Chavez: No fear of referendum

[Darranar]

Venezuela's National Election Council has said it will know within days whether enough people signed petitions to trigger a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez.

The council's president, Francisco Carrasquero, told a press conference on Sunday that the country would know the result by 4 or 5 June - "unless there is an absolutely necessary delay".

Carrasquero's announcement came on the third and final day of the verification process of more than one million petition signatures seeking such a recall.

A coalition of business and labour leaders has bitterly opposed the leftist-populist leader's government.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D3E3E348-4D72-4713-9111-C2F637A92035.htm

[pescao]

1. up to their old tricks

>Carrasquero has ordered the "strict verification" of petition signatures after a person was detained in the capital in possession of 800 odd counterfeit identity papers.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Chavez will face referendum. Win.

And then be killed.

Or something like that.

[Darranar]

3. Perhaps, I don't doubt they will try to remove him again...

But they didn't succeed the first time, and they may not succeed the second.

I also think he will win the referendum, assuming it occurs, which is still not clear.

They can't do a Haiti with so many US troops elsewhere, I think - in a country the size of Venezuela, they don't have enough to even pretend to be a peacekeeping force.

[shance]

4. From California to Venezuela....Voila!

I guess if it worked here, why not try it there.

[Geo55]

7. Maybe their plate is full....

but General Jimmie don't want be to left out in the cold
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0430-08.htm

look at the guy's mug....mr. tough guy

[Darranar]

8. Chavez, the "terrorist" and "radical populist"...

this is getting pathetic.

[Geo55]

9. follow the oil....n/t

[AP]

10. Chavez is assassination-proof now. He'd be a huge martyr.

The only way to discredit him is at the ballot box, I think.

Assassin is often the first refuge of a scoundrel, and not the last.

I could be wrong, but I think people get assassinated just before they could potentially become huge martyrs. MLK was probably just about to become a cross-over hero. As soon as there became a risk that white people would riot if MLK were shot, that would have been the end of that opportunity.

However, random lunatics don't care about martyring their targets...

[Snazzy]

5. Carter: Chavez Ready to Face Recall Vote

Carter: Chavez Ready to Face Recall Vote

May 30, 9:19 PM (ET)

By ALICE M. CHACON

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez is willing to face a recall referendum if the opposition gathers enough petition signatures to force the vote, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said after meeting the Venezuelan leader.

Chavez "is completely willing, eager to go to the referendum," Carter said after Sunday's meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace.

Carter met Chavez as opposition leaders concluded a three-day campaign in which they sought to have supporters ratify their signatures on petitions for an August presidential recall vote - likely their last chance to unseat the populist leader before he is up for re-election in 2006.

Carter said he had "found everything to be in order." He noted isolated incidents of intimidation and technical problems but said they were "relatively minor and have not disturbed the overall process."

....

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040531/D82T8GB00.html

[burrowowl]

6. I'm glad Carter is there.

and he found no major irregularities.

[burrowowl]

11. Bumpity Bump Bump

and KICK!