Roundup: Chavez's Gov't Faces Serious Challenges

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Roundup: Chavez's Gov't Faces Serious Challenges

Turmoil prevails in the Venezuelan political situation and the government of President Hugo Chavez is facing a serious challenges after the ephemeral coup attempt on April 11.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Turmoil prevails in the Venezuelan political situation and the government of President Hugo Chavez is facing a serious challenges after the ephemeral coup attempt on April 11.

The panic of the people generated by the coup has already subsided, and the government has created a national commission of dialogue for reconciliation, inviting opposition parties, businessleaders, trade unions, the Catholic Church and media to participate in it.

Meanwhile, Chavez's government has not managed to reach an agreement with the opposition, and as long as there is divergence between the two parties, the national dialogue will not produce tangible results either.

Local politicians warned "there could occur a new political crisis any time now".

Some analysts consider the Chavez government faces several challenges. First of these is the difficult situation in the economic sector.

According to forecasters from the Finance Ministry, economic growth in the Andean country will amount to one percent in 2002.

the unemployment rate was 16.4 percent in this period and wouldreach 24 percent in December, with a total of 2.7 million people out of work.

Moreover, a high interest rate of up to 50 percent a year, caused a lot of small and medium size companies declare bankruptcy.

Due to factors such as an unbalanced distribution of social riches, inflation and a low purchasing power, the growth in the number of poor people in Venezuela has increased. And at this moment, more than five million people are living out of the unstructured economy, and approximately 90 percent of households are in various degrees of poverty, with 50 percent under the extreme poverty level.

According to the 2002 budget, the fiscal deficit amounts to eight billion dollars, representing nearly eight percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Secondly, there is still an impasse in national dialogue because of prevailing discrepancies, in spite of the establishmentof the National Dialogue Commission.

With the absence of the two most important political forces, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) and the businessmen's organization, FEDECAMARAS, the national dialogue has lost value,and the opposition has claimed that "dialogue died at birth".

In the third place, opposition parties did not change their position in regard to the ousting of Chavez. Even after the failedcoup attempt they still continued their drive against the government.

On May 12, nine opposition political parties abandoned dialogueand signed an anti-government pact, in which they demanded, among other requests, the immediate dismissal of Vice President Vicente Rangel and Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez, as well as the realization of a consultative referendum, the reform of the Constitution and a reduction in the four-year presidential mandate.

According to the opposition, Chavez's tenure must be counted from February 1999, so that it will end on February 2003, and presidential elections can be carried out next December.

Currently, the party-line alliance amounts to 87 National Assembly seats, nine more than the opposition. Thus, in order to approve the amendment, the opposition needs five party-line representatives votes.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Chavez Returns to Presidential Palace

Venezuelan President Calls for Dialogue

Japanese, Chinese Economy Combined to Overtake US in 20 Years ( 17 Messages)

WTO Entry to Bring China an Annual Increase of 3 Million Employment ( 5 Messages)

Clinton Reaps US$250,000 in 30-Minute Speech in Shenzhen ( 34 Messages)

Lee Kuan Yew: China to Overtake the US in 2050 ( 70 Messages)

UNDP Starts Research on Chinese Women in WTO ( 122 Messages)

Many Hurdles for Free Trade between Mainland and HK ( 24 Messages)

China Sets to Land on Moon by 2010 ( 89 Messages)