Venezuela news cull

[Robert Naiman]

Venezuelans have voted to keep Hugo Chávez as their president, electoral 
authorities said early this morning after 18 hours of voting, reported Juan 
Forero for the New York Times at 9 AM Monday. The national electoral 
council president, Francisco Carrasquero, announced at 4 AM that Mr. Chávez 
had won the backing of 58 percent of voters, with 42 percent supporting the 
opposition's drive to recall him. But the opposition said that the 
government had cheated and that it had won by a wide margin. The 
Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which 
monitored the election and conducted their own highly accurate voting 
samples, had not commented on the dispute as of 8:30 a.m. "The Venezuelan 
people have spoken," Mr. Chávez said. He was conciliatory towards his 
opponents, calling for a round of applause for them. "This is a victory for 
the opposition," the president said. "They defeated violence, 
coup-mongering and fascism. I hope they accept this as a victory and not as 
a defeat."

Reuters reported at 4:32 AM that two pro-opposition electoral officials 
also questioned the result. Shortly before Carrasquero made the 
announcement, two members of the five-member National Electoral Council 
leadership said they could not back the result. Ezequiel Zamora and 
Solbella Mejias, both known opposition sympathizers, said procedural checks 
had not been carried out on the results as required. ``These partial 
results that part of the National Electoral Council wants to present to the 
public cannot be considered official,'' Mejias said.

Bloomberg News reported that crude oil futures fell from record highs after 
the vote was announced. There had been concerns in the oil markets that a 
defeat would have disrupted supplies from this country, the world's 
fifth-largest exporter of oil and a key supplier to the United States. 
Brent crude oil for September delivery fell as much as 58 cents, or 1.3 
percent, on London's International Petroleum Exchange and was down 43 cents 
to $43.45 at 12:04 p.m. local time, Bloomberg said.

Earlier this morning, both sided had predicted victory. Reuters reprorted 
at 2:33 a.m. that three Venezuelan government ministers said that President 
Chavez had easily survived a referendum on whether to recall him. ``We've 
won this by a long way,'' one of three cabinet members, who did not want to 
be identified, said as they hugged and celebrated at the Miraflores 
presidential palace in scenes witnessed by Reuters. The other two ministers 
made similar claims. Shortly earlier, senior opposition leaders had dropped 
heavy hints of victory. Venezuelan law prohibits anyone from announcing 
electoral results until the country's election authorities do so. ``From 
the expression on my face, people can tell what's happening,'' said a 
smug-looking Enrique Mendoza, a leader of the opposition coalition which 
forced Sunday's referendum on the populist president. Another opposition 
leader, former state oil company executive Juan Fernandez, said: ``We're 
going to have fireworks and music .... we're going to say Venezuela woke up 
on the day of the referendum.''

With crude futures above $46 a barrel in overnight trading, oil will remain 
the focus for most investors even as they derive some solace from early 
reports of victory for President Chavez in the referendum, Reuters reported 
this morning. Prices fell modestly after results released by Venezuelan 
electoral authorities with 94 percent of the vote counted showed Chavez 
survived a referendum to recall him. Energy markets have been worried about 
disruptions to the country's oil production if a disputed result sparked 
social unrest. Shipping sources had said shipments from Venezuela, the 
world's fifth-largest crude exporter, were running smoothly.

Robert Naiman
Senior Policy Analyst
Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street, NW Suite 932
Washington, DC 20005
t. 202-347-8081 x. 605
f. 202-347-8091
www.veninfo.org
::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::
The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American 
public about contemporary Venezuela. More information is available from the 
FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.