Right Voices

All the more reason to get rid of him:

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, today threatened to strip the country’s industrialists of their assets if they continued to oppose his indefinite presidency.

Chávez faces a vote at the weekend on his proposals to change 69 articles of the constitution, including scrapping the limit on the number of terms a president can serve.

Venezuela’s largest business chamber, Fedecámaras, to which thousands of large and small businesses belong, has called the planned reforms an “illegal act”, and called on voters to oppose their passage “by every possible legal means”.

In a separate development, Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Colombia as the dispute between the two countries deepened. The row was triggered last week when the Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, abruptly halted Chávez’s mediation efforts to release hostages held by rebels in the Colombian jungle.

Chávez, who has also been involved in high-profile spats with Spain and the Roman Catholic church, has accused Fedecámaras of orchestrating a coup in 2002 that ousted him from office for two days.

“When I saw and heard the president of Fedecámaras practically threatening us, that they’d do everything they have to do to avoid the reform’s approval – well, if you want to, go ahead, because I’m going to take away every business you have,” Chávez said in a televised speech.

And with that, the people must act to rid their country of him. Vote against him on Saturday.

JWF says that “Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey and Democrat presidential candidates were unavailable for comment.”