Like many other stories coming out of Venezuela, this one should have been big news in the American media, but wasn聮t. In early February, several former Hugo Ch谩vez loyalists urging the Venezuelan president to resign from office. The letter denounced Ch谩vez'聮s governing style as 聯autocratic聰 and 聯totalitarian.聰 It accused him of being 聯intolerant, petty, hateful and resentful.聰 It pointed out his failure to adequately address Venezuela聮s serious domestic problems (crime, corruption, energy shortages, etc.). And it suggested that Venezuelan institutions, including the military, have been 聯distorted by the incursion of outside elements.聰 This was a polite way of saying that Ch谩vez is seeking to 聯Cubanize聰 his government with the help of senior Communist officials sent from Havana.
What made the letter so striking was the list of signatories, who collectively referred to themselves as the 聯Constitutional Axis.聰 They included two men (Yoel Acosta and Jes煤s Urdaneta) who joined forces with Ch谩vez to lead an unsuccessful military coup in 1992, Ch谩vez聮s former legal adviser (Hermann Escarr谩), his former defense minister (Ra煤l Isa铆as Baduel), and his former foreign minister (Luis Alfonso D谩vila, who is also a former president of the old Venezuelan Senate). These ex-Chavistas have that the Venezuelan president 聯has neither moral nor material authority to rule the country, since he can not meet people聮s demands satisfactorily.聰
But even if Ch谩vez lacks that authority, he is legally allowed to pursue reelection forever, thanks to a February 2009 public referendum that eradicated term limits. A similar initiative had been defeated in December 2007. In published prior to the 2007 referendum, Baduel had implored his countrymen to vote 聯no,聰 pointing out that the measure was 聯nothing less than an attempt to establish a socialist state in Venezuela. As our Catholic bishops have already made clear, a socialist state is contrary to the beliefs of Sim贸n Bol铆var, the South American liberation hero, and it is also contrary to human nature and the Christian view of society, because it grants the state absolute control over the people it governs.聰
Since Baduel wrote those words, he has been jailed on phony corruption charges, and Ch谩vez has become even more dictatorial and Castro-like. But the letter published by the Constitutional Axis shows that the Venezuelan leader is facing growing resistance among many of his former comrades.