Yesterday was a crucial day for the people of Venezuela. It has only been the last two-three days that our news media picked up on the story that Chavez was pushing for a change in the constitution that would have allowed him to rule for life. The people of Venezuela, with what appears to be with little help from the outside world, rebelled protested on the streets and screamed all the way to prison to shout down this awful display of egomania gone wild.
The popularity of Chavez in his country is simple but it may come at the expense of the future. It seems that Venezuela derives 90% of its export income from the sale of oil. 60% of the exported oil lands in the US which accounts for about 10-11% of our consumption. Does our need for his oil make us beholding to Chavez? Chavez then takes the income and drives it into social programs benefiting the populace of Venezuela and making fierce loyalists of the people he subsidizes, usually poor and low income. But what Chavez is forgetting is the capital cost to re-build a tired and aging oil infrastructure that if not attended to quickly Venezuela may find it hard to place any oil on the world markets.
Getting back to a December 2, 2007 being a historic day in Venezuela on two fronts. One was the defeat of the Chavez-for-life change to the constitution and second the first defeat for Chavez in his country. Is his control finally loosening? Congratulations to all the democratic forces in Venezuela that opposed Chavez. The fragility of democracy put to another test and won.
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