2007 Venezuelan constitutional referendum

Chávez supporters hang a pro reform poster

Preparations for the referendum

A constitutional referendum will be held in Venezuela on 2 December 2007 to amend 69 articles to the 1999 Constitution, with the intent to enable the first stages towards socialism and overthrowing capitalism.

The proposed reforms include abolishing presidential term limits, increasing the presidential term from six to seven years, removing the central bank's autonomy, and empowering community and worker councils with legal and constitutional rights and recognition. Article 70 states workers' councils will enable workers to democratically manage any enterprise that is direct or indirect social property. The changes will also lower the voting age to 16, and institute a 6-hour work day. There are 69 constitutional amendments in the referendum in total, 33 of which were proposed by President Hugo Chávez and an additional 36 by the National Assembly.

Preliminary process

File:Raul isaias baduel.jpg

Raúl Isaías Baduel, former Minister of Defense and until recently one the closest allies of President Chávez, expresses his concerns over the approval of the reform.

The reform has to be approved thrice by parliament; the first vote was successfully held on 21 August 2007, the second vote on 11 September 2007 and the third vote on 25 October 2007. Final approval was given on 3 November 2007.

In November 2007, demonstrations arose in Caracas and six other cities, along with severe rioting by opposition students over the proposed constitutional changes. The number of people demonstrating reached an estimated 40,000. On November 8, after an opposition march, around 250 students surrounded the School of Social Work, a centre of pro Chávez activities on the university, on the campus of the Central University of Venezuela. Throwing Molotov cocktails and stones, they destroyed toilets and burned the door of the Student Centre. Around 150 Bolivarian students were held captive inside [1]. Live footage was caught on tape [2]and aired on state TV unedited, after students trapped inside were able to call the station. Opposition TV stations reported masked chavista gunmen fired on the crowd. Government officials said the media was partly to blame for inciting discontent and disorder.

In a meeting with trade unionists on November 22 from the Unión Bolivariana de Trabajadores (UBT), Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores (FBT) and Fuerza Socialista (FS) as well as student activists, Hugo Chávez stated that 46% of the 2008 budget will be allocated to social projects and infrastructure, with 5% of it being directed by community councils [3].

On November 29 it is estimated that "tens of thousands" marched for the "NO" vote in the final mass march by the opposition before the election, though an opposition politician estimated the crowd at 160,000. Marisabel Rodríguez, Chávez's ex-wife, has called the proposed changes an attempt to achieve “an absolute concentration of power”. Raúl Isaías Baduel, former Minister of Defense and one the four founding members of the MBR-200, express his concern by describing the reform as "nothing less than an attempt to establish a socialist state in Venezuela...(which) is contrary to the beliefs of Simón Bolívar and it is also contrary to human nature and the Christian view of society, because it grants the state absolute control over the people it governs".

On November 9, 2007, it was announced by Venezuelan authorities that an internal CIA memorandum had been obtained by Venezuelan counter intelligence from the US Embassy in Caracas. The supposed document was authored by CIA Officer Michael Middleton Steere and was addressed to CIA Director General Michael Hayden. The document was dated November 20, 2007, titled "OPERATION TENAZA" (Pincer)[4], apperantly revealed in detail, expectations of the results and level of abstention, calling them "irreversable before the election. It details the CIA’s supposed role in the run up to the December election, aiding In total it claims over 8 million dollars in the past month to the opposition, transferred through USAID. The document talks about preventive measures taken against the proposed reforms such as "take to the streets and protest with violent, disruptive actions across the nation", "Criticize and discredit the National Elections Council" as well as "Coordinate these activities with Ravell & Globovision and international press agencies. Hugo Chavez has discussed the matter in length, stating that Venezuela would cut off all oil shipments to the US if the supposed plan were activated. On December 1, Chavez called a meeting with the international press to discuss the matter, the meeting was covered live by CNN in Spanish[5]. James Petras, former professor at Binghamton University has discussed the issue on Demcracy Now![6]

Polls

It is in doubt if the referendum will pass, as polls from November saw very close results. A poll on November 2007 by Keller & Asociados concluded that the "NO" vote will win with 45%, over the "YES" vote with 31%; about 65% of eligible people plan to vote. Reportedly, some moderate Chávez backers are likely to vote "NO" despite their support for him.

External links

• Forero, Juan (November 30 2007). "Chavez Opposition Swells Ahead of Referendum". NPR. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Gould, Jens Erik (November 29 2007). "Venezuela's Fateful Coice". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Gould, Jens Erik (November 29 2007). "Venezuelan President's Power Extends to His Family". NPR. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Ingham, James (November 30 2007). "Chavez puts reforms to the test". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Padgett, Tim (November 29 2007). "Challenging Chavez in the Streets". Time magazine. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Romero, Simon (November 30 2007). "In Chávez Territory, Signs of Dissent". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Strange, Hannah (November 30 2007). "100,000 march against Hugo Chavez reforms". Times Online. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)