MORE PARANOIA FROM DEMOCRATS' DARLING CHAVEZ

ABC:

Venezuela said on Thursday it arrested a man who identified himself as a U.S. anti-drugs agent, which if confirmed could inflame tensions between the United States and one of its biggest oil suppliers.

President Hugo Chavez in 2005 ended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), saying the agency was spying on him.

AP:

President Hugo Chavez is revamping his intelligence agencies to counter what he calls U.S. attempts to undermine his government.

Four new spy agencies will replace the current DISIP secret police and DIM military intelligence agency, Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin said Thursday.

A new law has established the General Intelligence Office and the General Counterintelligence Office, both overseen by the Interior Ministry, plus similar military intelligence and counterintelligence components, Rodriguez Chacin told reporters.

He did not say how they will differ from the current spy agencies or whether any top officials will be replaced.

Rodriquez Chacin announced the change the previous night, saying the new agencies are meant to confront U.S. attempts to meddle in Venezuela's internal affairs.

Chavez often accuses the United States of espionage against his leftist government. In 2006, he expelled a U.S. military attache he accused of spying.

CHAVEZ: LEFTIST NUTCASE. AND DARLING OF THE DEMOCRATS.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

BORIS CANCELS CHAVEZ-LIVINGSTONE OIL DEAL

IHT:

The British capital's new mayor, Boris Johnson, said Sunday he was ending a controversial deal that has provided cheap Venezuelan fuel for London's transport network.

The agreement, signed last year by the Conservative Johnson's predecessor and Labour Party rival, Ken Livingstone, provided discounted oil for London's iconic red buses in exchange for advice on urban planning in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.

Money saved on oil was put into a program providing half-rate bus fares for low-income Londoners. Livingstone said the anti-poverty initiative was the idea of Venezuela's left-wing leader, Hugo Chavez, whom Livingstone said he has long admired.

Conservative critics said the deal allowed one of the world's richest cities to exploit a lesser developed country and handed a propaganda coup to a man they called "a third-rate South American dictator."

Johnson echoed those criticisms in a statement announcing he would not renew the agreement when it expires in August.

BRAVO!

COLOMBIA RELEASES COMPUTER FILES PROVING CHAVEZ ARMED FARC

NYTIMES:

Files provided by Colombian officials from computers they say were captured in a cross-border raid in Ecuador this month appear to tie Venezuela’s government to efforts to secure arms for Colombia’s largest insurgency.

Officials taking part in Colombia’s investigation of the computers provided The New York Times with copies of more than 20 files, some of which also showed contributions from the rebels to the 2006 campaign of Ecuador’s leftist president, Rafael Correa.

If verified, the computer files would offer rare insight into the cloak-and-dagger nature of Latin America’s longest-running guerrilla conflict, including what appeared to be the killing of a Colombian government spy who had microchips implanted in her body, a crime apparently carried out by the guerrillas in their jungle redoubt.

They would also potentially link the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador to the leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is classified by Washington as a terrorist organization and has fought to overthrow Colombia’s government for four decades.

• THIS MAKES CHAVEZ AN ACCOMPLICE TO KIDNAPPING AND TERROR.
• WHAT CHAVEZ DID WAS FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES AN ACT OF WAR AGAINST COLOMBIA.
• THE UN SHOULD PUT SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA - AND DEMAND REGIME CHANGE.
• FYI: FARC IS STILL HOLDING MORE THAN 700 KIDNAPPED PEOPLE.
• FARC AND CHAVEZ AND CORREA: TERRORISTS. LEFTIST SCUM.
  

PERU'S PRESIDENT ACCUSES CHAVEZ OF FUNDING "MILITANT" INSURRECTION

CALIFORNIAN/AP: Peru says Chavez backs domestic revolt

Hugo Chavez has been accused of using Venezuela's oil riches to meddle in Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Now, Peru's president says the Venezuelan leader may be doing it here by funding militants and anti-poverty centers that preach populist revolution.

