Chavez, Hugo

=Tags:28 28th Amendment to end corporate personhood4o4 broken node501(c)3  can collect unlimited money, tax deductable but has to be disclosed (see C4 social welfare shuffle)501c6527 more or less equals PAC5th see 5th Amendment nodeabrmoff: Jack Abramoff corrupt superlobbyistacademic: university folkacsh:  American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) evil hacksactivst: legitimate Left NGO folkaei: American Enterprise Institite thinktankAfrAm: African-AmericansAG: Atty GeneralAgda21: Agenda 21 anti-commie, UN global elitealec: ALEC speeding dating for corps and polsaltrt: Alt Right (kind of morphing into militias and other armed wackos)American Cyanamid: this zombied another tag, probably chemicalsamp: amplifying feedbackAmSpct: American Spectator RW BS, big in Arkansas Projectamzn: Amazon corp, Bezosapco: Arnold & Porter, legal, lobbying PR, pioneer in tobacco and climateapi: Am Petroleum Institute trade association frontapostate: GOP that were OK on climate, mostly purged by RINO-huntersAR: Arkansas, Clintons and Walmartarab: Saudis, UAE, MBS, MBZ, Qaterastro: Astroturf, fake/paid grassroots activists, subcategory of Front group.athor: a book author, generally Left/legitati: Am Traditions Institute, a sort of Western Citizens United, anti-greenatz: Atrazine carcinogen herbicide, see Syngentaaus: Australia we love ya, Bruce (part of Anglophone denialosphere)authrn: authoritarianaz: ArizonaB2: Bush 43 Dubya, shrubB41: Herbert Walker Poppybailled: MOC opted not to run again (see resigned, often more scandal)bank: a bank/ financial institutionbck:  Glenn Beckbeaten: in an electionbermn: Dr Evil Rick Berman, PR astro BSbgr: Barbour, Gillespie, Ed Rogers GOP lobbyist rev doorbidn: BidenBirthr1: birther (see conspiracy)blkwtr: Blackwater, Erik Prince devos pvt militaryblunt: Sen Roy Blunt GOP Missouri oil, abramoffBM: Burson-Marsteller evil PRBMH: politcal operatives Bell, McAndrews & HiltachkBO: Obamabofa: Bank of Americabogus: BSboltn: John Bolton foreign polocy POWboogie: Lee Atwater, political operative, dirty tricksbp: British (briefly beyond) Petroleumbradly: megafunder Bradley FoundationBrbrt: Breibart includes acolyte Bannonbrksbro: Brooks Brothers Riot 2000 astroturfbrmn2: zombied? see Bermn abovebrnhrdt: Bernhardt, Trump Swamp Thingbufet:  Warren Buffet, the Sage of Omahabufr: Buffer (systems theory)c4: Social Welfare, does not disclose donor (see C3-4 shuffle)CA: Californiacancr: cancer, carcinogenscaplism: Capitalism, see free market and libtardcato: Koch funded libtard think tankcbg: CB Gray dark arts lobbyistcda: Canadacei: Competitive Enterprise Institute, another Koch think tankcfact1:  Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, free mkt fuckeryCFG: Club for Growth, corp GOP funder (Tea Party, Freedumb Caucus)chem4: chemicals, see also cancercheney:  The big Dick himselfchevrn: ChevronChicU: Chicago School Austrian Libtard econ, Uncle Miltychna: ChinaChrstian: mostly Evangelical now morphing to xian nat'lismcleared: no idea, zombied?CliHawk: Climate Hawk (Dems)Clntn: Clintonscmbanl: Cambridge Analytical (see also Mercer )cnspir: Conspiracy Theorycoal: CoalCoC: US Chamber of Commerce trade group, mega-lobbyist, frontcoin: Cointelpro, mostly bad behavior by fedsconf: a conferencecontractr: generally a federal contractor, often military (see MIC)coors: pioneer RW fundercorupt: bribery, conflict of interest etccovd: Covid corona viruscppr: Center to Protect Patient Rights Koch front ~ Obamacarecrazy: reserved for clinical (rabbit hole folk are mere wackos)crc: Capital Research Ctr alleged think tank oppo shop?crc2 I think this is zombie tagcrps: corporationscrypto: often astroturf whose function is to undermine the cause it pretends to help.cu: Citizen United (both an astro group and court case)dark$: dark money (generic term)dc: error? zombie? never implemented?dci: DCI evil PR shopDefunct: can be deceased person or organization (see killed)delay: Tom Delay corrupt gop pol (see Abramoff)democrt: Democratic PartyDenier: of global warmingderg: Deregulationdevl: a devil or demon term, see rhetoric (vs god term)devos: Amway family money, libtarddrtytrk: dirty tricks, generally short of crimesdrudg: pioneer website Drudge Report (gossip)e j: Environmental (in-)Justicee&e: Horner and Schnare et al, ntbcw/ green newslettereabrms: Elliot Abrams, POWeboy: Myron Ebell (CEI) and/or Milloy (junk science)edelm: Edelman, yet another evil PR shop, big in denial  Enforcer: eg Grover Norquist tax plesge (Koch climate pledge) retaiates those who are disloyal.  