[NYTr] Chavez Proposals Likely to Pass, Even Opposition Poll Agrees Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:32:44 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - Sep 11, 2007 [According to Hinterlaces, a polling firm "often associated with the opposition", President Chavez' constitutional reform proposal will likely pass when it is voted on through a national referendum in December, reports Reuters. In a poll of 900 people, 31% said they would vote for it while 27% said they would reject it. The poll also found that many voters are undecided or plan to abstain. At the same time, the former president of the Constituent Assembly Luis Miquilena spoke against the measures and said the reform plans are, "implementing dictatorship in Venezuela." According to El Universal, he has asked the public to move "urgently" to reject them.-VIO For an in-depth look at the proposed reforms read the fact sheet at: http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/Constitutional%20Reform.htm ] Reuters via The Washington Post - Sep 10, 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091001475.html Chavez likely to win end to term limits: pollsters By Enrique Andres Pretel CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez is likely to win a referendum this year on scrapping term limits that would help clear a path for him to rule for decades, pollsters say. The anti-U.S. leader included an end to term limits in a constitutional reform proposal that Venezuelans will vote on in December, sweetening what for many is a bitter pill with some populist measures, such as reducing the work day, they say. Pollsters say the referendum will pass because it will be a straight "yes" or "no" on the overall package and will reflect majority support for a president who has used Venezuela's oil wealth to finance programs for the poor. Thirty-one percent of voters plan to approve the referendum, while 27 percent would reject it, Hinterlaces, a local company often associated with the opposition, said on Monday in publishing a poll of 900 people on the referendum. Many voters are undecided or plan to abstain, it said. Chavez's reforms proposal also eliminates central bank autonomy, strengthens state expropriation powers and contains language that could curb the authority of elected regional officials. With Latin Americans generally skeptical about presidents who want to change laws to extend their rule, Chavez's apparent moves to consolidate power have even drawn criticism from the second largest party supporting him. But populist measures, including extending social security benefits, will likely win out, said Luis Vicente Leon of polling firm Datanalisis. "In the over-arching proposal of the work day versus indefinite re-election, the positive response to the populist measures far outweighs any negative associated with more controversial aspects of the reform," he said. CHAVEZ RULES U.S. officials and opposition leaders fear Chavez will use the power he has amassed in Congress, the military, judiciary and state oil company to cling to office even if his popularity falls. Chavez has repeatedly vowed he will govern until 2021 if he continues to win elections, and has sometimes said he could stay in power well beyond that. When he took office in 1999, he was due to leave only five years later but he pushed a constitutional change that has helped keep him in charge. Without another reform, he would have to leave in 2013. Chavez led a failed coup in 1992 but is a proven winner at the ballot box, winning 11 times in elections or referendums. Pollsters doubt many voters will make a detailed analysis of the changes in 33 articles of the constitution. "Chavez will try to pin the reform on his popularity ... so that any constitutional debate is relegated to an after thought," said Oscar Schemel of Hinterlaces. Pollsters generally believe Chavez is popular with a solid majority of Venezuelans, who back his spending on subsidized food, schools and clinics. Chavez will face the referendum vote a year after winning a landslide re-election. He is one of Latin America's most popular leaders despite a year of difficulties, including protests at his refusal to renew an opposition TV station's license. Santiago Castillo, a boatman in the village of Choroni, said he supports Chavez because fishermen can now obtain spare parts more easily. "If Chavez says it's good ... he knows, he sticks up for the poor," he said of the reform proposal. "I'll vote for whatever Chavez says. Long live Chavez." *** ["Before knowing Cuba, [Chavez] attacked the Cuban model," says this Venezuelan gusano. So? So did lots of people who only had anti-Cuban propaganda to go by. They learned, as Chavez did, what the truth was. What exactly is Miquilena saying? That "dictatorship" is a danger because Chavez does value Cuba, or is he trying to claim Chavez really doesn't admire Cuba and therefore shouldn't be believed? -NY Transfer] El Universal - Sep 10, 2007 http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/09/10/en_pol_art_miquilena-fears-dict_10A1007437.shtml Miquilena fears dictatorship in Venezuela Former president of the Constituent Assembly Luis Miquilena asked Venezuelans to move "urgently" to reject President Hugo ChC!vez' "dictatorial" project, and warned that the proposed changes to the Constitution "do not imitate the Cuban revolution, but rather they are a minestrone, and include a fig leave for a democratic look." In an interview with Spanish daily newspaper ABC, ChC!vez' former ally clarified that his call to Venezuelans is not aimed at gathering political support for himself. "Democracy and freedom are at stake. The motherland is endangered. We all should unite to help people open their eyes and see how dangerous ChC!vez' plans are, namely, implementing dictatorship in Venezuela." He ensured that while he was in office, ChC!vez never funded foreign politicians, but now "he is doing so in an open way, such as the case of the suitcase with USD 800,000 in Argentina." "ChC!vez is ruthless, he is no longer hiding his corruption, and manages the country as a personal treasury." Further, Miquilena told Brazilian Agencia de Estado that ChC!vez "has never been a leftist, and he has no idea of what his 21st-century socialism is." "Before knowing Cuba, he attacked the Cuban model," Efe quoted. * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . 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