In recent weeks, Peruvian police have arrested nine people the government alleges are militants bankrolled by Venezuela. ...

Venezuela and allies Bolivia and Ecuador "want to destabilize Peru so that our country adheres to their type of thinking, so that Peru fails," said the government's lead anti-terrorism prosecutor, Julio Galindo.

• CHAVEZ IS A THREAT TO THE REGION, AND THAT MAKES HIM A THREAT TO US.
• WILL NO ONE RID US OF THIS TROUBLESOME MAN?

CHAVEZ SENDS TANKS TO COLUMBIAN BORDER

NASDAQ:

Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered Venezuela's embassy in Colombia closed and told the military to send 10 battalions to the border, as the Colombian troops killed a top rebel leader.

Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez also said Venezuela's embassy in Colombia would close.

Chavez said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was a "criminal". He said the killing of Raul Reyes, a top commander of the left-wing Farc rebels, just inside Ecuador on Saturday was a "cowardly murder".

Chavez also condemned the slaying of 16 other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, saying they were killed while they slept in a camp across the border in Ecuadorean territory.

OTTAWA CITIZEN/REUTERS:

"Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions," Chavez said on his weekly TV show.

"The air force should mobilize. We do not want war. But we are not going to let them ... come and divide and weaken us."

... Chavez, who had warned a similar operation in Venezuela would be "cause for war," said Sunday he would send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops struck inside his OPEC country.

Colombia denied it failed to respect Ecuador's sovereignty and said Saturday's operation was a response to fire from across the border.

"Colombia has not violated any sovereignty, only acted in accordance with the principal of legitimate defense," the government said in a statement.

"The terrorists, among them Raul Reyes, were used to killing in Colombia and invading the neighboring countries to hide. Many times Colombia has suffered these situations, which we are obliged to avoid to defend our citizens," it said.

...Ecuador has withdrawn its ambassador to Colombia in protest and also questioned if Uribe lied when he initially explained to his southern neighbor that the strike was in response to fire from rebels across the border against Colombian troops.

"He (Uribe) is a criminal. Not only is he a liar, a Mafia boss, a paramilitary who leads a narco-government, and leads a government that is a lackey of the United States ... he leads a band of criminals from his palace," Chavez said.

THIS COULD LEAD TO A REGIONAL WAR. STAY TUNED...

MORE HERE.

IRAN AND VENEZUELA

According to this source:

Iran's industries and mining minister says more than 30 industrial projects will be inaugurated by Iran in Venezuela by the end of 2008.

The projects are to be inaugurated in Venezuela on an average of one every 10 days, said Ali-Akbar Mehrabian who is visiting Caracas at the official invitation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez....

READ IT ALL!

One of Hezbollah's tactics as been to move in to provide services, then move on to militant jihad. Will something similar happen in Latin America? Sure looks that way.

FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE NOUNS... CHAVEZ ORDERS CRACKDOWN ON ENGLISH WORDS

*******UPDATE: WELCOME MICHELLE MALKIN READERS!
PLEASE CHECK OUT THE WHOLE GROUP BLOG WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE!

*******UPDATE #2: SEE BELOW...

IHT/AP:

President Hugo Chavez's government is taking its battle against U.S. "imperialism" into Venezuelans' vocabulary, urging state phone company workers to eschew English-language business and tech terms that have crept into the local vernacular.

Through a campaign launched Monday, newly nationalized CANTV hopes to wean employees and others from words like "staff" ("equipo"), "marketing" ("mercadeo") and "password" ("contrasena").

Stickers and banners printed up by the company exhort Venezuelans to "Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride."

The Communications and Information Ministry said in a statement that Venezuelans must recover Spanish words that are "threatened by sectors that have started a battle for the cultural domination of our nations."

Other English words targeted include "mouse" ("raton"), "meeting" ("reunion") and "sponsor" ("patrocinador") — all of which have become acceptable in business circles in various Latin American countries.