related to hit man, character assasination of opponents.enrgy: energy generic, fossil fuuels mostlyenron: defunct energy trader, Kenny Boy Layentne: Jon Entine flackenvrnmnt: green epa: EPA green agencyetp: Energy Transfer Partners pipeline, CEO early Trump  donorevil: using evolved beneficial function for selfish purposes eg FOIAexon: Exxon-Mobil corp, biggest denial funderextrct: concept of extraction for corp profit, whether it's oil, water or personal data.fa il: Failure, often predictable, based on internal flaws?fbk: Facebook /Zuckfedsoc: The Federalist Society fired: sackedfla: Floridaflack: someone paid to speak/write liesflanked: running to the right in primaryfoia: Freedom of Info Act records requestforbe: Forbes magazine, gop /bizz BSFour Sis: big old family funders of the rightFox: Murdoch GOP/Trump TVFoxnc: Murdoch media empirefrack: fracking for natural gasfrce: use of force/violenceFront: an organization that pretends to be something it is notfunder: donor of political $, legalized briberyggl: Google/Alphabet corpgloblwrming: anthropogenic global warminggmi: George Marshall Inst, early denial thinktankgmo: genetically modified organism and chemicals required to use themgmonsnto: big booster of toxic chemicals and GMO'sgmu: George Mason Univ (Kock academic beachhead, Mercatus Ctr).gngrch: Newt Gingrichgo(o)d: god-term is one we are expected to sacrifice for, see Rhetoric node)gop: Grand of Party, Republicansgps: Karl Rove PACgrft: griftgrn: green / environmentalgrnpeace: Greenpeace NGOgrover: Gover Norquist, Weds Meeting, taxpayers scamgs: Goldman Sachsguk fix: [guardian newspaper software bug]h&k: Hill & Knowlton, yet another evil PR shopH&W: Hunton and Williams: legal, lobbyist, fixersHack: someone who lies for money (nearly always) fronting as expert scientist hallib: Halliburton oil services corp (Cheney, Loophole)hanty: Fox host sean Hannityhate: hate, see SLPChbg: private security firm allied with Palantir/Thiel libtardheartlnd: Chicago "thinktank" major denierheritag: Heritage think tankhoovr: Hoover yet another thinktank, pretends it's Stanfordhorwtz: David Horowitz, Islamophobe, campus free speech BShouse: House of Representativeshub: systems term, info/resource exchangehurt: people damaged by violence (not yet implemented)incbtr: the start of the Rightwing infrstructure pipelineindep: independent of major partiesingrm: Fox host laura Ingram, with Hannity and Tucker make up Bad trinity node)inhof: Senator James Inhofe but also his evil spawn flack Marc Moranoiwf:  Independent Women Forum, daughters of Schlaflyizlm: Islam, see Islamophobe node, ShariaJ ?jailled: locked up for crimesjeff:  Sen. Jefferson BEAUREGARDE Sessionsjnz: Alex jones, Infowars conspiracy wackoJOK: james O'Keefe, doctors secretly shot videotapejpm: JP Morgan bank corp.judicial: courts, especially judgeskilled: died by violence/ on purposekns: keynote speaker, see Renta-Tomskoch: Koch Broskrk: Kirk, Turning Point US youth orgkshnr: Kushnerla: Louisianalabor: unionslamr: Lamar Smith Texas, "secret science"latnx: Latinix, Chicano, Hispaniclegal: lawlegislation: billslegit: credible source, not boguslevrage: systems concept, leveragelft: Left,  progressive,  liberallibtard: libertarian free-mkt BSlmbrg: Lomborg, late stage denial scamlobbyist: what it saysmacho: misogyny, identity victimmanfrt: Paul Manafort political operativemaz: MassachusettsmcConn: Spker McConnell (Chao)mercr: Robert Mercer hedge quant Cambridge Analytical and daughterMI: MichiganMIC: Military-industiral Complexmikm: Mick Mulvaney OMBmiror: right imitates capability of Left (see Powell Memo)mnchn: Steve Mnuchin Dept TreasuryMod: a moderating influence (systems)moderate: center politicallyMoonie: Rev Sun M. Moon, cult leader and fundernam: National Assoc of Mfg, oldest trde groupnasa: Space Agency (Goddard Ctr, Hansen)NatAm: Native Americans, 1st pplsnatrev: National Review magazine ( & WWW)ncppr: National Center for Public Policy Research "thinktank"neg: a negative, malign big forcenra: National Rifle Assoc, gun lobbynuke: nuclear power or weaponsNY: New York obese: obsity health conditionobma: see BOoil: petroleumOK: Oklahoma, oil stateOR: Oregonows: Occupy Wall Street movementpa: Pennsylvaniapac: Political Action Committeepacleg: Pacifc Legal, anti-environmental shopPacRes: Pacific Research anti-environmental shoppensn: pension plan, lifetime income for RWIphrma: pharmaceutical corpspic: Prison-Indistural-ComplexPioneer: an early and important modelplum: ambassador etc for funders or losers po'w: Piece of Work, a euphemism for bad actorpolrz: polarizationpoor: povertypope: the 3rd Koch bro Art, North Carolina libtardpos: positive, a force for the common good vs negppp: Perry, Pompeo, and Pence (Dominionist?)PR: Public relations, propagandapress: legit often investigative journalismPrimary: most important nodes?prutt: Scott Pruitt, piece of workpvt: privatizationqnon Qanon, Trumpista conspiracy wackosr n c: Republican national Committeer s c: Republican Study Committee, hard rightr w: rightwing, willing to use violenceracsm: racismregnry: Regnery Press booksresigned: quit, often under duress/scandalretired: quit, no duressrevolvdoor: revolving door (rotating between private sector/corps and gov't)rgn: Reaganrip: no longer with usRogr: dirty trickster Roger Stonerove: Karl Rove, Bush's brain, master of the dark artsrudy: Giulianirush1: Limbaughryan: Spker Paul Ryan, Ayn Rand fanboys&BS:  Sallie Baliunas and Willie Soon, influential hacksscaife: Hiers of the Carnegie-Mellon fortunes, generous wacko funderscientist: legit vs hackscotus: The Supremessellout: corp Dems, often not good on climate (See Third Way)sepp: Fred Singer, hack godfathershel: Shell Oil corpSilVly: Silicon valley tech corpsslap: punitive corp lawsuit to intimdate activistsSo: The Southsocmed: Social mediaspn: State Parnership Network (see ALEC) and stinktanksStaffer: current or former Congressional staff (see revolving door)strtfr: Statfor, Strategic Foresight pvt security corpsubsdy: subsidysuprpac: SuperPacswift: Swiftboat anti-Kerry svcam and variants (attack strengths)swing: swing statesyngnta: evil chemical corp, see atrazinesys: systems thinkingtag ?texas: Lone Star Statetn: Tennesseetobaco: tobacco corpsTP: Tea Partytrending: ascending, generally GOPtrget: a target for attack, delegitimization ("scalp")trmp: Agent Orangetukr: Fox host Tucker Carlson (see bad Trinity)Uber: major player in each category (not done)uc: Univeristy of california systemUK: Englandukrn: Ukraineun=: InequalityUSAVa: Virginiavetern: military veteranvlad: Putinvpence: Pencevultr: Paul Singer,  mercenary Venture Capitalistvxr: anti-vaccine or maskWA: Washington Statewalkr: Gov Scott Walker WIwalmrt: walmart corp and heirsWE error?whlr: Andrew Wheeler, swamp thingWI: Wisconsinwise use: anti-green western states movementwkdsmt: wicked smart analyst, often big picturewlf: Washington legal Foundation (see network)woman: femalewon: won an election? (not implemented) vs beatenwsj: Wall Street Journal newspaperwt: Washington Times rightwing Moone paperwtr: waterxl: pipelineyaf: Young Americans for Freedom, pioneer incubator, shock troopsznk: Ryan Zinke corrupt swamp thing1800's1960's19681970's1980's1990's1994 Newt Revo199519991one%2000electn2000s2001200220032004 tag200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162016elect201720182019202020212022midtrm2024
