule for life
Like most “revolutionaries”, Hugo Chavez is looking set to rule Venezuela for life, after he managed to get voters to abolish term limits. They had earlier rejected doing so, so he simply tried again until he could win.
Of course he had some advantages:
But opponents said the results were skewed by Chavez’ use of state resources to get out the vote, through a battery of state-run news media, pressure on two million public employees and frequent speeches which all television stations are required to air.
I wonder how long it will be until elections get replaced by referendums on whether he remains in office – ie no opposition parties.
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Tags: Hugo Chavez, Venezuela
February 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
We all do well to keep a watchful eye on this sort of example of how the left incrementally destroys Democracy and imposes totalitarian rule. We have just not got that far down the slippery slope, and I sincerely hope there is something in the Kiwi psyche that makes that impossible.
February 17th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Well that’s the thing PhilBest, Venezuela has no similarity whatsoever to NZ’s history or culture and their people have made this stage of their nations development possible. It’s simply not as easy as adopting the position that all countries everywhere should be democracies.
February 17th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I guess there will be some crying into their chardonnays, lamenting for the good old days while softly muttering to themselves “if only, if only”.
February 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
You see what happens when you don’t repeal badly drafted electoral finance laws. – Kill the bill !
February 17th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I’ve been following Chavez on my blog a lot over the past 2 years and this is going to end in bloodshed and violence. Sad.
Chavez has banned much of the private media and orchestrated a “coup” attempt against him by “American interests” a couple days before the vote, widely covered by state media – in an attempt to scare voters into voting for him. The country is heading down a slippery path and I reckon that with this vote going this way, the only way the people will excape it is by a revolution within the next ten years.
Remember, Chavez was always going to hold these referendums until he got the result that he wanted.
February 17th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Anybody else get the feeling Klark is now thinking….. “if only”
February 17th, 2009 at 11:09 am
The silence from the left wing blogs is deafening.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Venezuela’s Chavez aspires to become another Trujillo, the barbaric dictator and president for life of the Dominican Republic.
This time the he’s against the US; so, fingers crossed, his faith will be the same, i.e., assasinated by political enemies.
Chavez is a disgrace to the continent and his country, in particular. His behaviour at several international meetings has been incredibly rude, if not childish and obnoxious. Given his background, he was an Army Colonel, he fits very well the mold of the typical Latin American “gorila”.
February 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am
I’m with gopolks – where’s the condemnation from our usually vocal lefties? This is a disgusting perversion of a democratic process and they should be outraged. But then Chavez is a socialist and he loathes the USA… so I guess that gives him two ticks in ‘favour’, and one ‘must try harded’ mark for being a tad heavy handed in assuming total control.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see some parallels with what had been happening here – EFA, State funding, political influence on state sector employees etc. Thank God NZ came to its senses and tossed our socialists out!
February 17th, 2009 at 11:49 am
I am going to hijack the thread, I wrote a long post about this. Click my name
I said exactly the same, the lefties have said nothing about it. The Standard have for once kept their mouths shut.
Says a lot about them doesn’t it?
February 17th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I would like to ask where in our own constitutional arrangements is any protection against exactly the same thing here? In fact the outcome everyone is deploring is exactly the same as in most Westminster style democracies isn’t it? The US has a term limit, we don’t. If you can get elected you can keep on being PM.
I hold no brief for Chavez. I think he is as rabid as the Iranian looney, but he has not become president for life.
[DPF: Not yet, but term limits are vital when you have an executive President with strong powers. Our PMs have relatively limited powers]
February 17th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
“and I sincerely hope there is something in the Kiwi psyche that makes that impossible.”
There once was. Today, the kiwi psyche is more closely tailored to the global socialist psyche. A dull conformity of thought and apathetic resignation to the idea that we need big government and the bigger the better.
…and you know the really sad part?
They don’t even know it.
February 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Finally, a topic where Baiter can talk about “Chavez-style xyz” and for once it’s neither literal OR figurative nonsense!
February 17th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
We urgently need another Pacific Forum meeting where Australia and New Zealand can make sanctimonious statements and bully the Pacific Islands into agreeing to impose trade sanctions on this dictator and his country.
February 17th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Perhaps he was voted “Greatest Living Venezuelan” in a dodgy online poll on a newspaper site. That seems to be about all the left require before claiming it validates years of appalling governance and calling for your installation as Ruler for Life
February 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
# goodgod (989) Vote: Add rating 3 Subtract rating 3 Says:
February 17th, 2009 at 10:30 am
“Well that’s the thing PhilBest, Venezuela has no similarity whatsoever to NZ’s history or culture and their people have made this stage of their nations development possible. It’s simply not as easy as adopting the position that all countries everywhere should be democracies.”
That moves the debate over, then, to what totalitarian rule is the best. Given the various track records in South America, the improvement in the economy and the standards of living, etc, do you think August Pinochet was OK? And why would you think Castro preferable, and why would you regard Chavez as likely to do better for Venezuelans than Castro has done for the Cubans? (Why would you regard either as doing any good at all?)
February 17th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
“The main question is not what motive inspired the law, but what it will be possible for men of bad motive to do with the law.”
Benjamin Tucker
February 17th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Philbest, Chavez has done a lot of good for Venezuela. He doesn’t particularly like the states because the CIA tried to assassinate him. the United States don’t like him because he has all that oil..He is now trying to bring literacy to the poor and raise them out of poverty. He has done more for the majority just not the rich who do take advantage of the lower class. New Zealand and Venezuela are totally different countries. They were colonized by the Spanish, New Zealand by the British. Think about it… totally different psychic.
February 19th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Jackp…. what about the higher than usual levels of violent crime and the suppression of the media to a point where private networks are forced to go cable which goes to less than 10% of the population?
Much of the poor don’t have running water either. You could say that other dictators did a lot of good for their countries… I do know the autobahn in Germany is pretty good
I suggest you stop being an apologist and read a little about the impending disaster in Venezuela.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Uh, I could be mistaken, but doesn’t New Zealand also have no term limits on prime ministers?
I admit Chavez’s Venezuela isn’t exactly a model of liberal democracy, but surely there’s something else more appropriate to bash. Holding a referendum on whether the people will assent to a constitutional referendum doesn’t seem like very autocratic behaviour to me. I’ve expressed that position in my own blog post on the subject, here.