Re: Mexico. I have a message for those who keep saying, "Calderón won, get ovet it."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

And the message is:

CHAVEZ WON. GET OVER IT.

See, it doesn't feel that good when it's YOUR side that loses, is it?

[EFerrari]

1. LOL! Are there so many anti-Hugo folks here?

That's crazy. :crazy:

[tuvor]

2. I think I may have noticed one or two.

[EFerrari]

5. It's so bizzare. Because this guy is investing in the infrastructure--

as in schools and hospitals and transit systems.

And he had the balls to call Junior out.

You'd think he'd be a natural.

[Cascadian]

20. If Chavez were to run for President of the United States....

I would vote for him. I do not understand why there are Democrats who dislike him so much. He is pretty progressive in my book.


John

[Tesha]

32. Many Democrats are "Corporatists", not small-d democrats. (NT)

[Cascadian]

41. Politics and business have their place....

and it's not suppose to be in each other pockets! Even Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, did not trust the corporatists of his day. Why should corporations have more power and influence than the people? This MUST change and it WILL change whether "corporatist" Democrats like it or not!


John

[originalpckelly]

53. I don't like corporations, and yet I also don't like Chavez.

I just against tyrants, whether socialist or fascist.

[SharonAnn]

104. Many Democrats (and Republicans) read, watch, listen to the Corporate Media

And the Corporate Media tells us that Chavez is bad, he's a leftist, he's a communist, etc.

They do that because the oil companies want him out of power. He's making them pay their royalties. They were used to decades of avoiding or significantly underpaying the royalties they owed.

The Corporate Media is creating a myth about Hugo Chavez. Of course, he's a bit quick with his mouth so that helps them "paint the picture".

Anyway, it's Venezuela's business who they want to elect. If our oil companies don't like paying their fair royalties then they should leave Venezuela.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. A few, and they are annoying.

This is my modest attempt at annoying them back.

[EFerrari]

4. Well, please let me get the hell out of your way.

:)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Oh, no, you're not in my way! You're in the grandstands!

Hot dog? Beer?

[EFerrari]

8. Popcorn!

:popcorn:

[zreosumgame]

40. another freeper-troll last night

shouting how hugo is a 'dictator' and other RW talking-point BS.

[KansDem]

93. The US Corporate Media refers to Hugo Chávez as the Venezuelan "dictator"

BWAHAHAHAHA!!! He is more democratically elected than GW Bush!!!

[Zhade]

81. Yes, there are some astoundingly misinformed anti-Chavez people here.

Even when they've been shown that the Carter Center, OAS and UN signed off on his elections as legit, they STILL claim he's a dictator.

Idiots.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

82. Zhade, do you work for the Department of Redundancy Department is the place where you work? -ntnt

[EFerrari]

100. Maybe we need to start blowing up television sets.

[Jim Warren]

7. When you talk to the monkey

make sure the organ grinder has left the room.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. OK, that's the cryptic post of the night.

Who you calling Macaca?

[EFerrari]

14. LOL! And our mods are volunteers, too.

:rofl:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. I am utterly unfamiliar with that metaphor. What does it mean? -nt

[Wiley50]

11. If I may be so HAPPY! to Kick this thread

go Hugo!

Now I go

[John Q. Citizen]

12. I'd like to add my congratulations to President Chavez and the good people of

Venezuela!

Bien Hecho!

[EFerrari]

13. Adelante!

:kick:

[EFerrari]

15. Oops!

:kick:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Two more recs to make Baby Freep cry -nt

[Kelly Rupert]

17. I'm really not the biggest fan of Chavez,

because really his government could be quite a bit more transparent. I like his reform and wealth-distribution plans, but the likelihood of corruption really turns me off. He's certainly not a dictator, but I think his soft power is probably a bit stronger than I'd like to see in any country.

That said, I really didn't care about this election. Looking at pre-election polling, his victory was a foregone conclusion.

[EFerrari]

18. And what if BushCo was doing it's utmost to oust Hugo?

It has been quite an education for me to watch.

Rec the thread if you can, so more can see.

[Peace Patriot]

30. How can you not care about a country that is turning itself into a

democracy, after centuries of fascist rule?

I don't understand this blase attitude. Democracy is not easy. It is especially difficult in Latin America, which has been so brutalized and exploited by US corporations in collusion with US-backed dictators, and where the Bushites are continuing active interference--including support of the violent military coup attempt in Venezuela in 2002. Democracy is a MIRACLE in these circumstances. It is a marvel to behold--grass roots activists playing bugle music and banging pots and pans at 3 a.m. in the poor shantytowns of Caracas, to wake people up and remind then that it is election day, and to go get in the long lines to vote--not long because they have been shorted of precincts or voting machines, as in Ohio in 2004, but long because SO MANY PEOPLE WANT TO VOTE, and have someone to vote for who serves THEIR INTERESTS.

Don't you realize how rare that is in the history of Latin America? Don't you realize WHY it is so rare--that our government has crushed the life out of democratic, people's movements in these countries all through the last century, and the one before?

Whatever you think of Chavez's "soft power," is it not a wonder to see man with a brown face, from a background of poverty--in which he remembers not being able to afford simple baseball equipment (a ball and a bat)--elected president of his country? Where is your imagination? Where is your fire? What a joy to see a man elected president who REMEMBERS being poor, and who determined, among other things, to place well-equipped baseball parks in every poor area of Venezuela, so that all kids can play!

Further, Chavez's election is not just about Chavez. It's about ALL of the intelligent, visionary, skilled people in his government. It's about ALL of the poor in Venezuela who are now participating in government through community councils, and who--for the first time in Venezuela's history--have a voice in the political life of the country.

How can it be ho-hum to you that Venezuela has once again held clean elections in which a leftist--and a true representative of the people--was elected by 60% of the vote?

Is this not a stupendous achievement of the Venezuelan people?

It's not a matter of being a "fan" of Chavez. It's a matter of being a fan of the Venezuelans! I like Chavez--but my liking him is neither here nor there. What's important is that Venezuelans have been able to elect THEIR choice. That is a huge sea change in Venezuela, and in South America. It is the result of a lot of hard work by a whole lot of people--on democratic processes, open government and verifiable elections. (US voters, take note!) And it has been done with death squads and torture and vicious dictatorship in living memory--and still an active threat in some Latin countries (Guatemala, and Colombia, for instance--and Mexico).

I know that anyone who is as popular as Chavez is must be tempted by power. I frankly wish he had a more constructive and more responsible opposition. The best criticism of Chavez comes from the left, actually. (Chavez, in truth, is a "centrist"--in the FDR mode--for instance, he has opposed schemes to confiscate country club/golf course property for low cost housing, badly as it is needed, because the Venezuelan Constitution PROTECTS PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS!). But there is something to be said from the "right" (not the fascist right, but the responsible business and middle class right)--which does NOT get articulated, because Chavez's opposition are such greedy, self-centered fools and devious schemers. For instance, is the government's expenditure of oil money, to benefit the poor, efficient and effective? Are there inadvertent impacts that need to be addressed--for instance, subsidized food for the poor driving small grocers out of business? (That's one I've read about.) How best to combine the energy and innovation of business and capital with a social justice program? Like our rightwing here, the responsible voices get drowned out by the shrill fascist element who are greedy for power but have no regard for the interests of the country as a whole.

I think Chavez has done pretty well in this circumstance. He's talking about proposing additional terms for president (getting rid of the two-term limit), but he's not talking about TAKING it; he's talking about PROPOSING it to the VOTERS. Big difference. We ourselves had a 4-term president--FDR--through several periods of crisis (the Great Depression, WW II). And if we manage to get a good leader again, we might well want him/her to remain in office beyond eight years, especially if another Bush Junta threatens us--or if what the Bush Junta has done plunges us into economic or national security crisis, which it well might. Venezuela has not been long out of crisis--all caused by the Bushites and their Venezuelan fascist allies (an attempted violent coup, a crippling oil professionals' strike, a wasteful and absurd recall election)--and there are on-going plots and threats, organized and funded by the Bush Junta (with OUR tax dollars!) (--and they are not inconsiderable; there may be a Bush Cartel plot afoot to use Colombian military/paramilitary "anti-drug" forces, which we have funded to the tune of $600 million this year alone, to launch a war to topple the Andean democracies--Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela--and to prevent the left from winning the next election in Peru, from a Bush Cartel base in preparation in Paraguay). If you were Chavez, at this moment, you might be tempted to think that your leadership is critical to staving off these fascist threats. And it would be hard to argue with you. I think the democracy movement in Latin America is very solid, and cannot be stopped (or decapitated). But I am not one of the main leaders of it--nor even a Latin American citizen, whose rights and whose very life may be in jeopardy from the true tyrants of Latin America: the Bushites and their global corporate predator accomplices.

So, if Venezuelans democratically decide to rescind their term limit on the president, and keep Chavez in office beyond this (his second) term, I think THEY know the reasons why that should be done better than I do. To accuse Chavez of "totalitarianism" on this basis--with no other evidence of it--is absurd. It's just another of these corporate predator "memes" that get repeated over and over. As you've said, Chavez has a lot of "soft power"--his immense popularity. But he has, so far, shown no inclination to use it for "totalitarian" purposes. He has not made himself rich. He has not curtailed human or civil rights--he has enhanced them. He has not jailed or harassed his political enemies (even under great provocation). He has not killed anyone. He has not 'disappeared' anyone. He has not tortured anyone. He is not running a police state. And he has not invaded--or presented any kind of threat--to anyone else. He is peacefully pursuing social justice policies, with great popular support. And--from what I've seen so far--he will likely go down in history as one of South America's greatest leaders, on a par with his hero, Simon Bolivar.

To express one's FEARS regarding "great leaders"--and the undemocratic possibilities of those with great personal power--is one thing. As a democrat with a small d, I share those fears, in any situation in which the leader seems to be equivalent with the peoples' movement. But it's a quite a different thing to say, or imply, that that leader IS corrupt, on the basis of what you consider a "likelihood." For one thing, this is something of an insult to the people who support him--most Venezuelans. And it tends to marginalize their great achievement of Constitutional government and honest elections. The truth is they have succeeded in creating one of the most un-corrupt governments on earth--in conditions of great poverty and on-going fascist threats. It is a wondrous achievement and should be recognized as such. To call it boring and predictable is...I don't know...blind? deaf? maybe a bit depressed? It's kind of mind-boggling in itself.

[Kelly Rupert]

33. I'm simply unimpressed by him.

You find Chavez inspiring. I see nothing to make me particularly giddy over him. I don't really care that he used to be poor, nor am I impressed by elections in which the ruling party wins. I'm not particularly impressed by manufactured popularity. He's realized that a loyal populace is a better political tool than a loyal army is, and in that regard he's going to be judged differently than any simple tyrant will--if you do things that make people like you, well, they were probably things worth doing.

I find no reason to hate him. I think, as I said, that his policies are by and large good things, and I've been pleased with what I've seen from the recent crop of Latin-American leftists. However, as we agree, he holds immense political power in Venezuela--so much so that the elections were a foregone conclusion.

And whether he has an inspiring background or not, that is dangerous. Any leader with an unquestioning populace, a state-influenced media, and a marginalized opposition is dangerous to democratic principles. I'm not going to claim that Chavez is corrupt, a thug, a dictator, or anything of the sort. However, I find his style of leadership troubling. He has outlined a very, very potent means of securing and maintaining power in a country; one in which he wields great power but realistically has little accountability. Politically speaking, a Venezuela in which Chavez was an honest reformer and a Venezuela in which Chavez was a mere demagogue would appear identical, and I find that troubling.

The ongoing democratization of South America has, as you say, been one of the greatest human-rights successes in recent memory. While I think he has good ideas for the Venezuelan people, I'm not convinced that Chavez's movement is beneficial to the democratic process. And that is why I am not particularly excited about his re-election.

As for calling it predictable? It was. Nobody thought he had any chance of losing.

[EFerrari]

36. You really don't care if he used to be poor.

Do you find the poor in general uninspiring or only successful poor people?

What about the now literate poor? Or, the literate poor who now own their homes? Are they lackluster as well?

Hugo Chavez put the Constitution in the hands of a literate electorate. He must be the world's most reckless demagogue.

:rofl:

[Kelly Rupert]

49. So you're saying that we should support anyone

who used to be poor? That's an fascinating--and stupid--take on world politics.

[EFerrari]

58. No, I'm not saying that. That doesn't follow.

lol

[Kelly Rupert]

62. You more or less are, since

you took issue with my claim that his impoverished past was not worthing noting when considering my opinion of his administration.

[EFerrari]

77. No. I more or less am not.

[rman]

39. You don't really care that Chavez is helping the poor?

Why's that?

When it comes to reducing poverty Chavez has done more for Venezuela than the IMF, World Bank and WTO have done for all 'Free Trade' debtor nations combined.
How can anyone not be impressed by that?

[Kelly Rupert]

46. Where did I say that I didn't care that Chavez was helping the poor?

I didn't.

[rman]

51. indeed, you framed it as "using the poor"

why's that?

[Kelly Rupert]

52. Well, probably because

I said nothing remotely like that either, and caught in one lie, you've decided to cover for yourself with a second one.

[rman]

54. uhm

turns out i simply misread what you said.
i feel stupid now.

[RaleighNCDUer]

102. Well said, and thank you.

I think a lot of people, even here on DU, have accepted the "dictator" meme without questioning it - they see him as grabbing Venezuela's oil which equates him with *, or something.

Thanks for an excellent, thoughtful post that addresses the issues. Worthy of a thread in itself.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

19. I don't like Chavez. He reminds me of Putin, and Bush circa 2002

...all men who are (or were) popular in their home nation, and abusing power horribly.

And, while I'm certainly not in favor of US military intervention, I do think we have the same right and obligation to not cooperate with Chavez, in the same way the world has acted to passively restrain Bush. So long as Venezuela continues to have free and fair elections, eventually the shine will wear off their corrupt bastard just as it has off ours, and they'll vote him out.

Or maybe not. Because as corrupt and screwball as Hugo is, most of his opposition is really not much better. And given Americans and Asians thirst for oil, he's sitting on a whole ocean of liquid cash.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[EFerrari]

21. Please provide proof of Chavez corruption so we can all save time.

:rofl:

[Kelly Rupert]

48. If this isn't corrupt, what is?

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/america/LA_GEN_Venezuela_Media.php

[EFerrari]

56. That isn't corruption. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

60. Ah, so voter intimidation and silencing the media are okay

as long as it's a socialist who does it and not a capitalist. Good to know.

Edit: I happen to think that freedom of expression is something that all citizens should enjoy, whether their government is left-wing or right-wing.

[EFerrari]

80. Multiple videographers have caught these people redhanded

manipulating the media to frame Chavez.

If you have missed ALL of these reports, I apologize for my hastiness.

You might begin just by checking out Greg Palast's work on this.

Have a nice day, Kelly. :)

[Selatius]

96. Silencing the media is only OK when they advocate for a violent military coup

They did this in 2002, yet most of them have not been prosecuted for sedition but left to roam free. If this happened in the US, there'd be multiple death penalty convictions for treason for supporting a violent overthrow of a democratically elected government. Chavez has not put any big-wigs in the corporate news media on death row. You apparently define free speech differently if it also includes advocating the destruction of a democratically elected government.

[rman]

23. What evidence do you have that Chavez is corrupt?

[Judi Lynn]

27. He's so sneaky he has kept evidence of his corruption invisible!

Oh, he could be a lot more transparent! He could start doing really corrupt things, and then let us find out!

I have a feeling if he had taken one wrong step at any point, we'd have heard about it good and loud, long ago, what with the elitist, racist right-wing oligarcy press breathing down his neck, looking over his shoulder, mocking him publicly, keeping back news which would benefit him, and agitating against him around the clock.

He hardly seems the furtive type, anyway. That's far more right-wing-like! He's out-going, friendly, and expansive, as opposed to hot-tempered, narcissistic, violent, and excessively odd.

Big, strong, healthy, hearty, as opposed to weak, suspicious, hostile, duplicitous.



vroom, vroom. Election day, 2006.

[EFerrari]

42. You reminded me of the film of those rich people "demonstrating".

just before the failed coup.

LOL! I've never seen so many women in hundred dollar heels in one place. They were HILARIOUS!

[Judi Lynn]

57. They were definitely conspicuous to Greg Palast, too, when he saw them in person. n/t

[ConservativeDemocrat]

43. Apparently the Socialist patrol doesn't know about google

Here's an exercise for the reader: type "chavez" and "corruption" into google. You know: http://www.google.com.
And see what you come up with.

Oh wait! I forgot. Anybody who tells you a fact you don't want to believe is a member of the racist (racist?) right-wing "oligarcy" press. The hundreds of articles documenting the obvious fact of Chavez's corruption are all a huuuuuge conspiracy. You know, cause Latin America is all so clean.

(I get it now - this is just like the 9/11 Conspiracy, in which hundreds of Democrats cooperated to help Bush mastermind the destruction of parts of the Pentagon; truly, 9/11 DUer conspiracy theorists are the only people in America who still say "Bush the mastermind" with a straight face.)

Look people. I don't mind debating with people who disagree with me. But using pejorative smilies like :rofl: against other D.U. members is not only no substitute for referencing established fact, it's against the D.U. rules. You're only harming your own credibility; what little you actually have.

Chavez is corrupt. Deal with it.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Greyhound]

50. Did it and guess what? Not one site in the first 3 pages of links that

make the corruption claim, that documents one single example of corruption. There's plenty of opinion, especially from the corporate opposition sites that are exclusively dedicated to promoting this lie, also quite a few references to other unsubstantiated claims that lead back to the same places previously mentioned, but no facts.

The corporations hate him, the ruling class hates him, our government and its puppets hate him, but the absence of fact is so blatant that it could be used as a shrub speech.

So I'm wondering just where this "reality based community" you claim membership in, is?

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

59. Swine? Does your reality based community follow DU rules

or do you also have your own DU rules?

Why is that necessary?

[Kelly Rupert]

67. It's a common expression.

If someone says "Pot calling the kettle black," they're not actually calling you a pot.

[EFerrari]

71. Is this Non Sequitur Day and nobody told me?

[Kelly Rupert]

72. I'm sure to a goldfish,

everything is a non-sequitur.

[EFerrari]

76. Please develop your thoughts on the goldfish.

lol

[Kelly Rupert]

78. I'm would, but I'm sure he'd have forgotten what I was saying

by the time I finished saying it ;)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

79. The difference is that being called a pot is only surreal, not an insult. -nt

[ConservativeDemocrat]

83. Pearls Before Swine is a well known expression

...for delivering reasoned commentary to people who are emotionally or intellectually incapable of understanding it. Jesus, sermonizing to the Pharisees (who had attitudes very much similar to many so-called "fundamentalist" churches), is where the phrase came from. The words fall on deaf(*) ears.

Believe you me, I stay well within the lines on the D.U. While it isn't quite as bad as the Free Republic, the double-standard some of the moderators have against centrists is extremely obvious to anyone not blinded by partisanship.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community


(*) I am not actually intending to imply that you or anyone else, is literally deaf.

[Name removed]

86. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

89. I'm always gobsmacked by the way that people wield

metaphor without understanding metaphor. "Be innocent of that knowledge, chuck."

Luckily, this state of surprise (or, to be more exact, horror) has never kept me from being published. Go figure.

I'm glad you find DU not "quite as bad as the Free Republic".

:)

[Judi Lynn]

65. Interesting list of members and contributors to the US Transparency International.

Damned creepy!

