by the El Reportero’s news services
When President Hugo Chávez narrowly lost a referendum on constitutional reform – including continuous re-election – in December 2007, banners proclaiming “Por ahora” (“For now”) appeared around Caracas, a defiant reference to his surrender speech after a failed coup in 1992.
On Feb. 19, unlike then, the objective that he set himself was achieved: the Venezuelan electorate voted to grant Chávez the option of continuous re-election.
The opposition, however, managed to win more than 5m votes for the first time, which, if replicated in legislative elections next year, would make it a serious force in the national assembly.
Unearthing a leader sufficiently charismatic to challenge Chávez in 2012 will be harder.
Hernani goes in Peru
The interior minister, Remigio Hernani Meloni, was replaced on Feb. 19, as interior minister by a congresswoman from President Alan García’s ruling Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP). Hernani’s departure weakens the nominally independent prime minister, Yehude Simon.
Simon and Hernani only took up their posts in October 2008, following a corruption scandal that forced the resignation of the previous prime minister, Jorge del Castillo. Hernani’s ejection points to another period of PAP supremacy in the government, despite the fact that only four of the 17 cabinet ministers are Apristas.
At least one political commentator in Lima claims that the new interior minister, Mercedes Cabanillas Bustamente, will in fact be the de facto prime minister, so weak is Simon’s position.
