[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 31 (Thursday, March 11, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ``CHAVEZ'S DISRESPECT FOR DEMOCRACY''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 11, 2004

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, last week I released a 
statement expressing my disappointment with the use by Venezuela's 
National Electoral Council (CNE) of hyper-technical points and 
controversial procedural rulings to repress what appears to be the 
clear will of a sufficient number of Venezuelan citizens to move the 
country to a constitutional referendum on President Chavez.
  The Organization of American States and the Carter Center observed 
first hand the democratic spirit shown by Venezuelans during the 
signature collection process, and they have publicly stated that they 
saw no significant problems with the collection of signatures.
  Both organizations have also said they disagree with the Chavez-
dominated electoral board's decision to set aside 876,000 signatures 
unless citizens come forward to validate them because the large numbers 
involved here, and the short time period allowed in which to appeal 
these signatures, could frustrate the will of the Venezuelan people to 
have a referendum on their president.
  Because the decision of the CNE seems to me likely to obstruct the 
constitutional referendum process, I am submitting into the 
Congressional Record a recent editorial from The Washington Post 
entitled ``Coup by Technicality'' which provides specific details on 
the decision.
  I think it is also important that President Chavez understand that if 
the will of the Venezuelan people is disregarded, the international 
community will appropriately blame him, as the country's leader, for 
contributing, through his rhetoric and actions, to such a profoundly 
anti-democratic outcome.

               [From the Washington Post, March 5, 2004]

                          Coup by Technicality

       LATE LAST YEAR 3,448,747 of Venezuela's 24 million citizens 
     turned out in just four days to sign petitions calling for a 
     recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez. This 
     extraordinary civic exercise, monitored by observers from the 
     Organization of American States and the Carter Center, 
     offered a democratic solution to years of political conflict 
     in that important oil-producing nation--trouble that 
     threatened to push Venezuela into dictatorship or civil war. 
     Now Mr. Chavez, whose crackpot populism and authoritarian 
     methods provoked the crisis, blatantly seeks to stop the 
     vote, in violation of his commitment to both the OAS and his 
     own constitution. His actions have already prompted a new 
     wave of unrest across the country, including demonstrations 
     in which at least seven people have been killed. Unless he 
     can be restrained, Mr. Chavez may complete his destruction of 
     one of Latin America's most enduring democracies.
       Though the constitution, drawn up under Mr. Chavez's own 
     administration, requires 20 percent of all voters to back a 
     referendum, opposition groups collected 1 million signatures 
     more than should have been needed for the recall vote. These 
     signatures were rigorously audited by a nonpartisan civic 
     group before being forwarded to the electoral commission. 
     Yet, after delaying its response for weeks, the commission, 
     dominated by Mr. Chavez's supporters, rejected 1.6 million of 
     them, or nearly half the total. To do so, it invented 
     requirements that didn't previously exist. Most notably, it 
     threw out 876,000 signatures, each accompanied by a 
     thumbprint, because someone other than the voter had entered 
     registration details on the petition.
       Mr. Chavez's functionaries subsequently announced that they 
     would give about a million of those stricken from the list a 
     chance to restore their names--but only if they appear in a 
     limited number of registration centers during one two-day 
     period. In practice, that poses a next-to-impossible 
     logistical challenge to the opposition, even if there were no 
     harassment from Mr. Chavez's police and civilian goon squads. 
     But attempts by the foreign mediators to reverse this 
     Kafkaesque coup have so far been unsuccessful.
       Mr. Chavez, who has built a strong alliance with Cuba's 
     Fidel Castro and imported thousands of Cuban personnel, 
     appears eager for a domestic and international confrontation. 
     Last weekend he called President Bush an ``illegitimate'' 
     president, referred to him with a vulgar epithet and 
     threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States. 
     Opposition leaders say that more than 300 people have been 
     arrested in recent days, and that some have been tortured. 
     Given the Bush administration's weak position in the region, 
     hope for a peaceful or democratic solution rests mostly with 
     Venezuela's Latin American neighbors, starting with Brazil. 
     If Mr. Chavez continues to deny his people a democratic vote, 
     leaders from those nations must be prepared to invoke the 
     Democracy Charter of the OAS and threaten him with the 
     isolation reserved for autocrats.

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