Poor Hugo Chavez

From Yahoo News:

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday he will govern until 2013 when his mandate ends, now that voters rejected constitutional reforms that would have allowed him to seek endless reelection.

"The shouting is one thing, the reality another ... The reform was not approved, so I have to leave the government in the year 2013. I will work tirelessly until the last day I have left here," Chavez said at an event in the capital.
He also told his supporters: "You have a debt with me, you will tell me if you will repay it or if you won't repay it. You have a debt with me, the nation and the future."

"It doesn't matter if at the end I am left with four or five revolutionaries, welcome, but not two-bit revolutionaries," he told followers at a ceremony where Bolivian and African militants graduated from the state-funded "Che Guevara" education program. He said the "no" triumphed in Sunday's referendum on the constitutional reforms (with 50.7 percent of the votes) because of "blackmail" suggesting there would be violence if the "yes" option won.

"It is blackmail, blackmail of the imperialism and its lackeys ... there was fear that violence would be unleashed and that even if we won by 80 percent against 20 percent they would not recognize the victory," he said.

The crowd chanted "Nooo" when Chavez evoked the possibility that "those who won the 'No' would return to govern the country, which is what they want."

"We are not confronting the 'petit-Yankees from here, but the empire of the United States, the most powerful empire on Earth," he said. "Didn't you see the president of the United States celebrating the victory of the 'No'?" he asked in reference to a statement by Bush who said Venezuelans voted for democracy.

"However much you shout, it is the truth," he told the crowd.

"We lost in Caracas, we lost in the neighborhoods, millions did not go to vote. They can say what they want, there is no excuse."

In the words of el Rey Juan Carlos de Espana, "Por que no te callas?"

Poor Hugo Chavez. It seems he just can't get a break! Just read what his ex wife says about him. This is very telling.

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela - Hugo Chavez's ex-wife said Thursday she is proposing a constitutional amendment to shorten presidential terms, saying the president has been in office long enough.

Marisabel Rodriguez said she believes terms should be reduced from six to four years, and allow presidents only one opportunity for re-election.

"Four years and re-election ... it gives you enough time," said Rodriguez. "This can be done through an amendment."

Her comments came four days after voters narrowly rejected the president's 69 proposed changes to Venezuela's Constitution, including reforms that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely.

Chavez and Rodriguez divorced in 2004 and have one daughter, 10-year-old Rosines. Chavez, a former paratroop commander who first took office in 1999, also has three children from a previous marriage. Chavez — a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro — dismissed his opponents' win as insignificant on Wednesday, using a derogatory term for feces.

"He's been using that language for some time. I think it's a lack of respect for Venezuelans," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez drew attention ahead of Sunday's referendum by breaking years of silence and strongly criticizing her ex-husband, accusing him of becoming obsessed with power, putting politics above the population's well-being and failing to fight corruption.



What this man fails to understand is that this is NOT the U.S.'s fault. This vote was put to his own countrymen and they voted, it is that simple. I can't wait to see the spin that the leftist media will put on this story.