Not Enough Sigatures to Recall Chavez!

[Zhukov]

It's official: only 1,800,000 valid signatures gathered by the
opposition to President Hugo Chavez Frias

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=16187

National Elections Council (CNE) president Francisco Carrasquero has announced that there are only 1,832,493 valid signatures gathered by the political opposition to President Hugo Chavez Frias in a nationwide signature campaign last November 28-December 1 to petition a revocatory referendum against the President of the Republic.

In a statement broadcast from Caracas on the Radio Union Network, Carrasquero said "there are insufficient signatures at this time to launch a revocatory referendum under the 1999 Constitution."
Hugo Chavez Frias

"To be precise we need to have 2,437,080 signatures ... it needs between 600,000 and 700,000 more to go ahead with a referendum," he added pointing out that the opposition has a further opportunity later this month to "repair" or validate some 1.8 million signatures that had been put aside because of irregularities, outright forgeries and/or signatures of the long-since dead, foreigners and children who are ineligible to vote.

"If we can validate 500,000 more signatures and reach the 20% dictated in Article 72 of the Constitution we will go ahead with the referendum, otherwise..."

Asked what he believed the opposition reaction to the news would be, Carrasquero told the radio interviewer, with some hesitation "...I believe they will take it with good will since we have been in conversation with them and the Carter Center and they are considering what position to take."

They have failed abysmally! Without the referendum the "opposition" faces a further weakening and demoralisation of its forces.

Twice the opposition – which gathers around all that is reactionary in Venezuela – has tried to overthrow Chavez. First they tried the coup in April 2002, then the so called oil workers strike. On both occasions mass opposition from the workers and poor of Venezuela stopped the reactionaries in their tracks.

Ufortunatley there are also small bands of armed men physicaly attackin workers, students and Chavez supporters. This is part of a grand plan to destabilise the country and create conditions more favourable for the opposition, including the possibility of another coup.

To defend teh revolution the first steps should be:

- call mass meetings in every working class neighbourhood and workplace; these should elect defence committees, elected by all and with the right of recall;

- workers' defence squads should be created to defend each area and each workplace;

- the Chavez government should distribute arms to these squads and provide the workers with the necessary training to use them; that is the only way the workers can seriously defend themselves against the criminal gangs that the opposition is unleashing;

- special defensive measures should be taken to protect those activists of the movement, shop stewards etc., against physical attacks; not to do all this with the excuse that this would merely provoke a reaction on the part of the opposition would be a serious dereliction of duty; the opposition is already mobilising, it needs no excuse;

- these committees and defence squads should be linked to the loyal sections of the army and measures should be taken to make sure the sons of the workers in the army stay with their class;

If such measures are taken quickly and the masses are mobilised then no force on the planet could stop the Venezuelan workers. The fascist scum would flee in the face of such a mighty movement. Not to take the above measures would be playing into the hands of the opposition. It would facilitate their manoeuvres. They may be weak now but they are preparing for the future.

The workers of the world must be vigilant. A defeat for the Venezuelan workers would represent a defeat for all workers, especially for the workers of Latin America. We repeat: the only way of stopping reaction in Venezuela today is to take the revolution forward, complete it!

Last part from a comrade!

Edit:Is there anyone from El Salvador here?

[mburbank]

Huh. Do you suppsoe the administration will now support the democratically elected leadership? Or do you think they'll funnell buckets of cash to the opposition for 'democracy education'?

[The One and Only...]

Originally Posted by Zhukov

he added pointing out that the opposition has a further opportunity later this month to "repair" or validate some 1.8 million signatures that had been put aside because of irregularities, outright forgeries and/or signatures of the long-since dead, foreigners and children who are ineligible to vote.

So... 1.8 million made it through, and another 1.8 mil didn't?

Sounds like rigged elections.

[mburbank]

Or phoney signature funding. I think it's a shame our tax dollars can't by more skillful fraud.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/in...rint&position=

March 4, 2004

Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.N. Resigns
By JUAN FORERO

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 4 - The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations announced his resignation today, saying he could no longer support a government he accused of violating democratic principles and human rights.

Milos Alcalay's announcement in New York energized opponents of President Hugo Chávez, who have launched protests and called for international pressure after electoral authorities sidelined a recall referendum on the president's rule.

The opposition accuses National Guard troops of beating and detaining demonstrators who have violently protested the National Electoral Council's ruling Tuesday that the opposition had not collected enough signatures to trigger a recall referendum on Mr. Chávez's tumultuous rule. Seven people have been killed since Friday, the latest today in the western town of Machiques.

"Today, human rights in my country, I consider, are being violated," Mr. Alcalay told reporters at the United Nations.

The Organization of American States and Atlanta-based Carter Center, monitors of the signature collection, have criticized the council's decision. The opposition needs 2.4 million signatures to permit a recall but only 1.8 million were validated.

Electoral authorities have offered a two-day "repair period" in which 1.1 million citizens can confirm signatures that were disqualified - a proposal so far rejected by government adversaries.

Mr. Alcalay said the disqualification of hundreds of thousands of signatures "violates the spirit and purpose" of Venezuela's constitution and "robs Venezuelans of the right to affect change through the democratic process."

One of Mr. Chávez's allies, the congressman Tarek William Saab, reacted angrily to Mr. Alcalay's resignation, charging that he supported coup plotters who tried to oust the president in 2002.

