Venezuela Keeps Chavez after Recall Fails

Venezuela voted on the recall of its president yesterday, and by all indications, Hugo Chavez will get to finish his term as president. Had he lost, a new election would have been called, and there is some doubt as to whether the supreme court would have let him run again. Despite his bumbling and 1960s rhetoric, his victory in the recall was probably the least bad result for Venezuela, its neighbors and the world.

Under the constitution, the opposition had to win an absolute majority, and that majority had to be larger than the 3.76 million that elected Mr. Chavez in the first place. While the results are not yet official, it seems the anti-Chavez crowd could only must around 42% of the vote. However, this being Venezuela, the opposition is also rejecting these results, claiming gross manipulation, fraud and general cheating.

This clearly is not the end of things. After all, Mr. Chavez is a very divisive individual -- either loved or hated, few are ambivalent to him. He survived a coup d'etat in April of 2002 and a two month general strike after that. Now, the recall is out of the way, and the opposition seems to be out of legal means of getting rid of him. Extra-legal means may follow.

Mr. Chavez runs a nation with 20% unemployment and inflation at 20%. The GDP is 23% smaller than in 1994. The nation is the fifth largest exporter of petroleum. It should be a wealthy place. Mr. Chavez as well as the previous governments have wasted that opportunity. In promising a "Bolivarian Revolution," Mr. Chavez has become a champion of the poor and a pale echo of Mr. Castro in his heyday. What he has given his nation is less tangible.

What is certain is the failure of democracy to deliver either good government (for which it is ill-equipped) or legitimate government (thanks to the fraud charges, it hasn't done this). The Venezuelan opposition should have won this fair and square because Mr. Chavez has run things badly. But as the American political adage goes, "You can't be somebody with nobody." It isn't enough to hate Mr. Chavez, despise his policies and live to throw him out of power unless they have a candidate to offer as an alternative. Not only is the government in Venezuela incompetent, so is the opposition. That being the case, Mr. Chavez is the lesser evil.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


Home