Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown

Worked for King Henry the Fourth, works today. Thanks to ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ posing on Francis W. Porretto's Eternity Road, we find that Chavez had a very good reason for not trying to game the election. His head. On a platter. By the Military.

Venezuela Redux
A confirmation of previous reports of the events of the Venezuelan referendum on Hugo Ch�vez' proposed constitutional changes was published today in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. The article is in Spanish but a good synopsis is presented here as well as a complete translation here. It confirms that in fact Hugo intended to steal the election but was notified by Fidel Castro that the Venezuelan military was mobilizing for a coup d' �tat in such an eventuality.

According to El Mundo, the G-2, Castro's intelligence service who handles Hugo Chavez's personal security, informed Cuban dictator Fidel Castro that several of Venezuela's army units were getting ready to act if Chavez refused to accept the results, as he was initially trying to do.

The G-2 told Castro that there were troop movements in several key armed forces garrisons, including the 41 Armored Brigade in Maracay and the El Libertador air base.

According to high Venezuelan government officials who spoke anonymously with El Mundo, Castro called Chavez after midnight, Venezuela time, to let him know what the G-2 knew and to let him know that if he didn't accept the results, the Venezuelan armed forces were going to get rid of him.

Nice to know that Hugo has the brains to listen when Castro says no. I can only imagine the destabilization in Venezuela if there were a Military Coup. There is so much money there and none of it is getting down to the people...