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Venezuela's Chavez calls for longer presidential termsAFP/Juan Barreto
A security guard stands in front of a poster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, 11 August 2007.
By Victor Flores
AFP
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 08 16 07
President Hugo Chavez late Wednesday proposed sweeping changes to Venezuela's constitution to remove presidential term limits and consolidate his vision of "21st Century Socialism".
Addressing a National Assembly stacked with loyalists, the leftist leader offered a reform plan that would also end autonomy of the country's central bank and put its international reserves under the president's control.
He also called for the consolidation of the military as a new, unified fighting force that would be "patriotic and anti-imperialist" in nature.
In addition to renouncing term limits, Chavez, who was re-elected to a second six-year term in December, called for the president's time in office to be extended to seven years. His current term ends in 2013.
The opposition has denounced his proposal as a "fascist" plan modeled after Cuba, which is a close ally of Chavez. The president rejected the opposition's demand to create a constitutional assembly to debate amendments.
Chavez defended his constitutional reform plan, denying that he was seeking to "enthrone" himself and saying a president's re-election was ultimately in the hands of Venezuelan voters.
"They accuse me of planning to remain in power eternally or to concentrate power," he said. "We know that is not the case."
Chavez wants to amend 33 of the constitution's 350 articles, which were already rewritten under him in 1999, to make changes in the political, military, economic and social spheres.
Chavez told lawmakers his reform seeks to "complete the death of the old, hegemonic oligarchy and the old, exploitative capitalist system, and complete the birth of the new state".
His proposals will likely sail through the single-chamber legislature, as all 167 seats are held by Chavez loyalists thanks to an election boycott by the opposition in 2005. The reform would then have to be ratified in a referendum.
Chavez, whose country is the world's fifth largest oil exporter, wants to create a new political and economic order that he has also dubbed "oil socialism".
In recent years, he has been a leading voice against the United States, which has accused him of being a destabilizing force in Latin American, and he has strengthened ties with US nemeses such as Cuba and Iran.
Using sweeping powers to legislate by decree that the Assembly granted him in January, Chavez has nationalized key parts of the oil, radio and television and electricity industries.
His proposed constitutional changes include ending the central bank's autonomy.
"The international reserves of the republic will be handled by the central bank, under the direction of the president who is the administrator of the public finances," Chavez said.
The new constitution would also create "federal cities" and federal territories within the country's states, and allow the president to declare "special military regions".
Hundreds of Chavez supporters clad in red shirts and hats gathered outside the National Assembly to back the president.
According to a poll by the firm Hinterlaces out Wednesday, Chavez's popularity was at 45 percent, up 10 points from May, when it slipped after he refused to renew the broadcast license of RCTV television, a popular channel and a leading opposition voice.
His popularity, however, was not yet back to the 54 percent support he enjoyed before his December re-election, according to Hinterlaces.
The poll also showed that 54 percent of the public opposed his constitutional reform plans, compared to 63 percent in July, Hinterlaces said.
A former paratrooper colonel who launched a failed military coup in 1992, Chavez overcame a brief coup attempt in April 2002.
He was first elected to a five-year term in 1998 under a constitution that barred a president from serving consecutive terms. It was rewritten in 1999 to extend terms to six years and allow presidents to serve twice in a row.
Chavez won a new election held in 2000 and the leftist leader was re-elected to his second six-year term in December.
AFP 16 0653 GMT 08 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All rights reserved.
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