The Making of a Constitutional Dictator

Just when we thought there was nothing more Hugo Chavez could do to legally entrench himself as dictator of Venezuela, out he comes with yet another proposal that we think free and democratic voters will have to reject.

But amazingly, they never do.

On several occasions, Venezuelan voters have had opportunities to stop Chavez's drive to replace Cuba's Fidel Castro as the leader of U.S.-haters in Latin America. But instead of booting him out of office, they keep giving him more power to take away their freedom. It's absurd.

Castro has never held free elections because he knows the Cuban people would reject the misery and suffering his socialist revolution has brought them. But a majority of the Venezuelan people — seeing what has happened in Cuba and hearing Chavez say he wants to follow that model — keep creating the world's first democratically elected communist dictatorship.

And now, Chavez, elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000 and 2006, is taking the final step toward crowning himself a totalitarian ruler. In 1999, he won approval for a new constitution that abolished the lower house of the legislature, and in 2005, with the opposition foolishly boycotting congressional elections, his supporters gained total control of the legislature.

But that's not enough for this communist egomaniac. Last week, Chavez, whose term ends in 2012, proposed radical constitutional changes that would allow him to be re-elected indefinitely. He wants to be Venezuela's president for life, and a huge number of the Venezuelan people are willing to give him whatever he wants. They would make him emperor if it would suit his narcissistic needs.

Why? Unlike Castro, Chavez reigns over an oil-rich nation, the world's sixth biggest oil exporter, and he has used Venezuela's nationalized oil industry to buy the loyalty of the country's poor majority with free health care and education and affordable housing projects. He also has used a lot of anti-American rhetoric — the kind that appeals to neurotic losers all over the continent.

He also uses Venezuela's petroleum dollars to bribe corrupt government officials and support leftist candidates in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and throughout Latin America.

One of his bagmen recently was caught in Argentina with a suitcase filled with nearly $800,000 in cash.

While the Bush administration has neglected Latin America, devoting most of its time and resources to Afghanistan, Iraq and other faraway places, Chavez has become the biggest philanthropist in the Western Hemisphere, and he has turned a lot of discontent and socially frustrated Latinos against the United States.

"We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system," Chavez said as he announced his constitutional reforms in a long and rambling televised speech reminiscent of Castro. "The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy."

Since his re-election in December, Chavez already has nationalized some of Venezuela's energy and telecommunications industries. But now he is proposing a series of constitutional reforms that would abolish limits on re-election, extend presidential terms from six to seven years, strengthen his power to expropriate private property, nationalize natural gas and coal resources and assume control of Venezuela's central bank and its $26 billion in international reserves. His plan also would create new military, municipal and federal districts, allowing him to undermine existing state and local governments and consolidate power in the presidency by leaving local decisions to popular, grass-roots organizations that would be under his control.

To sweeten his power grab, Chavez has added some incentives for the Venezuelan masses, including a six-hour workday and more housing and welfare for the poor.

The changes would have to be approved by a popular referendum that could take place as soon as December. But given the recent track record of Venezuelan voters, the indifference of the Bush administration and a few popular initiatives bundled together with measures to craft a totalitarian regime, Venezuela may be on the verge of creating a constitutional dictatorship.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.