~snip~
TI-USA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Hon. Alan P. Larson, Chairman, TI-USA
Covington & Burling
Peter Clark, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
W. Bowman Cutter, Warburg Pincus
David de Ferranti, The Brookings Institution
Kevin Ford, Goldman Sachs & Co
Harvey Goldschmid, Columbia University Law School
Thomas Gottschalk, General Motors
Katherine Gurun, Bechtel Corporation (ret.)
Fritz Heimann, General Electric (ret.)
Ben W. Heineman, Jr., General Electric (ret.)
Michael Hershman, The Fairfax Group
J. Anthony Imler, Merck & Co.
Oakley Johnson, AIG
Professor Michael Johnston, Colgate University
Frank Kittredge, National Foreign Trade Council (ret.)
David Lane, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Douglas Lankler, Pfizer, Inc.

Charles Levy, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr
Lucinda Low, Steptoe & Johnson
Ira Millstein, Weil Gotshal & Manges
Professor Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University School of Law
Richard T. Schlosberg III, Packard Foundation (ret).
Ko-Yung Tung, Morrison & Foerster
Nancy Zucker Boswell, President, TI-USA

FINANCIAL SUPPORT in the US has been provided by USAID, foundations, individuals and the following corporations and professional firms:

AIG

Baker Hughes

BP

Bechtel Corporation

Boeing Company

Chevron

Citigroup


Ernst & Young

ExxonMobil

FedEx

Fluor Corporation

Ford Motor Company

General Electric

General Motors


Honeywell

J.M.Huber

KPMG

Lockheed Martin

Merck & Co., Inc.

Motorola

PricewaterhouseCoopers


Prudential

Raytheon

SAP America

Steptoe & Johnson

Troutman Sanders

United Technologies

Weil Gotshal & Manges

http://www.transparency-usa.org/intro.html

[Judi Lynn]

66. Having seen this list, now I start to see why you are reluctant to link your sources. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

69. Are you suggesting they're biased pro-capitalist?

It may be funded by business, but is generally accepted as being truthful. It's generally in the interest of the developed business world to know how likely they are to see any return on their investments in certain nations, after all.

Here's the top six: Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden. That's a pretty damn socialist lot--not the type a right-wing shill group would come up with.

(Oh, and coming in at the bottom, at No. 160? Iraq. Venezuela's 138.)
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/7488/53/

[Judi Lynn]

74. I suggest reading what they themselves admit. USAID funds them. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

75. A pro-development organization funds an anti-corruption agency?

Clearly evidence of conspiracy.

[Judi Lynn]

70. You cite your partisan pollster Alfredo Keller.

We've seen his name here in the past, and not in an admirable way.

Found a very quick reference to him here:

The first factor that calls the polls into question is the well-known political partisanship of the polling firms’ directors, Jose Antonio Gil Yepes of Datanalisis and Alfredo Keller of Keller and Associates.
(snip)

Gil Yepes and Keller are not merely “anti-Chavez”; they are openly and virulently anti-Chavez.
(snip)

An academic source -- a person that has worked closely with Venezuela's pollsters – said that most of Keller’s polling has been done in the middle class areas of the ten largest cities, meaning that the populous slums where Chavez’s support is concentrated have been largely excluded from Keller’s polling sample.

Our source informs us that Datanalisis’ polling samples are less skewed than Keller’s due to the firm’s superior operational team of field workers and access to Venezuela’s 1998 census tracts. However, the poll that Gil Yepes is currently releasing about the population’s views of the so-called “general strike” and Chavez’s handling of the crisis appears to be highly deceptive.

Here’s another fact unreported by English-language correspondents who cite polls by Gil Yepes and Keller as gospel: Since the “strike” began on December 2, Chavistas are not allowing Datanalisis’ field workers into the Chavista-controlled slums of Caracas and Maracaibo. While Gil Yepes recently released lopsided polls that purport popular support for the “strike,” he fails to mention that his polling sample excludes the populous slums where the “strike” has proved to be a complete failure. The progressive economist Mark Weisbrot, who recently spent time in Caracas, wrote a column for the Washington Post explaining that there were “few signs of the strike” in “most of the city, where poor and working-class people live.”

The academic source said that Keller and Gil Yepes generally do not poll rural inhabitants. The opposition newspapers that commission the polls are not willing to pay the increased costs that rural polling entails. Thus, landless peasants who may benefit from Chavez’s agrarian reform are also excluded from polling samples.
(snip/...)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2985

[EFerrari]

73. Hat's off, Judi Lynn. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

47. Well, we could start with

revoking TV licenses of stations that broadcast video of his oil minister threatening employees to vote for Chavez or lose their jobs.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/america/LA_GEN_Venezuela_Media.php

[EFerrari]

61. That chestnut is so old it's rotting by now. n/t

[Kelly Rupert]

64. So the fact that it happened last month

means that he didn't actually do it? It's not a "chestnut," and it's not in the past. Here would be a "rotting-old" update from three days ago:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/01/chavez.venezuela.election.ap/

[Peace Patriot]

25. "We" have right to not cooperate w Chavez? Who're you talking about, White

Man?

--------

Sorry. Don't mean to be cryptic. I'm referring to the Lone Ranger/Tonto jokes. You think Bush is "we"? That is, you think Bush was legitimately elected--with Bushite corporations counting all the votes with TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, in an election system designed by Tom Delay and Bob Ney--and that his unbelievably destructive, not to mention stupid winger, foreign policy represents YOU AND ME?

His puppetmasters play on that, you know. They try to make believe that they (global corporate predators with no loyalty to anyone) are "we" (Americans, all in this together, believers in democracy and Constitutional government). But they are not. Their loyalty is to their profit margins fattened by billions and billions and billions of dollars sucked out of our treasury for their corporate resource wars. They are fascists, tyrants, mass murderers, gougers of the poor in third world countries, and now here as well. They have hijacked "our" foreign policy to their own global predator purposes. They do not believe in democracy.

Your statement, "...and while I'm certainly not in favor of US military intervention," is kind of odd. You WOULD be in favor of "US military intervention" if.......?

What circumstance in Venezuela would cause you to be in favor of US military intervention?

Venezuela is a democracy--and with a lot bigger claim to being a good one that we can make, at present. Why would US military intervention even be on your mind?

Also, IF "we" (the American people) had a decent foreign policy--not even a great one, just a decent one--why wouldn't we want to cooperate with a democracy in Venezuela--and a quite good one, at that--which holds transparent elections (closely monitored by many independent election monitoring groups--the OAS, the Carter Center, the EU, Mercosur)--in support of those democratic principles and furthermore in support of Venezuela policy of education, medical care and other services to its vast poor population?

I can see why global corporate predators and Bushites would object to democracy in Venezuela, and to democratically supported policies of justice and equity, but I can't see why "we"--the American people--would object? What is there to object to? Nothing! On the contrary, there is much to praise.

When the Bushites backed the violent military coup against Venezuela's elected government, in 2002, were they acting for "we"--that is, we the people? When they poured our tax dollars into THIS election in Venezuela, through USAID, NED, Sumate and no doubt the CIA--in support of Chavez's opposition, and in violation of Venezuela law (which, like US law, forbids foreign money in political campaigns)--was the Bush Junta acting for us--for we, the people the United States? Or were they just robbing us again--using our tax money for their own global corporate predator purposes?

"...as corrupt and screwball as Hugo is..." I have seen no evidence--and no claim by the Chavez's often hysterical and certainly loud political opposition--that Chavez is corrupt. There is no evidence--zilch!--that he is personally corrupt. On the contrary, he seems quite the man of the people, in a genuine sense. And, from what I can tell of people in his government, and government policy, they seem to work quite hard on accountability issues. The Chavez government took over a broken country--that had for decades, and centuries, been bilked and corrupted by the rich elite, leaving vast poverty and inequity, and a typical "banana republic" culture of government corruption. You can't reverse such a history overnight. (Think how long it's going to take us to recover from the Bushites' vast thievery and corruption over just a six year period--they've inflicted us with $10 TRILLION deficit, but more than this, they've inflicted us with a HABIT of thievery by military and other government contractors, and by the corporate rulers.) In any case, the very widespread participation in the re-write of the Venezuelan Constitution--it was really a nationwide project--indicates to me that Venezuelans wanted a deep change in government accountability, which included, among other things, much bigger, more democratic participation of ordinary citizens in the government. They may not have eliminated all corruption, but they are working hard on democratic processes. And I would expect, as a result, that the Venezuelan government is cleaner than most. There are lots of eyes upon its activities.

Screwball? That's a matter of opinion, I guess. Lots of people considered Gandhi to be a screwball--until he changed the world forevermore. And imagine what the lords and ladies of Great Britain must have thought of Thomas Paine or Benjamin Franklin? Screwball pamphleteers and wild-eyed inventors!

If it's "screwball" to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, educate the ignorant, and give hope to the poor, then I'm in favor of "screwball." Perhaps you mean calling Bush "the devil" in front of the United Nations. You may recall they all laughed and applauded. It's what they were all thinking anyway. Was it "screwball" to say it? Yeah, a bit. But I'm for that "screwball," too. Screwball truth-telling. We could use more of it, I think.

[watrwefitinfor]

29. Peace Patriot: Brilliant reply.

Thank you. For those of us not quite so adept with words.

Wat

[Richard Steele]

44. I'm certain you must have some PROOF of Chavez' "corruption"....

...seeing as how you're a "Proud Member of the Reality Based Community"
and everything.

Please share it with us, why doncha?

[countryjake]

22. ROTF! Catchy topic title!

:party: :bounce: :toast: :party: :bounce:

[rman]

24. k&r

[Peace Patriot]

26. Calderon DIDN'T win. And I will not "get over it." His .05 edge was

manufactured in the middle of the night, when the final precincts were coming in with 100 to 1 totals for Calderon--impossible totals.

There is no way that Calderon represents the majority of Mexicans--most of whom are poor to dirt poor. And, in Oaxaca, he has shown his true colors: goddamned fascist murdering pig!

The Calderon election theft was as sickening as our own, in 2004, in 2002, and in 2000. It was as sickening as Ruiz's election theft in Oaxaca in 2004. The Corporate Rulers are SICK, and are putting SICK PEOPLE in charge of our governments. Sick, depraved people, who can be manipulated, and who think nothing of crushing the helpless.

It is a miracle of democracy that people who are NOT SICK are being elected all over South America, in spite of the disgusting intentions of rightwing billionaires, war profiteers and global corporate predators, and their paramilitary torturers, rapists, kidnappers and murderers. We now have enlightened, leftist (majorityist) governments in Ecuador, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia, and a strong new leftist movement in Peru (which will likely win in the next election cycle). Virtually the entire continent has turned against fascism and toward democracy. This is the future. Mexico and central America are behind the curve, but they will catch up, by example of the rest of the Latin America, by internal pressures to join the rest of Latin America in a cooperative program of SELF-DETERMINATION for Latin countries, and by the same means that the others have advanced, with strong grass roots organization and election activism. Mexico is currently under the fascist boot. I don't think that will last for long. Mexicans are outraged by what Fox/Calderon's federal troops are doing in Oaxaca. Calderon will have a troubled reign--as the tool of US corporations--and then he will be ousted. (Guatemala and Honduras will have a rough time as well--they are basket-cases of fascist rule. Nicaragua is on the mend--with leftist Daniel Ortega, of Sandinista fame, recently elected.)

Let the sickness of greed and violent repression and corporate rule be healed, throughout Latin America, and here as well! Viva la revolución!

[IndyOp]

34. Exactly. Lopez Obrador won. Get Over That! (n/t)

[rman]

38. 0.58 margin, actually

Which is still a lot less than the 1 to 2% lead that Obrador had right up until the last few percent of votes to be counted.

[Adelante]

28. Um, okay

Congratulations to you, Commie Pinko Dirtbag, and your fellow DU-Chavistas on this victory :toast:

Have further numbers been released, do you know? I checked a few sites and see only the first preliminary result from last night. I am curious about the total vote and geographic spread. Anybody know?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

31. Read...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6205128.stm and then the part of the OP in red again.

[Adelante]

35. Did I say Chavez didn't win?

No, I did not. I think if Venezuelans want to elect and reelect Hugo Chavez, forever, that's their business. As for you and your red message, I asked a simple question. I don't see that the BBC story carries additional data than that of the preliminary report issued last night. So I guess you don't know the complete vote, either, Commie Pinko Dirtbag. You just decided to take another opportunity to be rude.

[Adelante]

37. Anyway, a bit more detail up now

El Universal (translation)

[Adelante]

45. If anyone else likes details

http://cne.gov.ve/divulgacionPresidencial/resultado_nacional.php?color=2

[EFerrari]

68. Here are some details from the VIO:

VIO Venezuela Election News Roundup for Monday, December 4, 2006

Dear Colleagues:

Please see below for a roundup of today's Venezuela election news.

PRESIDENT HUGO RAFAEL CHÁVEZ FRIAS IS REELECTED BY A LANDSLIDE 23% MARGIN

Here are the preliminary returns, as announced by the Venezuela National Electoral Council (CNE) at 10 PM on Sunday evening, December 3, 2006, with 78% of votes counted:

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PERCENTAGE VOTES
President Hugo Chávez 61.3% 5.9 million
Ex-Gov. Manuel Rosales 38.4% 3.7 million

National Electoral Council (CNE):
http://www.cne.gov.ve/

These results were consistent with pre-election polls by Evans/McDonough Co., a respected U.S. polling firm, that showed favorability for Manuel Rosales topping out at 39% on questions on various issues.

Both the state-by-state exit poll results and pre-election polls can be found here:
http://www.evansmcdonough.com/

Most of the coverage was accurage and factual, with two exceptions: most of the media did not indicate that President Chávez had said he did not intend to be "President-for-life" when reporting his announcement that he would seek to lift term limits and intended to run for at least one more term.

In addition, the Washington Times reported an opposition claim that the military reopened a few polling places about 15 minutes after closure: under Venezuelan law, just as in most parts of the United States, if voters are in line when polls are scheduled to close, the voters must be allowed to cast their vote, so some polling places that erroneously believed they were to shut down at that time had to allow those already there beforehand to vote. The military had been given the duty to protect the opening, operation, and closing of polling places by the National Assembly.

One small additional technicality: President Chávez was running for his second term under the constitution; he had been elected once before under the previous constitution. Several additional elections, such as the constitutional referendum, the recall referendum, and local and National Assembly elections have take place as well since he first took office.

Also, one article in the New York Times about conservatives in the U.S. raising controversy over joint CITGO/Citizens Energy ads promoting their discounted home heating oil program, and an article in the New York Times on Venezuela's plans to cut OPEC oil quotas.

Finally, there is a special editorial by Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research on the opportunity this election provides for the U.S. and Venezuelan governments to have a rapproachment and tone down the verbal disagreements, noting that many of the terms the Bush and Chávez Administrations have used to describe each other resemble those of the Congressional Democrats with whom Bush is now pledging to work.

*******************************

SPECIAL

"Venezuela's Election Provides Opportunity for Washington to Change Course" Center for Economic and Policy Research

ELECTION

1) "Venezuela's Chávez Wins Decisive Victory" Washington Post
2) "Chavez defeats foe in landslide" Washington Times
3) "Viva Chavez! Venezuelan president set for election victory" Independent (Britain)
4) "Venezuelans return Chávez to power by a landslide" Guardian (Britain)
5) "A third term likely for Chávez, says exit poll" Guardian (Britain)
6) "Chavez taunts US 'devil' after landslide reelection" Times of London (Britain)
7) "Chávez wins landslide election victory" Financial Times (Britain)
8) "Chavez wins Venezuela re-election" BBC (Britain)
9) "Chavez easily wins re-election" CBC (Canada)
10) "Venezuela's Chavez storms to re-election victory" Reuters
11) "UPDATE 15-Chavez wins re-election in Venezuelan landslide" Reuters
12) "Chavez leads Venezuela vote - official results" Reuters
13) "NEWSMAKER-Chavez divides Venezuela and world opinion" Reuters
14) "FACTBOX - Key facts about Venezuela" Reuters
15) "Chavez wins re-election by a wide margin" AP
16) "Runaway victory for Chavez" AP
17) "Chavez supporters celebrate in anticipation of re-election" AP
18) "Venezuela's Chavez reelected" Los Angeles Times
19) "Chávez Wins Easily in Venezuela, Showing Wide Support" New York Times
20) "Chávez Landslide May Speed Venezuela Changes" Wall Street Journal
21) "Chavez: New 'defeat for the devil'" CNN
22) "Chavez wins re-election in landslide" Houston Chronicle
23) "Chávez easily wins fourth term" Miami Herald
24) "Venezuelans cast votes in Miami" Miami Herald
22"Chavez claims mandate with landslide victory" South Florida Sun-Sentinel
25"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Celebrates Re-Election" Voice of America
27"Venezuelan President Chavez Re-Elected, Initial Results Show" Bloomberg
28"Chavez Calls Re-Election Bush Defeat, Vows to Fight U.S." Bloomberg

OIL

29) "Venezuelan Link to Nonprofit's Ads Draws Some Conservative Criticism" New York Times
30) "Chavez to Push OPEC for High Oil Prices" New York Times

*******************************

SPECIAL

"Venezuela's Election Provides Opportunity for Washington to Change Course"
Mark Weisbrot
Center for Economic and Policy Research
December 4, 2006

President Hugo Chavez’s landslide victory in Sunday’s election provides an opportunity to open a new chapter of US-Venezuelan relations. It was one of the most internationally monitored elections in recent memory, with observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union once again approving the results and the process. This is the fourth time that Chavez has stood for election and won, if we include the recall referendum of August 2004, which he won by a similar margin. As the famous Brazilian sociologist Helio Jaguaribi recently remarked, Chavez is “the most elected president in the hemisphere.”

This would be a good time for President Bush to call and congratulate President Chavez, and bury the hatchet with our fourth largest oil supplier. To those who object that Chavez called President Bush “the devil” just last September at the United Nations, it is worth noting that on Thursday President Bush called to congratulate left economist Rafael Correa, the newly elected president of Ecuador. When asked about Chavez’ UN speech last September, Correa had commented that it was an “insult to the devil,” and added a couple of choice remarks of his own about President Bush which do not need to be repeated here.

Correa responded graciously to President Bush’s overture and praised him as “noble” for calling. The day after our own Congressional elections, a reporter reminded President Bush that the new House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi had recently called him a liar, incompetent, and dangerous, and asked how he could work with her. He replied that “if you hold grudges in this line of work, you're never going to get anything done.”

Well said. Now why not apply that philosophy to Venezuela? The Congressionally appointed Iraq Study Group is calling for dialogue with Iran and Syria. Here is a democracy just a few hours flight from Miami, which has never done anything to injure the United States and has always been a reliable energy supplier. Why not have engagement in this hemisphere as well?

The Bush Administration’s strategy of trying to isolate Venezuela from its neighbors has clearly failed. Two weeks ago President Lula da Silva of Brazil took his first foreign trip, after re-election, to Venezuela, where he presided with Chavez over the inauguration of a $1.2 billion bridge financed by the Brazilian government, praising Chavez and pretty much endorsing him publicly as he headed for re-election. Most of Latin America supported Venezuela’s unsuccessful bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, despite warnings and pleadings from the Bush Administration. It seems that Washington has succeeded more in isolating itself in the hemisphere, rather than Venezuela.

It is likely that Chavez would respond positively to an olive branch, although his grudges against the Bush Administration go beyond the exchange of unpleasantries – such as Donald Rumsfeld comparing him to Hitler. The Administration openly supported the military coup against his democratically elected government in 2002, and according to the US State Department, gave financial and other support “to individuals and organizations understood to be actively involved in the brief ouster of the Chavez government.” It is this and other support for Venezuela’s political opposition that have done the most to poison the relationship between the two governments.*

But the hard-liners who saw Venezuela as “another Cuba” and regime change as the preferred strategy – people like Otto Reich and Roger Noriega – are now gone from the Bush Administration, and many career diplomats at the State Department would welcome a new policy of engagement, especially since Chavez is going to be president of Venezuela for another six years.

Chavez is well-known for his undiplomatic outbursts, but he also has a pragmatic side: he has very good relations with his ideological opposite, President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, despite the problems of guerilla and paramilitary violence along their 2,000 mile border that have led to serious friction between previous governments.

