Government refuses to sign agreement

April 22, 2003

Imagine this: For four months the Government and the opposition have been negotiating to sign an agreement to defuse the Venezuelan political crisis. They reach a fairly innocuous agreement which says there will be a recall referendum if the opposition presents the required signatures, which is in the Constitution anyway, and that there will be international supervision. The agreement was to be signed today. Surprisingly, Chavez’ MVR party, which he has dominated and controlled for the last four years and has always reacted to every wish and whim of the President “refuses” to have the Government sign it and wants the agreement changed. In particular, they don’t want the international supervision and they refuse to accept that the recall referendum would take place no later than 90 days after the opposition hands in the required signatures. For all the fools, both here and abroad, who believed that there would be a recall referendum here, what more proof can you have of the true cynical and dictatorial nature of this Government? As I have said before, the Government will block any attempt to hold a recall referendum until August 2004 when, according to the Constitution, if Chavez were to lose a recall referendum, the Vice-President becomes President. Since Chavez can appoint the Vice-President anytime he wants, he will name his brother when and if he loses the referendum, if it ever takes place. Can it be clearer than this? Some people still think this is a democracy. Fools!

This entry was posted on April 22, 2003 at 7:04 pm and is filed under Venezuela.

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