Venezuela's Chavez warns supporters of referendum their names will be remembered

sfgate ^ | 10-19-03 | sfgate

[ambrose]

President Hugo Chavez issued a warning Saturday to anyone planning to sign a referendum on his presidency, saying their names would be registered and remembered "forever."

Venezuela's elections authority this week said the opposition could gather signatures supporting a recall referendum from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1. The constitution says a referendum request must be backed by signatures from at least 20 percent of the electorate.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela's Recall*** Vanessa Roca, a 31-year-old secretary from the eastern state of Monagas, says she lost her job at a state-owned transport company after signing a petition calling for a recall referendum to remove Chavez from office. She traveled seven hours by bus to ask officials at the National Electoral Commission (CNE) to remove her name from the petition.

"A friend who had the same thing happen to him told me this might help me get my job back," she said. "I understand it happened to a lot of us."

As the Chavez government tries to remain in office, state employees and students who signed the petition, or who are suspected of sympathizing with the political opposition, are being purged from jobs, internships and grants, according to dozens of interviews with trade unionists, students, state workers, lawyers and human rights activists.

And in an effort to discredit the recall movement, state workers whose names appear on the petition are being encouraged by the government to sign legal complaints alleging that their signatures were forged.

Former President Carlos Andres Perez predicts Chavez "will not have a peaceful exit" and will be forced out of office if he refuses to accept the recall vote. "Violence is bad, and we don't promote it," he recently told Colombia's daily newspaper, El Tiempo, "but no other option is possible." ***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela Sets Dates (4 days) for Recall Petition Drive [Full text] CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's electoral council on Wednesday set Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, as the dates for a petition drive, requested by the opposition as a step in the possible recall of President Hugo Chavez .

The announcement by Francisco Carrasquero, president of the National Electoral Council, came after Venezuela's opposition accused officials of dragging their feet in setting a date.

Officials rejected an earlier petition for technical reasons.

The opposition must gather more than 2.4 million signatures to request the recall against Chavez.

Venezuela's Constitution allows recall referendums after the midpoint of a president's six-year term - which was Aug. 19 for Chavez.

According to the National Electoral Council, the earliest the presidential recall could be held would be March 2004.

The Organization of American States has endorsed the presidential recall as a peaceful and democratic means of ending tensions that triggered a failed 2002 coup and two-month strike earlier this year.

The opposition accuses Chavez of accumulating power, ignoring rampant graft in public administration and dividing Venezuelans along class lines.

Chavez, who survived a brief 2002 coup, claims a corrupt political elite is conspiring against his leftist government. [End]

[Simmy2.5]

Nahhhhhh. He isn't a dictator. He is just a democracy freedom loving guy like Castro in that workers paradise called Cuba. </sarcasm>

[Qwinn]

"Chavez, who survived a brief 2002 coup, claims a corrupt political elite is conspiring against his leftist government."

Wow, does he mean a leftist government is conspiring against his leftist government? Cause "leftist" and "corrupt political elite" are pretty synonymous in my book.

Qwinn

[Paul_B]

A leftist thug; nothing more.

I pulled out of an investment in a gold mine in Venezuala partly because of his politics. Pray for the people who suffer under an evil ruler.

p.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"Firebrand" is what the media usually uses for Chavez.

[AngrySpud]

Appalling, just appalling. Democracy in the Western hemisphere is broad, but oh, so shallow.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well, this political elite see Castro II in their midst.

[The Electrician]

""Venezuelans are free. He who wants to sign may do so -- we are not going to coerce them or pressure them," Chavez said."

What an evil, Orwellian statement.