Venezuela Extends Voting on Chavez Referendum Into Second Day - Bloomberg

[WillyT]

<snip>

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela extended a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez into a second day, after a record turnout and malfunctioning ballot machines kept voters in line for as long as 10 hours.

Chavez, a 50-year-old former paratrooper who survived both a military coup and two-month strike by oil workers, said after voting yesterday that he would respect the outcome. In a televised speech, Miranda State Governor Enrique Mendoza, a leader of the opposition, urged Venezuelans to endure the wait and vote.

Concern that the vote could prompt violence and disrupt supplies from the fourth-largest oil exporter to the U.S. pushed up the price of crude to a record. A gunman in Caracas yesterday sprayed bullets at voters, killing one person and injuring 12, the city's Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno said in an interview.

``There is a fear factor that something may go wrong after the referendum,'' Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based research company specializing in energy security, said in an interview. ``If Chavez is removed that could create violence. This guy will not leave quietly. There could be sabotage. There could be agitations.''

<snip>

Link: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aOdggFyq1YpI&refer=news_index

This Luft guy is a total winner, no???

:puke:

[kaitykaity]

1. Luft on the Bush payroll or something?

Talk about extending the agony.

[WillyT]

3. Lessee Here, An Executive For An Institute That Provides Energy Security..

I'm thinkin... yeah, LOL!!!

:hi:

[kaitykaity]

4. D'oh.

Gawd, I hate it when I ask a stupid rhetorical question.

:D

[Ediacara]

2. This is completely insane

But.... looks good for Chavez....

[alittlelark]

5. Chavez in a landslide

gotta try to mitigate (computer code) damage...........

[Joanne98]

6. From Narco News

No Hard Data Yet from Venezuela
By Al Giordano,
Posted on Mon Aug 16th, 2004 at 02:01:46 AM EST
CARACAS VENEZUELA; AUGUST 16, 2004, 2:00 A.M.: It was a day without precedent: A record voter turnout for the first-ever recall referendum on a president in the American hemisphere and an unprecedented extension, twice moved, of the hour until which citizens could vote in response to unrivaled long lines of voters going to the polls...
And at two o'clock the next morning, the country and the world await the results.

I'm still here in the Narco News informational war room, with various Venezuelan colleagues, waiting for the National Electoral Council (CNE in its Spanish initials) to hold its press conference. So far both sides - the supporters of the "yes" vote and supporters of the "no" vote - have refrained from offering results in public, although both have spooned out discordant numbers, off the record, to us and the rest of the press.

In the immortal words of that great American philosopher Tom Petty: "They Way-aiting is the hardest part!"


http://narcosphere.narconews.com/

[KelleyKramer]

7. This article LIES

The US media whores say:

"Concern that the vote could prompt violence and disrupt supplies from the fourth-largest oil exporter to the U.S. pushed up the price of crude to a record"

First off, they are not number four, they are number five.

Oil prices have been going up for a year now. The lies for it are

-Trouble in Iraq
-Iran being a terrorist nation
-OPEC cant effect the price with more production
-Fear of terrorist attacks on oil tankers and refineries is forcing prices up
-No drilling in Alaska is the Liberal Democrat fault for oil prices going up
-It’s the environmentalist fault for hi gas prices.

And now today's bullshit reason---

'concerns that a democratically elected leader may be re-elected'

Let me guess, there will also be a shortage of US heating oil in November, due to unexpected demand and (fill in the blank) is promoting a terrible movement from the masses.

Isn't it amazing how much the US media is just like the blatant lies of a banana republic or totalitarian regime??

[ParanoidPat]

9. Hey, you forgot Kerry and Edwards not passing the Bush*.......

.......energy plan! :evilgrin:

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. Not that this makes a lot of difference

but the 'fourth largest oil exporter to the US' figure is accurate for 2002:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/crudebycountry.htm

1  Saudi Arabia  1,519 (000s of barrels/day)
2  Mexico        1,500
3  Canada        1,445
4  Venezuela     1,201
5  Nigeria       589

and for the 2003 stats just released (http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/petroleum_supply_annual/psa_volume1/current/txt/table_21.txt)

1  Saudi Arabia  629,820 (000s of barrels/year)
2  Mexico        572,572
3  Canada        565,533
4  Venzuela      431,704
5  Nigeria       303,617

(interestingly, on 'total crude and products', Canada actually leaps into first place, since they export a lot of refined gasoline, LPG, and fuel oil to the US; but Venezuela is still in 4th place on that measure too).

[Judi Lynn]

8. Luft's way out there!

Milton Copulous, Dr. Ariel Cohen, Dr. Gal Luft, Cliff May, and James Woolsey

Article on these folks. They are PNACers of the highest order!
http://www.iags.org/fddiags30.htm

Personal info. on Luft:

Gal Luft

Dr. Gal Luft is executive director of the Washington, DC based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS). He specializes in strategy, geopolitics, terrorism, Middle East and energy security. He has published numerous studies and articles on security and energy issues in various newspapers and publications such as Foreign Affairs, Commentary, Middle East Quarterly, Middle East Review of International Affairs, LA Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He has given numerous media interviews to various news organizations such as CNN, FOX News, NBC, ABC and NPR and consulted to various think tanks and news organizations worldwide. He is an associate fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is the author of The Palestinian Security Forces: Between Police and Army (Washington DC, 1998). Luft is a former lieutenant colonel in the Israel Defense Forces. In his military career, commanded battalions in southern Lebanon, the Golan Heights, and YESH”A (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) and worked with the Palestinian Authority since its inauguration in 1994. Dr. Luft holds degrees in international relations, international economics, Middle East studies and strategic studies. He holds a doctorate in strategic studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.

http://www.acpr.org.il/people/gluft.html

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

I join the circle asking what the hey he's doing advising us on Venezuela. Buzz off, Gal.

[Classical_Liberal]

13. The Likudniks and the neocons were promoters of the Contra war too

. They also helped South Africa spy on antiapartied activists. This is why I don't agree with people who think the neocons are just naive idealists.

They have never promoted democracy in their entire lives.

[AP]

11. Why? Because they want people to get out of a line without voting?

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. not sure, but this may refer to keeping the stations open past midnight

so those already in line can vote, but (presumably) not allowing more to join the line. The only bit in the body of the article, rather than the opening paragraph, that seems to talk about what was actually going to be done is this:
"Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who is among international observers in Venezuela, said at a press conference from the council's headquarters yesterday that polls would stay open until the last voter in line casts a ballot."

Since they are now announcing Chavez as the winner (and no other news story I can find has talked about allowing voting on Monday), it doesn't seem to be a reference to reopening stations on Monday. Not very good reporting, I think.

[Classical_Liberal]

14. Maybe they are just stupid hotheads

. Also much of the opposition can properly be defined as organized crime elements.