Thursday, August 19, 2004
Carter endorses Chavez
A friend of mine noted that while Jimmy Carter still complains about missed ballots in Florida, he endorsed the election of a thug in Venezuala within hours!
Former President Jimmy Carter, who helped monitor Venezuela's recall referendum, endorsed on Monday returns showing that that President Hugo Chavez won the vote.
"Our findings coincided with the partial returns announced today by the National Elections Council," Carter told a news conference.
A different perspective, from a son who says his mother was shot by Chavez's men on Monday:
In the early hours of Monday, the Electoral Council's president (who had imposed a gag order on all exit polls until a full audit of the vote had been completed) issued a statement declaring that the computer votes had been tallied and that the government had won the referendum with 58% of the vote. The announcement came in a vacuum, without an audit, with no verification whatsoever from the international observers, and over the indignant protest of two of the five council members, who publicly questioned the result's transparency.
The opposition, understandably shocked and demoralized, insisted on a hand-count of all computer voting receipts as the only way of settling the dramatic disparity between exit polls that showed 58% to 41% in favor of the recall and the announced result of 58% to 41% in favor of retaining Col. Chávez. Later that morning the most important observer, former President Jimmy Carter, declared that he was shown the computer tally by government supporters and that everything seemed in order. Mr. Carter then left Venezuela, and the opposition groups that had put their faith in him to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the crisis. Mr. Carter, who was vociferous and insistent about patience, transparency and hand-tallies during the Florida recount, left Venezuela to attend Mrs. Carter's birthday party.
Jimmy Carter: Lending legitimacy to brutal dictators around the world.