The rest of the region would also like to see this dispute put to rest. Most countries clearly reject the new “Cold War” framework on which it is based, and do not want to choose sides. And we who live in the United States really don’t need more enemies in the world.

Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, DC (www.cepr.net).
______________________________________________________________

*Note to the editors: since these facts are well-documented but not well known in the United States, I am attaching the following explanation and documentation of the Bush Administration’s support for the coup. It is also worth noting that the Administration stepped up financial support to opposition groups after the coup, including people involved in the economically devastating oil strike of 2002-2003, and USAID continues to fund organizations in Venezuela with millions of dollars but refuses to disclose the recipients.
First, according to the U.S. State Department's Office of Inspector General,
"it is clear that NED , Department of Defense (DOD), and other U.S. assistance programs provided training, institution building, and other support to individuals and organizations understood to be actively involved in the brief ouster of the Chavez government." <1>

Second, and even more importantly, the Bush Administration had advance knowledge of the coup but then denied that knowledge when it occurred, claiming that it was not a coup at all, in an attempt to make it succeed. This is a form of involvement. To take an analogy: imagine that someone tells me that they are going to kill someone, and then does so. He then claims self-defense. If I then go to the police, with full knowledge that the crime was planned, and say that it was self-defense, I am participating in the crime. In that sense, then, Washington was involved in the coup.

During the April 16, 2002 White House press briefing, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer stated that the U.S. government had no prior knowledge of a pending coup in Venezuela: "events were combustible, events were fluid. Those events were not anticipated."<2>

However, an April 6, 2002 CIA Senior Intelligence Brief (several days before the coup) states that "issident military factions, including some disgruntled senior officers and a group of radical junior officers, are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chavez, possibly as early as this month To provoke military action, plotters may try to exploit unrest stemming from opposition demonstrations slated for later this month or ongoing strikes at the state-owned oil company PDVSA." <3> Intelligence briefs such as this one are typically read by as many as 200 officials in the Bush Administration.

Earlier, a March 11, 2002 CIA Senior Intelligence Brief had warned: "If the situation further deteriorates and demonstrations become more violent or if Chavez attempts an unconstitutional move to add to his powers, the military may move to overthrow him."<4>

It is thus clear that U.S. officials were briefed at the highest level about an anticipated and likely military coup against the Chavez government. Yet when the coup occurred, White House and State Department officials attempted to convince the public that it was not a coup but rather a popular uprising. (See below).

Third, the White House supported the coup government in other ways:

White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said on April 12, one day after the attempted coup:

We know that the action encouraged by the Chavez government provoked this crisis. According to the best information available, the Chavez government suppressed peaceful demonstrations. The results of these events are now that President Chavez has resigned the presidency. Before resigning, he dismissed the vice president and the cabinet, and a transitional civilian government has been installed. <5>

The U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker followed the White House line stating that “undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez administration provoked yesterday’s crisis in Venezuela.”<6>

Jorge Castaneda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico stated that “Effectively, there was a proposition made by the United States and Spain, to issue a declaration with Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and France recognizing the government of Pedro Carmona. <7> Similar allegations were made by Castaneda in a New York Times article that after the coup Mexico and Chile countered a coordinated effort by the U.S., Colombia, El Salvador and Spain to cobble together diplomatic support for the interim coup government. <8>

<1> A review of U.S. Policy Toward Venezuela: November 2001 April 2002, Report 02-OIG-003, July 2002, www.oig.state.gov/documents/organization/13682.pdf
<2> White House Press Briefing, April 16, 2002. Available online at: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020416-5.html
<3> Full document available at: www.venezuelafoia.info/ciac4.html
<4> Full document available at: www.venezuelafoia.info/seib11-02preCouprumors.pdf
<5> White House press briefing, April 12, 2002. Available online at: www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020412-1.html
<6> Venezuela: Change of Government, Press Statement by Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman, U.S. Department of State, April 12, 2002. Available online at: www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/9316.htm
<7> Jorge Castaneda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico, in “Colombia, España, El Salvador y EE.UU. Apoyaron el Golpe,” by Nancy Fara, Agence France-Presse, November 28, 2004
<8> Documents Show C.I.A. Knew of Coup Plot in Venezuela, by Juan Forero, New York Times, December 3, 2004.

*******************************

1)
"Venezuela's Chávez Wins Decisive Victory"
Juan Forero
Washington Post
December 4, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120301173.html

Leftist President Given Another Six Years To Consolidate His 'Bolivarian Revolution'

By an overwhelming margin, Venezuelans reelected President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, further extending a presidency that began when the former paratrooper was swept into power eight years ago, intent on overturning Venezuela's old social order. Chávez will receive another six years in office to broaden his leftist revolution and contest American initiatives across Latin America.

"Today is a new era," the fiery populist leader told screaming supporters. "Venezuela is red, very red."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez waves as he leaves a Caracas polling station after casting his ballot. "I feel very happy, very happy," he said. The populist leader, who was first elected in 1998, will now be in power until at least 2013. (By Susana Gonzalez -- Bloomberg News)

With 78 percent of the votes counted by 10 p.m., electoral authorities announced that Chávez, 52, had secured 61.3 percent of the vote to 38.4 percent for Manuel Rosales, whose candidacy united a fractured opposition that included former guerrillas, industrialists and right-wing radicals, but had only four months to gather momentum. Minutes after the National Electoral Council announced that Chávez had garnered 5.9 million votes to 3.7 million for Rosales, the president appeared at the balcony of the presidential palace.

Euphoric supporters, ignoring a downpour, burst into the streets, waving flags, shooting off fireworks and chanting pro-Chávez slogans.

"Everything has been completed, the great victory of the Bolivarian revolution," Chávez said as rain soaked him and close aides on the balcony. "It's another great victory: a victory of love, a victory of peace, a victory of hope. It's a victory for all Venezuela. May Venezuela be victorious always."

With the win, Chávez's Bolivarian revolution will last until at least 2013, although Chávez told reporters on Thursday that a change to the constitution could permit him to rule even longer.

"I'm not planning to say in the constitution, 'Hugo Chávez will remain in the presidency until he dies,' because that would be perverse," said Chávez, who under the law can serve only one more term. "It's very different to study the possibility of indefinite reelection. It will always be the will of the people."

Rosales, 53, later conceded defeat without declaring fraud, as opponents had done in the last major election they lost to Chávez, a recall referendum two years ago. Rosales did, however, say that his campaign believed the electoral council's figures were off and that the final results were tighter.

"The truth is that though the margin is closer, we recognize that today we were defeated. But we continue to fight. We will remain in the street," he said. "It's not time to give up."

Earlier in the evening, an aide close to Rosales, Julio Montoya, called early voting estimates "false and manipulated," without offering proof. Other officials in the Rosales campaign said voting equipment malfunctioned at several polling sites and that there were delays in pro-Rosales districts.

Authorities with the five-member National Electoral Council said they had not found serious discrepancies.

"Everything is perfectly normal in the country," Vicente Díaz, who is considered partial to the opposition, told reporters Sunday night. Observers from the European Union, the Atlanta-based Carter Center and the Organization of American States monitored the vote and reported only isolated incidents by early Sunday night.

The Chávez victory further consolidates the tide of leftist politicians who have won office in Latin America in recent years, including a former labor leader in Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; Michelle Bachelet, a market-friendly socialist in Chile; and Evo Morales, the indigenous leader of Bolivia. Although Colombia, Peru and Mexico this year elected pro-trade, pro-U.S. presidents, leftist leaders who criticize market reforms and sharply question the Bush administration's policies in the region were elected last month in Nicaragua and Ecuador.

But Venezuela's government is the most defiantly anti-Bush, with Chávez making theatrical accusations about U.S. designs on Venezuela's oil deposits, even though many of the biggest producers here are American multinationals.

Chávez's government will ensure that Venezuela, which says it has the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, remains a price hawk in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The president has also said he would solidify Venezuela's relations with Cuba and Iran, countries the Bush administration is working to isolate. Chávez, who survived a 2002 coup that the White House tacitly endorsed, often accuses Washington of backing undemocratic opposition groups.

"This is another defeat for the devil," Chávez said, referring to Bush with a term he used to describe his U.S. counterpart at the United Nations in September. "Venezuela has independence. Venezuela is free. Venezuela will never be a North American colony."

With bugles and fireworks awakening voters across Caracas and beyond early Sunday morning, Venezuelans flocked to 32,000 voting booths guarded by 125,000 soldiers and reservists. Chávez drove himself in a red Volkswagen Beetle to cast his ballot at the 23rd of January housing development, not far from the presidential palace.

"I feel very happy, very happy," he said. He added that with this election, he has faced off and defeated his opponents four times, including his first win in 1998, an election in 2000 after the constitution was changed to permit him to be elected to a six-year term, and the 2004 recall that left his foes demoralized.

With oil prices having reached historic highs, and Chávez's Fifth Republic Movement in control of the National Assembly and other institutions, the government has funneled billions of dollars into education, health and nutrition programs. Venezuela's economy has been roaring, growing at 18 percent in 2004 and 9.3 percent last year.

Although private investment has dwindled and half of Venezuelans work in the black market, the government's spending has put money in banks and in people's pockets. Business sectors dependent upon government contracts are booming, and the stock index on Friday had its biggest increase in nearly four years on the strength of the belief that Chávez would win.

In a recent opinion poll conducted by Ipsos for the Associated Press, 66 percent of respondents said they approved of Chávez's administration. The poll showed that although most Venezuelans see Chávez as authoritarian, they also overwhelmingly approve of his social policies, which have given a voice to a vast underclass that had felt forgotten under previous governments.

In Caño Amarillo, a working-class neighborhood near downtown Caracas, several people said they voted for the president, overlooking concerns they had about crime and his combative style.

"I think the president has done what he said he would do," said Jose Medina, 54, a schoolteacher. "He's put the social policies above everything else."

Another voter, Pedro Fiaggio, 76, summed up his support for Chávez by rattling off the programs that benefit him and his wife, Lesbia, 62 -- a healthy pension, subsidized food and educational programs for seniors. He said the opposition would never have offered the same.

"They are people who are always out for their own self-interest," he said. "We didn't have a real vote with them."

The opposition, which has suffered a series of setbacks since the coup, had hoped to appeal to voters by focusing on issues such as spiraling crime, alleged corruption and unchecked spending. Rosales, governor of Zulia state, the historic heart of Venezuela's oil industry, had proposed a populist handout program to cut into Chávez 's support base.

"The future of Venezuela is at stake," Rosales told supporters as he cast his ballot.

There were, to be sure, millions of Venezuelans who agreed that a change was needed. "We've had eight years without work, nothing stable," said Victor Castellanos, 53, a construction worker.

Another voter, Marco Ravelo, 39, a cabdriver, said he was tired of Chávez's obsession with the Bush administration, as well as the government's generous outlay of aid to poor countries. "We need better relations with other countries," he said. "Chávez divides countries. He gives away all this oil, and we still have poverty and misery here."

*******************************

2)
"Chavez defeats foe in landslide"
Kelly Hearn
Washington Times
December 4, 2006
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20061204-122424-2892r.htm

Venezuelan President and candidate for reelection Hugo Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A barrage of fireworks rattled windows last night in this expectant city as election officials announced that President Hugo Chavez, the oil-funded socialist revolutionary who has vilified the Bush administration, won a landslide victory over his conservative opponent.
The first-round preliminary results showed Mr. Chavez with 61.3 percent of the vote and Manuel Rosales with 38.4 percent.
The news erupted through a city grown tense in recent weeks.
Within minutes of the announcement, Mr. Chavez was addressing a rain-soaked crowd of screaming supporters in his trademark red shirt -- a symbol of his socialist revolution.
Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, he led the crowd in song, declaring the historic election a "victory for the future" and at times chanting "justice, justice, justice."
A loss by Mr. Rosales, a conservative who unified a fragmented opposition, hands Mr. Chavez six more years to guide the world's fifth-largest oil producer down a socialist path seen by many as a line against waning U.S. influence in Latin America.
Since coming to power in 1998, Mr. Chavez has earned a near iconic status among Venezuela's poor.
Mr. Chavez's party controls Venezuela's legislature and judiciary.
Flush with oil money and seemingly impervious to domestic political challenge, he has publicly called President Bush "the devil" and frequently lambasted U.S. foreign and economic policy.
Meanwhile, he has sought oil, trade and military ties with nations such as Iran, Russia and China.
Voting tables that had no voters waiting in line were officially closed at 4 p.m. as a steady rain settled over Caracas, the capital.
But opposition leaders complained that Venezuelan troops loyal to Mr. Chavez had in some cases intervened to keep voting booths opened after the official closing time.
Enriche Marquez, a Rosales campaign official, called on the military to cease interfering and "respect the law."
Officials at Venezuela's National Election Council (CNE), had released no results by press time though recent polls gave Mr. Chavez a comfortable lead over Mr. Rosales.
Other polls showed Mr. Rosales narrowing that lead in recent days.
Voting tables that had no voters waiting in line were officially closed at 4 p.m. as a steady rain settled over Caracas, the capital.
Soon afterward, however, opposition figures appeared on television accusing army officials in Caracas and the state of Sucre of forcing some voting centers to reopen. Enrique Marquez, a Rosales campaign official, called on the military to cease interfering and "respect the law."
Earlier in the day, Mr. Rosales had asked the CNE to examine reported voting-machine malfunctions at some stations located in areas heavily populated by his supporters.
But Mr. Chavez dismissed the claims as "excuses" in a subsequent press conference.
"The information I have is that the process is moving along normally," the former military officer said before driving himself from a Caracas polling station in a red Volkswagen that was mobbed by his supporters.
Election officials later assured the public that no irregularities had been found.
In Caracas, voters had awakened by pre-dawn fireworks lined up for city blocks to pass their judgment on Mr. Chavez's socialist platform, which blends nationalist and militarist rhetoric with oil-fueled social spending.
"I will vote for my commandant Hugo Frias Chavez," said Jordi Romero, a 21-year-old security guard. "He has fixed our streets, built clinics and given the poor houses to live in."
But Manuel, a 30-year-old taxi driver and evangelical Christian who did not want to give his last name, said while he supports Mr. Chavez's social efforts, he fears the president will restrict freedom.
"I am scared that the police will have too much power and that he will restrict the church," he said.
Opposition leaders have criticized Mr. Chavez for his lavish foreign spending and for installing what they say is a Cuban-style dictatorship here. Mr. Chavez has cast his opponent as being a puppet of U.S. interests.
He is the region's staunchest critic of Mr. Bush and U.S. foreign and trade policies. But his rhetoric belies strong trade ties with the United States, especially petroleum sales made through the Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp., based in Texas.
Recent elections in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador have brought leftist allies of Mr. Chavez to power. And some analysts say a victory would secure his place as the anchor of a regional alternative to the United States and its regional allies, such as Colombia.
David Dent, a Towson State University political scientist, said an alliance between Mr. Chavez and incoming president Rafael Correa in Ecuador could signal "a Bolivarian effort to zero in on Colombia for a trifecta in northern South America."

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3)
"Viva Chavez! Venezuelan president set for election victory"
Andrew Buncombe
The Independent
December 4, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2035204.ece

A third term as President of Venezuela beckons for man who looks after the poor

THEY arrived in a steady stream throughout the morning, bearing with them a stack of Tupperware-style containers and the expectation of a decent feed. Young and old, women and men, they handed over their tubs and then took them back, steaming full of rice, chicken and soup.

"We come every day. We come to get lunch - mainly for our children. It's really great," said Lilian Ibarra, a mother of three and a grandmother of nine, as she waited for her food. "We all ate before but now we eat better, with fruit and vegetables, the things the children need. we have healthcare, doctors. Whenever we have any problem the doctors are right there."

She added, rather unnecessarily: "We are all Chavistas."

Venezuela votes today, with polls suggesting incumbent Hugo Chavez will be easily reelected to a third term with a lead of anything up to 20 point over his centrist challenger, Manuel Rosales.

His victory will be cemented by people such as Mrs Ibarra, for if Mr Chavez's vision for the future of Venezuela was first forged during his years in the armed forces - and then further burnished as he cooled his heels in jail following a failed 1992 coup attempt - it is in the hard-pressed barrios of Caracas that such a vision is now being realised.

In places such as the scruffy neighbourhood of El Guarataro, scores of " missions" have been established using the country's oil wealth to help feed and educate the poor. The Independent on Sunday was escorted on a tour by Mariella Guzman, a 53-year-old Chavez activist who two-and-half years ago established a government soup kitchen which feeds 150 people, six days a week.

Ms Guzman, wearing a bright red Chavez T-shirt showing 10 fingers (referring to the hoped-for 10m votes in support of the president), insisted that anyone in need - and not just supporters of Mr Chavez - were welcome at the mission. Yet the kitchen was full of Chavez election posters and Mrs Guzman made no attempt to pretend that anyone coming to eat would not receive a portion of proselytizing. "The idea is not to exclude anyone," she added. " if anyone says anything bad about Chavez I will tell them not to come to my house because this is a revolutionary house."

Another woman, Damari Briceno, who arrives every morning at 6am to help prepare the food, spoke of an adult education class she was taking - another mission set up by the Chavez government. "It sets an example to others to do the same because you're a mother or a grandmother," she said. The various missions - there are almost 20 different types in all - have had real results, reducing poverty, increasing access to free health and subsidised food and helping teach 1.5m adults to read. Unesco has praised the country's efforts in this area and estimated that the adult literacy rate stands at around 93 per cent.

Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research which has collated government data, said: "Chavez is going to win reelection because he has delivered quite a lot on his promise to share the country's oil wealth with the poor - which are the majority of the population. His anti-poverty efforts are certainly bigger than anywhere else in the hemisphere."

But Venezuela is deeply polarised between Chavez's overwhelming poor supporters and his largely middle-class opponents. His critics say he wishes to turn booming Venezuela into Cuba and seize private property. He has also been accused of increasing authoritarianism and of using state resources for his campaign. In recent weeks state television has featured a flurry of inaugurations of new public works, including a subway line, a new bridge and new factories. Paying state workers their Christmas bonus several weeks earlier than usual has also been seen by some observers as an attempt to cement support.

Many of Mr Rosales' supporters also cite the level of crime in Caracas, where kidnapping is a serious issue, as a reason for changing the government. According to official police figures the annual number of murders in the country increased from 5,974 in 1999 when Mr Chavez first assumed office to 9,962 last year.

Mauricio Blanco, 36, shopping at a US-style mall in the capital, said he had not personally suffered, but added: "It's about safety. I have children. I live in quite a safe area but there are big problems. They do exist." Two years ago Mr Chavez won a referendum vote that had been initiated by opposition groups, some of which received considerable funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US body that disperses Congressional money for "democracy building" but which critics say routinely intervenes in the domestic politics of other countries to the detriment of left-wing or left-leaning candidates. In 2002 he was briefly ousted in a military coup that was tacitly supported by Washington and which resulted in the installation of an interim president, Pedro Carmona.

Mr Chavez's opponent Mr Rosales, a state governor, was among those who signed the so-called Carmona Decree supporting the appointment, though he has since said it was a mistake. A campaign strategist, Eliseo Fermin, said Mr Rosales had been advised to sign by a Catholic bishop who said it would be better to support a new president than not to.

Mr Fermin disputed the idea that Mr Rosales's supporters were overwhelmingly middle class. He said the thousands of people who had attended Mr Rosales' campaign rallies showed that if only middle-class people were attending " we would be a developed country". He added: "We are fighting radicalism and we are offering the country a leader who has demonstrated that you can govern for everybody."

THEY arrived in a steady stream throughout the morning, bearing with them a stack of Tupperware-style containers and the expectation of a decent feed. Young and old, women and men, they handed over their tubs and then took them back, steaming full of rice, chicken and soup.