A frequent critic of Washington, Chavez has sought to counter what he calls U.S. cultural imperialism on all fronts, taking measures such as financing Venezuelan cinema as an alternative to the "dictatorship of Hollywood" and forcing radio stations to play more Venezuelan music.

• FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE NOUNS... LEFTISTS AND THE PC POLICE...
  
• SERIOUSLY, THIS IN NOT UNLIKE WHAT PAKISTAN IS DOING TO YOUTUBE.
• AND DO YOU THINK A SINGLE HOLLYWOOD ACTOR WILL PROTEST THIS ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH!?

OF COURSE NOT.

THEY'RE LIKE THE REST OF THE IRRATIONAL AND HYPOCRITICAL LEFT: MORE AFRAID OF THE "PHANTOM-PHASCISTS" LIKE "BUSHITLER" THAN THE REAL ONES LIKE CHAVEZ AND AHMADINEJAD.

UPDATE #2: BBC:

Russian freedom of speech is "shrinking alarmingly" under President Vladimir Putin, says Amnesty International.

The murders of outspoken journalists go unsolved, independent media outlets have been shut and police have attacked opposition protesters, said the report.

It also said "arbitrary" laws were curbing the right to express opinion and silencing NGOs deemed to be a threat by the authorities.

THIS IS A REAL TYRANT. BUSHITLER IS A PHANTOM-PHASCIST OF THE LEPHT.

BUT CRITICIZING SOCIALISTS - LIKE PUTIN AND FIDEL AND HUGO - IS UN-PC. WHILE ON THE LEFT, ANTI-AMERICANISM IS VERY PC.

WHO IS CLOBBERING THE DICTATORIAL LEFTIST CHAVEZ?

Not the US State Department.

Not the UN.

Not The Dems

BIG OIL! EXCERPT (REUTERS):

Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets around the world as it fights for compensation for operations lost to President Hugo Chavez's nationalization drive.

The largest U.S. company sought the asset freeze to guarantee repayment should it win arbitration over the Cerro Negro heavy oil project.

The move is the boldest challenge yet by an international oil major against any of the governments around the world that have moved to increase their holds on natural resources as energy and commodity prices have soared.

... The news comes as a tough blow to Chavez, who suffered a stinging defeat in a December referendum that would have let him run indefinitely for reelection and enshrine socialism as the OPEC nation's economic system.

Right on!

Those who deny you your private property deny your basic human rights and your humanity.

When the state can steal your property and the fruits of your labor, then you are a slave.

THOUGH THE LEFT WOULD TELL YOU THE OPPOSITE: Chavez is a tyrant and our enemy; Big Oil is the friend of enterprise, prosperity and liberty. Big Oil is o0ur friend.

SOCIALIST POLICIES IN VENEZUELA RAISE INFLATION TO 36% ANNUALIZED RATE

SOSD/AP:

Monthly inflation reached 3 percent in January in Venezuela, despite efforts by President Hugo Chavez to tame consumer prices soaring amid an oil-fueled spending boom.

Inflation in January – usually one of the year's slowest months as consumers recover from holiday spending – swelled from the 2 percent rate reported for the same month of 2007, the Central Bank said Friday in a statement.

High oil prices are flooding the country with cash and boosting public spending, driving 8.4 percent growth in 2007. Venezuela is one of the world's top oil producers and the fourth-largest supplier to the United States.

Its annual inflation rate is 22.5 percent, the highest in Latin America.

LA CALLE DE SERFDOM.

• CHAVEZ IS CATCHING UP TO MUGABE.
• THESE ARE THE FRUTIS OF SOCIALISM.
• THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT OBAMA/HILLARY/MCCAIN TO DO TO OUR ECONOMY.
• THE MISERY INDEX WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY LIB JIMMY CARTER.
• THE SAME LIB DEMS WILL BRING IT BACK.

A VOTE FOR OBAMA/HILLARY/MCCAIN IS A VOTE FOR MORE MISERY - FOR THE COMMON GOOD OF COURSE.