Hugo Chavez, imperialist | The Heritage FoundationSearch domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › americas › commentary › hugo-chavez-imperialistHugo Chavez, imperialist | The Heritage Foundation COMMENTARY Americas Hugo Chavez, imperialist Mar 6th, 2006 3 min read COMMENTARY BY Stephen Johnson Former Senior Policy Analyst Stephen served as...Hugo Chávez, the FARC, and Threats of War | The Heritage ...Search domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › americas › report › hugo-chavez-the-farc-and-threats-warIn his Sunday address to the nation on March 2, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez eulogized Reyes as "a good revolutionary" and called the Colombian operation "a cowardly assassination." By once ...What to Do about Hugo Chávez: Venezuela's Challenge to ...Search domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › americas › report › what-do-about-hugo-chavez-venezuelas-challenge-security-the-americasBorn in July 1954, Hugo Chávez Frías attended Venezuela's military academy and served as a tank-division soldier and paratroop officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In February 1992,...Images for Heritage Foundation hugo chavezVenezuela Continues Its Tragic Downward Spiral | The Heritage FoundationHugo Chávez's PetroCaribe Program Is Hurting VenezuelansFour Concerns About Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez - YouTubeNew Calls for Obama Administration to Add Venezuela to Terror-Sponsor List | CNSNewsCarlos Ron, Author at The Daily SignalToday's Venezuela: Where Socialism Meets Authoritarianism | The Heritage FoundationThe Stoned Crab: The "new look" Of ChavezVenezuela Has Come to Resemble a Lower Level of Dante's Inferno | The Heritage FoundationThe Haitian Blogger: August 2010Lo que no cuentan de Hugo Chávez | Taringa!More ImagesHugo Chávez, Colombia, and the FARC: A ... - heritage.orgSearch domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › americas › report › hugo-chavez-colombia-and-the-farc-change-heartFor months, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were the darlings of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He urged the public to consider the FARC noble freedom-fighters rather than a...Hugo Chávez's Andean Offensive | The Heritage FoundationSearch domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › node › 15066 › print-displaySince our founding in 1973, The Heritage Foundation has been working to advance the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong ...UNESCO's Chavez Outrage | The Heritage FoundationSearch domain heritage.orghttps://www.heritage.org › report › unescos-chavez-outrageUNESCO's Chavez Outrage | The Heritage Foundation UNESCO's Chavez Outrage On February 3 in Havana, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded its 2005...Hugo Chávez's Cancer, Authoritarianism, and the U.S. | The ...Search domain heritage.stage.heritage.orgheritage.stage.heritage.org › americas › report › hugo-chavezs-cancer-authoritarianism-and-the-usOn June 10, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez arrived in Havana for high-level meetings. Two days later, the press reported he underwent surgery to repair a pelvic abscess. Speculation regarding his health increased with each passing day. Possible diagnoses included acute peritonitis, prostate cancer, or liposuction gone wrong. Two weeks later, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro worried ...Countering Hugo Chávez?s Anti-U.S. Arms Alliance | The ...Search domain heritage.stage.heritage.orgheritage.stage.heritage.org › defense › report › countering-hugo-chavezs-anti-us-arms-allianceVenezuelan President Hugo Chávez has embarked on a military buildup, to counter alleged U.S. plans to invade his country, and has recently visited Russia, Iran, China, Syria, and other countries to finalize purchases and lobby for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Chavez's aggressive policies could endanger U.S. allies in Latin America and a major source of U.S. oil imports.How the U.S. Navy Inadvertently Supports Hugo Chávez | The ...Search domain heritage.stage.heritage.orgheritage.stage.heritage.org › defense › report › how-the-us-navy-inadvertently-supports-hugo-chavezWhen U.S. Navy and Marine personnel purchase gasoline at their local Navy Base Exchange, they might be unknowingly supporting America's enemies. This is happening because the Navy Exchange buys its gasoline from a company owned by Venezuelan Dictator-President Hugo Chávez. A designation by the Bush Administration of Venezuela as a terrorist-sponsoring state would allow the Navy to end this ...South America's Mad-TV: Hugo Chávez Makes Broadcasting a ...Search domain heritage.stage.heritage.orgheritage.stage.heritage.org › americas › report › south-americas-mad-tv-hugo-chavez-makes-broadcasting-battlegroundHalloween scares have come early to South America, and one knocking on the front door right now is Telesur, a new satellite TV network funded largely by Venezuela's authoritarian president Hugo Chávez. According to its director, Aram Aharonian, the purpose is to disseminate "a truthful view of the social and cultural diversity of Latin America and the Caribbean to the world."<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/did-donald-trump-steal-the-election-2648992261/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/did-donald-trump-steal-the-election-2648992261/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">digby</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Back in September, Politico's Anita Kumar <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/trump-legal-network-election-day-fight-422035" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported</a> that for the previous year the Trump campaign had been assembling a team of election lawyers from all over the country to familiarize themselves in local election laws and prepare "prewritten legal pleadings that can be hurried to the courthouse the day after the election, as wrangling begins over close results and a crush of mail-in ballots." The effort was led by "a 20-person team of lawyers" from major law firms who were overseeing a strategy in "key states the Trump campaign is targeting, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan." It sounded like a very serious and professional operation, one which <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/08/17/donald-trump-didnt-invent-vote-suppression--hes-just-taking-it-to-the-next-level/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">came as no surprise to me</a>, since Republicans have specialized in disenfranchising Democratic voters for many decades.Trump himself repeatedly made clear on the campaign trail what he planned to do, from contesting the validity of mail-in ballots to declaring himself the winner on election night regardless of whether the votes had been counted and filing a flurry of lawsuits contesting the election with an eye toward having "his" judges (including newly-minted Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett) deliver the election to him if necessary. I don't think anyone can possibly say they are surprised at how he has reacted to losing the election.In the weeks before Nov. 3, Trump did have that team of high-powered legal talent arguing cases around mail-in ballots and shifting deadlines in various states, some of which did make it to the Supreme Court. But then the election actually happened and vote-counting began, and since then Trump's crack team has been been remarkably unsuccessful. The good lawyers have either been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/law-firm-drops-trump-campaign-436418" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">pressured to to quit</a> or<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/11/16/trump-campaign-lawyers-quit-pennsylvania-lawsuit-again/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"> threw in the towel</a> themselves as it became patently obvious that they had no evidence of voter fraud.That hasn't stopped Trump from plowing ahead anyway with the <a href="https://boingboing.net/2020/11/19/trump-campaign-legal-clown-car-is-an-elite-strike-force-team-says-advisor-jenna-ellis.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">self-described "elite strike force"</a> led by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, last seen prior to the election with his hand down his pants in the latest Borat movie and famously presiding over a post-election press conference at a landscaping company next door to a sex shop and a crematorium. Trump was evidently impressed by Rudy's performance in both venues, because he gave the former LifeLock spokesman (hat tip to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/17/giulianis-disgraceful-courtroom-election-fraud-arguments-are-from-a-fantasy-world-defense-says/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Salon's Roger Sollenberger</a>) full authority to conduct the legal strategy to overturn the election results by any means necessary.