Chavez: Only a 'Traitor' Will Vote No

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez warned his supporters on Friday that anyone voting against his proposed constitutional changes would be a "traitor," rallying his political base before a referendum that would let him seek unlimited re-election in 2012 and beyond.
Brandishing a little red book listing his desired 69 revisions to Venezuela's charter, Chavez exhorted his backers to redouble their efforts toward a victorious "yes" vote in the Dec. 2 ballot.

"He who says he supports Chavez but votes 'no' is a traitor, a true traitor," the president told an arena packed with red-clad supporters. "He's against me, against the revolution and against the people."

His speech followed the recent high-profile defection of his former Defense Minister Gen. Raul Baduel, a longtime ally who called the president's proposed reforms a "coup." Others have also broken with the Chavista movement in recent months, including politicians of the small left-leaning party Podemos.

Chavez's opponents accuse him of concentrating power and seeking to be president-for-life like his close friend Fidel Castro of Cuba. Chavez insists he will only stay on as long as Venezuelans continue to vote for him.

"If you don't approve (the referendum), maybe we'll have time for a parachute jump in five years," Chavez, a former paratrooper, told the crowd. "But if you wish—if you approve the referendum—I will stay as long as God wills! Until the last bone of my skeleton dries out!"

The proposed revisions would do away with presidential.... {LINK}

Buzzy wrote:Hillary's mentor.

Bildo, I don't know how you can call anything Chavez is doing to Venezuela democratic. He's setting up a dictatorship and calling for anyone who doesn't agree with him to be silenced. Defining a "traitor" in the way he has is defining them as a enemy of the state in Venezuela and subject to imprisonment and maybe even death. This is the stuff the left always accuses the right of doing but every time we see it it's being done by the socialists. Nobody with a brain could possibly see Chavez as good.

Can I take it that you'll support brutal leaders if you agree with their politics?