The Venezuelan CNE (Congreso Nacional de Elecciones) has just proclaimed the NO vote the winner by a 1.4% margin of victory!!! chavez is, at this moment, giving a very somber speech admitting his defeat. You can watch it HERE.
Let us celebrate tonight, for tomorrow the dictator will already have begun brewing up a new plan to maintain his stranglehold on power.
Nevertheless, we offer our Venezuelan brothers and sisters a well earned CONGRATULATIONS!
lol
Today on Brickell, outside of the Venezuelan consulate, there were about 20 people with red shirts and caps and pro-Chávez signs, vociferously supporting the SI. According to Univision news almost all of them were Cubans. Shame on us.
Daniel says it, ¡Gloria al Bravo Pueblo!
I imagine that the actual margin of defeat must have been enormous for him to admit a loss at all…
It hurts me as much as it hurts you, Giraldo, that Cubans were out there supporting another tyrant. But I refuse to bear their shame, and so should you, and every other freedom loving Cuban out there.
Those people are the scourge that defend totalitarianism from their air-conditioned high-rises in Miami while sipping Black Label scotch in their designer slippers.
They and they alone deserve the shame for their lack of integrity and lack of conscience. I will not carry it for them.
It’s not over til its over!! The beginning of the end of Chavez! Communism will never work in South America, never. Cuba is next, this will give a big boost to the Cuban March on December 10!!
Does anyone see a red herring? They are “accepting” a defeat of less the 2%, calm, cool, and collected? They are setting something up and going to use this as an excuse.
I predict that years from now, people will see Juan Carlos’ “por que no te callas??” as the beginning of the end for Chavez. It’s about time somebody told that monkey to shut his trap.
Daniel, I would not put it past them. But I am under the impression that their defeat was much larger than a 2 point difference. They did their best to manipulate the numbers to make the vote closer than it was to set the stage for a future attempt at the same thing.
The students deserve a lot of credit for waking up the moderates (ni-ni’s) to the dangers of voting si.
I have a very good friend in Venezuela who used to be a director of the CNE previous to Chavez coming to power. He was very involved in the group supporting the NO and had access to the reports of the auditing of the polling places. He told me around 10 PM last night that the difference in favor of the NO vote was close to 20%, and that the government was going to admit defeat but not with such a large margin. That’s why they kept delaying the results from 7 PM until 1 AM Venezuelan time. Chavez would have never accepted defeat if the real difference was only 1.5%
Giraldo, I also refuse to feel shame for the Cubans there supporting the SI. I understand that they were recent arrivals so that tells me that they were plants. Also there were some from the Dominican Republic. They even placed the Venezuelan flag upside down by mistake and the people waiting to vote had to yell at them to place it properly. Obviously they were there to provoke the law abiding citizens and carrying out the orders of their master. On the other hand, many Cubans stopped by to support our Venezuelan brothers and sisters and to urge them to vote NO, those are the ones we should concentrate on and feel proud of.
So how will castro’s media slant this? Can you imagine telling the cubans on the island that the people rejected a model of socialism? This should be fun to watch.
Daniel,
I agree with you. chavez either lost big and is covering it or he is up to something.
Chavez now has a definitive ending date for his government. It could be before but not after 2012. He has lost a lot of power and now many of those interests, including Cisneros’ Venevision, who had chosen to remain passive, will begin to prepare for the future by opposing him. I hope that the Venezuelan people have good memories and don’t forget those who were instrumental in this great victory. The next leader of Venezuela has to come from the younger generation represented by the students. The NO could not have won without the students getting involved.
YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Daniel,
I thought the same thing when I heard how close the end results were. I figured the only reason Chavez admitted defeat is so that in the next voting fiasco, he can manipulate the vote count and nobody will be able to accuse without hard evidence that there was any cheating, since the “NO” won this time.
Reading what The Real Cuba posted, also makes sense, but how does that information not leak out to the mainstream? Well I hope it does leak out and with lots of testimony and evidence.
Prediction:
Chavez will introduce all items in the referendum again next year and force another vote. And next year. And the next. Until he can claim victory. There is only one way to eradicate megalomaniacs.
I quit watching the news so I didn’t even follow this thinking it would pass….
for real? el burro lost?
There is a Santa Claus
This is most definitely not over.
It’s good news and certainly one of many necessary victories for Venezuelan people… but it’s not over. This from Bloomberg:
——
“This is a democracy,” the president said. “For me, this isn’t a defeat. This is for now.”
——
The fat lady has not sung.
I’m sure the margin was much bigger than the official figure, and I’m sure Chavez will not stop scheming to get what he wants, one way or another, sooner or later. He has no intention whatsoever of stepping down, and if he’s left no other choice, he will take drastic measures to stay in power. This is merely a beginning, and the Venezuelan people have a long way to go. God help them.
One one hand I am so very glad that this vote did not go through I could almost cry, on the other hand, I worry what Chavez’s advisers will set up next…still scared of that. Perhaps Chavez will merely beat up on his polling place controllers and set up another vote…still more Venezuelans will have more courage… unless this is another “let a thousand flowers bloom” technique to identify and get rid of opposition…
A sigh of relief and a worrying mind as to what Chavez will do next…
La victoria del No es irreversible. Venezuela jamas sera igual. Los estudiantes se afianzaran en el liderato y surgira un nuevo General Baduel que si tuvo timbales . Baduel llevara esta nacion hacia un futuro maravilloso junto con los estudiantes
Felicidades a todos los Venezolanos!!
Look at him. Look at this picture (or just about any picture of him). Would you want him having any say over your life? Would you want him running your neighborhood supermarket? Is it even remotely surprising that he turned out to be a spectacularly bad choice for PRESIDENT of a country? Talk about the madness (or badness) of crowds. I only hope they’ve learned their lesson, and that they never forget it.