Students in Caracas protested today after realizing that they did not want to live under a Marxist Chavez regime for the next 25 years.
Venezuelan riot police shelter behind their shields during a clash with students at a protest against constitutional reform in Caracas November 1, 2007. (Reuters)
The AP reported on the constitutional crisis:
The amendments would give the government control over the Central Bank, create new types of cooperative property, allow authorities to detain citizens without charge during a state of emergency and extend presidential terms from six to seven years while allowing Chavez to run again in 2012.Let's face it, with Chavez in total control and with the government completely behind him, it may already be too late for Venezuela.
El Universal has video of the violence:
The students were very angry at this point.
Venezuelan National Guard troops used water, tear gas, and plastic bullets to break up the demonstration of university students and teachers that marched in Caracas today.
Venezuelan students march during a protest against constitutional reform in Caracas November 1, 2007. (Reuters)
The BBC reported on the crackdown:
Venezuelan troops have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of students in the capital, Caracas. The students are demonstrating against constitutional reforms proposed by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
One of the reforms would abolish term limits for the presidency, thus allowing President Chavez to stand for re-election indefinitely.
The students want a December referendum on the reforms to be postponed, to give voters more time to study the plans.
Leaders of the protest have been granted a meeting with Tibisay Lucena, the president of the National Electoral Council to discuss their demands.
The protest follows a similar demonstration on 24 October, in which at least five demonstrators suffered minor injuries after riot police acted to disperse the crowds.
Venezuelan students hurry away from a protest against constitutional reform in which students clashed with police in Caracas November 1, 2007. (REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)
Venezuela News and Views has a roundup on the violence.
Michelle Malkin has the protest photo of the day.
Jammie Wearing Fool has more photos from the clashes.
Unfortunately Chavez boiled the frogs at the right temperature so they wouldn't realize that the fire was on. The time for shooting has passed and the time for hitting the road is upon them.
ReplyDeleteCindy Sheehan is probably going to blame the President. Surely her bestest friend forever wouldn't crackdown on protestors!
ReplyDeleteIt will all be excused and justified by the usual suspects -- it always is. Just like when he muscled the broadcaster critical of his regime.
ReplyDeleteAnd when they run out of cheap excuses for obvious oppression, expect them to invoke the mythical, but always reliable 'threat to social order' by 'reactionaries', 'subversives' and 'outside influences'.
We've seen this movie before.
It IS too late. At this point it will take a person or persons willing to sacrifice themselves to take him out to save Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, by "take him out" I mean assassinate him.
Spanish speakers will note that the woman narrating the scene from the video describes the National Guard soldiers as "protecting all Venezuelans." I don't condone the students' violence, but that strikes me as a rather skewed description of the scene. It didn't get violent until the soldiers arrived, with some reports indicating that the Guard used teargas without provocation as the students were leaving peaceful talks with the Election board.
ReplyDelete"And yes, by "take him out" I mean assassinate him."
ReplyDeleteThe guy has already replaced the entire government with a Soviet-style ruling comittee. Kill him, and one of his buddies will take over, and use the assassination as a reason to crack down even harder.
Nope, Venezuela is dead. Welcome to Chavezistan. Any leftists out there want to know what a brutal, civil-rights mocking government is really like?
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ReplyDeletegreat comments everyone!! (thumbsup)
unfortunately, the MSM all too often defines protests in the name of FREEDOM via their violent results, thus obfuscating the cause.. :(
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I've been looking everywhere for a press release from any Hollywood half-wit to respond to how their friend and comrade, "El Presidente" can just openly call for this constitutional reform and install his dictatorship against the desires of the vast majority of that country's citizens??! I know, I know... Bush is the real dictator.
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ReplyDeleteYiddish Steel @ 1:13 PM...
we won't be hearing from Chavez' half-witted Messatwoshits comrades either..
The Kennedy, Chavez & Chomsky Pipeline
excerpt:
[No doubt. For starters, the move curries favor among segments of the U.S. population most likely duped by his class warfare gamesmanship. This diaphanous tactic works quite well on weak-minded, self-hating Americans - just ask Chavez-bots like actor Danny Glover and singer Harry Belafonte. And, as a bonus, El Commandante gets to portray the United States as a country that can't even keep its own people warm in the winter without charity from marginally civilized Latin American socialists.]
unfortunate for US, that was just a sample..
ps: how much you wanna bet the Kennedy
& Kerry clans get rebates from Chavez??
sort of like Gore's carbon footprint offsets..
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It’s the same script used by the CIA to overthrow govenrments in Eastern Europe. It was used in Chile and Central America too. Notice that the aggressors are the right-wing students.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the video? Anyone know where it can still be watched????
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