Hugo Chávez

V

Recall Campaign

In the strike’s wake, opponents began a presidential recall campaign as permitted under the new constitution that Chávez had championed in 1999. The petition drive, which culminated in August 2003, failed because many signatures were ruled invalid. Nevertheless, the drive gave its organizers valuable experience, and a second petition drive started almost immediately. This effort ended in December 2003 when recall supporters collected nearly 3.6 million signatures, far exceeding the minimum needed to hold a referendum on the recall proposal.

The referendum was held in August 2004, and Chávez emerged with an overwhelming victory with 59 percent of about 8.5 million voters rejecting the recall effort. The opposition Democratic Coordinator, a coalition of groups opposed to Chávez’s policies, charged fraud, but the results were upheld by international monitors led by the Carter Center, headed by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Emboldened by his success in the referendum, Chávez pushed for implementing land reform in Venezuela by making idle land available to peasant cooperatives. About half of Venezuela’s farmers own only 1 percent of the land. Much of the remainder is held in large estates by wealthy landowners and lies fallow. Venezuela has become a food importer as agricultural production has declined. Critics charged that the land reform proposals furnished proof that Chávez sought to impose Cuban-style communism in Venezuela. At the same time Chávez reached out to business leaders, calling for a dialogue to stimulate the manufacturing sector.

VI

International Relations

Chávez has been visible in international relations, and especially notable has been his strong personal relationship with Castro. Chávez has solidified a close political and economic relationship between Venezuela and Cuba. He has granted Cuba preferential treatment in Venezuela’s oil exports by providing special barter arrangements for its purchase of oil. In return for oil, Cuba has sent scores of physicians to start community health programs in poor communities and marginal urban neighborhoods as well as dozens of literacy workers and organizers to oversee a massive national literacy campaign.

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Chávez’s close ties with Castro has angered the Bush administration, which has also charged that Chávez supports a guerrilla group in neighboring Colombia, a charge that Chávez denies. Because Venezuela is the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States, some U.S. officials also worry about increases in oil prices due to the prominent role Venezuela plays in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

VII

2006 Presidential Election and After

Chávez easily won reelection in the 2006 presidential contest. Although opposition parties had boycotted legislative elections in 2005, they returned to the electoral process in 2006. Nevertheless, Chávez won handily with about 63 percent of the vote as most Venezuelans appeared to approve of the way the country’s oil wealth was being distributed.

Following the election, Chávez asked the National Assembly for the power to rule by decree for a period of 18 months. The National Assembly had granted Chávez a similar Enabling Law in 2000, under which Chávez issued more than 40 decrees. He said a similar law was needed to accelerate Venezuela’s move toward socialism. Critics charged that the Venezuela president was attempting to establish an authoritarian regime with all power concentrated in his hands. They said a new Enabling Law was unnecessary inasmuch as Chávez’s supporters already controlled the legislature and the Supreme Court. In late January the National Assembly unanimously approved the decree powers.

Following the passage of the Enabling Law, Chávez proceeded to nationalize the telecommunications, electrical power, and oil industries. He also refused to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), charging that it had played a prominent role in the 2002 coup attempt against his government. The move sparked mass protests, especially among college students, and denunciations from human rights and journalistic organizations.

Chávez continued to antagonize the Bush administration. In a 2006 appearance before the United Nations (UN), he referred to Bush as “the devil.” He also sought to develop closer ties with Iran, which the Bush administration had identified as being part of an “axis of evil.” In July 2007 Venezuela agreed to ship gasoline to Iran after protests erupted there against gasoline shortages.

Chávez suffered the first major electoral defeat of his political career in December 2007 when voters rejected, by 51 to 49 percent, a referendum that would have removed term limits on the president, allowing Chávez to seek another term in 2012 and beyond. The proposed term limit amendment, along with one that would have given Chávez the power to declare a state of emergency for an unlimited period, alienated some of his more moderate supporters, including a prominent retired general who had supported Chávez against the 2002 coup attempt. The proposed amendments also cost him some support in poor neighborhoods as well, where voter turnout was not as high as during the 2006 presidential election. Chávez indicated that he would respect the will of the voters.

Chávez has cited a variety of influences on his thinking, including the German political philosopher Karl Marx, the U.S. intellectual and left-wing activist Noam Chomsky, the American economist John Kenneth Galbraith, and Albert Einstein’s “Why Socialism?” essay. He also frequently quotes the Latin American nationalist hero Simón Bolívar and relatively obscure Marxist theoreticians, such as Peru’s José Carlos Mariátegui and Hungary’s István Mészáros.

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