TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Vote Energizes Opposition

ADVERTISEMENT

By SIMON ROMERO, The New York Times

Published: December 4, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela - The surprising defeat of a referendum this weekend to accelerate President Hugo Chavez's socialist-inspired revolution has given new energy to his long-suffering opposition.

Just how long that momentum lasts will depend on whether his opponents can keep within their ranks the Venezuelans who defected from Chavez to vote no on the proposals.

For nine years, a combination of populist politics and rising oil prices have propelled Chavez's socialist program for Venezuela with an almost inexorable momentum. On Sunday, his country put on the brakes.

Those results have at once given the opposition a sudden boost and demonstrated the resilience of Venezuela's institutions. They also showed that many of Chavez's once-stalwart backers have grown frustrated with the rising prices and food shortages that have become symptomatic of his revolution, despite his promises to the poor.

Interviews in the barrios where Chavez's support has run strong indicated that many of those no votes were as much an expression of frustration with government mismanagement as a warning to Chavez that he had finally overreached in proposing constitutional changes that would have ended term limits for the president and greatly centralized his power.

The rejection of his proposals amounted to a sharp rebuke from Venezuelans who let Chavez know they were hesitant to follow him much farther up the path to a socialist future if their current needs were not being met.

At play now is a large portion of the electorate. Chavez won re-election last year with about 63 percent of the vote, compared with the 49 percent that supported his proposed constitutional amendments. The opposition, which never won more than 41 percent in four national elections during Chavez's presidency, got 51 percent over the weekend, illustrating its ability to win over voters who were loyal to Chavez in previous races.

The real test now for the opposition will be to fashion viable alternatives to keep those defectors. That will not be easy. Chavez and his supporters still control the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, almost every state government and the entire federal bureaucracy. The opposition, meanwhile, is recovering from years of tactical errors and marginalization from the country's political life.

In an unforeseen challenge to Chavez, the new leaders of this opposition have emerged from the disaffected within his own movement. They are hewing to leftist ideals while expressing increasing unhappiness with state control of the economy and the intensifying cult of celebrity around Chavez.

"The president wanted to obligate Venezuelans to accept this project," said Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel, the retired top commander of this nation's army who broke with Chavez last month.

Baduel, speaking at a news conference here Monday, said "the people did not propose one comma or period to the text" of the defeated proposals, which would have formally created a socialist state. As a next step, Baduel proposed that the country convene a new constitutional assembly to rewrite Venezuela's laws.

Aside from Baduel, other leaders whose stars are rising are Ismael Garcia, a deputy in the National Assembly, and Ramon Martinez, governor of Sucre State in eastern Venezuela. Both men were supporters of Chavez who vociferously distanced themselves from him in recent months.

They were joined by a student movement that led street protests here and in other large Venezuelan cities before the vote. In contrast with some traditional opposition parties, the student leaders tout their own progressive ideals.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT