contributions

President Hugo Chavez has been celebrating after surviving a referendum to recall him, but the Venezuelan opposition has complained of a ’big fraud’.
Fireworks lit up the night sky in Caracas and supporters near the presidential palace roared their approval when electoral authorities announced that Chavez won a referendum by 58% to 42%.
But the Venezuelan opposition has dismissed the numbers, claiming "gross manipulation" of the ballot results.
Chavez, a baseball fan, said he had (…)

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez celebrated in the streets last night as preliminary results showed he had survived a referendum to oust him from power.
National Electoral Council president Francisco Carrasquero said in a national broadcast the "No" option opposing Mr Chavez’s recall had obtained slightly more than 58 per cent of the vote, while the "Yes" vote obtained nearly 42 per cent.
But two pro-opposition electoral officials questioned the (…)

Sharmini Peries
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, first elected in 1998 made democratic history today in a triumphant defeat of the recall referendum on his Presidency.
The very Constitution that he championed in 1999, that re-elected him in 2000, allows for a mid-term recall referendum for the President’s term in office. After six years in office, in this recall referendum held on Sunday, August 15th, Chavez lead with a 58% majority. Voters clearly exercised their constitutional right (…)

President Hugo Chavez has claimed a "victory for the Venezuelan people" after the release of results indicating he won a referendum on his rule.
Officials from the National Electoral Council said that, with 94% of ballots counted, Mr Chavez had 58% of the vote.
Opponents rejected the partial results as a fraud, insisting they had won.
But it now seems clear the opposition desire to force him from office failed as previous attempts did, the BBC’s James Menendez in Caracas says.
There (…)

by Jonah Gindin
In the wealthy Caracas neighborhood of Altamira would-be voters are experiencing extended delays, and some have spent as much as 12 hours waiting in line. Across town in the working-class neighborhood of Petare, people have been in line since 4 am. In the upper class neighborhood of Altamira, where voters are almost unanimously against President Chávez, they are blaming the delays on Chavista sabotage; and in Petare, a bastion of Chávez support, the chaos is the now (…)

By Ron Smith,
In a big way. For shame, Hannah Baldock. How did you violate the rules? Let us count the ways. ( http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=2734 )
"The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, looked to be losing his grip on power last night as exit polls showed him to be trailing the opposition by almost a million votes."
"The figures were early indications that, for the first time in the country’s history, the President may have his term in office cut short by a (…)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has survived a referendum to recall him, according to results released by electoral authorities on Monday with 94.49 percent of the vote counted.
With the ballots counted, 58.25 percent of the electorate voted for Chavez to remain in office and 41.74 percent voted for his mandate to be revoked, announced the National Election Council (CNE).
However, two of the five CNE directors said they disagreed with the results because the ballots had not been (…)

by Justin Podur
At the time of writing (6am), the preliminary results of the Venezuelan referendum are in, courtesy of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela. As of 3:47 am on August 16, President of the CNE Francisco Carrasquero announced at 4am in a televised press conference, 94% of the votes were in. Of these, 58% went to the NO (4 991 483 million votes) and 42% to the SI (3 576 517 million votes). Record levels of participation were achieved in a long, exhausting period of (…)

US President Bush has decided to bring home tens of thousands of U.S. troops from posts around the world - most of them in Europe and Asia - plus 100,000 of their family members and support personnel, U.S. officials said Saturday. The changes will have no effect on forces in Iraq or Afghanistan.
As part of the largest troop realignment in years, Bush will shift about 70,000 uniformed military personnel, most of them currently in Europe, two senior administration officials said, speaking on (…)

AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION!
Sunday, August 29, the eve of the Republican National Convention, is a crucial date to stage peace and justice actions that can help shape public opinion going into the November election. As Bush is coronated by his corporate, military and fundamentalist cronies, we must upstage him with a peace and justice message.
We need the largest and broadest possible turnout in New York City for our protest, a legal and permitted march past the site of the Republican (…)