"We come every day. We come to get lunch - mainly for our children. It's really great," said Lilian Ibarra, a mother of three and a grandmother of nine, as she waited for her food. "We all ate before but now we eat better, with fruit and vegetables, the things the children need. we have healthcare, doctors. Whenever we have any problem the doctors are right there."

She added, rather unnecessarily: "We are all Chavistas."

Venezuela votes today, with polls suggesting incumbent Hugo Chavez will be easily reelected to a third term with a lead of anything up to 20 point over his centrist challenger, Manuel Rosales.

His victory will be cemented by people such as Mrs Ibarra, for if Mr Chavez's vision for the future of Venezuela was first forged during his years in the armed forces - and then further burnished as he cooled his heels in jail following a failed 1992 coup attempt - it is in the hard-pressed barrios of Caracas that such a vision is now being realised.

In places such as the scruffy neighbourhood of El Guarataro, scores of " missions" have been established using the country's oil wealth to help feed and educate the poor. The Independent on Sunday was escorted on a tour by Mariella Guzman, a 53-year-old Chavez activist who two-and-half years ago established a government soup kitchen which feeds 150 people, six days a week.

Ms Guzman, wearing a bright red Chavez T-shirt showing 10 fingers (referring to the hoped-for 10m votes in support of the president), insisted that anyone in need - and not just supporters of Mr Chavez - were welcome at the mission. Yet the kitchen was full of Chavez election posters and Mrs Guzman made no attempt to pretend that anyone coming to eat would not receive a portion of proselytizing. "The idea is not to exclude anyone," she added. " if anyone says anything bad about Chavez I will tell them not to come to my house because this is a revolutionary house."

Another woman, Damari Briceno, who arrives every morning at 6am to help prepare the food, spoke of an adult education class she was taking - another mission set up by the Chavez government. "It sets an example to others to do the same because you're a mother or a grandmother," she said. The various missions - there are almost 20 different types in all - have had real results, reducing poverty, increasing access to free health and subsidised food and helping teach 1.5m adults to read. Unesco has praised the country's efforts in this area and estimated that the adult literacy rate stands at around 93 per cent.

Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research which has collated government data, said: "Chavez is going to win reelection because he has delivered quite a lot on his promise to share the country's oil wealth with the poor - which are the majority of the population. His anti-poverty efforts are certainly bigger than anywhere else in the hemisphere."

But Venezuela is deeply polarised between Chavez's overwhelming poor supporters and his largely middle-class opponents. His critics say he wishes to turn booming Venezuela into Cuba and seize private property. He has also been accused of increasing authoritarianism and of using state resources for his campaign. In recent weeks state television has featured a flurry of inaugurations of new public works, including a subway line, a new bridge and new factories. Paying state workers their Christmas bonus several weeks earlier than usual has also been seen by some observers as an attempt to cement support.

Many of Mr Rosales' supporters also cite the level of crime in Caracas, where kidnapping is a serious issue, as a reason for changing the government. According to official police figures the annual number of murders in the country increased from 5,974 in 1999 when Mr Chavez first assumed office to 9,962 last year.

Mauricio Blanco, 36, shopping at a US-style mall in the capital, said he had not personally suffered, but added: "It's about safety. I have children. I live in quite a safe area but there are big problems. They do exist." Two years ago Mr Chavez won a referendum vote that had been initiated by opposition groups, some of which received considerable funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, a US body that disperses Congressional money for "democracy building" but which critics say routinely intervenes in the domestic politics of other countries to the detriment of left-wing or left-leaning candidates. In 2002 he was briefly ousted in a military coup that was tacitly supported by Washington and which resulted in the installation of an interim president, Pedro Carmona.

Mr Chavez's opponent Mr Rosales, a state governor, was among those who signed the so-called Carmona Decree supporting the appointment, though he has since said it was a mistake. A campaign strategist, Eliseo Fermin, said Mr Rosales had been advised to sign by a Catholic bishop who said it would be better to support a new president than not to.

Mr Fermin disputed the idea that Mr Rosales's supporters were overwhelmingly middle class. He said the thousands of people who had attended Mr Rosales' campaign rallies showed that if only middle-class people were attending " we would be a developed country". He added: "We are fighting radicalism and we are offering the country a leader who has demonstrated that you can govern for everybody."

*******************************

4)
"Venezuelans return Chávez to power by a landslide"
Staff and agencies
The Guardian
December 4, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,1963577,00.html

Supporters of Hugo Chávez celebrate his victory in the streets of Caracas

Hugo Chávez today began a third six-year term as president of Venezuela after trouncing his rival, Manuel Rosales.

The national electoral council said Mr Chávez had won 61% of the vote while Mr Rosales, the governor of an oil-producing province, had won 38% after nearly 80% of the vote had been counted.

Wearing his trademark red shirt, Mr Chávez told cheering supporters at the presidential palace late yesterday his landslide victory was a blow to the Bush administration, the frequent target of tirades from the Venezuelan leader.

"It's another defeat for the devil who tries to dominate the world," Mr Chávez told a crowd of red-shirted supporters listening to him under pouring rain. "Down with imperialism. We need a new world."

Even before polls closed, Chávez supporters were celebrating in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas, honking horns and shouting: "Chávez isn't going anywhere."

Since he first won office in 1998, Chávez has increasingly dominated all branches of government. His allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary.

Current law prevents him from running again in 2012, but he has said he plans to seek constitutional reforms that would include an end to limits on presidential terms.

Mr Chávez is the fourth leftwing leader to win an election in Latin America in the past five weeks. Ecuador's Rafael Correa, an ally of the Venezuelan, won a runoff last week after promising sweeping political reforms; Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua also won recent presidential contests.

Mr Rosales acknowledged defeat but promised to keep fighting. He was greeted by cries of "coward" by some upset supporters as he left his campaign headquarters.

"We recognise they beat us today, but we will continue the fight," said Mr Rosales, 53, who drew his main support from the middle and upper classes.

Mr Rosales, a cattle rancher who is now expected to return to his post of governor of the western state of Zulia, called the election a choice between freedom and increasing state control of people's lives. He also decried rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Mr Chávez's main vulnerabilities.

The country's opposition movement struggled to challenge Mr Chávez after he defeated a recall referendum in 2004. Many opposition supporters believe Mr Chávez has an unfair advantage by controlling key institutions such as the election council.

But his supporters applaud the man they fondly call El Comandante for spending the country's oil wealth on free health and education programmes for the poor majority, who have long felt abandoned under a succession of governments.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, and soaring oil prices have made it the continent's fastest growing economy.

A retired army paratrooper who led a failed military rebellion before his first election win, Mr Chávez has survived a brief coup, an oil strike and scores of demonstrations during his seven years in the Miraflores presidential palace.

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5)
"A third term likely for Chávez, says exit poll"
Rory Carroll
The Guardian
December 4, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,1963344,00.html

· Venezuelan poor turn out in force on polling day
· Early prediction gives president big lead

Hugo Chávez appeared on course last night to win Venezuela's election, according to exit polls which, if confirmed, give him another six-year term as president to taunt Washington and promote Latin America's radical left.

Early indications suggested that the poverty-stricken barrios turned out in force to vote for an incumbent who has used oil revenues to fund clinics, schools and food subsidies at home, and to project his influence abroad. Voters stood at polling stations from 2am to beat the queues which had formed by dawn, a reflection of the passions aroused by a peaceful but bitter election campaign.

Mr Chávez, 52, said that if he won, his vaguely defined "socialist revolution" would accelerate and that he might hold a referendum to abolish term limits, a hint that he wanted to stay on until 2021.

An exit poll by the US pollster Evans/McDonough gave him 58%, and the opposition challenger, Manuel Rosales 40%, based on 400,000 voters in 21 of 23 states. Chávez supporters celebrated in Caracas last night in expectation of victory. If the poll is accurate, the election was a big victory for the incumbent, but also a tribute to his challenger's success in galvanising an opposition that until recently had been so split it considered boycotting the election.

An official result is due today.

The opposition billed the vote as a last chance to stop a fledgling dictator who was hoarding power and incrementally introducing Cuban-style communism into the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter.

The president's supporters rejected the accusation as sour grapes from an elite unable to accept the will of a poverty-striken majority who had been marginalised until his first election victory in 1998.

An oil-fuelled boom has led to large government spending on social projects and infrastructure. Some critics say it is old-fashioned patronage and populism masked in revolutionary rhetoric.

Polling stations basking in tropical sunshine illustrated the deep divisions. In Petare, a slum of tin-roofed, crumbling homes etched into hills overlooking the capital, Caracas, the mood was festive. Summoned by Chávez supporters' bugles playing reveille, people started queuing outside the Cecilio Acosta school soon after midnight. Vendors sold coffee and soft drinks as speakers blasted out music.

In the queue were Eukaris Gonzalez, 18, and her mother Arceli, 41. "We voted for the president because he cares about the people," said the former. But in middle-class Altamira the mood was anxious. "I'm tired of Chávez and I don't think he has respect for democracy," said Darwin Rodriguez, 27, a make-up artist. Victory for Mr Chávez, his third term, would dismay the Bush administration which has had toxic relations since a failed coup against him in 2002. But regional allies enjoying financial support would welcome it.

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6)
"Chavez taunts US 'devil' after landslide reelection"
Philippe Naughton, and agencies
The Times of London
December 4, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2486129,00.html

Hugo Chavez celebrated with his daughter Rosa from a balcony of the Miraflores palace (Reuters)

Hugo Chavez has been resoundingly reelected as President of Venezuela, capturing an ample mandate to extend a socialist revolution that challenges Washington's influence in Latin America.

Dressed in his trademark red shirt, Mr Chavez celebrated his second six-year term late last night from a balcony of the presidential palace after his challenger, Manuel Rosales, conceded defeat in yesterday's vote.

Mr Chavez dedicated his victory to the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro - whom he calls his "father" - and told a mass of cheering supporters that his landslide win was a bitter defeat for President Bush.

"Today we gave another lesson in dignity to the imperialists, it is another defeat for the empire of Mr Danger," he roared to the crowd. "It’s another defeat for the devil who tries to dominate the world."

The National Electoral Council said that Mr Chavez won 61 per cent of the vote while Mr Rosales, the governor of an oil-producing province who managed to unite the fractured opposition, won 38 per cent after nearly 80 per cent of the vote had been counted.

Chavez supporters fired off thunderous fireworks in the capital and drove through Caracas chanting, "Chavez isn't going anywhere".

The former soldier's clear victory is a blow to the United States and its attempts to maintain influence in a region it has long considered its backyard.

Mr Chavez is the fourth leftist to win an election in Latin America in the past five weeks. Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, who calls himself an ally of the Venezuelan, won a run-off last week after promising sweeping political reforms and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua also have won recent presidential elections.

Mr Chavez has won a loyal following among Venezuela's poor through multibillion-dollar social programmes that include subsidised food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers.

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government, and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012 but he has said he plans to seek constitutional reforms that would include an end to presidential term limits.

Me Rosales, who for many opposition supporters was a bright hope to beat Chavez, acknowledged defeat but promised to keep fighting. He was greeted by cries of"coward" by some upset supporters as he left his campaign headquarters.

"We recognise they beat us today but we will continue the fight," said the 53-year-old, who drew his main support from the middle and upper classes in a polarised nation.

A retired army paratrooper who led a failed military rebellion before his 1998 election, Mr Chavez has survived a brief coup, an oil strike and scores of demonstrations during his years in power.

Having already taken on multinational oil giants to demand they hand more control to the state, Mr Chavez is now expected to press for more share of Venezuela’s vast oil and mineral resources and increase land distribution for the rural poor.

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7)
"Chávez wins landslide election victory"
Andy Webb-Vidal
Financial Times
December 4, 2006
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d6ddb306-8309-11db-a38a-0000779e2340.html

Hugo Chávez was re-elected Venezuela’s president for a six-year term on Sunday with 61 per cent of the vote, 23 percentage points ahead of his main opponent, who conceded defeat but challenged the magnitude of the margin.

Manuel Rosales, the predominant opposition candidate, won about 38 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary official results based on a tally from 78 per cent of polling stations, the National Electoral Council said.

Mr Chávez’s 23-point lead - if an audit comparing electronic voting results with paper records confirms the results - would be roughly in line with most opinion polls published in the run-up to Sunday’s ballot, which suggested he would win with a lead of around 20 points.

An exit poll released early Sunday evening by US pollster Evans/McDonough had suggested Mr Chávez was leading with 58 per cent compared with 40 per cent for Mr Rosales.

Mr Chávez, a former army officer who often rails against the Bush administration and who has governed the world’s fifth largest oil exporter for almost eight years, pledged to radicalise his left-leaning “Bolivarian Revolution”.

“Today begins a new era,” screamed Mr Chávez, a close ally of Cuba’s ailing president Fidel Castro, during his victory speech from a balcony at the presidential palace in Caracas. “The central idea of that new era will be the deepening and the expansion of the Bolivarian Revolution towards Socialism.”

Mr Rosales, who stepped down as governor of the western oil-rich state of Zulia barely four months ago to challenge the incumbent, on Sunday night conceded defeat but vowed to continue battling for an alternative model to Mr Chávez’s militaristic blueprint for the country’s development.

Earlier in the day he said that “problems” were delaying voting in as many as a third of polling stations, and he alleged that voters who claimed they had voted for him received “null vote” paper receipts from electronic voting machines, which have been plagued by technical glitches in previous votes in Venezuela.

Mr Rosales on Sunday night insisted that, after studying the results of two exit polls commissioned by his campaign and four “quick counts”, Mr Chávez’s margin of victory was “much smaller” than the partial results indicated.

“I speak as a democrat but also as a fighter,” Mr Rosales said. “Thiswas a tough battle against unfair advantage and all the structures of the state combined. But we are not stupid. The margin was much smaller than this.”

Mr Rosales rebuffed calls from radical opponents appealing for him to forcefully challenge the results and organise protests, marking distance from previous, and failed, efforts by opposition leaders to win power on the streets.

Earlier in the evening, other opposition spokesmen had alleged that voting centres had been re-opened in some areas to allow hastily mobilised presumed pro-Chávez supporters to vote, an allegation denied by the government.

Before the partial result was announced, Teodoro Petkoff, a leading political commentator and Mr Rosales’s chief campaign strategist, urged opponents to be patient for the result of the auditing process, which was expected to take several hours.

Electoral witnesses and some international observers from the Organisation of American States and other institutions were due to oversee the audit of electronic ballot results at about 17,500, or 54 per cent, of polling stations.

Nevertheless, shortly after the partial election results were announced, Mr Chávez celebrated by singing the national anthem before hundreds of cheering supporters who had amassed near the palace.

Government supporters set off a volley of fireworks in the centre of the city and in the poor slums that encircle the city, home to Mr Chávez’s political constituency.

During the day, Mr Chávez, who likes to portray himself as the voice of not only the Venezuelan poor, but also of the downtrodden around Latin America, turned up to vote in a poor neighbourhood of Caracas driving a red Volkswagen Beetle.

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8)
"Chavez wins Venezuela re-election"
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
December 4, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6205128.stm

Chavez addresses supporters after claiming victory
Hugo Chavez says he wants another term to complete his revolution
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has won a third term in office, securing a clear lead over rival Manuel Rosales.

With most of the ballots counted, Mr Chavez had taken more than 60% of the vote, officials said.

The president, who has secured the support of the poor by using oil to fund welfare, told crowds his left-wing "Bolivarian revolution" had triumphed.

Admitting defeat, his social democrat rival said he would go on "fighting for democracy" in the streets if necessary.

"It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," Mr Chavez told cheering supporters, mocking US President George W Bush, and sending out a "brotherly" salute to Cuba's President Fidel Castro.

Relations between Caracas and Washington have come under increasing strain in the past few years, with the US accusing Mr Chavez of trying to destabilise Latin America.

Street party

Minutes after the preliminary results were announced, Mr Chavez appeared at the balcony of the presidential palace in Caracas.

It is a bigger party than New Year's Eve
Taxi driver, Caracas

"Today a new era has started, with the expansion of the revolution," he told tens of thousands of jubilant people.

Venezuela was firmly on the track to socialism, said the president, who has vowed to boost the social programmes that won him support among millions of impoverished Venezuelans.

He now has a clear mandate to rule for the next six years, and is likely to set about reforming the Venezuelan constitution to remove any limits on how many times he can be re-elected, the BBC's Greg Morsbach in Caracas says.

Late on Sunday Chavez supporters took to the streets to celebrate, letting off fireworks and playing pro-Chavez songs over loudspeakers.

People wait in line to cast their ballots in the capital, Caracas.

"That should be the national anthem," one taxi driver from a shanty town told Reuters news agency as he drove around an affluent area of Caracas.

"People round here do not know what it is like in the slums. It is a bigger party than New Year's Eve."

Sunday's election saw a high turnout and the poll was monitored by hundreds of international observers.

The president, who won elections in both 1998 and 2000, is the fourth leftist to win an election in the region in recent weeks.

He won after a campaign in which he characterised his rival as a lackey of the US.

Mr Rosales, governor of the oil-rich western state of Zulia, for his part said the leftist leader was turning Venezuela into a communist state, calling him "a puppet seated on Castro's lap".

He argued that the country's long-term interests lay in free-market policies and attracting foreign investment, and accused Chavez of concentrating power in his own hands while squandering Venezuela's resources.

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9)
"Chavez easily wins re-election"
Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC)
December 4, 2006
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/03/venezuela.html

Incumbent Venezualan President Hugo Chavez has easily won re-election, giving the outspoken socialist six more years in office.

With 78 per cent of voting stations reporting Sunday, Chavez had 61 per cent of the vote, compared to 38 per cent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country's elections council.

Hugo Chavez waves to supporters after voting at a polling station in Caracas on Sunday. Hugo Chavez waves to supporters after voting at a polling station in Caracas on Sunday.

Rosales conceded defeat but vowed to remain in opposition.

Chavez had nearly six million votes versus 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.

Turnout was 62 per cent, according to an official bulletin of results, making Chavez's lead insurmountable.

Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace singing the national anthem. He pledged to deepen his effort to transform Venezuela into a socialist society.

"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters wearing red shirts and braving a pouring rain.

"That new era has begun," he said, raising a hand in the air. "We have shown that Venezuela is red! … No one should fear socialism … Socialism is human. Socialism is love," Chavez said. "Down with imperialism! We need a new world!"

The win gives Chavez more time to spend Venezuela's oil wealth on social programs and spread his anti-U.S. message among leaders across Latin America.

The president was opposed by 13 candidates, but only Rosales was thought to represent any serious challenge.

Rosales, a tough-talking former state governor and cattle rancher who says he wants to protect a market-based system, has accused Chavez of steering the country toward Cuba-style, one-man rule with policies that will erode the democratic process.

Since Chavez was voted into office in 1998 on a wave of discontent with Venezuela's corrupt political elite, his supporters have gained increasing domination over all branches of government, and they now control Congress, state offices and the judiciary.

Rosales had said he would maintain some of Chavez's social programs and even introduce a state-issue debit card to distribute some of the country's oil wealth directly to the neediest families.

Chavez had been leading in a number of pre-election polls, but Rosales had drawn huge crowds of supporters in campaign rallies.

Pollsters said Rosales had been counting on capturing a large number of the undecided among the 14 million eligible voters.

The campaign has been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying his supporters would be on the alert for election fraud.

Pitted against Bush administration

Chavez has called U.S. President George W. Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and wielded influence in election races across Latin America while clashing at home with business leaders and opposition-aligned media.

Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup attempt along with a subsequent general strike and 2004 recall referendum.

Despite the anti-U.S. rhetoric, Venezuela — the world's fifth largest oil exporter — has continued a brisk oil business with the United States.
With files from the Associated Press

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10)
"Venezuela's Chavez storms to re-election victory"
Patrick Markey
Reuters
December 4, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120300223.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stormed to a re-election victory in Sunday's vote, handing him an ample mandate to broaden his promised socialist revolution and challenge Washington's influence in Latin America.

