December 4 , 2006

Darkness Falls over Venezuela

Hugo Chavez’ defeat of democratic challenger Manuel Rosales in Sunday’s presidential election will open a new dark chapter in Venezuelan history. Chavez will now begin the next phase of his Bolivarian project to turn Venezuela into a near clone of Cuba.

The democratic opposition should consider fleeing now with their families.

Venezuelan lawyer and human rights activist Enrique ter Horst writes that with this victory, “(t)here is little doubt that new measures against the middle class and the rich will be carried out as of January, including severe curtailment of civil and political rights, as will further arms purchases and the effort of undermining, whenever he can get away with it, representative democracy in Latin America. “

It didn’t take many whiffs of the political air in Caracas last year for me to realize that it was then already too late to stop Chavez.  Before Chavez came to power, there had been too many years of corruption by the ruling elites who now make up the democratic opposition, and too many years of unconscionable policies toward the poor, who will continue to exact their revenge.

Thus, a beautiful nation blessed with kind, wonderful people and abundant natural resources will most likely be completely wrecked by the time Chavez is finished with it, and much blood will have been spilt. It’s a very sad story.