Dictator (Not Quite) For Life

It’s rare that the news can surprise me. Politicians lying, socially conservative Senators involved in gay orgies, economic collapse, French strikes, Russian journalists committing suicide by handcuffing themselves and shooting themselves in the back of the head, violence in the Middle-East, Africa, Oakland are just par for the newspapers. This morning however the newspaper floored me. Hugo Chavez lost his bid to change the Venezuelan constitution in a narrowly defeated referendum and then reacted by saying that, “He wouldn’t have wanted that Pyrrhic victory.” The man was looking for a mandate and instead lost a squeaker of an election 49 to 51 percent. The changes would have changed the Presidential term to seven years and removed it’s term limits. There were however signs that this wasn’t the last word on the subject. At his post election press conference Chavez called the setback “…another ‘for now’”, referring to his reaction when he lost his first coup attempt in 1992. Chavez knows that he has until his present term expires in 2012 to ram these changes through. Still I never expected him to allow this outcome to happen in the first place so who knows what the future brings for Venezuela and it’s oil-rich effect on us all. Besides term limits don’t necessarily mean an end to power. Just take a look at Russia.