Venezuelan officials reject Chavez recall petitions from abroad

[Say_What]

<clips>

Caracas, Dec 4 (EFE).- Responding to demands from expatriate Venezuelans that their signatures be counted, the country's top electoral authority reiterated Thursday that petitions gathered abroad calling for a referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency are invalid.

Venezuelan communities in several countries, including the United States, staged pro-recall signature drives last weekend to coincide with the one underway in their homeland.

"Signatures collected abroad are invalid," National Electoral Council (CNE) chairman Francisco Carrasquero told state-run television Thursday. The CNE had announced weeks before the Nov. 28-Dec.1 petition drive that it would not acknowledge signatures gathered abroad.

The main drives overseas were held in Miami, New York and Madrid, Venezuelan media outlets reported.


http://www.efenews.com/includesasp/noticias.asp?opcion=0&id=5739149

[papau]

1. But the CIA worked hard on those petitions - not fair!

:-)

[Judi Lynn]

2. The expatriot Venezuelans held a drive in Miami. Imagine that!

Of ALL the cities in the U.S., the ONE place right-wing Venezuelan "exiles" would find guidance in vote fraud would be Miami.

(snip) BOSTON - MONDAY, MAY 4, 1998
Florida Makes a Move to Rein in Voter Fraud
Latest move comes in wake of widespread absentee-ballot fraud in Miami election.

Warren Richey
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MIAMI
Nothing says election fraud like a ballot cast from a cemetery.
On paper, Manuel Yip seemed an active and regular voter in Miami, casting ballots four times between 1993 and 1997.

There was just one problem: He passed away five years ago.

The illegal vote made under Mr. Yip's name in 1997 is perhaps the most obvious example of what prosecutors and election officials say was a massive, well-orchestrated attempt to illegally influence the outcome of last fall's mayoral election in Miami.

Last week the Florida legislature passed an election-reform package that supporters say will make it more difficult to attempt to undermine the election process. But critics of the bill say it doesn't go far enough in outlawing the kind of partisan vote-brokering of absentee ballots that led to Miami's large-scale fraud.

The reform package has raised questions about who is the rightful mayor of Miami. And it has left many voters who cast legitimate absentee ballots complaining that their votes were stolen - not during the election by unscrupulous "vote brokers," but afterward by judges seeking to correct the election fraud.

Most of the questionable activities have been linked to campaign workers supporting the candidacy of former Mayor Xavier Suarez. There is no evidence that Mr. Suarez knew of any improper activities, but he benefited from large numbers of suspect absentee ballots.

Suarez supporters acting as "vote brokers" procured hundreds of absentee ballots and are alleged to have pressured voters to support their candidate. In other cases they allegedly bought or stole absentee votes. (snip/...)

http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/05/04/p4s1.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miami has a troubled history of crooked elections. Figures right-wing reactionary Venezuelans would gravitate directly to Miami. Home away from home.

They were the ones who benefited, like the Miami Mafia, from a U.S. approved right-wing maniac at the helm. Their guy, Carlos Andres Perez was removed from office, like Battista.

(snip) On February 27th, 1989, then-President Carlos Andres Perez mobilized the Army and National Guard in major urban centres of Venezuela to stop a demonstration of the poor. The result of an order to shoot anyone who looked suspicious was over 1,200 Venezuelans dead.

The decade of the 1990s saw continued turbulence, with President Perez confined to house arrest from May 1993 until September 1996 after being suspended from office charged with misappropriation of funds.

Inflation in 1993 was at 40 per cent; them were many bank failures, and human rights were violated in and out of prisons. Venezuela was considered one of the most violent countries, although nominally at peace. The unnamed war was between rich and poor. (snip/...)

http://perc.ca/PEN/2003-03/s-aplin.html

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Corruption-impeached ex-President Carlos Andres Perez has been consulting with the April coup plotters, and met with George H. W. Bush in the Dominican Republic.

