Venezuelan referendum fight turns hot
Photo from Fox News Channel
Associated Press reports that students clashed with police in Caracas today;
Venezuelan students in gas masks clashed with National Guard soldiers on Wednesday in protests against President Hugo Chavez’s planned reforms to the country’s constitution.
Soldiers outside the Metropolitan University in Caracas fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators and students were seen carrying peers as smoke wafted through the air.
Katy at Caracas Chronicles writes that opposition groups have turned 180 degrees and they’re urging everyone to vote;
After a fourteen hour debate (!!), the radical opposition umbrella group Comando Nacional de la Resistencia has just abandoned its militant abstentionism. In a whiplash-inducing change of mind, they are now calling for people to go out and vote No on Sunday.
One of Chavez ex-wives has turned on him, too (from the AP story linked above);
Meanwhile, Chavez took fire from one of his two ex-wives who urged Venezuelans to reject the slate of proposed constitutional changes that would greatly expand executive power.
Urging Venezuelans to vote “no” in Sunday’s referendum on the changes to the nation’s charter, Maria Isabel Rodriguez compared approving the referendum to a “leap into the dark.”
Rodriguez, a journalist, also urged opponents to go to the polls to prevent possible vote-rigging.
“It will be more difficult for fraud to take place if we all vote,” Rodriguez said at a news conference Tuesday. She divorced Chavez in 2004.
The Devil’s Excrement writes that to distract people from the referendum, he’s ratcheting up the crisis with Columbia;
Hugo Chavez broke relationships at least informally today with Colombia, saying that a long as Alvaro Uribe remains as President of that country; he will have no relations with him.
[…]
Remarkably, the popularity of both Presidents was actually boosted by the bickering; as nationalistic sentiments were awaken by the conflict. Thus, Chavez seemed to be looking for a quick fix to his weakling position in the polls.
While the strategy has very negative consequences long term, Chavez’ immediate needs are more important. Colombia is Venezuela’s second most important trading partner after the United States and provides many basic foodstuffs at a time of widespread shortages with some basic items.
At the same time one has to wonder about whether the initial spike in popularity may be offset Chavez’s stronger words now, particularly among the large voter population of Colombian origin in Venezuela, but we are sure pollsters that are advising the President have taken that into consideration.
A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective has Spanish language links to Chavez’ split with Columbia.Â
Some group of crackpots calling themselves Global Research, an offshoot of Venezuelanalysis.com, has uncovered a secret memo from the CIA (ya know those things are laying around everywhere – any crackpot group can find one) detailing “Operation Pliers”;
On a scarier note, an internal CIA memorandum has been obtained by Venezuelan counterintelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas that reveals a very sinister – almost fantastical, were it not true – plan to destabilize Venezuela during the coming days. The plan, titled “OPERATION PLIERS” was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden in Washington.
The memo summarizes the different scenarios that the CIA has been working on in Venezuela for the upcoming referendum vote on December 2nd. The Electoral Scenario, as it’s phrased, confirms that the voting tendencies will not change substantially before Sunday, December 2nd, and that the SI (YES) vote in favor of the constitutional reform has an advantage of about 10-13 points over the NO vote. The CIA estimates abstention around 60% and states in the memo that this voting tendency is irreversible before the elections.
Ohhhh – scary. Like a hardcopy of a CIA memo would even exist in Venezuela, in the US Embassy or otherwise. This ain’t the 50s, guys. SO Chavez is getting so worried about Sunday’s vote, he’s make the referendum about eveything except the Constitution.
Gateway Pundit covers this, Hot Air has more on the CNN plot to assassinate Chavez and Michele Malkin has a round up of today’s Chavez news links. JunkyardBlog uncovers FARC subs.Â
Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez
For the casual observer this looks nutty. Why would there be violent protests because the people are being given the opportunity to vote on something? The only logical reason, it seems to me, is that the “No” forces are sure they are going to lose in a free and fair election, so are trying to either intimidate voters, encourage a possible coup, or give some external power an excuse to grab the reins of power. It simply doesn’t make sense to get out in the streets and “protest” an election that you have a chance of winning.
Hi, Charley. The protests (which by the way only turned violent when the government unleashed thugs on peaceful, unarmed students) were to extend the referendum. There are 69 changes to the Constitution and Chavez’ opposition wanted more than a few days to explain the changes to the masses. It seems to me that the only one who had nothing to worry about in the short space of time before the referendum is the guy who controls the media.