Wed Dec 5, 2007 1:29pm EST
By Saul Hudson - Analysis
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will slow his
self-styled revolution with a dose of pragmatism but will not veer from
his goal of building a socialist state despite a stunning defeat in a
vote on giving him new powers.
Venezuelans narrowly rejected Chavez's bid to overhaul the constitution
and enshrine socialism as a state priority in a referendum vote on
Sunday. The reforms would also have allowed him to stay in power for as
long he kept winning elections.
But the anti-U.S. president said he was not changing "a single comma" of
his Cuba-inspired plan even as he acknowledged in the first vote
concession speech of his life that he failed to persuade Venezuelans to
accept his proposal -- "for now."
Voters balked at a reform they felt put too much power in Chavez's hands
and eroded private property rights in the No. 4 oil exporter to the
United States.
Chavez said he made a mistake, not because the reform was wrong, but
rather because he proposed the changes to embed his "21st century
socialism" in the OPEC nation before Venezuelans were ready for them.
"I made a mistake over choosing the strategic timing for making the
proposal," Chavez said in an interview on state television. "Maybe 2
million, 3 million, even 4 million Venezuelans are still not politically
mature enough to openly and wholeheartedly embrace a socialist project."
MIND THE GAP
While the president remains popular and powerful, Sunday's vote
confirmed a gap has emerged this year between what "El Comandante" wants
and what many of his supporters need.
To bridge the divide, the man who controls Congress and most provincial
governments must heed the vote warning and be more practical even as he
steers the same basic socialist course, senior aides said.
The opposition's criticisms of his economic management have resonated
for the first time in years among his poor backers.
Telecommunications minister Jesse Chacon said many Chavez supporters did
not vote for the president because they are unhappy with high crime,
inflation, and food shortages.
Chavez is used to comfortable wins at the ballot box but won just 49
percent support on Sunday, his lowest tally ever.
"I am convinced that, if we follow the path of a practical socialism, a
concrete socialism, then we can move from 50 percent to a higher
figure," Chacon said.
Party stalwarts recited the mantra that the ex-soldier lost a battle but
not the war in his bid to install socialism.
"It's two steps forward, one step back," Finance Minister Rodrigo
Cabezas said.
The president, too, took a long-term view. He said he had not lost any
power, merely an opportunity to pass his changes.
"Chavez is here for a long time, the revolution is here for a long time,
the revolution is here to stay." he said, adding that his followers
could resurrect the reform, including allowing him to run for reelection
indefinitely.
Chavez came to office in 1999 and has said he wants to rule for decades
but, without a constitutional reform, he will have to step down when his
term ends in 2013.
Armed with the power to rule by decree for several months, Chavez does
not however need constitutional changes to adopt the most popular
measures in his proposal, such as shortening the workday and giving
state pensions to housewives.
CULTURE SHOCK
Chavez dreams of a utopian state that eschews consumerism, and has spent
much of this year talking of lofty ideology even as polls showed his
supporters were more concerned about mundane matters such as finding
eggs in supermarkets.
A year ago, the man who calls Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor won
reelection after lavishing oil cash on the poor. But in a frenetic 12
months, he spent his political capital.
After nationalizing swaths of the economy, creating a single party and
inventing a dense political platform known as "the five motors,"
including concepts such as "knowledge and morality," millions fewer
voters supported him on Sunday.
His ideals contrast with the Caribbean country's party-going,
status-driven beauty culture.
Chavez, who boasts he is ugly, has railed at Venezuelans for following
what he says are U.S. values by drinking whisky, driving big cars and
having cosmetic surgery to enlarge breasts or trim waist-lines.
In May, he shut the last nationwide opposition TV station despite
opinion polls showing few Venezuelans agreed with him, taking away a
channel cherished for decades for its racy soap operas and slapstick
comedy shows.
Moderate backers worried he had begun to ignore the people and sent him
a ballot box message he should listen to them.
Marcia Usey, 38, a resident of Catia, a poor Chavez stronghold in
Caracas, voted against him.
"The president should have been a little flexible and have discussed
what was good or not so good in the reform. He should have taken the
people into account more," she said.
(For more on Venezuela's referendum, click on
www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/venezuela)
(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Kieran Murray)
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0562291820071205?sp=true
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