Chavez Foes Say They Secured Venezuela Referendum

[Tinoire]

Tue Dec 2, 5:05 PM ET
By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leaders said Tuesday they had collected just over 3.6 million signatures against leftist President Hugo Chavez, enough to trigger a constitutional referendum on his rule next year.


But the announcement put the opposition on a collision course with the firebrand populist leader, who has accused his foes of committing "mega-fraud" in a four-day pro-referendum signature drive over the weekend.


Venezuela's electoral authorities will now have the final word on whether the signatures are valid and whether a vote will be held in March or April 2004. International observers have already said they saw no evidence of widespread cheating.

<snip>
Rangel questioned what the opposition would do if its bid to obtain a referendum failed. "Will they have another go at a coup?" he asked, recalling the short-lived military uprising that briefly toppled Chavez last year.

Chavez rejects recent polls showing that two out three Venezuelans would vote him out of office in a referendum.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031202/wl_nm/venezuela_referendum_dc_2

http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/home.htm

[Terwilliger]

1. They'll find out yet again

They'll find out that everyone is behind Chavez :bounce:

[Tinoire]

2. Yeah but only if...

Quick! Somebody send in a European film crew so they can capture the machinations on film. Maybe this time they can even get Bush on TV talking about how "democracy has won" ;)


:hi:

[Paco]

3. Indeed !!

And here is the proof of the enthusiasm of the "people" that wish to overthrow the democratically elected president of a democratic nation.







:kick:

[stevedeshazer]

4. I wonder

Who in Venezuela collects and verifies 3.6 million sigs?

[Paco]

5. The CNE

El Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE). In addition, various international organizations served as observers to insure an honest and accurate tally, or as is the term in vogue, transparency. The Nazi Wacko media is promoting the notion of 3.6 million + signatures.

Officially the government has issued a preliminary result of 1.9 million signatures out of an electoral base of 11.9 million registered voters. In order for a constitutional recall election, the Wackos must have in excess of 2.3 million recall signatures.

If you can read Spanish, click on the link below for the latest official news regarding the recall drive of the Wackos.

http://www.venpres.gov.ve/poli/poli1.htm#JVR

:kick:

[eridani]

6. Chavez and oil

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=296&row=0

"If Exxon and Mobil can combine, and Texaco and Phillips, why not PetroBrasil and PdVSA?" Chavez asks, referring to the Brazilian and Venezuelan government operators.

Well, Hugo, you KNOW why not. I remember the story of Ferdinand Marcos' proposal to the Shah of Iran some years back. The Philippines dictator suggested to the Iranian despot that Iran go around the US oil giants and ship directly to the Philippines for refining and sale. The Shah pointed to his personal jet which brought him to Manila. "Do you see the plane that brought me here? Do you know who paid for it? And what do you think would happen to that plane if I were to adopt your suggestion?"

A proposal for a Latin OPEC is an invitation for a bullet. But that's Chavez' style. His assassins don't have to hunt him down; he looks for THEM. His attitude is, "take your best shot." And, as if to make the point, I'd noted he left the several bullet holes in the windows of the Presidential Palace from the last coup attempt (the one where he was held hostage under orders of a wannabe dictator, Pedro Carmona, chief of the nation's business confederation).

This year Chavez successfully rebuilt Venezuela's oil company after a devastating management strike and campaign of widespread sabotage at PdVSA plants and pumps. It has to infuriate Bush's oil patch buddies that Chavez restored Venezuela's output from near zero to 2-1/2 million barrels a day while, after the same eight month period, Generalissimo Paul Bremer still can't pump enough oil out of Iraq to fill a Humvee.

[Say_What]

7. Chavez supporter says opposition fell short in recall drive

<clips>

Caracas, Dec 3 (EFE).- A Venezuelan legislator who supports President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that the opposition fell well short of the required number in its signature drive to force a recall referendum on the chief executive, though official assessment of the petition was still weeks away.

The opposition Democratic Coordinator said it collected some 3.6 million signatures in the four-day drive that ended Monday, or more than a million more than it needs to force a vote on Chavez's permanence in power.

But pro-Chavez deputy Ismael Garcia told reporters Wednesday that Coordinator leaders "are lying and acting irresponsibly" by reporting an inflated number of signatures collected.

He said the opposition alliance had only gathered 1,953,967 signatures.

http://www.efenews.com/includesasp/noticias.asp?opcion=0&id=5733110