------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 26, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
U.S.-backed referendum fails
VENEZUELAN MASSES VOTE TO ADVANCE REVOLUTION
By Vannia Lara
The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, has won another battle against imperialism.
The Venezuelan people have once again defended their Bolivarian Revolution and their president, voting in the referendum in unprecedented numbers.
Elections in Latin America, and especially in Venezuela, have generally turned out a very low percentage of the voting-age population. The flow of people going to the polls this time, however, was double that of the year 2000. Out of 14,037,900 registered voters, nearly two-thirds participated in the referendum.
A decisive 4,917,279, or 57.9 percent of those voting, said "NO" to recalling Chávez. Despite a media almost totally in the hands of the opposition, only 42.2 percent voted "SI" to withdraw the leader from office. The recall attempt failed.
Chávez characterized the vote as a victory for all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
At 3 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 15, people all over Venezuela had been awakened by revolutionary music summoning them to the polls.
Once there, they had a long wait. Incredibly long lines started forming at around 4 a.m. The average wait was seven hours, but a large number lined up for 12 hours. Nevertheless, both the opposition and the Bolivarians felt it important to be there--the opposition because this referendum meant they would either continue to lose their undeserved political, economic and social privileges or would regain them, and the Bolivarians because of something even more important and harder to achieve: a decision on whether they would continue to move forward in their struggle to be the possessors of their country and their future.
The opposition to Chávez's government is led by members of the wealthiest class in Venezuela. It is understandable why they don't want Chávez to stay in office. Their power, wealth and influence are decreasing considerably. The recall referendum ended up confirming the Bolivarian Government and was a historic, extraordinary event for the whole world.
The two most important foreign observers of the referendum were the general secretary of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria, and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. They confirmed that the "quick counts" conducted by their organizations gave the same results as those made public by Venezuela's National Electoral Council.
Still, the opposition refuses to accept the will of the majority of Venezuelans. Immediately after the vote they claimed victory and are now saying that he perpetrated a fraud. They base this on alleged surveys of voters at the polls that they themselves had conducted. During an interview with the U.S. media, Carter described these surveys as "quite unreliable" and urged the opposition to accept the results.
This recall referendum is the product of the new participatory democracy guaranteed in the Bolivarian Constitution, which gives the voters the right to choose whether or not to remove elected officials once at least 20 percent of the voters sign a petition calling for a referendum.
After organizing a coup d'etat against Chávez in 2002 in a desperate attempt to oust him--an attempt that failed despite the direct support of the U.S.--and after having rejected the new Bolivarian Constitution, the opposition took advantage of the rights that this constitution gives Venezuelan citizens for the first time and called for a recall referendum. The opposition was able to activate the referendum through a very questionable process.
Why was it so important that Vene zuelans vote "NO" on the recall of Chávez?
Chávez represents the largest and most oppressed groups in Latin America- -the Indigenous and Black population of the continent. He represents the certainty that Latin Americans' rights will be met, that they are people of thought, and that they have recovered their conscience. His leading role as president of Venezuela shows that the struggle has not been in vain. That even after more than 500 years of colonial super-exploitation- -or globalization without computers, as Chávez calls it--a genocidal colonization that took the lives of millions and millions of Indig e nous people, wiping out entire civilizations, today the people are saying, with more fervor than ever, NO! Along with Chávez, they say NO!
With Chávez the people of Latin America have a voice of their own. Chávez speaks for the people, saying what they always wanted to say but couldn't because they were silenced, first by the European yoke and then by the iron fist of the U.S. In the tradition of Simón Bolívar, the Great Liberator of Latin America, he talks openly against imperialism, attacks savage capitalism and globalization. Chávez has given back to the underprivileged their memory and their conscience.
Venezuelans are confident that Chávez is a true man of the people committed to the social, political and economic transformation of Venezuela.
Chávez has promoted an autonomous and legitimate revolution.
This is not only a Venezuelan revolution; this is a Latin American revolution. This is the Bolivarian Revolution. It belongs not only to Venezuela but also to South America, Central America and the Caribbean nations.
He has revived Bolívar's legacy--of anti-imperialist thought, of waking the people, waking the nations in order to win.
What is taking place in Venezuela is a revolution that is not imported but is based on the struggle of its own colonized peoples.
By casting their votes, Venezuelans defended the Bolivarian Constitution. One of the strongest weapons of the revolution is the new constitution of 1999, offspring of the Fifth Republic. This is not merely a representative constitution but a participative one, created with the participation and approval of 80 percent of the Venezuelan people.
There are very few constitutions in the world like it. It guarantees human rights for Indigenous and Black peoples. Under the Bolivarian government, the Indigenous population now has direct participation in the government and in the nation's course.
Furthermore, the new constitution recognizes a fundamental, however marginalized, task--housework--because it produces social well-being. This work, mainly done by women, now generates social security. In the same fashion, gender equality is decreed and many social, economic and political privileges are eliminated. With the creation of the Law of Local Councils for Public Planning, the people have the power to ensure that the Bolivarian Constitution is implemented--a truly democratic move.
President Chávez and his government have been under continuous media attack. The privately owned media of Venezuela has directed a dirty and slanderous campaign. Nevertheless, the president's response has been not to ban this manipulative, racist, fascist, bourgeois and pro-coup media, but to give the people their own voice by making adjustments to the broadcasting law. This has allowed communities throughout Venezuela to create innumerable local radio stations, websites and over 500 community newspapers.
The Bolivarian government defends the interests of the majority and not those of the small elite. The unemployment rate has decreased by 12 percent. In addition, Venezuela has an economic growth of 12 percent, the highest in Latin America. The government gives more priority to cooperatives than to corporations, thus helping communities to organize together in order to achieve economic independence.
Chávez seeks the economic liberation of Latin America and the Caribbean.
His proposed Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) is an answer to the U.S.-dominated Free Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA), which has caused the misery of the peasantry and children's empty stomachs. The ALBA rejects sweatshop industries--maquiladoras--which have been so devastating for Latino people, especially women.
When the Bolivarian government brought medical care to the poor through the program called "Barrio Adentro," it made Venezuela a healthier country. Infant mortality decreased by 30 percent, giving Venezuelan children the opportunity of a healthier life.
Venezuelans have voted to continue educating themselves. Under the government's Mission Robinson, 1.23 million people have learned to read and write, virtually eliminating illiteracy. Teachers have gone to the poorest barrios of Caracas, to remote places in the Amazon region, in the plains and in the mountains, as well as to Venezuela's prisons. Now the deprived people are already writing their own history.
This ongoing revolution, with Hugo Chávez in command, promises Latin American people liberation, the recovery of their resources and their own identity, so they can cease to be slaves to imperialism.
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