Wolf Sheds Fleece: Chavez Undermines Constitution & Attempts Socialist Takeover

I'm Not As Dumb As I Look!

Chavez is in big trouble in Venezuela as his ridiculous splurging on freebies for the poor and his taking over opposition media [or banning them from the state airwaves] has begun to backfire as his witless economic policies drive the country into abject poverty [despite oil].

Venezuelans are due to vote for a new parliament in September. Last year Mr Chávez won a referendum he had called to abolish term limits for presidents and other senior elected officials. Now, opinion polls are showing unprecedented levels of discontent over crime, inflation, and power and water shortages. There were big anti-government protests in Caracas, the capital, after RCTV was shut off, which were countered by the government’s more modest rally.

These problems, and the resulting discontent, may well intensify in coming months. Even the president’s undoubted charisma has not rendered him immune. In one recent poll 66% said they did not want him to continue in office when his present term ends in three years.

If the September elections were run according to the constitution, which mandates proportional representation, Mr Chávez would surely lose his strong parliamentary majority. But a new electoral law allows the largest single group to sweep the board. The government-dominated electoral authority redrew constituency boundaries this month, with the effect of minimising potential opposition gains. The closure of RCTV, one of the main outlets for anti-Chávez voices, seems to follow the same logic.

In his annual address to Parliament, earlier this month, the president announced (to no one’s surprise) that he was now a Marxist. He no longer pays lip-service to the separation of powers, which in practice disappeared some time ago. The head of the Supreme Court, Luisa Estella Morales, said last month that such niceties merely “weaken the state”. A leading member of the ruling United Socialist Party, Aristóbulo Istúriz, called for the dismantling of local government, which Mr Chávez wants to replace with communes.

The Economist article outlines some of the ways in which Chavez has mouse-trapped himself with devious and deceptive and downright dishonest political moves---now he is hemorrhaging popularity and has to do a Gerrymandered system to keep a parliamentary majority in the September elections. He may try to finesse the whole problem by declaring a phony "national emergency" and postponing/cancelling the elections.

It looks like Chavez is doing to Venezuela what Peron did to Argentina---take a prosperous country and start behaving like a super-cacique until eventually, the economy falters as flight capital and reinvestment are paralyzed by a caudillo in love with the sound of his own voice.

Fidel Castro in miniature, Chavez wants to seize the rest of Venezuela's institutions and turn a once-wealthy country into just another third-world joke.