INSANE CHAVEZ PUBLICLY USES COCA LEAVES AT SUMMIT

MORE COKED UP INSANITY FROM HUGO; IHT:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accepted a handful of coca leaves from his Bolivian ally Evo Morales and chewed them during a summit meeting, saying "coca isn't cocaine."

"You know the strength that coca gives," Chavez said. "I've really grown used to it every day in the morning." ... Chavez called that "a serious thing," but smiled as he thanked Morales for recently sending coca to him and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Chavez asked for more.

"You didn't bring me the coca leaf? I asked. Where are the coca leaves?" Chavez said. "I want the leaf that Evo produces there, the pure, pure coca leaf."

Standing up from a table, Morales walked to Chavez and opened a drawstring bag.

"Oh, friend, I knew you wouldn't fail me! They were running out," Chavez exclaimed, accepting a handful of leaves and putting some in his mouth.

WILL NO ONE RID US OF THIS HORRIBLE MAN?

CHAVEZ ADMITS HE CHEWS COCA EVERY MORNING

NO: HE DIDN'T MAKE THE ADMISSION WHILE BEING WATER-BOARDED IN A SECRET CIA PRISON IN JORDAN.

HE WAS BRAGGING - TO HIS OWN PARLIAMENT. AND THERE'S VIDEO.

SHEESH.

CHAVEZ DRIVING VENEZUELA DOWN THE CALLE TO SERFDOM: THREATENS TO SEIZE BANKS

AP:

President Hugo Chavez threatened on Saturday to take control of banks that fail to meet state-imposed lending requirements designed to benefit Venezuela's farmers.

Chavez, who says he is leading Venezuela toward "21st century socialism,'' accused many private banks of neglecting laws requiring them to set aside nearly a third of all loans for agriculture, mortgages and small businesses at favorable rates.

"The law must be applied,'' Chavez said during a televised meeting with farmers. Any bank that doesn't comply with these lending requirements "should be seized.''

Spokesmen for Venezuela's major banks did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press. Offices were closed on Saturday night.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, also announced that his government had approved new legislation establishing a maximum 15 percent interest rate on agriculture-related loans and extending their payment deadlines from 3 to 20 years.

• CHAVEZ IS EMULATING MUGABE - AND HE WILL GET SIMILAR RESULTS.
• WHY DO LEFTISTS LIKE CHAVEZ PERSIST?
• EGO.

IN THEIR CORE BELIEFS, THE DEMOCRATS ARE NOT MUCH DIFFERENT.

THE MUGABE-IZATION OF VENEZUELA CONTINUES

CANADIAN PRESS/AP: Venezuela launches new currency in bid to stem inflation

Venezuela launched a new currency with the new year, lopping off three zeros from denominations in a bid to simplify finances and boost confidence in a money that has been losing value due to high inflation.

President Hugo Chavez's government said the new currency - dubbed the "strong bolivar" - will make daily transactions easier and cure some accounting headaches. Officials also say it is part of a broader effort to contain rising prices and strengthen the economy.

"We're ending an historical cycle of...instability in prices," Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas said Monday, adding the change aims to "recover a bolivar that has significant buying capacity."

Prices have risen as Chavez has pumped increased amounts of the country's oil income into social programs, reinforcing his support among the poor and helping to drive 8.4-per-cent economic growth in 2007.

The Central Bank is promoting the new monetary unit with an ad campaign and the slogan: "A strong economy, a strong bolivar, a strong country."

Officials, however, have yet to clearly spell out their anti-inflationary measures.

Some Venezuelan critics, meanwhile, have dubbed the new currency the "weak bolivar," noting its predecessor, the bolivar, has seen its purchasing power suffer in an economy where inflation ran at roughly 20 per cent in 2007 - the highest in Latin America.

THE ROAD TO SERFDOM...