Dressed in his signature red shirt, Chavez told cheering supporters at his presidential palace late Sunday his landslide was a blow to U.S. President George W. Bush's administration, which portrays the leftist as an anti-democratic menace.

"Today we gave another lesson in dignity to the imperialists, it is another defeat for the empire of Mr. Danger," Chavez roared from a balcony above the crowds using one of the insults he has tossed at the U.S. president.

The former soldier's victory will further rile the White House, which worries about Chavez destabilizing Latin America neighbors and strengthening ties between the OPEC heavyweight Venezuela and U.S. foes Cuba and Iran.

The National Electoral Council said Chavez won 61 percent of the vote while rival Manuel Rosales, a governor of an oil-producing province who managed to unite the fractured opposition, won 38 percent after nearly 80 percent of the vote had been counted.

Chavez supporters fired off thunderous fireworks in the capital and drove through Caracas chanting "Hey ho, Chavez will not go" to celebrate his securing six more years in office.

LEFTIST TIDE

Chavez is the fourth leftist to win an election in Latin America in the past five weeks.

Ecuador's Rafael Correa, who calls himself an ally of the Venezuelan, won a run-off last week after promising sweeping political reforms. Leftists Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua also have won recent presidential elections.

Rosales, who for many opposition supporters was a bright hope to beat Chavez, acknowledged defeat but promised to keep fighting. He was greeted by cries of "coward" by some upset supporters as he left his campaign headquarters.

"We recognize they beat us today but we will continue the fight," said Rosales, 53, who drew his main support from the middle and upper classes in the polarized nation.

The country's opposition movement struggled to challenge Chavez after he defeated a recall referendum in 2004. Many opposition supporters believe Chavez has an unfair advantage by controlling key institutions such as the election council.

But supporters applaud the man they fondly call "El Comandante" for spending the country's soaring oil wealth on free health and education programs for the poor majority who feel long-abandoned by previous governments.

A retired army paratrooper who led a failed military rebellion before his 1998 election, Chavez has survived a brief coup, an oil strike and scores of demonstrations during his seven years in the Miraflores presidential palace.

Worrying his opponents, Chavez has vowed to use a fresh mandate to scrap presidential term limits and create a single-party that he expects to lead in power for decades.

Having already taken on multinational oil giants to demand they hand more control to the state, Chavez will likely press for more share of Venezuela's vast oil and mineral resources and increase land distribution for the rural poor.

*******************************

11)
"UPDATE 15-Chavez wins re-election in Venezuelan landslide"
Saul Hudson
Reuters
December 3, 2006
∩=Venezuela's%20President%20Hugo%20Chavez%20shows%20his%20inked%20finger%20after%20voting%20in%20a%20presidential%20election%20in%20Caracas%20December%203,%202006.%20REUTERS/Miraflores%20Palace/Handout%20%20(VENEZUELA)&from=business

(Recasts with rival conceding)

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec 3 (Reuters) - With a cry of "long live the revolution," anti-U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election in a landslide after his challenger conceded on Sunday.

Chavez, 52, won a strong mandate to press his self-styled socialist revolution in his next six-year term and forge an anti-U.S. front in Latin America to counter what he calls the superpower's "imperialism."

Critics, including Washington, who regard Chavez as a threat to regional democracy and stability, fear the Cuba ally will be emboldened to buy arms and influence with an oil bonanza from high prices in the heavyweight OPEC member.

The National Electoral Council said Chavez won 61 percent, while Manuel Rosales, a governor of an oil-producing province who united the opposition, trailed with 38 percent after 78 percent of the vote had been counted.

Dressed in his signature red shirt, Chavez celebrated by raising his right fist and singing the national anthem on a balcony at the presidential palace.

Chavez, who has called President George W. Bush a "donkey," "drunkard" -- and worse -- labeled his U.S. counterpart Satan in a speech dedicating his victory to the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"It's another defeat for the devil who wants to dominate the world," he told hundreds of supporters.

Waving red-blue-and-yellow national flags, they chanted "Chavez isn't leaving" as fireworks crackled in the air and soldiers hugged to celebrate the ex-paratrooper's win.

"We recognize they beat us today but we will continue the fight," said Rosales, 53 and a father of 10 who drew his main support from the middle and upper classes in the polarized nation.

Chavez, who is called "El Comandante" by his fervent followers, has vowed to use a fresh mandate to scrap presidential term limits and create a single-party that he expects to lead in power for decades.

He also aims to take further state control of the Caribbean country's top industry -- oil.

If Sunday's results are confirmed, it would be a better result for Chavez than his previous sweeping election victories in 1998 and 2000.

The fourth leftist to win an election in Latin America in the last five weeks, Chavez appeared set to record one of the most convincing victories in a region that has seen about a dozen elections in the last year.

A folksy politician Chavez is popular among Venezuela's poor majority because of his free spending on clinics and schools of oil income in one of the world's top crude exporters.

While Rosales lacks Chavez's charisma, he ran a disciplined campaign that exposed Venezuelans' anger at rampant crime and at Chavez's increasing control over state institutions like the military and giant state oil company.

Rosales united the traditionally fragmented opposition and showed there is a solid section of the electorate fearful that Chavez will lead them to Cuba style communism.

Backed by hard-line allies in Cuba and Bolivia, Chavez has bolstered ties with more moderate leftists in Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Nicaragua to form an anti-U.S. front.

While the United States is Venezuela's top oil customer, Chavez has battled the superpower over everything from trade to OPEC to Iran's nuclear goals since he took office in 1999.

Hundreds of backers of Chavez, whose campaign slogan was "red, really red" to reflect his socialist credentials, descended on an upmarket Caracas neighborhood that has been a political battleground and danced salsa.

"Rosales' butt ended up 'red, really red' after the whipping we gave him," said Iraida Martinez, a 39-year-old nurse.

*******************************

12)
"Chavez leads Venezuela vote - official results"
Saul Hudson
Reuters
December 3, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-12-04T021305Z_01_N29379032_RTRUKOC_0_US-VENEZUELA-ELECTION.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-worldNews-3

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Anti-U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was headed for a landslide re-election win on Sunday, according to partial results from the National Electoral Council.

The leftist incumbent won 61 percent, while Manuel Rosales, a governor of an oil-producing province who united the opposition, trailed with 38 percent after 78 percent of the vote had been counted, the council said.

If the trend continues, Chavez, 52, would have a strong majority to press his self-styled socialist revolution at home and forge an anti-U.S. front in Latin America to counter what he calls the superpower's "imperialism."

A folsky politician who calls President George W. Bush the devil, Chavez is popular among Venezuela's majority poor because of his free spending of the OPEC country's oil bonanza on clinics and schools.

He swept to election victories in 1998 and 2000. Another win with a strong majority would give the Cuba ally a clear mandate in a new six-year term to scrap presidential term limits and create a single-party that he expects to lead in power for decades.

He also aims to take further state control of the Caribbean country's top industry -- oil.

Rosales, 53 and a father-of-ten, draws his main support from the middle- and upper-classes in the polarized nation.

While he lacks Chavez's charisma, he ran a disciplined campaign that exposed some weaknesses for the incumbent, such as Venezuelans' anger at rampant crime and their fears he wants to drive the country toward Cuba-style communism.

"INTO THE STREETS"

At Rosales's campaign headquarters, angry supporters chanted "into the streets, into the streets" in a sign that some in the opposition could protest the results.

But hundreds of backers of Chavez, whose campaign slogan was "red, really red" to reflect his socialist credentials, descended on an upmarket Caracas neighborhood that has been a political battleground and danced salsa.

"Rosales's butt ended up 'red, really red' after the whipping we gave him," said Iraida Martinez, a 39-year-old nurse.

Chavez, in power since 1999, has accused Rosales of planning to cry fraud if he loses and try to create a political crisis to topple him. Rosales denies the charge and says he will accept the result if the election is fair.

Teodoro Petkoff, one of the most respected figures in the opposition, said the voting was carried out in a "satisfactory" manner and when irregularities emerged they were generally addressed by the electoral authorities.

The Organization of American States, which fielded dozens of election observers, applauded the "massive and peaceful" vote.

*******************************

13)
"NEWSMAKER-Chavez divides Venezuela and world opinion"
Christian Oliver
Reuters
December 3, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nN03443304&from=business

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Few leaders on the world stage have polarized opinion as sharply as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who won a landslide re-election victory on Sunday.

Devotees see the charismatic leftist as an advocate of the developing world against the overweening might of the United States, praising him for pouring petrodollars into clinics and schools for Venezuela's long-neglected poor majority.

His enemies view him as a dictator in the making, using his popular mandate to forge a Cuban-style one-party state in which every soldier and oil industry employee must be loyal to the values of his self-styled socialist revolution.

A highly unorthodox politician, Chavez uses marathon speeches to mix politics and oil with musings on recipes for hot-dog sauces and baseball statistics.

In his most extreme blend of theater and politics, he dismissed seven senior managers of the state oil company PDVSA by pretending to be a soccer referee, firing the executives with blasts of his whistle.

Chavez first seized the limelight in 1992 when, as a young paratrooper officer, he led a failed coup.

He forged his reputation in a television interview before he was jailed for his putsch attempt, saying his leadership ambitions were only over "for now." He was released in 1994.

The son of teachers from the western cattle ranching state of Barinas, Chavez joined the army at 16 to hone his skills as a baseball pitcher. His humble roots and vernacular chitchat have won him massive popular appeal.

He won a landslide presidential election in 1998 and pulled it off again in 2000. He also resoundingly won a recall referendum in 2004.

Since then his revolution has picked up steam, with the confiscation of land and private firms, oil nationalization and higher taxes on foreign companies tapping mineral resources.

POLITICAL SURVIVOR

Chavez survived a coup which briefly dislodged him in 2002 and an oil strike that brought with it economic woes.

Not content with shaking up Venezuelan politics, he has tried to build a "multipolar alliance" against the government of U.S. President George W. Bush, whom he has labeled "the devil."

He has formed a radical triumvirate with Cuba's President Fidel Castro and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales.

Chavez has traveled across the developing world from Angola to Vietnam, particularly riling Washington with visits to Syria and Iran.

Although he has developed strong economic ties with countries like China and bought major arms shipments from Russia, the international appetite for his revolutionary proselytism has been limited.

In a heavy blow to his dream of being viewed as a flagbearer for the developing world, he failed to win a seat on the U.N. Security Council after styling his bid as a man-to-man popularity contest between himself and Bush.

Furthermore, Chavez's intervention proved a kiss of death for leftist candidates in Mexico and Peru.

Venezuela supplies about 12 percent of U.S. oil imports and is a vociferous price hawk in the OPEC cartel.

Although Chavez has largely tolerated a press that is often libelously hostile toward him, the Sumate civil rights group which backed the 2004 referendum against him has been charged with treason and accepting U.S. funds.

*******************************

14)
"FACTBOX - Key facts about Venezuela"
Reuters
December 3, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-12-03T161633Z_01_N03417069_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L1-RelatedNews-4

(Reuters) - These are some key facts about Venezuela which holds a presidential election on Sunday.

* THE COUNTRY

OFFICIAL NAME: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

POPULATION: 27 million. Roughly two-thirds of mixed race, the rest of European, African and American Indian descent.
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LANGUAGE: Spanish.

RELIGION: Predominantly Roman Catholic.

GEOGRAPHY: Area 343,670 square miles, or roughly twice the size of Spain. Bordered by Caribbean Sea to north, Brazil to south, Guyana to east and Colombia to west.

CAPITAL: Caracas, population about 5 million.

POLITICAL SYSTEM: A republic with 23 states governed by a president. Under the 1999 constitution the presidential term was extended to six years from five and the Senate was eliminated in favor of a unicameral National Assembly.

ECONOMY: With the largest conventional oil reserves outside the Middle East, oil accounts for 75 percent of exports and roughly half of government income. A founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, in 1960, Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Venezuela's wealth remains in the hands of a small minority despite government reform programs.

* RECENT HISTORY:

-- Venezuela has enjoyed uninterrupted democratic rule since the fall of dictator Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958.

-- Until 1998, politics was dominated by two parties -- Democratic Action and Copei.
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-- Looting and riots sparked by fuel price increases in 1989 left an official toll of hundreds dead in the capital with some groups estimating as many as 3,000 casualties.

-- Current President Hugo Chavez in 1992 led a failed military uprising, which was followed by another bloody coup that same year.

-- Released from jail in 1994, Chavez defeated pro-business Henrique Salas in the December 1998 presidential vote, with a fiercely anti-establishment, anti-corruption platform.

-- He survived a brief coup in 2002 and a grueling two-month oil strike meant to force his ouster.

-- In 2004 he won a recall referendum by a wide margin in a vote observers called fair.

-- Since then he has boosted confrontation with the United States, confiscated private land for redistribution and led a regional campaign to increase taxation on energy resources.

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15)
"Chavez wins re-election by a wide margin"
Christopher Toothaker
Associated Press
December 4, 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16157038.htm

CARACAS, Venezuela - Emboldened by a resounding re-election, President Hugo Chavez pledged to shake up Venezuela with a more radical version of socialism and forge a wider front against the United States in Latin America.

Opposition contender Manuel Rosales accepted defeat Sunday night, but promised to continue countering a leader whom he accuses of becoming increasingly authoritarian.

Touting his victory in a speech to thousands, Chavez said Venezuelans should expect an "expansion of the revolution" aimed at redistributing the country's oil wealth among the poor.

"Long live the revolution!" Chavez shouted from the balcony of the presidential palace. "Venezuela is demonstrating that a new and better world is possible, and we are building it."

With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent of the vote, to 38 percent for Rosales.

Chavez has won a loyal following among the poor through multibillion-dollar social programs including subsidized food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers.

Chavez, who says he sees Fidel Castro as a father, dedicated his victory to the ailing 80-year-old Cuban leader, and called it a blow against President Bush.

"It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," Chavez told the crowd of red-shirted supporters, who listened to him under pouring rain. "Down with imperialism. We need a new world."

Even before polls closed, Chavez supporters celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas honking horns and shouting "Chavez isn't going anywhere!"

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government, and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012 but he has said he plans to seek constitutional reforms that would include an end to presidential term limits.

Chavez has posed a growing challenge to the United States while leading a widening bloc of Latin American leftists, influencing elections across the region, and allying himself with U.S. opponents like Iran and Syria.

The United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil, but Chavez has sought to gradually diversify to new clients in Latin America and as far away as China.

Partial results from Sunday's vote showed Chavez had nearly 6 million votes versus 3.7 million for Rosales. Final turnout figures among the 15.9 million eligible voters weren't available but an official bulletin of partial results showed turnout at more than 70 percent.

"We recognize that today they defeated us," Rosales told cheering supporters at his campaign headquarters. "We will continue in this struggle."

Some aides wept. Others were angry.

"We have to do something," said 36-year-old Dona Bavaro. "My country is being stolen. This is the last chance we have. Communism is coming here."

Rosales, a cattle rancher who is now expected to return to his post of governor of the western state of Zulia, called the election a choice between freedom and increasing state control of people's lives. He also decried rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez's main vulnerabilities.

Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent's fastest-growing economy - a fact that some voters said helped tilt them toward Chavez.

Many who voted for the president said they think the leader's oil-funded social programs are making a difference.

"We're here to support our president, who has helped us so much," said Jose Domingo Izaguirre, a factory worker who lined up to vote and whose family recently moved into new government housing.

Some Venezuelans had predicted street protests and possibly violence after the vote, but Rosales' quick concession appeared to defuse tensions. Venezuelan society remains sharply divided along class lines, with many middle- and upper-class Chavez opponents saying they fear what may be next in the president's play book.

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992, and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.

Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.

The president insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property - though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities.

*******************************

16)
"Runaway victory for Chavez"
Associated Press
December 4, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2037569.ece

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez won re-election by a wide margin today, giving him another six years to solidify his self-styled social revolution and further his crusade to counter US influence.

With 78 per cent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 per cent against 38 per cent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country's elections council. Chavez had nearly six million votes compared with 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.

Turnout was 62 per cent, according to an official bulletin of results, making the lead insurmountable.

Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez, 52, appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace in Caracas, singing the national anthem.

Even before polls closed, hundreds of Chavez supporters celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas in caravans, honking horns and shouting: "Chavez isn't going anywhere!"

A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said that the voting process "was carried out in a satisfactory manner". He said some irregularities had occurred but that most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.

The vote was being monitored by observers including the European Union, the Carter Centre and the Organisation of American States.

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called US president George Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.

Chavez has also used Venezuela's oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channelled oil profits toward multi-billion programmes for the poor, including subsidised food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.

Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, has rebuilt the opposition.

During the campaign, Rosales accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward one-man rule. His campaign focused on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez's main vulnerabilities.

The campaign had been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales' campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy - as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.

More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.

Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.

Chavez had said he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, probably including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.

Some Rosales supporters worry that a re-elected Chavez would turn more radical. Chavez insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property - though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalise utilities.

Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela's poor for free.

"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters in the pouring rain.

He said he would now try to deepen a revolution that had spread Venezuela's oil wealth among the country's poor.

"No one should fear socialism," Chavez proclaimed. "Socialism is human. Socialism is love."

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez won re-election by a wide margin today, giving him another six years to solidify his self-styled social revolution and further his crusade to counter US influence.

With 78 per cent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 per cent against 38 per cent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country's elections council. Chavez had nearly six million votes compared with 3.7 million for Rosales, according to the partial tally.

Turnout was 62 per cent, according to an official bulletin of results, making the lead insurmountable.

Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez, 52, appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace in Caracas, singing the national anthem.

Even before polls closed, hundreds of Chavez supporters celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and cruising Caracas in caravans, honking horns and shouting: "Chavez isn't going anywhere!"

A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said that the voting process "was carried out in a satisfactory manner". He said some irregularities had occurred but that most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.

The vote was being monitored by observers including the European Union, the Carter Centre and the Organisation of American States.

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called US president George Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.

Chavez has also used Venezuela's oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channelled oil profits toward multi-billion programmes for the poor, including subsidised food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.

Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, has rebuilt the opposition.

During the campaign, Rosales accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward one-man rule. His campaign focused on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez's main vulnerabilities.

The campaign had been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales' campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy - as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.

More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.

Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.

Chavez had said he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, probably including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.

Some Rosales supporters worry that a re-elected Chavez would turn more radical. Chavez insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property - though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalise utilities.

Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela's poor for free.

"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters in the pouring rain.

He said he would now try to deepen a revolution that had spread Venezuela's oil wealth among the country's poor.

"No one should fear socialism," Chavez proclaimed. "Socialism is human. Socialism is love."

*******************************

17)
"Chavez supporters celebrate in anticipation of re-election"
Ian James
Associated Press
December 4, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2037424.ece

Supporters of President Hugo Chavez celebrated in the streets yesterday even as some polling stations remained open in an election that could give one of the US government's fiercest rivals another six years in power.

Chavez backers cruised downtown Caracas in caravans honking horns, shouting "Chavez isn't going anywhere" and setting off fireworks, as campaign aides cited exit polls pointing to a sweeping victory over challenger Manuel Rosales.

A Chavez win would solidify his self-styled socialist revolution and further boost his campaign to create a counterweight to US influence globally. Rosales has accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward one-man rule.

A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said Sunday evening that the voting process "was carried out in a satisfactory manner."

He said some irregularities had occurred - including attempts to remove ballots without first permitting an audit - but that most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.

Polling centers began to close at 4 p.m but many remained opened, by law, until the last queued voters could cast ballots. The vote was being monitored by observers including the European Union, the Carter Center and the Organization of American States.

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called US President George W. Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.

Chavez also has used Venezuela's oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channeled oil profits toward multibillion-dollar programs for the poor including subsidized food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.

