Residual Forces

Hugo Chavez lost his bid to change his country’s laws so he could remain socialist leader supreme indefinitely.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez suffered a stunning defeat Monday in a referendum that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and impose a socialist system in this major U.S. oil provider.
Voters defeated the sweeping measures Sunday by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, said Tibisay Lucena, chief of the National Electoral Council, with voter turnout at just 56 percent.

She said that with 88 percent of the votes counted, the trend was irreversible.

Opposition supporters shouted with joy as Lucena announced the results on national television early Monday, their first victory against Chavez after nine years of electoral defeats.

Some broke down in tears. Others began chanting “And now he’s going away!”

So all that talk about how badly other nations hate America seem untrue. If the citizens of Venezuela hated America so, they’d surely have voted overwhelmingly to allow Chavez stay in power and implement his communist agenda for life. But instead, they voted against the anti-America thug.

At a polling station in one politically divided Caracas neighborhood, Chavez supporters shouted “Get out of here!” to opposition backers who stood nearby aiming to monitor the vote count. A few dozen Chavistas rode by on motorcycles with bandanas and hats covering their faces, some throwing firecrackers.

Opponents—including Roman Catholic leaders, press freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders—feared the reforms would have granted Chavez unchecked power and threatened basic rights.

Cecilia Goldberger, a 56-year-old voting in affluent eastern Caracas, said Venezuelans did not really understand how Chavez’s power grab would affect them. She resented pre-dawn, get-out-the-vote tactics by Chavistas, including fireworks and reveille blaring from speakers mounted on cruising trucks.

“I refuse to be treated like cattle and I refuse to be part of a communist regime,” the Israeli-born Goldberger said, adding that she and her businessman husband hope to leave the country.

I wonder if Rep. Ellison (CAIR MN 5) will recommend these tactics as part of his ‘everyone must vote proposal. 

Freedom won yesterday and communism lost. Congrats to Venezuela. You’ve taken the first step on the long road to true liberty. Don’t give up, you do still have to deal with this thug for 4 more years though.

Freedom is not something the Government can take from one person and redistribute to another.