The government accused the opposition of fomenting violence and said troops were restoring order. By today, violence had largely subsided, but the president's opponents promised a large march on Saturday.

Though the government appeared on the defensive today, political analysts said the opposition will likely have to accept the "repair period" if it wants a legal solution to Venezuela's turmoil.

"Violence, in the end, does not help the opposition," said Ana Maria Sanjuan, a sociologist at the Central University. "Nor do protests in the street."

###

[Zhukov]

So... 1.8 million made it through, and another 1.8 mil didn't?

Sounds like rigged elections.

This isn't elections, OAO, this is collecting votes on whether to have a referendum.

More than half of he collected signatures were proven to be fraudulent. Thousands of pages of signatures were in the same handwriting, dead people somehow signed, babies signed, pro-Chavez people found their names signed. The opposition organisation which coordinated the collection of the signatures, SUMATE, admitted to using peoples bank card signatures. (SUMATE is on the payroll of the US National Endowment for Democracy, among others, btw.) Many workers in private industry faced threats of losing their jobs if they did not go to sign for the opposition. Many instances of signature sheets being taken into hospitals and psychiatric institutions where patients were being asked to sign in order to receive medical treatment were reported. There were also in which people had been bussed from one electoral district to another so that they could sign twice.


re article: 'The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations' supported the coup attempt and the lockout, nothing much more really needs o b said. It is not like he was a supporter of Chavez before seeing the light and saying 'THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!' He was always on the side of the capitalists.

The opposition accuses National Guard troops of beating and detaining demonstrators who have violently protested the National Electoral Council's ruling Tuesday that the opposition had not collected enough signatures to trigger a recall referendum on Mr. Chávez's tumultuous rule. Seven people have been killed since Friday, the latest today in the western town of Machiques.

'The opposition accuses...', you might as well say 'The US government accuses...'. Since when has he oppositon demonstrated that it can be trusted?

' ...demonstrators who have violently protested the National Electoral Council's ruling...' doesn't mean that millions have protested with vigor, it means that hundres have used violence to protest - ie terorism. THE SEVEN PEOPLE KILLED WERE CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS! Families are being targeted by hit men!

The NEC was originaly neutral, then 3-2 in favour of Chavez but since things didn't go in the oppositions favour, they have been portrayed as Chavez's longtime lapdogs. This is the new staging ground for the weakenend opposition, they say things were unfair, when they were the ones using lies and trickery! They will use the fact that they were unable to gather the sinatures and turn it around so they are somehow the victim! Possibly their idea from the begining, since they would have known that the referendum was nwinable even if they could have brought it about. Chavez won elections by a landslide, 75% voted for his new constitution.

The Organization of American States and Atlanta-based Carter Center, monitors of the signature collection, have criticized the council's decision

They are not "monitors"! Merely pro-opposition onlookers!

Imperialism and the local ruling elite cannot tolerate the situation as it stands any longer. They cannot tolerate a government that increases investment in health and education, refuses to privatise publicly-owned companies and utilities, opposes the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement, reasserts the nationalised character of the oil industry, etc. Above all they cannot tolerate the process of mass organisation and politicisation that has taken place in the country. On two occasions the revolutionary movement of the Venezuelan masses has defeated the plans of imperialism and the local oligarchy, when they organised their coup in April 11, 2002 and during the oil sabotage and bosses’ lock out of December 2002-January 2003.

The only way for to safeguard the revolutionary process is to strengthen it and to move forward. Those who organised the coup and the oil sabotage are still free or in exile. They must be brought to justice.

EDIT: Didn't get to finsh my post, here is the rest: (Also, please read this )

but the president's opponents promised a large march on Saturday.

By "large march" they mean a few hundred. On Sunday, February 29th, Caracas saw millions of ordinary working Venezuelans, the downtrodden, the poor, the workers and youth, march through the streets for six hours. Two days earlier the opposition had mobilised a much smaller force on the streets of Caracas. I am sure anyone could look on google to find pictures of the massie pro-chavez rallies, it wul be a little bit more difficult to find the pro-opposition ones.

A few interesting things were said by Chavez on the 29th, namely that if US imperialism dares to interfere in Venezuelan politics and tries to remove the democratically elected government of the country, not one drop of Venezuelan petroleum would go to the United States. 1.5 million barrels a day are sent to the US I think.

He also raised the possibility that the U.S. may be tempted to carry out a military intervention. Which I would not be surprised with. They may even be contemplating an attempted assassination of Chavez himself. If this were to happen, Venezuela would be thrown into even greater "turmoil". A civil war could be on the agenda. The masses would not remain passive. It would not be another Chile, the people are much more organised. They have a greater experience. They have gained much and will not be willing to give all this up to the reactionary, pro-imperialist gangsters that want to turn the clock back.

I would be on the lookout for a possible embargo to be imposed on Venezuela from outside, led by the United States and backed by their allies in the rest of Latin America in the near future.

Another rumour circulating in Venezuela is that the governor of Zulia, an oil-rich region on the border with Colombia, may be tempted to declare independence. This would be a provocation aimed at getting Chavez to intervene militarily and thus justify some external intervention to "save" Zulia.

A defeat for the Venezuelan workers would represent a defeat for all workers!