AT HOME AND ABROAD, CHAVEZ FLOPPING - BIGTIME

CHAVEZ IS A FLOP:

• FIRST CAME THE SPAT WITH KING JUAN CARLOS.
• THEN CAME DEFEAT AT THE POLLS - WHEN HE TRIED TO RAM THROUGH A RAFT OF CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES WHICH WOULD HAVE TURNED VENEZUALA INTO HIS OWN PRIVATE SOVIET UNION.
• NOW, FARC HAS THROWN A PIE IN HIS FACE:

IHT: Failure to free hostages a fresh defeat for Chávez

RIO DE JANEIRO: Last week, the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, seemed on the verge of one of his biggest triumphs to date.

Now, amid renewed acrimony with the Colombian leader, Alvaro Uribe, he is staring at his second major political defeat in little more than a month.

Using his credibility as a former rebel leader, Chávez orchestrated a plan to release three hostages being held for years in the jungle by a Colombian guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.

Bristling with confidence, he assembled his allies in Latin America, including a former Argentine president, Nestor Kirchner, to witness a breakthrough in the decades-old conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC.

The movie director Oliver Stone was part of a multinational group of observers that included diplomats from seven countries. Then on Monday, Chávez's showman moment seemed to turn from history-making success into his latest failure.

For reasons that remain unclear, the FARC refused for four days to give the exact location of the hostages to Venezuelan helicopter pilots. Chávez read a letter from the rebel group late Monday that said the promised security conditions had not been met.

"This is an important defeat for Hugo Chávez's regional agenda to promote his Bolivian revolution and utilize his contacts with armed groups to win political influence," said Román Ortiz, the director of security for the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a Bogotá research institute focused on Colombia's armed conflict.

THE EGOMANIAC MARXIST FLOPPED. I HOPE THAT HOLLYWOOD RED WITH THE BROWN-NOSE, OLIVER STONE, GOT IT ALL ON FILM!

CHAVEZ IS ALSO FLOPPING ON THE HOME-FRONT; BUSINESS WEEK/AP: Venezuelan inflation leads region

Venezuelan inflation soared to 22.5 percent in 2007, the highest official rate in Latin America, the Central Bank said Wednesday. Consumer price increases, Venezuela's highest since 2003, far exceeded the 12 percent annual goal announced at the beginning of 2007 by President Hugo Chavez's government.

• THIS IS WHAT SOCIALISM INEVITABLY DOES: RUINS THE ECONOMY.
• THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO MUGABE, AND WE PREDICTED THAT CHAVEZ WAS GOING TO MUGABE-IZE VENEZUELA.
• WELL, HE'S ON HIS WAY!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! NOT ONLY IS CHAVEZ EXPORTING MAYHEM AND IMPORTING INFLATIONS; HE'S EXPORTING ILLEGAL DRUGS TO SPAIN; EL UNIVERSAL: 80 percent of incoming cocaine in Spain goes trough Venezuela

Anti-narcotic intelligence services, such as the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are on the alert because 80 percent of the cocaine arriving in Spain comes from Venezuela, reported Spanish daily newspaper La Razón on its Monday edition.

The ships loaded with illicit drugs that have been interdicted since 2003 passed through Venezuela.

This is the case of Poseidon, containing three tons of coca; Caridad C, containing an equal amount; White Sands, containing 3,100 kilograms, and most recently, Fabio Gallipolli, which was intercepted in Cape Verde waters.

Its storage area hid almost four tons, noted the newspaper quoting sources from the Spanish Organized Crime Information Center (CICO).

For its part, DEA claimed that the Venezuelan army sells weapons to the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), provides them with forged passports and even escorts air and sea cargos.

The same sources noted that the illicit drugs from Venezuela to Europe and Mexico increased about 500 percent under the government of President Hugo Chávez. According to La Razón, quoting Colombian intelligence sources, there are 117 clandestine airstrips in Venezuela for drug-related activities.

CHAVEZ: NARCO-TERRORIST/JIHADO-PHILIAC AND MARXIST.

THEY DON'T COME ANY WORSE.

NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO NO #1 IN VENEZUELA: GUCCI CLAD MINISTER ATTACKING CAPITALISM

REUTERS:

A video of a Gucci- and Louis Vuitton-clad politician attacking capitalism then struggling to explain how his luxurious clothes square with his socialist beliefs has become an instant YouTube hit in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno was momentarily at a loss for words when a journalist interrupted his speech and asked if it was not contradictory to criticize capitalism while wearing Gucci shoes and a tie made by Parisian luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton.

"I don't, uh ... I ... of course," stammered Carreno on Tuesday before regaining his composure. "It's not contradictory because I would like Venezuela to produce all this so I could buy stuff produced here instead of 95 percent of what we consume being imported."

The video clip had been viewed more than 15,000 times on Thursday, a day after it was posted on the YouTube Web site.

• MOST VENEZUELANS KNOW CHAVEZ AND HIS CRONIES FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE: LEFTIST THUGS.

• THIS IS WHY THEY LOVED IT WHEN KING JUAN-CARLOS PUT HIM IN HIS PLACE, AND WHY MOST IMPORTANTLY THEY VOTED DOWN THE CHAVEZ "CONSTITUTION."

HERE'S THE VIDEO:

WHAT WILL HUGO CHAVEZ DO IN 2013?

BBC: Chavez 'will step down in 2013'

Hugo Chavez Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will step down when his current term expires in 2013, following the defeat of his reform proposals.

Last weekend, Venezuelans narrowly rejected the president's plans to reform the constitution.

They included a proposal to allow him to run for re-election indefinitely.

Mr Chavez has said the country voted no because it was blackmailed by violence threats and on Wednesday said he would try again to push through his reforms.

Venezuelans voted 51% to 49% against the proposals in Sunday's national referendum.

The result was a blow to Mr Chavez, who had previously secured convincing victories in elections and referendums, including his triumph last December in the presidential poll with 63% of the vote.

In his first public statement that he would step down as planned, Mr Chavez said: "The reforms did not get passed, so I will have to leave power in 2013.

I will work around the clock; until the very last day I have left here, I will work relentlessly."

• MAYBE AL GORE CAN GET HIM A LUCRATIVE JOB TRADING CARBON INDULGENCES?

• OR HE CAN GO ON PEACE MISSIONS WITH JIMMY CARTER?

• OR HOLD LOVE-INS WITH MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD?

• OR SOCIALISM-IN-ACTION TRAINING SEMINARS WITH MUGABE AND FIDEL?

• OR HE CAN CO-STAR IN A MOVIE STARRING SEAN PENN, DANNY GLOVER, HARRY BELAFONTE AND ROSIE O'DONNELL - DIRECTED BY MICHAEL MOORE?

• OR HE CAN BE VOTED IN AS UN SECRETARY GENERAL?

• OR HE CAN GO TO HELL.

I LIKE THE LATTER. BUT WHY WAIT FOR 2013?

CHAVEZ BLAMES THE TIMING

BBC: CHAVEZ BLAMES THE TIMING:

... speaking to Venezuelan TV on Monday, Mr Chavez also admitted that it was perhaps not the right time to push through his socialist project.

"Perhaps I made a mistake in the timing of my proposals, that could be, that we are not politically mature enough," he said.

"It's a challenge for us, we're going to convince those of our comrades who have doubts, those who have fears concerning socialism."

But Mr Chavez has stressed that the battle to build socialism will continue and his reform proposal is still "alive".

• YEAH: HE DID MAKE A MISTAKE WITH THE TIMING: HE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS AROUND... 1936!

• OH AND HERE'S A REAL STINKER (WHICH SMELLS LIKE SULFUR!):

• HE CLAIMS HE IS POLITICALLY MATURE BUT THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED NO ARE NOT.

YEAH, SURE.

HUGO CHAVEZ CURSED BY EX-WIFE

LONDON TIMES:

PRESIDENT Hugo Chavez of Venezuela routinely blames foreign conspirators for any opposition to his plans to turn his country into a socialist paradise. Yet his latest attempt to rewrite the constitution to allow him to remain in office indefinitely has brought the opposition closer to home: his critics now include his ex-wife.

