Redstate

Tyranny Grates On The Tyrannized

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Contra Tyrannum | Featured Stories — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

There is overreach all over the political landscape.

Having secured a win in the recent Venezuelan presidential elections, Hugo Chavez has been anything but shy in seizing and consolidating power. Up until now, his (don't say "tyrannical") maneuvers have met with nothing but the most rapturous approval from his supporters.

And as for his opponents? Well, Chavez knows how to deal with them, doesn't he?

But now, things may be changing. Hugo Chavez's base is getting more and more skittish about his (don't say "tyrannical") actions (read on):

SINCE he won a further six-year term in a presidential election last December, Hugo Chávez has had his foot firmly on the accelerator of his "Bolivarian revolution". He has promised sweeping constitutional changes, including indefinite re-election; nationalised "strategic" industries; and instituted rule by decree. He is also pressing forward with plans to gather together his disparate supporters into a single revolutionary organisation.

Now he has hit his first speed bump since the election. It is over the new party, provisionally called the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, whose leader will of course be Mr Chávez himself. The largest chavista party, the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), has already agreed to disband. So have others, including the smaller UPV. "My comandante gives the order--we obey," said its leader, Lina Ron, without irony. "Who am I to question the second Liberator of the Republic, the messiah God sent to save the people?"

But at separate meetings this month, three of the more important among the score of parties that support the president declined, at least for now, to join the new outfit. Ismael García, the leader of Podemos, said his party stood for "democratic socialism" and favoured a grass-roots debate about the new party. "It's very bad to have just one form of thought," added Ramón Martínez, a Podemos state governor, in a reference to the militaristic command structure favoured by Mr Chávez, a former army officer. Motherland for All (PPT) and the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) also demurred, saying they awaited details of the new party, its platform and statutes.

Intrigued? You should be. To be sure, Chavez is a savvy politician and is probably moving now as you read this post to put the kibosh on any movement to undermine his power.

But Chavez has a problem. The opposition is no longer confined to the typical quarters in Venezuelan politics. It is now seeping into Chavez's own base of supporters. Who knows what that might lead to?