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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela Supreme Court OKs Recall Signatures |
| 2004-03-15 |
| Venezuela’s Supreme Court gave a major boost Monday to opponents of President Hugo Chavez, ruling that signatures on recall petitions need not be validated. The high court overturned a decision by the National Elections Council to force more than 1 million citizens to confirm they signed the petitions seeking a vote to recall Chavez. The court ordered the council to accept those signatures as valid unless citizens come forward to say they had not signed a petition. The ruling — while not guaranteeing a vote — was a big victory for Chavez’s opponents, who had claimed the council’s decision had made holding the referendum nearly impossible. |
| Posted by:Karma |
| #5 I like when all the American celibrity morons express their solidarity with Hugo. How hard can it be to comprehend the current regime is corrupt? The election board is asked to look at two simultaneous recall efforts. In the one to recall Chavez signature cards that have been partially filled out by a poll attendent are rulled invalid - against previous Venezuelan voting precedence. In the recall of opposition members the same process of partially filling out signature cards is ruled fully legal. Not even Broward County would try that. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-15 9:18:39 PM |
| #4 I'll miss the aggressive chest thumping and god-like chin thrusting when it's over. The Sopranos, I mean (hey, it'll end someday...). Fuck Hugo, I hope they tar and feather the bastard. And fuck the other Kerry-lover oil whore candidates, OPEC, for sabotaging the US economic recovery with their oil policy. |
| Posted by: Hyper 2004-3-15 9:06:35 PM |
| #3 I see dinking around on all sides, strikes, shooting and bitching. Oil up 2 bucks a barrel. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-15 6:09:15 PM |
| #2 it's $2.11 for regular in San Diego El jefe needs to learn that half-a-crackdown will gt you strung up or exiled to Cuba. A full crackdown will kill the country. I see Civil War in Venezuela, and much higher gas prices |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-15 5:49:33 PM |
| #1 This is going to get ugly. Gustavo Coronel wrote this on 3/3: Yesterday I was in downtown Valencia, for many years now one of the cleanest and most prosperous city in Venezuela. I could have been in downtown Baghdad. Barricades had been erected in many intersections of the city, fires had been started, and young and old protesters were hurling rocks and insults to the National Guard, while the heavily armed guards seemed to be enjoying the massive tear gas and buckshot attacks mounted on the unarmed civilians. I could have been in the Israel-Palestine conflict zone, where hate has already reached such a level that only killing seems to remain as a form of human interaction. That this was taking place in Venezuela, not only in Valencia but also in almost all cities of the country, in similar or even bigger scale, was almost unbelievable. Venezuela had been a peaceful society for half a century. Only senior citizens such as I remember the violence of the Perez Jimenez military dictatorship, during the 1950's. When the hated dictator escaped to Madrid where he lived happily ever after, helped by the several suitcases full of money that he took along in his hurried retreat, Venezuelans woke up from a nightmare and believed that never again they would have to suffer under a dictatorship. For almost 50 years this was the case. Venezuela had nine presidents elected in peaceful and democratic elections. Some were very mediocre, some reasonably good. A Venezuelan 40 years old had always lived in democracy, mostly in a country with little or no artificial monetary controls, enjoying increasing standards of living and the benefits of a strong currency. Gas will soon hit $2.00 a gallon. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-3-15 2:36:34 PM |