Yesterday, the incumbent waved and blew kisses to cheering supporters as he voted in a Caracas slum.

"I'm absolutely sure that the process is and will be totally transparent," said Chavez, who arrived in a red Volkswagen Beetle. "Let's vote, leave calmly and wait for the results."

Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, has rebuilt the opposition from its referendum defeat.

His campaign focused on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez's main vulnerabilities.

Chavez supporters jarred voters awake hours before dawn in Caracas with recordings of reveille blaring from truck-mounted loudspeakers.

"We're here to support our president, who has helped us so much," said Jose Domingo Izaguirre, a factory worker who waited hours to vote. His family recently moved into new government housing.

Rosales supporters accused Chavez of deepening class divisions with searing rhetoric demonizing his opponents.

Alicia Primera, a 54-year-old housewife, was among voters so passionate about the choice that they camped out overnight in voting queues.

"I voted for Chavez previously. I cried for him," Primera said. "Now I'm crying for him to leave. He's sown a lot of hate with his verbiage."

The campaign has been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales' campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy - as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.

More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus stressed "the importance of a free, fair and transparent process."

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.

Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.

Chavez says he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, likely including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.

Some Rosales supporters worry a re-elected Chavez would turn more radical. Chavez insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property - though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent's fastest growing economy.

Chavez has pledged at least US$1.1 billion (¤830 million) in loans and financial aid to Latin American countries in the past two years, and billions more in bond bailouts for friendly governments as well as generously financed oil deals. But the largesse has proved a weakness at home, with polls suggesting many Venezuelans believe the aid impedes efforts to address the country's own problems.

Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela's poor for free.

Supporters of President Hugo Chavez celebrated in the streets yesterday even as some polling stations remained open in an election that could give one of the US government's fiercest rivals another six years in power.

Chavez backers cruised downtown Caracas in caravans honking horns, shouting "Chavez isn't going anywhere" and setting off fireworks, as campaign aides cited exit polls pointing to a sweeping victory over challenger Manuel Rosales.

A Chavez win would solidify his self-styled socialist revolution and further boost his campaign to create a counterweight to US influence globally. Rosales has accused Chavez of edging Venezuela toward one-man rule.

A top Rosales adviser, Teodoro Petkoff, said Sunday evening that the voting process "was carried out in a satisfactory manner."

He said some irregularities had occurred - including attempts to remove ballots without first permitting an audit - but that most were resolved. Another member of the Rosales camp had accused pro-Chavez soldiers of reopening closed polling stations and busing voters to them.

Polling centers began to close at 4 p.m but many remained opened, by law, until the last queued voters could cast ballots. The vote was being monitored by observers including the European Union, the Carter Center and the Organization of American States.

Since he first won office in 1998, Chavez has increasingly dominated all branches of government and his allies now control congress, state offices and the judiciary. He has called US President George W. Bush the devil, allied himself with Iran and influenced elections across the region.

Chavez also has used Venezuela's oil wealth to his political advantage. He has channeled oil profits toward multibillion-dollar programs for the poor including subsidized food, free university education and cash benefits for single mothers. He has helped allies from Cuba to Bolivia with oil and petrodollars.

Yesterday, the incumbent waved and blew kisses to cheering supporters as he voted in a Caracas slum.

"I'm absolutely sure that the process is and will be totally transparent," said Chavez, who arrived in a red Volkswagen Beetle. "Let's vote, leave calmly and wait for the results."

Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor of western Zulia state who stepped down temporarily to run against Chavez, has rebuilt the opposition from its referendum defeat.

His campaign focused on issues such as rampant crime and corruption, widely seen as Chavez's main vulnerabilities.

Chavez supporters jarred voters awake hours before dawn in Caracas with recordings of reveille blaring from truck-mounted loudspeakers.

"We're here to support our president, who has helped us so much," said Jose Domingo Izaguirre, a factory worker who waited hours to vote. His family recently moved into new government housing.

Rosales supporters accused Chavez of deepening class divisions with searing rhetoric demonizing his opponents.

Alicia Primera, a 54-year-old housewife, was among voters so passionate about the choice that they camped out overnight in voting queues.

"I voted for Chavez previously. I cried for him," Primera said. "Now I'm crying for him to leave. He's sown a lot of hate with his verbiage."

The campaign has been hostile, with Chavez calling Rosales a pawn of Washington and Rosales saying he was on the alert for fraud. Rosales' campaign had endorsed the electronic voting system as trustworthy - as long as no attempts were made to thwart it.

More than 125,000 soldiers and reservists were deployed to safeguard the balloting.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus stressed "the importance of a free, fair and transparent process."

Conflict and ambition have marked the rise of Chavez, 52, from a boy selling homemade sweets in a dusty backwater to a failed coup commander in 1992 and now a leader who could set the tone of Latin American politics for years to come.

Constitutional reforms he oversaw in 1999 triggered new elections the following year that he easily won. Loyalists helped him survive a 2002 coup, a subsequent general strike and a 2004 recall referendum.

Chavez says he would convene a commission upon re-election to propose constitutional reforms, likely including an end to presidential term limits. Current law prevents him from running again in 2012.

Some Rosales supporters worry a re-elected Chavez would turn more radical. Chavez insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property - though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent's fastest growing economy.

Chavez has pledged at least US$1.1 billion (¤830 million) in loans and financial aid to Latin American countries in the past two years, and billions more in bond bailouts for friendly governments as well as generously financed oil deals. But the largesse has proved a weakness at home, with polls suggesting many Venezuelans believe the aid impedes efforts to address the country's own problems.

Chavez, who says Fidel Castro is like a father to him, has built increasingly close ties with Cuba, sending the island oil while thousands of Cuban doctors treat Venezuela's poor for free.

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18)
"Venezuela's Chavez reelected"
Chris Kraul
Los Angeles Times
December 4, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-venezuela4dec04,0,1803165.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The leftist aims to alter the constitution so he can serve indefinitely.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was resoundingly reelected Sunday, setting the scene for a promised "deepening" of his socialist revolution and a broader role as leftist lightning rod on the world stage.

With about 80% of the ballots counted, Chavez had captured 61% of the vote, compared with 38% for Manuel Rosales, election officials said.

His reelection is expected to further Latin America's move to the left after victories by five left-leaning presidential candidates in the region in little more than a year.

Chavez, who pledges to revise his nation's constitution to allow him to serve indefinitely, may try to fill the leadership void created in July by the illness of Cuba's Fidel Castro, supporters say.

Relations between the firebrand Chavez and the United States are at an ebb because of suspicion by the Bush administration over Chavez's overtures to Iran, his billion-dollar arms purchase agreements with Russia, and what Washington says is his lack of cooperation in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking.

Venezuela is the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States, and revenue generated by high crude oil prices has allowed Chavez to wield considerable influence among his neighbors through energy subsidies and aid programs.

Chavez, addressing a crowd in front of the presidential palace, bellowed, "Long live the preordained popular victory. Long live the reign of socialism, the future of Venezuela…. Another defeat for the North American empire. Another defeat for the devil. Down with imperialism."

Rosales conceded Sunday night, saying he was up against "an entire state, all the power of a government in all its structure and dimensions."

"Tonight we have to recognize that they beat us," said Rosales, addressing supporters at his campaign headquarters.

The governor of oil-rich Zulia state, Rosales mounted a challenge to Chavez in September after opposition parties belatedly rallied around him.

Despite his decisive loss, observers credited Rosales with laying the groundwork for a new opposition movement.

His campaign complained of several irregularities, including refusals by National Election Commission officials at some polls to open ballot boxes for audits, as is legally required, and the keeping of voting booths open past the deadline.

Chavez and other government officials said the election was a success with no "relevant" irregularities.

"This is my fourth election where my government has been tested, and you can see the dynamism and depth of Venezuelan democracy," Chavez said after arriving before noon at a polling place in the poor January 23rd neighborhood in Caracas, driving an old Volkswagen Beetle. "It's a happy day for Venezuela."

Chavez, who was imprisoned after a failed coup attempt in 1992, was first elected in 1998 and reelected in 2000. He withstood a recall vote in 2004.

Observers say he will waste little time in reshaping the Venezuelan Constitution to advance his "socialism for the 21st century," which includes opposition to U.S. economic policies, among them a regional free-trade agreement.

Constitutional revisions probably will include unlimited reelections, Chavez told reporters. Without the change, his upcoming term would be his last.

Carlos Escarra, a Chavez confidant and congressman, said in an interview Sunday that he and other legislators would meet this week with Chavez to plan for a sweeping new constitutional "architecture" that would strengthen the legal standing of presidential decrees, such as the transfer of ownership stakes in businesses and factories to worker cooperatives.

Legislative approval of such a revision is considered a foregone conclusion because Chavez loyalists occupy all of the 165 seats in Congress.

Opposition candidates boycotted congressional elections in December 2005.

Opponents fear that the constitutional revisions might produce a more authoritarian state. Although acknowledging his popularity among Venezuela's poor, Chavez's critics say he has weakened democratic institutions by taking control of the judiciary, Congress and the military, leaving little room for dissent.

"What is coming is not the deepening of the revolution, because there is none, but of the authoritarianism of Chavez," said historian Agustin Blanco Muñoz of the University of Central Venezuela.

Human rights lawyer Asdrubal Aguilar fears that Chavez will use a constitutional assembly to "liquidate political plurality…. He wants to eliminate diversity and replace it with a personal relation with society."

Voters waited hours to cast ballots. Lines stretched for blocks, and there were reports of polling machine failures. Opposition voters such as university student Sheila Bermudez, interviewed near the American School, claimed the breakdowns were "tortoise maneuvers" to discourage supporters of Chavez's opponent.

But long waits to vote were the norm even in pro-Chavez, lower-class neighborhoods such as Las Minas. Store manager Noreliza Iza said her three-hour wait was typical for Venezuelan elections and was "acceptable."

The Chavez victory had been predicted by virtually all pollsters, who cited his lavish spending on social programs and public works. Escarra said the victory would extend "the leadership of Chavez and Venezuela in the world."

Since last year, left-leaning candidates have won presidential elections in Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, although not all adhere to Chavez's agenda.

Escarra predicted that Chavez would "fill the leadership space" created by Castro's illness.

Chavez has rhetorically pummeled the United States in recent years while seeking to counter U.S. influence with oil-financed aid programs to Argentina, Bolivia and the Caribbean. Of most concern to the United States are his commercial relations with Iran and his arms deals with Russia.

Chavez this year signed agreements to buy scores of Russian military airplanes and helicopters. He also sealed a deal with Moscow to build an assault rifle factory here.

"Soon we will be selling them to countries in Latin America," Chavez told reporters last week.

Chavez also criticized Bush in the Thursday interview, saying the U.S. president would "not accept the new world is multipolar, that it won't kneel before the United States."

Chavez plans to launch additional massive public works projects, including lumber, steel and aluminum factory cities in eastern Venezuela, and to build another bridge over the Orinoco River, in addition to the $1.2-billion span opened last month.

The links to Brazil, as well as a proposed natural gas pipeline to Argentina, are part of Chavez's southward development push.

He said his plans also included extending trade relations with China, which announced $5 billion in planned investments here. China and Venezuela also established a $6-billion fund to finance social projects in Venezuela.

Chavez also said he planned to increase the construction of subsidized housing, which totaled 120,000 units this year.

When he took office in 1999, Venezuela was "lost, a ship sinking at sea," Chavez told reporters. "Now Venezuela has direction.... Yes, we have committed mistakes, and there are many things left to do. That's why we are getting six more years."

[e-mail]

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19)
"Chávez Wins Easily in Venezuela, Showing Wide Support"
Simon Romero
New York Times
December 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/world/americas/04venezuela.html?hp&ex=1165294800&en=ff525a7c9485b9de&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Supporters of Hugo Chávez celebrated Sunday night after he was declared the winner in Venezuela’s election with 61 percent of the vote. He spoke in Caracas from the balcony of the presidential palace. More Photos >

President Hugo Chávez was re-elected in a landslide on Sunday night, as voting tallies poured in from throughout the country. Mr. Chávez’s main opponent conceded defeat, paving the way for the president to begin a new six-year term.

Backers of President Hugo Chávez celebrated Sunday night in Altamira, where his opponent had been favored.

Voters lined up Sunday in Caracas. Campaign officials for the opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, complained of voting irregularities. More Photos >

With 78 percent of the votes counted, Mr. Chávez was ahead with 61 percent, compared with 38 percent for Manuel Rosales, the governor of Zulia State, Venezuela’s electoral council said late Sunday night as it declared Mr. Chávez the winner. Thousands of supporters filed into the streets around Miraflores, the presidential palace downtown, to hear Mr. Chávez deliver a victory speech in the rain.

“Long live the socialist revolution!” Mr. Chávez yelled to the crowd, pumping his fist in the air. His supporters, many of them dancing, reacted by chanting, “Ooh-ah, Chávez isn’t leaving!”

The win for Mr. Chávez gives him a stronger mandate to press forward with his socialist-inspired policies in Venezuela and abroad. He signaled as much in his victory speech, invoking figures from Jesus Christ to Pancho Villa as influences for his ambitious plans.

The tension between the campaigns of Mr. Chávez and Mr. Rosales reflected a polarized electorate in Venezuela, but by contrast the voting itself was largely tranquil, with few reports of clashes or other violence. Both candidates spent heavily in the race, with supporters for Mr. Chávez and Mr. Rosales each using American polling companies until well into Sunday evening.

Evans/McDonough, a polling company based in Oakland, Calif., and hired by Venezuela’s national oil company, released an exit poll indicating that Mr. Chávez was ahead, with 58 percent of the vote, to 40 percent for Mr. Rosales.

The results showed Mr. Rosales doing better than had been forecast in some polls, and his advisers said that quick counts indicated that he had won in several states and Caracas. But Mr. Rosales conceded defeat in a brief speech Sunday night, while saying the margin of Mr. Chávez’s victory was narrower than official results indicated.

“It’s been a hard fight against the mechanisms, all the dimensions of the government,” Mr. Rosales said.

Antonio Márquez, an official with Mr. Rosales’s campaign, said: “There’s been a great deal of pressure exerted by the government to demonstrate that they won. This climate of tension is not positive for the country.”

Other campaign officials for Mr. Rosales said soldiers had forced some polling places to remain open past the 4 p.m. closing time on Sunday to allow supporters of Mr. Chávez to vote. International observers in various parts of the country, however, said the election took place without signs of wrongdoing.

“One had to be moved by the earnestness and attention to detail,” said Martin Garbus, a trial lawyer from New York invited by Venezuela’s government to observe the election in Sarare, a town in the state of Lara. “It was a lesson in participatory democracy.”

Once the official results are in, how Mr. Chávez and Mr. Rosales react will determine whether Venezuela will return to the instability and street violence that had marred earlier elections. Mr. Rosales said Sunday night that he would continue leading the political opposition in the country, but it was clear that many critics of Mr. Chávez were hoping for a stronger response.

Still, the margin in Mr. Chávez’s favor reflected widespread support for the president as Venezuela reaps the economic benefits of high oil prices. Mr. Chavez has redirected government spending by creating an array of social welfare programs that benefit the poor.

In Caracas, voting at the Simón Bolívar elementary school in San Blas, a slum in the Petare district, proceeded calmly on Sunday morning. Once outside after voting, some voters put on red shirts and hats, indicating their support for Mr. Chávez. “I’m red, very red,” said Carlos Gelvis, an unemployed man from Petare, in a reference to a refrain of Mr. Chávez’s campaign.

Mr. Chávez voted in the 23 de Enero district, a stronghold of support for his “Bolívarian revolution,” which espouses distributing oil revenues to the poor. The president arrived to vote in a red Volkswagen Beetle and surprisingly extended what seemed to be an olive branch to the Bush administration.

He responded to remarks by Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the United States assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, in a Spanish newspaper, El País, which had quoted him as saying, “The political battle that is unfolding within Venezuela is now conducted through democratic institutions.”

Mr. Chávez said that Mr. Shannon “at least recognized we have democracy in Venezuela,” and added, “I think these are good signs.”

Amid all the voters clad in red clothing in 23 de Enero was Henry Borrero, who stood out with his faded blue polo shirt and his opposition to Mr. Chávez. “I want a free country where my 21-year-old son has the freedom to choose,” said Mr. Borrero, who accompanied his mother, who also said she had voted for Mr. Rosales. “Not one where you need a red shirt to get a job.”

Jens Erik Gould and Jose Orozco contributed reporting.

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20)
"Chávez Landslide May Speed Venezuela Changes"
José de Córdoba
Wall Street Journal
December 4, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116516723908039358.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

Why Cuban Model Not Likely
Stronger Government Hand Seen for Domestic Functions

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chávez won a landslide election to a new six-year term, sparking fears among foes that he will accelerate his quest to install what he calls "21st-century socialism" in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

With 78% of the vote counted, Mr. Chávez, who has built a massive base of support by spending billions on subsidized health, education and other social programs benefiting poor Venezuelans, won 61% of the vote to opposition candidate's 38%. His victory stoked concern among his opponents that Mr. Chávez, an admirer of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, would press the accelerator on what his opponents fear is his attempt to remake Venezuela along the lines of communist Cuba.


"Long live the socialist revolution," cried Mr. Chávez after singing the Venezuelan national anthem from a window in the presidential palace as a crowd below shouted "Uh, Ah, Hugo no se va," or "Uh, Ah, Hugo's not leaving."

Teodoro Petkoff, a top official in the campaign of opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, said while there had been scattered "incidents," the election had "developed in a satisfactory way." Mr. Rosales conceded late last night.

Encouraged by his victory, Mr. Chávez will no doubt redouble efforts to create an anti-American and anti-free-trade bloc in the hemisphere, while lending diplomatic support to other anti-U.S. countries such as Iran. Last week, Rafael Correa, a Chavez ally, won Ecuador's presidential election. But most analysts believe that Mr. Chávez's populist "Bolivarian" revolution, which relies on his free spending of billions in oil income, isn't easily exportable.

Mr. Rosales, a tough and experienced politician, managed to unite a fractured and inept opposition and mount a feisty campaign against Mr. Chávez, who had enormous state resources. It was unclear whether Mr. Rosales, who took a leave of absence as governor of Zulia, Venezuela's second-most-important state, to run for the presidency, would try to mount a national opposition movement to Mr. Chávez or return to Zulia, where he retains a regional power base.

Opponents fear Mr. Chávez's landslide could consolidate his power for years. Already Mr. Chávez, who has repeatedly said he will stay in power until 2021, controls all 167 seats in Venezuela's National Assembly, as well as Venezuela's judicial branch. With the political wind at their backs, Mr. Chávez, 52, and his congressional allies are expected to push through a constitutional overhaul abolishing term limits, permitting the fiery populist to run repeatedly for re-election.

Mr. Chávez may also move to increase state control over private education, and further extend control over Venezuela's highly centralized economy by promoting noncapitalist forms of production and exchange such as cooperatives. Quirkily, Mr. Chávez last month called for the introduction of barter in the country's rural economy. The Venezuelan government already has in place extensive foreign-exchange controls, while Mr. Chávez exerts control over the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, which is the motor of this oil-dependent economy.

Mr. Chávez has also said he favors forging a single government party from the handful of parties that now support him. Analysts believe Mr. Chávez would also increase the already prominent role of Venezuela's armed forces in the government.

The landslide was a not-unexpected triumph for Mr. Chávez, who has dominated and convulsed Venezuelan politics for more than a decade. He first erupted on the scene as one of the ringleaders of a failed coup in 1992. He served two years in prison but was released as part of an amnesty in 1994.

Four years later, capitalizing on a general sense of disgust with Venezuela's political parties, widely seen as corrupt, Mr. Chávez won the presidency with 56% of the vote. He then redrew Venezuela's constitution, giving him much wider powers. In 2000 he again was elected president. But his fiery rhetoric directed against Venezuela's middle and upper classes, which he labeled "oligarchs," his confrontational stance with the U.S., and his closeness with Mr. Castro violently split the country.

