Quote:
There is no deflecting Hugo Chavez. Just 15 months after Venezuelans balked at a referendum seeking to end term limits for their president, they found themselves being asked the same question all over again on Sunday – and gave in. Keep winning elections, they told him, and you can keep power.
Nor was the victory as slim as opinion polls had suggested. The election authority in Caracas confirmed that the "Yes" campaign, which had been powered by the entire government machinery, had won by a decisive margin of 54 per cent against 45 per cent. Thus, Mr Chavez now has the opportunity to run for a third six-year term when his current stint runs out in 2013. And who knows how many terms thereafter?
It was a harsh blow to Venezuela's opposition forces, which had celebrated the collapse of the last referendum in December 2006 and also made headway in mayoral and gubernatorial elections last November. But in this struggle, even with the help of students, they were overwhelmed by Mr Chavez.
Nor was the victory as slim as opinion polls had suggested. The election authority in Caracas confirmed that the "Yes" campaign, which had been powered by the entire government machinery, had won by a decisive margin of 54 per cent against 45 per cent. Thus, Mr Chavez now has the opportunity to run for a third six-year term when his current stint runs out in 2013. And who knows how many terms thereafter?
It was a harsh blow to Venezuela's opposition forces, which had celebrated the collapse of the last referendum in December 2006 and also made headway in mayoral and gubernatorial elections last November. But in this struggle, even with the help of students, they were overwhelmed by Mr Chavez.
I quite like Hugo Chavez. I like what he did with the oil sector, and I think he's a huge improvement on the people that ran Venezuela before. He's certainly helped the poor quite a bit. His record in terms of political freedom is not very good, and he does sometimes show authoritarian tendencies. But nothing much worse than in most other Latin America countries.
What do you guys think about him? How is he portrayed in the US?