[Say_What]

3. Someone ought to listen to Gusano Radio and report back ;-)

[Judi Lynn]

4. If only we knew someone who could decipher Gusano spew!

They're working overtime at "exile" hate radio stations in Miami now, carrying a double load, since they have to set aside additional time to go wacko over Hugo Chavez, too.

It's probably comical to hear them gibbering away, to people who actually have a grasp of what's really happening in the world, and understand the politics.


Armando Perez Roura, Miami radio shouter

Memorable, typical Roura gibberish:

"When we carry the Cuban flag it's not to disrespect America," Miranda said. "It's to show that we want Cuba to be free and to enjoy the rights we have here in America."

Addressing the crowd in Spanish, Armando Perez-Roura, general director of Radio Mambi and chairman of Unidad Cubana, said the rally was an expression of support for President Bush and the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

"We are conscious that this great nation, akin to a generous mother, has opened to us the wide doors of its peaceful and prosperous home," said Perez-Roura. "This is what we, exiled Cubans and immigrant Latin Americans, have always done in the United States. We are here to offer, dear nation, all the sacrifices you may ask of us."

http://www.unidadcubana.com/comentario/godblss_sun.html

:wtf:

Here's a sample of what Armando Perez Roura's REALLY up to:

1993 Inflamed by Radio Mambí commentator Armando Perez-Roura, Cuban exiles physically assault demonstrators lawfully protesting against U.S. embargo. Two police officers injured, sixteen arrests made. Miami City Commissioner Miriam Alonso then seeks to silence anti-embargo demonstrators: "We have to look at the legalities of whether the City of Miami can prevent them from expressing themselves."

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-04-20/mullin.html

On edit:

Sorry, I simply must add later information concerning the Miami City Commissioner, Miriam Alonso, who claimed they needed to squech the first amendment rights of demonstrators in Miami.

She's not doing so well, having imploded due to excessive corruption:

Ex-commissioner arrested again in corruption inquiry

BY KARL ROSS AND DAVID GREEN

In a case one prosecutor called ''an abuse of trust beyond all explanation,'' former Miami-Dade Commissioner Miriam Alonso and her husband, Leonel,
were arrested Wednesday on new felony corruption charges -- this latest batch stemming from their alleged misuse of $78,000 raised to combat an
aborted recall campaign.

The recall effort was started by Miami Lakes community activists, outraged about Alonso's push to expand a nearby landfill. The petition drive was
terminated in November 1999, but Alonso continued to rake in tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from rock miners, developers, airport
contractors and others that subsequently became the focal point of this latest criminal case against the Alonsos.

The Alonsos were arrested previously in April and charged with a number of corruption-related offenses -- including grand theft, money laundering and
exploitation of public office. Most of those charges were related to an alleged scheme to pilfer $54,000 from Alonso's 1998 reelection campaign account.

On Wednesday -- the former commissioner's 61st birthday -- the Alonsos were charged with participating in an ''organized scheme to defraud,'' grand
theft, evidence tampering, conspiracy to tamper with or fabricate evidence and solicitation to commit perjury in official proceedings. Miriam Alonso was
also charged with exploiting her official position. Money laundering charges against the couple are likely to be added, prosecutors said.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/exile/alonsos-arrested.htm

And people wonder why Cuba rebelled against filthy right-wing politicians!

[Judi Lynn]

5. The International Observers' Report highlights areas of doubt

concerning the validity of the petition drive:

International Observers' Report

Wednesday, Dec 03, 2003 By: Venezuelanalysis.com

This document was submitted to the National Electoral Council (CNE) by the deputy Doris Gutierrez (Honduras), judge Eric Halphen (France), Senator Luigi Marrino (Italy), and the journalist Irene Leon (Ecuador), in the name of 52 international observers.

We –a group of 52 intellectuals, parliamentarians, social leaders, communicators, and other people from 35 countries around the world- have come to Venezuela as observers of the opposition’s petition drive, which took place between November 28th and December 1st 2003. The petition drive was aimed at hastening process of recalling the President, Hugo Chavez Frias.

~~ please see link for information ~~

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1071