Hugo Chavez’s political rivals continue to be arrested on trumped-up charges. The Economist reports the latest arrests under the heading “Venezuela’s endangered democracy.” Isn’t that a strange heading? Hasn’t Venezuela’s democracy been endangered since Chavez was given the power to rule by decree in 2000?
The only real limit to Chavez’s power has been the prospect that some day he might be forced from office. Now that presidential term limits has been revoked and his rivals are all being taken out of circulation, that prospect is all but gone. Democracy endangered? It’s over. It will take a revolution or a coup to oust him now.
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