Mr. Chávez is expected to continue Venezuela's bankrolling of Cuba's hard-pressed economy. Analysts say Venezuela's aid to the island, which includes about 103,000 barrels per day of petroleum products, could be as much as $3 billion a year. In turn, Cuba provides the services of more than 20,000 doctors as well as an untold number of security agents. While Mr. Chávez already exerts almost total control over Venezuela's government institutions, he could well face resistance if he tries to mold Venezuela's chaotic, consumerist and largely nonideological society along austere Cuban lines.

"In Cuba if you have two televisions, you have to give one to the government. You can't do that because we are free," says Yelitza Ojeda, 33, a maid at a luxury Caracas hotel whose 15-member family all voted for Mr. Chávez. "The same way we put him in power, we can knock him out of power, but I don't think he wants to do a Cuban-style government here."

Another likely restraint on Mr. Chávez' radical ambitions is the widespread corruption that has flourished under his government. A newly rich class of government officials, military officers and businessmen with close links to the government, known as Boliburgeses, or Bolivarian bourgeoisie, has sprung up in the last few years. These wealthy and powerful barons now have foreign bank accounts, apartments in Miami and private jets they are loath to lose. "The powers in the Chavista movement-the military, mayors, government ministers, and top managers of state companies -- are all capitalists," says Juan Carlos Zapata, a political analyst here. "They are nervous about where the system is going and where Chávez is going."

Write to José de Córdoba at [e-mail]

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21)
Chavez: New 'defeat for the devil'
Cable News Network (CNN)
December 4, 2006
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/12/04/venezuela.election/index.html

Story Highlights
• Hugo Chavez takes 61 percent of vote to challenger's 38 percent
• Chavez supporters set off fireworks, cruise downtown Caracas in caravans
• Voters wait for hours in snaking lines as record turnout predicted
• Chavez likely to push for end to presidential term limits

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Anti-American socialist Hugo Chavez said his claimed victory in the Venezuelan presidential election was "another defeat for the devil" after the bulk of returns showed him leading challenger Manuel Rosales by a wide margin.

With 78 percent of the votes counted by Sunday night, the National Electoral Council reported Chavez leading Rosales by a margin of 61 percent to 38 percent. Rosales, a provincial governor from the country's oil patch, conceded defeat late Sunday but disputed the margin of his loss.

Chavez thanked supporters gathered outside Miraflores Palace for the win. He also thanked his opponents and urged them to join him in continuing his efforts to remake the country in his self-styled socialist revolution.

"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters wearing red shirts, according to The Associated Press.

"That new era has begun," he declared with religious fervor, raising a hand in the air. "We have shown that Venezuela is red! ... No one should fear socialism... Socialism is human. Socialism is love."

An outspoken opponent of U.S. policies in Latin America, Chavez was seeking a second full term as leader of oil-rich Venezuela. He was first elected in 1998, re-elected under a new constitution in 2000 and survived a recall attempt by opponents in 2004.

"It's another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," Chavez told his adoring masses. "Down with imperialism! We need a new world!"

Chavez has used the country's oil wealth to improve services for the country's poor majority, but opponents accuse him of trying to turn Venezuela into a Cuban-style dictatorship. Rosales said he would try to keep the fractured opposition together after Sunday's vote.

He was briefly ousted by a failed coup in 2002, a plot he blamed on the United States. Bush administration officials denied the allegation, but have made no secret of their displeasure with the Venezuelan leader.

The 52-year-old former paratrooper, once jailed for leading a coup attempt himself, has bolstered ties with Cuba and supported other leftist leaders in South America during his presidency.

And in September, Chavez rankled U.S. officials by telling the U.N. General Assembly -- a day after President Bush addressed the session -- that "The devil came here yesterday, and it smells of sulfur still today."

When polls opened Sunday, lines stretched for more than half a mile at some precincts in Caracas -- a situation that raised red flags with some voters.

"They're slowing down the vote," said Rosana Cagiano, an unemployed Caracas resident. "The government's hoping to tire us out so they can play their dirty tricks."

Polls closed at 4 p.m. Sunday (2000 GMT), but election officials said anyone standing in line when polls closed would be allowed to cast ballots.

CNN's Karl Penhaul contributed to this report.

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22)
"Chavez wins re-election in landslide"
John Otis
Houston Chronicle
December 4, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4376727.html

Venezuela hands president six more years to push his socialist revolution

Caracas, Venezuela - Carlos Guillen votes at the Venezuelan Consulate here in Sunday's presidential election. Some 1,350 out of 2,262 registered Venezuelan voters who live in the consulate's four-state area - Texas, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma - cast ballots.

President Hugo Chavez won a landslide victory in Venezuela's election Sunday, giving him another six years to consolidate his leftist revolution, according to incomplete returns.

With 78 percent of the ballots counted, Chavez led with 61.3 percent of the vote compared with 38.4 percent for Manuel Rosales, a cattle rancher and governor, according to the National Electoral Council.

"Long live Venezuela! Long live the socialist revolution," Chavez said in his victory speech, as fireworks exploded across Caracas.

Analysts said his re-election would likely mean more tension with Washington and uncertainty for foreign energy companies, including some based in Houston. Like other oil-producing nations at a time of high prices, Venezuela has increased taxes on energy companies and rewritten contracts to take a greater share of the profits.

"On oil policy, he will progressively push for more controls and modifications of contracts," said Jose Toro, a former board member of the state-run petroleum company known as PDVSA.

First elected in 1998
Since Chavez was first elected in 1998, he has become the Bush administration's harshest critic in Latin America. Chavez has opposed U.S.-backed trade deals for the region, denounced the war in Iraq and has cultivated closer relations with Cuba and Iran. Allies of the Venezuelan have won presidential elections in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Despite deep distrust between many Chavistas, as his supporters are known, and backers of Rosales, election monitors from the Organization of American States said turnout was massive and peaceful.

But some of Rosales' supporters charged that there were some voting irregularities. Polls opened at 6 a.m., and long lines formed outside polling stations. Some people waited up to three hours to cast their ballots.

"Today, the future of Venezuela is at stake," Rosales, who temporarily stepped down as governor of Zulia state to run for president, said after casting his ballot in his hometown of Maracaibo.

But Rosales, who accused Chavez of leading Venezuela toward a Cuban-style dictatorship and promised to improve relations with America, faced huge odds. He got a late start campaigning because of delays among the opposition in choosing its candidate. On the stump, he lacked Chavez's populist charisma.

Helped by high oil prices
Chavez won the last two presidential elections as well as a recall vote in 2004 by double-digit margins. This time around, Chavez benefited from high oil prices, which have fueled the fastest growing economy in Latin America. Venezuela's economy is expected to expand by 8 percent this year after growing 9.4 percent last year and 17 percent in 2004.

Chavez has sunk billions of petrodollars into programs for the poor, providing subsidized food, schooling and medical care. These efforts have helped reduce the poverty rate from 44 percent to 34 percent since Chavez became president.

Under Chavez, "things have never been better," said Ricardo Marquez, 34, after voting for Chavez in a working-class Caracas neighborhood. "If you have a sick kid, you can bring them to Cuban doctors. Before, they would let you die in the hospital."

Although private business is booming, Chavez often talks about moving more forcefully toward socialism. Yet on the campaign trail, he offered few specifics.

He did, however, say he would study ways to amend the constitution to do away with the provision limiting a president to serving two consecutive six-year terms.

President for life?
The proposal has sparked accusations within the Rosales camp that Chavez wants to be president for life. But at a news conference for foreign correspondents last week, Chavez attempted to play down those concerns, saying voters would have to approve any changes to the Constitution through a referendum.

"This isn't a dictatorship. This is a democracy," he said.

Amid a downpour, Chavez delivered his victory speech from the balcony of the presidential palace in Caracas. He wore a red shirt, the color of his party, and spoke to a huge throng waving red flags.

Venezuela sits atop the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere and is the fifth-largest provider of imported oil to the U.S. — providing 11 percent of America's imports.

[e-mail]

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23)
"Chávez easily wins fourth term"
Phil Gunson and Steven Dudley
Miami Herald
December 4, 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16158022.htm

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez defeated career politician Manuel Rosales, winning his fourth presidential bid in eight years.

CARACAS - President Hugo Chávez won his fourth presidential bid in eight years on Sunday, defeating career politician Manuel Rosales and boosting his ''21st Century Socialism,'' which includes widespread social projects, increasing relations with countries such as Cuba and Iran, and diminishing relations with the United States.

The National Electoral Council, or CNE, announced at 9 p.m. EST that Chávez had received 61 percent of the vote and Rosales 38 percent, with 78 percent of the votes counted.

The victory was greeted with fireworks, small parades, dancing and chants of ''Uh, Ah, Chávez no se va!'' -- Chávez will not go -- throughout a rain-soaked Caracas.

''Long live this day of victory! -- your destiny was already written!'' Chávez told the thousands of red-clad supporters who had gathered in front of the presidential palace to celebrate with their leader.

Rosales, who had succeeded in reuniting a fractious opposition movement in his short campaign, conceded victory to Chávez.

''They beat us, but we will continue to fight,'' Rosales told a crowd of supporters.

But the lifelong politician from the western oil producing state of Zulia may have a difficult time keeping a united front, as previous Chávez victories have been greeted with incredulity and cries of fraud.

Chávez's incredible rise to president in 1998 -- after participating when he was an army lieutenant colonel in a failed military coup in 1992 -- is almost as amazing as his seven-year run as the leader of this oil-rich nation of 27 million people.

Chávez survived a coup attempt in 2002, a national strike later that same year and a recall referendum in 2004. Along the way he changed the country's constitution, and stacked almost all of its courts, councils and prosecutors' offices with his allies. A Chávez-controlled legislature has also passed laws squelching opposition press and given rise to fears that he is more a dictator than democrat.

Internationally, Chávez played a key role in rebuilding a fragmented OPEC and driving oil prices to record highs. He built a name as an outspoken critic of the Bush administration and world leader of the poor: From northern New York State to the Patagonia, Chávez's name resonates with the underclass.

''He's not given me anything,'' said José Brito, a 45-year-old handyman who voted for Chávez in the poor Catia district in western Caracas near where Chávez himself voted. ``But he's helped members of my family, my friends, my neighbors.''

Chávez's freewheeling use of his oil revenue helped his friend and mentor, Fidel Castro, create an economic coalition outside the U.S. sphere of influence. Courting countries like Iran perturbed Washington, seemingly powerless to slow Chávez' march toward ``21st Century Socialism.''

About the only one who seems to be able to slow Chávez down is the Venezuelan president himself, who may have overstepped his bounds recently by declaring the podium at the United Nations smelled of ''sulfur'' because President Bush had spoken there, and that Israel was in the wrong for attacking Lebanon-based Hezbollah guerrillas. The outbursts may have cost his country a rotating seat on the U.N. Security Council last month.

Still, oil affords Chávez tremendous latitude in foreign and domestic affairs. Chávez's oil wealth has bought friends abroad and helped him start widespread health, education and subsidy programs at home that sustain his popularity despite rising crime and corruption that rank this country among the most dangerous and graft-prone in the hemisphere.

''I voted for my commander,'' said Jorge Mendoza, a 48-year-old carpenter, referring to Chávez, after voting in the poor neighborhood of Catia in western Caracas. ``He does things that no other government has done.''

Mendoza said two of his sons got new houses from the Chávez administration after mudslides destroyed their homes in 1999.

And if this election proved anything, it was that Chávez is as much image as substance. The president arrived to vote in a poor neighborhood in western Caracas in a red Volkswagon Beetle, a longtime symbol of working class and intellectual revolutionaries in Latin America. After voting, he spoke about his leftist partners in the hemisphere.

But Chávez's socialist messages aside, Venezuela continues to be a largely capitalist country. Restaurants and malls remain packed with patrons of all classes taking advantage of an oil boom that has created a new wealthy class that has some of the same tastes in whiskeys and private airplanes as the old.

Still, Chávez remains the symbol of a seismic shift in Latin American politics. From Nicaragua to Brazil, the region is electing leftists who spend more money on their own social welfare than paying off their foreign debt. Chávez plays the dual role of financier and cheerleader of these changes and promises to continue pushing for more regional integration of its loosely knitted components.

The future also promises more controversy and changes at home.

The president has said he would create a commission to study changing the country's constitution again, possibly giving him endless opportunities to run for president in the future.

At the same time, he's reiterated that he is not a threat to private property, even while he's hinted that his ''socialist'' revolution here will be more profound in years to come.

Chávez has some problems. His own movement is splintered by corruption and envy, and crime rates are rising.

But if this election is any indication, Chávez still seems to have the confidence of the poor majority.

''He's the president of the humble people,'' said Lady Fernandez, a 52-year old nurse who voted in Catia.

[e-mail]

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24)
"Venezuelans cast votes in Miami"
Aldo Nahed
Miami Herald
December 3, 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16157127.htm

VOTERS: A group of voters from Orlando cheer as they enter the Orange Bowl. South Florida'S Venezuelans came out in numbers to vote in their country's presidential election.

Thousands of Venezuelans cast their presidential ballot at the Orange Bowl Sunday. Some came by car, others on foot or bicycle and still others by the busload -- quite a few as early as 4 a.m., two hours before the polls opened.

Those who voted here overwhelmingly backed the lead opposition candidate Manuel Rosales with 10,679 votes, over only 242 for President Hugo Chávez, according to volunteer pollwatchers who said they tallied results from individual booths at the stadium. Miami Venezuelan consulate officials did not confirm those results but did not dispute them either late Sunday.

In Miami, the largest voting district outside Venezuela, there was little wait for most voters to cast paper ballots in 37 voting tables.

But there was also a number of voters who were turned away. Problems ranged from not presenting proper ID to not being on the voter rolls. Another 40 people were not allowed to vote because they showed up after booths closed at 4:15 p.m.

By 4:30 p.m., more than 11,000 Venezuelans had voted, according to the pollwatcher figures.

In all, about 17,000 people were eligible to vote in the Miami consular district, which serves Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina.

José Luis Anamuno, of Orlando, led a group of cyclists down to Miami. He left Orlando on his 240-mile journey Friday morning, accompanied by a safety crew and two other cyclists. In Weston, a group of about 15 cyclists joined him for the last leg of the trip leading to the Orange Bowl.

''It was a hard trip, but I did it for the democracy of my country,'' Anamuno said. He planned to return home by car. ``Venezuela is going to be born today.''

Liliana Antonieta Lozano de Buschini, of Aventura, was among more than 300 people who were turned away -- a small number compared to the thousands of complaints two years ago during a referendum seeking the recall of President Hugo Chávez.

Lozano de Buschini showed paperwork that she had registered a change of address in May with the Miami consulate, but for some reason, the Venezuelan government did not change the information in voter records.

Venezuela's Miami consul general, Antonio José Hernández Borgo, said that the Venezuelan government in Caracas handles final changes on voter records.

''When the people registered in the consulate in Miami, we got the book and sent it to Venezuela. We made sure they got the book, I have proof of that,'' he said. ``The people had to go to the website and check it out. Of course, if they do it today, there's no way they can show up in this book.''

Patricia Andrade, president of the Venezuela Awareness Foundation, volunteered to monitor and document complaints.

Her group will send notarized complaints to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington, she said.

''I had a lady who checked the website last night and she was on the list, but when she came this morning, her name had disappeared,'' Andrade said.

After voting, many mingled in the parking lot in a large makeshift party with music and food, while others kicked back in lounge chairs awaiting results.

[e-mail]

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25)
"Chavez claims mandate with landslide victory"
Tal Abbady and Vanessa Bauzá
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 4 2006
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cavenelection04dec04,0,6528659.story

Officials put turnout at 62 percent; thousands vote at Orange Bowl

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resoundingly won re-election Sunday, giving him a mandate to deepen the social reforms that have characterized his self-styled revolution.

With 78 percent of voting stations reporting, Chavez had 61 percent of the vote against 38 percent for challenger Manuel Rosales, said Tibisay Lucena, head of the country's elections council.

Turnout was 62 percent, according to an official bulletin of results, making Chavez's lead insurmountable. Thousands of Venezuelans cast their ballots at Miami's Orange Bowl on Sunday, joining millions more in other expatriate communities and across Venezuela who stood in lines for hours to vote.

Minutes after the results were announced, Chavez appeared on the balcony of the presidential palace singing the national anthem.

"Long live the socialist revolution! Destiny has been written," Chavez shouted to thousands of flag-waving supporters in a pouring rain.

Chavez said he would try to deepen his social reforms to spread his country's vast oil profits among the poor.

"No one should fear socialism," he said. "Socialism is human. Socialism is love."

Chavez has already said that if given another six-year term, he would convene an assembly to reform Venezuela's constitution, possibly allowing him to serve an unlimited number of terms -- a move that would underscores his opponents' fears that he is emulating Fidel Castro's rule.

The candidates represented vastly different visions for their country.

Chavez has cultivated strong support in Venezuela's poorest barrios and working-class neighborhoods through a blend of charisma and his network of social programs built on the country's booming oil wealth.

Rosales, a popular governor and cattle rancher, united a fractured opposition movement that sees Chavez's policies and leadership style as increasingly authoritarian.

Elections officials in Venezuela expected a record turnout and most pre-election polls gave Chavez a lead that wavered between 4 and 22 percentage points.

In Miami, known as a hotbed of anti-Chavez sentiment, Rosales won 10,354 votes against 235 votes for Chavez, according to Venezuelan consular officials.

Venezuelans lined up outside the Orange Bowl before daybreak, eager for an opportunity to unseat the incumbent.

The line stretched across several blocks along Northwest Third Street before the polls opened at 6 a.m. Determined voters arrived in caravans of cars, buses and even bicycles from as far away as Orlando and points north.

About 16,421 had registered through the Miami-based consulate, which has jurisdiction through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. They pushed strollers of sleeping children and wheelchairs of friends or relatives too frail to walk to the stadium's 35 polling tables.

It was the largest polling center inside or outside Venezuela, reflecting a growing community of more than 40,000 Venezuelans, many of whom have come to Florida since Chavez took power in 1999.

The voting in Miami unfolded smoothly until late in the afternoon when a group of Chavez supporters appeared outside the gates of the Orange Bowl wearing red shirts, chanting slogans and carrying signs.

Rosales supporters countered by shouting "Fuera!" or "Get Out!" to the group, according to opposition advocate Raul Leoni and consulate volunteer Franciso Rodriguez.

Most voters were ushered through the process with the help of about 700 volunteers and voted within 20 minutes.

However, about 40 Venezuelans lined up to report irregularities. Most claimed they had registered through the Miami consulate, as required, but were told they were registered to vote at centers in Venezuela.

Venezuela's consul general in Miami, Antonio José Hernández Borgo, greeted voters with a firm handshake throughout the day.

He said the Venezuelan expatriate community in South Florida, would have little effect on the outcome in Venezuela.

"This is largely a symbolic vote," said Hernández Borgo, referring to the fact that registered voters in South Florida are the equivalent of only 0.1 percent of the 16 million registered voters in Venezuela. "But Venezuelans abroad have had the right to vote since 1998, and they are here exercising that important right."

Zulay Sifontes, a Fort Lauderdale resident who volunteered to oversee voting at one of the polling booths, said she voted for Chavez because of his outreach to the poor, a long ignored segment of Venezuela's population.

"His leadership is not without its problems. But the wealth in Venezuela had always been controlled by the upper class. Chavez has reached out to the needy and the dispossessed. I know his rhetoric can get a little crazy, but I support him for what he's done," said Sifontes, 43, who works as a publicist.

