Venezuelans are headed to the polls once again Feb. 15, this time to decide whether term limits for elected officials should be eliminated.
 Venezuelan deputies explain the referendum, Feb. 4
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In 2007, a major referendum on proposed constitutional amendments was defeated by a small margin—51 percent to 49 percent. It was the first major electoral defeat of the Bolivarian Revolution since Hugo Chávez took office in 1998. The 2007 referendum proposed 69 different addendums to the constitution, including the elimination of term limits that is now being considered.
On Feb. 4, on the 10th anniversary of the Chávez presidency, the Venezuelan Consulate in New York hosted a forum featuring two Venezuelan deputies: Calixto Ortega and Francisco Torrealba. The purpose was to provide information on the referendum to Venezuelan expatriates living in the United States.
Corporate media outlets, both in Venezuela and the United States have falsely described the referendum as “authoritarian,” but the forum confronted this disinformation campaign head on. Torrealba explained the referendum would only amplify the political rights currently held by voters. A constitutional mechanism for recall already exists to remove officials from office who do not live up to their responsibilities, but there is no system in place to retain elected representatives who have the interests of the Venezuelan people at heart and have proven themselves in office.
The practice of unlimited terms is not anything new. There are no term limits for the head of state in England, and the same was true until last year in France, yet Washington has never accused those countries of authoritarianism.
With referendum day fast approaching, class tensions have reemerged powerfully in Venezuela. Likewise, the right-wing is employing outright slander to demonize Chávez in the international media. Outside the Feb. 4 event in New York, a counter-protest of right-wing Venezuelans accused the Chávez government of anti-Semitism because of his defense of the people of Gaza last month. Both deputies at the forum denounced these accusations. They stated firmly that the Chávez government had joined with other progressive Latin American governments to condemn the Israeli assault in the spirit of international solidarity.
In the last 10 years, the far-reaching measures implemented by the Chávez government have raised the standard of living for Venezuela’s poor and have inspired the country’s working class to fight for political power. The Bolivarian Revolution has given Venezuelans free medical care—including the Barrio Adentro campaign, which relies on the assistance of thousands of Cuban doctors—access to subsidized foodstuffs, higher salaries and a decline in unemployment to only 6 percent—lower than the United States. Venezuelans have repeatedly affirmed their support for the Bolivarian Revolution, giving it a solid electoral mandate time after time over the last decade. Progressives and revolutionaries in the United States must stand with Venezuelan workers and confront all corporate media misinformation as the battle for socialism intensifies.
