Venezuelans Rain on Hugo
The stunning defeat Sunday of President Hugo Chavez's constitutional reform agenda is more than a setback for Venezuela's messianic strongman. It is a victory for the ideal of liberty across Latin America. What an affirmation of that ideal it would be if the U.S. Congress now did its part to keep it alive by voting to liberalize trade with Venezuela's neighbors. More on that in a moment. The kudos for now go to the people of Venezuela.</br></br>Mr. Chavez had at his disposal an almost limitless supply of petro- dollars to support -- and to impose -- what amounted to a personal coup against that nation's democracy. He tried to bully Venezuelans into voting for one-man rule and a hard model of socialism. They said no. Algimiro Polanco, a 56-year-old bus driver, told the Miami Herald, "I have always voted for Chavez, but he wants a dictatorship like Cuba. I don't want the government to take my small house. It's mine."</br></br>There were reports from Caracas as early as 8:30 p.m. Sunday night that the "No" vote against the Chavez proposals was victorious. Intriguingly, it took the Chavez-controlled National Electoral Council until 1:15 a.m. to announce the results. Apparently, Mr. Chavez was reluctant to accept the final count, but the military knew that the opposition students held the tally sheets from all the polling stations. When it became clear that there was no way to fudge the results, Mr. Chavez conceded defeat, though the margin of his loss is still being debated.</br></br>The Chavez opposition was celebrating its first electoral triumph in nine years yesterday and it must have tasted good. Venezuela's student opposition deserves special mention for the outcome. The fact that the Chavez program went down in flames is due in no small part to the courage of the country's university students, who persisted with few resources against the Chavez machine. For months they have braved tear gas and riot police in cities across the country and responded only with cries for liberty and the open palms that became the symbol of their movement.</br></br>The package of reforms that Mr. Chavez wanted the electorate to approve on Sunday would have eviscerated Venezuela's civil liberties. The reforms were yet another assault on economic rights in a country with few left. Mr. Chavez wanted to officially strip the central bank of its autonomy and to end guarantees of private property. These amendments seem to have most frightened people living at the far end of the spectrum from the country's elite. With inflation on food and non-alcoholic beverages clocking in at 7.1% for November alone, few Venezuelans were ready to hand over to Mr. Chavez the powers he sought over money creation.