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Got a call this morning from the BBC World Update programme, requesting my comment on the current spat between Hugo Chavez and the USA, over US Ambassador to Venezuela designate Larry Palmer.
Published in Gaceta Oficial no. 39.577, on Monday 20 December 2010 (page 2 & 3), Hugo Chavez's lame duck congress announced the creation of a partnership ("empresa mixta"), with Petropars UK Limited, a London-based entity that is wholly-owned by Petropars Ltd [board].
After the parliamentary elections of December 2005, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela took more than 42 days to announce results. The CNE, at the time chaired by Jorge Rodriguez (later appointed Chavez’s Vice President), had trouble massaging abstention figures, which to this day are believed to have been above 85%. The current crop of people’s representatives were elected in 2005 by at best, 15% of Venezuela's electorate. Eventually, Rodriguez did come up with figures more amenable to the caudillo, decreasing the abstention rate to around 75%.
On taking special powers this week to rule by decree, President Chávez of Venezuela declared: “We’re building a new democracy here that can’t be turned back.” By describing these political changes as irreversible, he revealed the type of democracy that he had in mind: one person, one vote, where he is the person and his is the vote.
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