Marisabel Rodriguez, the mother of Chavez’s nine-year-old daughter Rosines, has startled Venezuelans by plunging into a fierce battle over today’s constitutional referendum with a warning that her ex-husband is bent on “an absolute concentration of power”.

In an interview last week, Rodriguez accused Chavez of attempting to “hypnotise the people” and added: “I can’t support this zeal for perpetuating time in power.”

Rodriguez, who married Chavez in 1998 and left him four years later, is one of a growing number of people who have dared to criticise the Venezuelan leader’s plans, at a time when his personal popularity has appeared unassailable among the beneficiaries of his oil-financed welfare programmes.

Yet growing unease at what one senior general has described as “a constitutional coup d’état” has sparked revolt on the streets of Caracas and outspoken criticism from former Chavez allies such as Rodriguez. She said she became disillusioned with her husband’s politics at an early stage and divorced him rather than become “a wife of convenience, a wife of appearance”.

HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED BY A COMMIE.

BTW:

• SOME FOLKS ARE NOW CLAIMING THAT CHAVEZ LOST!
• BUT HE WON'T GO WITHOUT A FIGHT.
• EXPECT HIM TO CLAIM VICTORY AND START RIOTS.
• AND THEN CALL I JIMMY CARTER TO LEGITIMIZE HIS WIN.

VENEZUELA: TOO CLOSE TO CALL!

BREITBART/AP:

Hugo Chavez sought to cement his power and end presidential term limits in a vote Sunday that the government said was too close to call.

One opposition leader likened the vote on constitutional changes to a photo finish. Another told The Associated Press that initial results showed the referendum was headed for defeat.

But caravans of Chavez's supporters took to the streets after most polls closed honking horns and blaring celebratory music in anticipation of victory. The opposition said it was closely monitoring the returns.

"The result of the referendum is close," Vice President Jorge Rodriguez said from Chavez's campaign headquarters. "We will respect the result, whatever it is—even if it's by one single vote ... We call on the other side to do the same."

He said some polling stations were still open to allow voting Sunday night, hours after the official close, and the electoral council was still awaiting results from 20 percent of them.

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao, claimed that results seen by election monitors "indicate the 'no' vote is going to win." Julio Borges, a former lawmaker and presidential contender, said "the photo is very tight."

An emboldened opposition and clashes during student-led protests in recent weeks prompted fears of bitter conflict if either side disputed the results.

• PREDICTION: IF THEY SEND JIMMY CARTER TO RECOUNT, THEN CHAVEZ WINS.

• IF THEY SEND SOME INTELLECTUALLY HONEST PEOPLE WHO LOVE DEMOCRACY MORE THAN SOCIALISM, THEN CHAVEZ WILL LOSE.

SO... WHO DO YOU THINK HUGO IS GONNA CALL??? JIMMY, THE UN, THE ARAB LEAGUE... AND PUTIN!

ASIDE: Some folks think if a people votes away their democracy and choses tyranny that the tyranny is therefore legitimate.

But this is wrong. Even if the election has no "irregularities", it is wrong.

God grants each person his rights; they are UNALIENABLE. Just because a majority doesn't want them doesn't mean that they can take them away from the minority which does want them.

The majority has no right to do this. Not with votes. Not with guns.

ELECTION RESULTS IN VENEZUELA AND RUSSIA FAVOR TYRANTS...

GORE AND KERRY ARE EN ROUTE TO DEMAND A RECOUNT AND AN INVESTIGATION... THEY SEE DIEBOLD'S AND HALLIBURTON'S FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER IT....

Yeah, sure. And Carter is flying there, too.

Actually Bush is demanding an investigation.

BUT WHAT CAN WE REALLY DO ABOUT IT!?

Venezuela and Russia are both in the WTO. Maybe they shouldn't be!?

Maybe no tyranny should be in any "club" of the West?

That's what I believe.

Membership in and benefits of the EU the WTO and the UN and the IMF and the World Bank and the G8 - ETC ETC ETC - should be restricted to freemarket democracies.