In Caracas, loudspeakers blared recorded bugle calls before dawn on Sunday drawing voters to polling centers. As in Miami they lined up early, eager to cast ballots and perhaps bring an end to an acrimonious and divisive campaign that once again highlighted class tensions in Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter where 34 percent of the population still lives in poverty, according to government statistics.

Chavez arrived in a red Volkswagen Beetle to cast his vote in a Caracas slum. He waved and blew kisses at a crowd of cheering supporters.

"I'm absolutely sure that the process is and will be totally transparent," he said. "Let's vote, leave calmly and wait for the results."

Voting in his hometown of Maracaibo, Rosales grasped the hands of dozens of cheering supporters, saying, "Today the future of Venezuela is at stake." The crowd chanted "Presidente!"

Rosales complained of scattered voting problems in traditionally pro-opposition areas that he said included delays and apparent malfunctions of electronic voting machines that had printed blank vote receipts. But later, leading Rosales campaign official Gerardo Blyde thanked electoral officials for helping to solve the problems.

Ana Mercedes Diaz, a Venezuelan who resides in Weston, traveled to Caracas to vote because she wanted to witness the election first hand. Like many who favor Rosales, she worried the government would tamper with election results to ensure Chavez's victory.

"I am a resident of the United States but I came here to vote for the freedom of my country," said Diaz, who arrived at her polling center in western Caracas at 4 a.m. and waited four hours to vote. "There is a tense calm, the country is waiting for the leaders to tell them the truth. If Chavez wins that's fine, but not with fraud."

Observers from the European Union, the Carter Center and the Organization of American States were monitoring polling centers along with representatives of both the Chavez and Rosales campaigns. They would participate in a post-vote audit of 54 percent of ballot boxes containing paper slips generated by the electronic voting machines.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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26)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Celebrates Re-Election
Michael Bowman
Voice of America
December 4, 2006
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-12-04-voa6.cfm

Hugo Chavez, is greeted by reporters upon his arrival for a news conference at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas

Venezuelan election officials say President Chavez has won re-election with more than 60 percent of Sunday's vote. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Caracas, Mr. Chavez' main opponent has conceded defeat, but suggests his quest might continue, in the streets.

A deluge of rain soaked Venezuela's capital, but did nothing to dampen the spirits of euphoric backers of President Chavez, who packed a Caracas plaza in front of the presidential palace to hear their triumphant leader speak.

"Long live the Venezuelan people! Long live the socialist revolution! Long live Bolivar! Long live our popular victory!" said the Venezuelan leader.

Mr. Chavez said voters had elected themselves, saying he is an instrument of the people. He dedicated his victory, in part, to ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro, and said Venezuelans had struck a blow against the imperialism of the United States.

The president spoke after the head of Venezuela's National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, announced near-complete results.

"For candidate Hugo Chavez: 5.9 million votes. For candidate Manuel Rosales: 3.8million votes," said Lucena.

Young supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez waves her campaign posters while celebrating at the upscale Altamira neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, 03 Dec 2006

Within seconds of the announcement, a barrage of fireworks exploded in the skies over the capital and continued late into the night.

A somber but resolute Manuel Rosales, who temporarily stepped down as a state governor to pursue the presidency, thanked his supporters and conceded defeat. But he insisted Mr. Chavez' margin of victory was much smaller than the official figure released by election officials.

"Today we are beginning the fight for the construction of a new era for Venezuela," he said. "I will be in the streets, because the results from the National Electoral Council are not accurate. The real difference in the vote was much smaller. I will continue in the streets fighting for the Venezuelan people, fighting for democracy."

Venezuelan Information Minister Willian Lara dismissed any suggestion that official voting results were inaccurate.

"As far as I am concerned, the figures from the National Electoral Council reflect the reality of how Venezuelans voted," he said. "And, they are not surprising because polls released during the campaign showed similar numbers - that a majority of the country was behind the president."

Mr. Chavez - who has ruled since 1998 and survived both a short-lived coup attempt in 2002 and a recall referendum in 2004 - now has another six-year mandate to govern. He has promised to launch a new phase of his so-called "Bolivarian Revolution" but provided few details as to what, specifically, he intends to do.

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27)
"Venezuelan President Chavez Re-Elected, Initial Results Show"
Theresa Bradley and Guillermo Parra-Bernal
December 3, 2006
Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYHNPMuDhUI0&refer=home

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election, giving him six more years to use the country's oil wealth to help the poor and stir up anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America, preliminary results showed.

Chavez took 61 percent of the vote while opposition candidate Manuel Rosales took 38 percent of the vote, based on 78 percent of the votes counted by the National Electoral Council.

Chavez is ``certainly going to interpret a big win as a mandate to continue his revolution,'' Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue, said before the results were announced.

The 52-year-old former lieutenant colonel, who counts Cuban President Fidel Castro among his closest allies, vowed during the campaign to keep spending the windfall from Venezuela's record oil exports on social programs. He reiterated a plan Nov. 30 to abolish presidential term limits in the constitution so he could serve longer and further his ``socialist revolution,'' which has enabled him to increase control over the nation's institutions.

``My president is with us and we will never let him go away,'' said Elke Rodriguez, 33, who gets paid $83 a month by the government for enrolling in a program to teach school dropouts. ``I will vote for him because he has put the poor first, for the first time in the history of this country.''

The Organization of American States, which is observing the election, said the secrecy of the vote was breached in 7 percent of the polling stations observed by the OAS and 3 percent of voters were not allowed to vote.

`Climate of Fear'

Vote secrecy was a big issue in the campaign because opposition leaders say Chavez punished people who signed a petition demanding a recall vote against him in 2004 by denying them civil servant jobs. Chavez acknowledged in April 2005 that the government had been using the list of people who signed the petition to determine who to hire and fire and he called for an end to the practice.

``There is a climate of fear,'' said Susan Purcell, director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami.

Rosales, 53, said after voting in Maracaibo that delays kept some of his supporters waiting for hours to cast ballots.

Problems with voting machines, which record the voter's choice on slips of paper, were reported in Caracas and other major cities, said electoral council member Janeth Hernandez. Some machines erroneously released blank printouts, said Rosales, whose campaign filed complaints to the council.

`Irresponsible'

Chavez, speaking to reporters after voting in Caracas, said talk of irregularities is ``irresponsible'' and that the electoral system is ``transparent.'' Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel predicted that a record 11 million Venezuelans would turn out to vote. Sixteen million people are eligible to vote in the South American country, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

``You have to trust the system because the rest is out of your control,'' said Elena Montini, 53, a civil servant, after waiting more than an hour to vote in the Campo Alegre district of Caracas.

Millions of Chavez opponents flooded the streets to back Rosales in recent weeks and try to upset Chavez's re-election bid. The campaign was plagued by allegations that Chavez misused state funds in his campaign and intimidated opponents. Chavez denied the accusations.

Spending Surge

Chavez, who first won election in 1998 and then again in 2000, tapped the oil windfall to more than double government spending since 2004, sparking a surge in consumer demand and fueling annual growth of more than 10 percent. Soaring demand drove Venezuela's annual inflation rate to 16 percent in November, the highest among Latin America's 10 biggest economies.

Government controls on the economy, including limits on foreign currency trading and caps on bank lending rates, may expand to stepping up private property seizures and to giving citizen groups that back him more authority over the budget, said Ana Maria di Leo, chief economist with Caracas-based research company Veneconomia.

Chavez, who led a failed coup in 1992 and himself was briefly toppled by a coup in 2002, has funded social programs that helped cut the poverty rate to 38 percent of the population from about 55 percent three years ago. His program, while successful in increasing support for the poor, has failed to curb crime and unemployment among youth, Di Leo said.

Chavez ``has given voice and cash to marginalized segments of the population,'' said Bruce Bagley, chairman of international studies at the University of Miami. ``It's absolutely incorrect to underestimate the degree to which he continues to enjoy popular support.''

Last week, Venezuelans rushed to supermarkets to stock up on food on concern violence may erupt. Supermarkets in parts of Caracas ran out of water, milk and candles. Political violence has rocked Caracas several times since 1989.

``Having seen all this panic-buying made me feel scared too,'' said Carlos Hernandez, 52, manager of Los Campitos, a Caracas supermarket. ``I just hope nothing bad happens.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Theresa Bradley in Caracas at [e-mail] ; Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Caracas at at [e-mail]

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28)
"Chavez Calls Re-Election Bush Defeat, Vows to Fight U.S."
Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Alex Kennedy
Bloomberg
December 4, 2006
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDxgYUvG72Qc&refer=worldwide

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called his re-election a defeat for George W. Bush, vowing to use his nation's oil wealth to expand social welfare programs and challenge U.S. interests across Latin America.

His victory sets the stage for Chavez to take on the role as the region's pre-eminent anti-U.S. voice from the ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro, his friend and mentor. With record revenue pouring into Venezuela from the sale of oil, its top export, Chavez is subsidizing crude for Cuba and helping promote anti-free trade policies in countries such as Bolivia and Ecuador.

``Chavez recognizes that oil is a resource of diplomatic power,'' said Daniel Hellinger, a professor of political science at Webster University in St. Louis and author of several books about Chavez. ``Chavez has assumed the role of Fidel Castro in that he can say things that other leaders in Latin America are afraid to say.''

Chavez, the 52-year-old former lieutenant colonel who calls Bush the ``Devil,'' won 61 percent of the vote in yesterday's election with most ballots counted, the national electoral council said.

The election gives Chavez six more years in office. He first won election in 1998 then again in 2000 and says he will change the constitution to make it possible to extend his reign.

`Dignity' Lesson

``We've given a lesson of dignity to the U.S. empire,'' Chavez said last night, throwing his fist in the air. ``It's another defeat for the devil. We will never be a colony of the U.S. again.'' Venezuela supplies about 12 percent of the oil and oil products consumed in the U.S.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus said from Washington that the government recognizes Venezuelans' right ``to elect the government of their choice and the path they want for their country.''

Unlike the 80-year-old Castro, whose influence waned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and an economic recession that followed, Chavez's control over the biggest crude reserves in the hemisphere may give him the financial independence to spread a socialist, anti-U.S. message across the region, said former Binghamton University Professor James Petras, the author of several books on U.S. influence in Latin America.

Bolivarian Revolution

At the same time, Chavez -- who promotes a ``Bolivarian revolution'' named after Venezuela's founding father Simon Bolivar -- has suffered defeats in trying to back presidential candidates in Mexico and Peru and will struggle in his next term to consolidate regional power should oil prices slide, said Bruce Bagley, chairman of international studies at the University of Miami.

``I don't think Venezuela presents a model for anybody,'' Bagley said in a phone interview from Miami. ``It's too heavily dependent on oil. Venezuela is not emerging as a spokesman for Latin America, and the Bolivarian revolution isn't the wave of the future.''

Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has benefited from oil prices that have averaged more than $60 a barrel this year, compared with about $15 a barrel when Chavez first won office in 1998.

Chavez announced investments of about $36 billion in various Latin American countries since the start of 2005. Chavez also has helped Cuba's economic expansion, the fastest since it became a Communist nation in 1959, with oil and energy accords. Under an October 2000 accord, Venezuela sells Cuba as many as 100,000 barrels of oil a day at a discount of as high as 40 percent.

To consolidate his power, Chavez first needs to convince regional leaders he won't replicate Cuba's style of government, said Venezuelan lawmaker Augusto Montiel.

Rosales

Chavez sought to dispel his similarities with Castro during the campaign, as opposition candidate Manuel Rosales accused him of seeking to implement in Venezuela a regime similar to Castro's Cuba. Rosales won 38 percent of the vote, based on preliminary results.

``Fidel is Fidel, Cuba is Cuba, and I am who I am,'' Chavez said in an interview with Telesur, a 24-hour news channel that his government sponsors, on Nov. 30. ``We have our own revolution, the Bolivarian revolution.''

The end of a year of elections across Latin America may close Chavez's window of opportunity to influence their outcome, said Riordan Roett, director of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

``He's a meddler by nature, but there are no more regional elections after this to meddle in,'' Roett said in a phone interview from Washington.

Chavez's success in gaining further influence hinges on how well his social programs are implemented in countries governed by allied leaders, such as Bolivian President Evo Morales, said Petras.

Free Trade, Nuclear Programs

In the next term, Chavez may continue to spar with the U.S. over issues such as free trade, nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea and Venezuela's endorsement of oil output cuts at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said Roett.

``Chavez's aim is to polarize and divide and to sow discontent and a negative agenda,'' said Roger Noriega, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs who is now a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Chavez said last week he would visit Castro as soon as the election ends after missing celebrations held last week in Havana for the Cuban leader's 80th birthday. When Castro dies, Chavez may struggle to find a mentor, said William Ratliff, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

``On the one hand he's inheriting Fidel's mantle but Chavez has been so dependent for advice and help from Fidel Castro that when Fidel is gone, Chavez will suffer a serious loss,'' said Ratliff, who wrote several books on Cuba, China and Latin America.

To contact the reporter on this story: Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Caracas at at [e-mail] Alex Kennedy in Caracas at [e-mail]
Last Updated: December 3, 2006 23:15 EST

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29)
Venezuelan Link to Nonprofit’s Ads Draws Some Conservative Criticism
Maria Aspan
New York Times
December 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/business/media/04citgo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Citizens Energy Corporation, the nonprofit heating assistance program run by former Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II, supplies low-income households with oil provided by Citgo, the state-owned Venezuelan oil company. Now for the first time, Citgo is also paying for the corporation’s television commercials.

The commercials, which advertise "heating oil at 40 percent off from our friends in Venezuela at Citgo," began to be shown on Nov. 17 in local television markets in the 16 states served by Citizens Energy. Citgo supplied Citizens with oil last year, but this year is the first time that Citgo will be footing the bill for the nonprofit’s commercials, as first reported by The Boston Herald and confirmed on Saturday by a Citizens spokesman.

In previous years, before Citizens expanded beyond Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy had approached local television stations and asked them to donate time for commercials. However, as the program expanded to 16 states from six last year, Citizens and Citgo began discussing paid commercials to raise the program’s visibility in the new markets. The commercials "are an essential part of our program," said Brian O’Connor, the spokesman for Citizens. "We could not depend on public service announcements to do an outreach" on such a large scale.

But the commercials have drawn some criticism from, among others, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page and on Sean Hannity’s talk show on the Fox News Channel, for their acknowledgement of "our friends in Venezuela" and their reliance on the Venezuelan government’s financing, especially in the wake of President Hugo Chávez’s speech at the United Nations in September. Hardly popular with many Americans, Mr. Chávez provoked widespread ridicule by calling President Bush "the devil." But Fox News, as well as other cable news channels like CNN, may find themselves running the Citizens commercials in at least some of their markets. Citgo advertises with both networks, according to AdWeek; while press officers for Fox News and CNN said that they were not running the Citizens commercials, Mr. O’Connor said that Citizens had purchased commercial time on local cable.

And according to Mr. O’Connor, Citgo and Citizens began discussing the commercials last spring, long before Mr. Chávez’s speech at the United Nations. Nor were the commercials scheduled around Venezuelan politics, though they began a few weeks before yesterday’s presidential election in Venezuela, which Mr. Chávez was expected to win.

"The timing was entirely to do with the beginning of the cold season," Mr. O’Connor said.

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30)
"Chavez to Push OPEC for High Oil Prices"
New York Times
December 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Venezuela-OPEC.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez will continue pressing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to defend high oil prices if he wins a second six-year term on Sunday, Venezuela's oil minister said.

Over the past eight years Chavez has been one of OPEC's leading price hawks, consistently urging the group to cautiously manage oil supply to prevent prices from falling below $50 a barrel.

''Policy will be the same,'' Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters after he voted in Caracas.

Venezuelans are choosing between leftist Chavez and Manuel Rosales, a moderate who favors free markets over socialism, in Sunday's presidential poll.

Ramirez said he is already holding talks with other OPEC ministers to build a consensus for a 500,000-barrel-a-day output cut at OPEC's Dec. 14 meeting in Nigeria's capital of Abuja.

Venezuela, a major supplier of crude to the United States, is the world's fifth-largest exporter.

High oil prices have brought a major boost to Venezuela's economy, as well as to Chavez's oil-funded social programs for the poor, which range from subsidized grocery stores to cash assistance for single mothers.

[Adelante]

84. This is what I wanted to know

"An official result is due today."

Thank you.

[EFerrari]

87. I owed you an apology for rudeness, WesDem and this was

the way I thought I could manage it.

/typin'

[Adelante]

92. I have no problem with you, sfexpat

We can disagree civilly. Also, I wanted to say to you in the other thread that I very much hope your family stays safe in Oaxaca.

[EFerrari]

94. Thank you for being so generous.

I'm having trouble communicating with my family. I hope we're all right.

[Judi Lynn]

85. Now THERE'S a goddamned POST!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

US DU'ers love a post you can sink your TEETH into! Wowie.

Why is THIS story, among your links, from Miami not a surprise?

In Miami, known as a hotbed of anti-Chavez sentiment, Rosales won 10,354 votes against 235 votes for Chavez, according to Venezuelan consular officials.

Venezuelans lined up outside the Orange Bowl before daybreak, eager for an opportunity to unseat the incumbent.

The line stretched across several blocks along Northwest Third Street before the polls opened at 6 a.m. Determined voters arrived in caravans of cars, buses and even bicycles from as far away as Orlando and points north.

About 16,421 had registered through the Miami-based consulate, which has jurisdiction through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. They pushed strollers of sleeping children and wheelchairs of friends or relatives too frail to walk to the stadium's 35 polling tables.

It was the largest polling center inside or outside Venezuela, reflecting a growing community of more than 40,000 Venezuelans, many of whom have come to Florida since Chavez took power in 1999.

The voting in Miami unfolded smoothly until late in the afternoon when a group of Chavez supporters appeared outside the gates of the Orange Bowl wearing red shirts, chanting slogans and carrying signs.

Rosales supporters countered by shouting "Fuera!" or "Get Out!" to the group, according to opposition advocate Raul Leoni and consulate volunteer Franciso Rodriguez.
(snip)

Buncha creeps.

[countryjake]

103. Brava! Thanks for all of this research, sfexpat!

Did you see Joe Kennedy on the tube this week, accepting the first of the discounted CITGO oil for this winter's cold?

[EFerrari]

63. Commie, this thread made my night yesterday. Thanks.

HUGO! HUGO! HUGO!

(btw, today Amy Goodman had great tape of Caracas and HUGO!)

[Donald Ian Rankin]

88. Saying "Calderon won" and being on Calderon's side are *not* the same.

Calderon *did* win; "getting over it" is probably not a bad precis of the best strategy the left could adopt. That *doesn't* mean I don't wish he hadn't won, any more than admitting that the holocaust happened implies that I support it.

(FWIW, while I heavily distrust Hugo Chavez, I have no doubt whatsoever that he has a strong democratic mandate; I'm just not keen on everything he's doing with it).

[EFerrari]

90. Donald, we have yet another opportunity to disagree.

lol

Have you watched any of the documentaries on Chavez? I admit to coming into this debate late. But, regardless, there is film on the net that illuminates the topic.

[Adelante]

91. Such a simple concept

Yet I never thought I'd live to see it posted on DU.

'Saying "Calderon won" and being on Calderon's side are *not* the same.'

Allow me :pals:

[EFerrari]

95. Of course they're not the same. Have you seen the data

from the election?

Calderon did not win. Oh, geeze.

This is the deal. My Mexican compadres do not just up and take to the streets for no reason.

/- o

[Adelante]

98. Oh, no, you don't

I'm not getting sucked into another Mexican election thread so soon. I have to conserve my strength. ;)

Besides, we just made up :cry:

[EFerrari]

99. LOL! You betcha. Thank you for saving me from myself.

:rofl:

[Selatius]

97. Quite a few Mexicans disagree that Calderon won. They say he didn't win.

Calderon will be Mexico's most divisive president in decades as a result.

[EFerrari]

101. His inauguration lasted all of four minutes.

F*ck him.