Mr. Chavez does not believe that anything is bigger than himself; not god, and not the notion, that he would care, that god wants us to have liberty.

It is this lack of humility that plagues the addicts of anything addictive from alchohol to sex to power. Thereby churns the vortex of absolute power to which his personality is subject to. Should the referendum go his way, we will sometime within the next few years see how his peculiarities turn to perversions and his perversions to atrocities. This is the results when no one can say no to a single human with absolute power.

China and Russia were the hotbeds of "Socialism". Hitlers Nazi party was originally a party of the philosophy of socialism. Hitler killed millions. China and the Soviet Union killed twenty to fifty million. Everybody on the inside and many on the outside of cuba know that to offend Castro means jail or death.

How soon before Venezuelans experience the same atrocities? Not long..

ADK, Annapolis, MD

Hugo Chez is nothing more than a cartoon character. I would love to meet that silly character in person. I find him more humorous than all the late-night talk show comedians combined.

What a dandy that clown is.

Mark Duecker, Green Bay, Wisconsin

The dilemma is so difficult to understand from the outside European perspective.

If you go there and speak with people in the know and see the situation for what it is, one thing becomes clear; Chavez is slowly securing himself as a soft dictator under the guise of populist socialism.

It might be that the problems are so vast and the resentment so deep that a dictator is the only practical solution for the terrible inequalities that exist. One would hope that there were another solution, for a country like Venezuela the future is open, if they can only get on level ground for a bit. They did have a golden period which produced the majority of the middle class we see today.

It is extremely frustrating and painful to watch the situation over there and the attitudes over here, like slowly sinking in quicksand. Chavez is misunderstood even in the articles here in the Times, if his government really did do the things he publicizes the country would be on the mend; unfortunately the government is working with an ideal it cannot put into practice with out limiting people's freedoms. Venezuela is facing terrible corruption, a single example is the Governor of Carabobo running 100 million dollars off to an offshore account to the Isle of Jersey, and a general false economy (ask any Venezuela about the prices of chicken...) Venezuela is no longer producing anything, even food is being imported. Dark times are ahead if Chavez destroys the private sector...

If you go to any military barracks in the country you will see large red banners hanging over the entrances reading "Socialism or death", a nice friendly message for the kids right?

It is an outrage that Chavez calls the protesting students, rich kids under the influence of US interests, the majority are not rich students, no they are just young people deeply frightened by the prospect of having their freedoms taken away. This is one small example, out of volumes, that should clearly demonstrate what type of creature Chavez is; a man gone Kurtz.

Concerned International Citizen

Erik, London, UK

The people of Venesuala will have a greater voice as long as that voice agrees with king Hugo. One of Chavez' tactics was to shut down all media that opposed him. All Americans need to pay close attention to this whenever the so called 'fairness doctrine ( or any of its variants) is brought up, and it will be."
Beware of government seeking to control or manipulate the content of political expression. There is never a good reason to give government this power.

Joy McArthur RN, Magnolia, Texas, USA

It's the classic example of The Leader doing wrong so that he might be better able to do right.

"Show me not the end without the way.
For ends and means on earth are so entangled
That changing one, you change the other too;
Each different path brings different aims in view."

--Ferdinand Lassalle, "Franz von Sickingen"

Steve, NYC,

you wallies. that's Bolivar Avenue, not Bolivia. That's like writing Trifle Square instead of Trafalgar Square.

ed, london,