Ready for a Recall Vote

By Hugo Chavez

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55957-2004May25.html

CARACAS, Venezuela — For the first 24 hours of the
coup d’etat that briefly overthrew my government on
April 11, 2002, I expected to be executed at any
moment.

The coup leaders told Venezuela and the world that I
hadn’t been overthrown but rather had resigned. I
expected that my captors would soon shoot me in the
head and call it a suicide.

Instead, something extraordinary happened. The truth
about the coup got out, and millions of Venezuelans
took to the streets. Their protests emboldened the pro-
democracy forces in the military to put down the brief
dictatorship, led by Venezuelan business leader Pedro
Carmona.

The truth saved my life, and with it Venezuela’s
democracy. This near-death experience changed me. I
wish I could say it changed my country.

The political divisions in Venezuela didn’t start with
my election in 1998. My country has been socially and
economically divided throughout its history. Venezuela
is one of the largest oil exporting countries in the
world — the fourth-largest supplier to the United
States — and yet the majority of Venezuelans remain
mired in poverty.

What has enraged my opponents, most of whom are from
the upper classes, is not Venezuela’s persistent misery
and inequality but rather my efforts to dedicate a
portion of our oil wealth to improving the lives of the
poor. In the past six years we have doubled spending on
health care and tripled the education budget. Infant
mortality has fallen; life expectancy and literacy have
increased.

Having failed to force me from office through the 2002
coup, my opponents shut down the government oil company
last year. Now they are trying to collect enough
signatures to force a recall referendum on my
presidency. Venezuela’s constitution — redrafted and
approved by a majority of voters in 1999 — is the only
constitution in the Western Hemisphere that allows for
a president to be recalled.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council — a body as
independent as the Federal Election Commission in the
United States — found that more than 375,000 recall
petition signatures were faked and that an additional
800,000 had similar handwriting. Having been elected
president twice by large majorities in less than six
years, I find it more than a little ironic to be
accused of behaving undemocratically by many of the
same people who were involved in the illegal overthrow
of my government.

The National Electoral Council has invited
representatives of the Organization of American States
and the Carter Center to observe a signature
verification process that will be conducted during the
last four days of this month. That process will
determine whether the opposition has gathered enough
valid signatures to trigger a recall election, which
would be held this August. To be frank, I hope that my
opponents have gathered enough signatures to trigger a
referendum, because I relish the opportunity to once
again win the people’s mandate.

But it is not up to me. To underscore my commitment to
the rule of law, my supporters and I have publicly and
repeatedly pledged to abide by the results of that
transparent process, whatever they may be. My political
opponents have not made a similar commitment; some have
even said they will accept only a ruling in favor of a
recall vote.

The Bush administration was alone in the world when it
endorsed the overthrow of my government in 2002. It is
my hope that this time the Bush administration will
respect our republican democracy. We are counting on
the international community — and all Venezuelans —
to make a clear and firm commitment to respect and
support the outcome of the signature verification
process, no matter the result.

The writer is president of Venezuela.

washingtonpost.com