A student protest against giving Chavez unlimited terms to be "reelected" was crushed by National Guard soldiers and the police.
Students began a peaceful protest and delivered a petition to lawmakers against amending the constitution to Chavez's favor. Once this one done; however, approximately four students chained themselves inside the National Assembly building and refused to leave. Police came and a scuffle incurred. What can be described as a "police riot" then broke outside the building with students combating police and military personnel.
The change in the constitution is just the latest event orchestrated by Chavez to revolutionize Venezuela. Chavez has order the closing down of opposition television stations, open socialist "reeducation" centers, created local party-controlled councils to replace the existing separation of powers/federal system, and even welcomed Hezbollah. The greatest coup Chavez succeeded with though is the elimination of the middle class. Aristotle wrote how the middle class will always be a moderating factor and the best leader of any political system. Chavez's Venezuela is different though. It is a political elite system with the backing of those who are dependant on it (and this class is growing larger everyday). Expect Venezuela to further drift of into the night.
1 comment:
Great post. I like the way you put it about drifting further into the night. Barring the premature death of Hugo, Venezuela may be a dark place for some time to come. Venezuelans here in Florida seem to uniformly hate the man.
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