President Hugo Chávez has lost absolute power in Venezuela. After last weekend’s general election, the president faces a critical parliament and the task of tackling difficult problems such as high crime rates and failing power supplies now looks even more daunting.
The election result is music to the ears of the opposition. President Chávez has lost his two thirds majority. Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, who is part of the leadership of the opposition alliance MUD (Coalition for Democratic Unity) says:
“This result shows that we have overcome voters’ scepticism. When we started more than a year ago, people thought this would not be possible (...) But here we are. The fact that we can provide an alternative is a clear victory and we will not waste the opportunity. We will remain united and 26 September is a milestone on the long road ahead."
Irritation
Maintaining unity is a challenge, because the MUD is an alliance of 22 organisations and politic parties with very different objectives. The common goal is clear: to put an end to Hugo Chávez’s dominance. In 2005, the opposition made a huge strategic mistake by boycotting the elections.
President Chávez and his supporters took advantage of the situation by passing a number of very important laws. This even irritated staunch supporters of President Chávez. That motivated mainly the upper and middle classes to vote for the opposition.
In the past five years, the parliament has completely ignored issues that matter to people like law and order, inflation and the incessant power cuts. Commander Chávez’s endless television speeches have failed to impress people. He hasn’t provided any concrete solutions to the real problems of Venezuelans. Even his extensive Twitter sessions haven't helped.
Chavismo
Nevertheless, "chavismo", support for Chávez’s movement, is still going strong. The president still has a lot of support among much of the population. Tens of thousands wear red T-shirts bearing an image of their 'caudillo' (powerful leader). They represent the silent masses who were always ignored by President Chávez’s predecessors.
And who wouldn’t vote for Chávez when his people go into the poorest areas and promise new houses, hand over new window frames, orr when they give someone a car?
In the streets of Caracas, Jorge says he still supports President Chavez:
"There is no social security in this country. President Chávez has done a lot of good things for the Venezuelan people."
The initial results indicate Chávez’s socialist party has 90 seats out of 165 in parliament. The MUD has 59 so far. In a twitter message, Hugo Chavez called the result “a victory for the people”.
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RNW shame on you for playing up American propaganda. The opposition refused to participate in 2005 if Chavez had too much power during the last 5 years it was their own fault.
So tell me, David Berridge...which countries has Chavez threatened? The only country that keeps threatening and terrorizing the Americas is the US - and Canada, good poodle that it is (I am a Canadian), jumps however high Washington tells it to. So I guess you see nothing wrong with the US interfering with Venezuela's political process and having the utter gall to discredit a democratic process that not even the US - or Canada, for that matter, have. Of course, you would rather see the masses poor again and all the oil money flowing to Wall Street, eh?
The US is not terrorizing the Americas; Brazil is now a great power; Chile has a prosperous economy, etc. Is that all because they are being terrorized by the US.?
"So tell me, David Berridge...which countries has Chavez threatened?"..... How about Colombia? " So I guess you see nothing wrong with the US interfering with Venezuela's political process and having the utter gall to discredit a democratic process that not even the US - or Canada, for that matter, have." If, the Americans and British didn't interfer with the political process of the Soviet Union prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German and Russian people would still be oppressed. If one came remember, one didn't see people escaping into East Germany. I wonder why! The Germans need to be thankful the the United States, UK, and Canada for interferred with the political process of Herr Hitler's Germany. No, thousands of Canadians who died for those freedoms now enjoyed by the German people, and on behalf of those thousands who died interferring with the political process of Herr Hitler, I say Tschuss!
Good luck for those venezuelan fellows, courageous enough to show their rejection for the purposes of that dictator!
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Now that Chavez no longer maintains an absolute control over Venezuela, his foreign policy will have to become more subdued when it comes to threatening his neighbours in the Western Hemisphere, thus making this part of the world a little more secure than before. He can no longer claim an absolute will of the people behind him, and now instead faces a class warfare situation should the social tensions mount too high. Any indication of leading Venezuela into foreign misadventures must now yield to a very nervous eye on the domestic stability of the country.
Hugo Chávez's Geheime Staatspolizei will end-up destroying the opposition. He lusts for power and he will not give into the opposition. He will destroy anyone who gets in his path. He is a dictator!
With 22 different groups forming the opposition, they will end up destroying each other with infights, etc.
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