Venezuela: Referendum

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is prepared to hold a referendum, in accordance with the terms of the Venezuelan Constitution, to check the spirit of his nation after the attempted coup d’etat on 11th April, whose origins are still under investigation.

Hugo Chavez has declared that he is tired of trying to get the opposition parties to dialogue with him to find solutions for Venezuela’s grave social problems, accusing many former supporters of having become turncoats and of turning their backs on him after he defeated the attempted coup. It is still not clear who or what was behind this coup nor how many millions of dollars were poured into Venezuela at the time or shortly before.

The Venezuelan Constitution states that “all posts resulting from public elections are revocable, through a referendum” after half of the mandate has run. In the spirit of his policy of national dialogue, after the attempted coup on 11th April, Hugo Chavez has declared that “I may satisfy the demands of those who ask Chavez for a referendum”, on the radio programme “Alo Presidente”, last Sunday.

It remains to be seen how Washington views the policies of Chavez in the near future, although the mission of the US intelligence services will be the more difficult after the attempted coup, because some fingers point towards Washington.

Marcia MIRANDA PRAVDA.Ru BRAZIL