VENEZUELA: Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans descended early yesterday morning from impoverished hillside barrios to support President Hugo Chavez in his bid to beat a recall vote next Sunday.
The working-class Pastora neighbourhood emptied onto Baralt Avenue at 9 a.m. as a sea of red drifted slowly toward Bolivar Avenue to join up with an estimated one million people who gathered to hear President Chavez speak late in the evening.
"We voted him in and the opposition tried to remove him by force," said one supporter, referring to several violent efforts to unseat Mr Chavez. "They just don't have the votes to get rid of him by fair means."
President Chavez, a former army paratrooper, won a landslide election victory in December 1998, pledging to launch a peaceful democratic revolution, inspired by independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Mr Chavez has launched an ambitious social programme financed by windfall oil revenues as state-run supermarkets, Cuban doctors, literacy and agrarian reform projects all improve the lot of millions of poor citizens. "We will never go back to the past," said Juan Porras, a bakery employee. "Chavez has woken up the people and now we know what is ours."
Opposition activists gathered yesterday in Miami, Florida, where an estimated 100,000 Venezuelans have set up residence since Mr Chavez was elected to office. The opposition refuses to even contemplate defeat in next week's vote and has already agreed upon a transition government, echoing Cuba's exiled Miami population which announces its imminent return to Havana each Christmas.
"Poverty is up, crime is up and unemployment is up," complained Ricardo Salles, who plans to vote against President Chavez next week.
Mr Chavez blames his economic woes on an employer-led work stoppage last year which caused $7.5 billion in economic losses. The opposition "Democratic Co-ordinator" - a coalition of unions, business people, corporate media and civic organisations - has accused Mr Chavez of dividing the country and destroying the economy with his incendiary rhetoric.
UN figures show that life expectancy in Venezuela increased over the past five years, while infant mortality rates dropped and school attendance numbers increased by one million pupils. Venezuelans express greater satisfaction with their democratic institutions than do their neighbours.
President Chavez has expanded civil rights and introduced measures to allow greater citizen control over state affairs. The introduction of a recall referendum was facilitated by the Chavez administration, permitting the recall of any elected official half-way through office. The opposition collected 2.5 million signatures, 20 per cent of the electorate, in a petition drive which paved the way for the referendum.
The opposition face an uphill battle to win the 3.8 million votes required to force fresh presidential elections.
President Chavez has been sharply criticised by the Bush administration for speaking out against the war on terror and US officials encouraged coup plotters ahead of the violent heave in April 2002.
Mr Chavez has fuelled opposition ire by provoking his opponents and adopting Cuban leader Fidel Castro as the spiritual grandfather of his reform project.