<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/19/politics/rudy-giuliani-chaos-election/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">CNN reports</a> that Giuliani has taken full control. For instance, upset by what he was hearing from three of the lawyers assigned to argue one of the Pennsylvania cases, the man once described as "America's mayor" fired them on the spot and took over the case — which was being argued the very next day — himself. He hadn't been inside a courtroom in more than 30 years, and it showed. He was very nearly laughed out of court.Giuliani was undaunted. He immediately pulled together the other members of the "elite strike force": Sidney Powell, who is former national security adviser Michael Flynn's Fox News lawyer; veteran right-wing husband and wife team Victoria Toensing and Joe diGenova, also Fox News lawyers; and over-the-top Trump defender and campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis. None of them have any expertise in election law, but then they don't have a legal strategy either.Having lost over and over again in court, Trump and his team have switched to their Plan B, which, as longtime Democratic strategist Chris Marshall <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/19/are-you-sure-trumps-plan-to-steal-the-election-has-failed-you-shouldnt-be/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">spelled out in detail in Salon on Thursday</a>, is to delay the certification of the vote in certain states and try to get Republican legislatures to assign electors to vote for Donald Trump instead of the actual winner, Joe Biden. This is based on the theory that if they can create enough chaos around the election results, Republican loyalists will rise to the occasion and "save democracy" from the Democrats, who are allegedly stealing the election.This idea has been pushed by conservative talk show host Mark Levin and picked up by the right wing as a way to keep their beloved president in office for at least four more years. It's a theory that is very unlikely to prevail, particularly since the Supreme Court just decided a case on "faithless electors" last July, in which <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-465_i425.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the justices made it very clear</a> that whatever the founders may have anticipated in the 18th century, our democracy today demands that electors express the will of the people. It will take some convoluted intellectual gyrations for them to conclude that state officials can simply change the results at their discretion.In order to blow the smoke as thick as possible, Giuliani and the "strike force" held a press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters on Thursday which was so surreal that it may have displaced the COVID task force briefing where Trump suggested that people might inject disinfectant as the all-time weirdest press conference of the Trump era.Giuliani, Powell and Ellis held forth for 90 minutes, going full Infowars and throwing out one insane conspiracy theory after another. They said that Dominion voting machines had been created by former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (who has been dead for seven years) and financed by George Soros, the Clinton Foundation and "communistic" countries China and Cuba. Just in case that didn't work, the corrupt Democrats had also rigged the vote with a sophisticated computer hack that was only foiled because Trump won so overwhelmingly that it tripped up the algorithm which allowed the "strike force" to catch them in the act. Also, the mail-in ballots were fraudulent because so many of them were filled out properly. (Yes! The fact that there were very few problems with mail-in votes was somehow evidence they were fake!)Meanwhile, rivulets of black liquid were running down Giuliani's face as if he were an extra in an Alice Cooper video from the 1970s. The assumption is that it was some kind of temporary hair dye. But it could have been embalming fluid, for all we know.Powell later made the rounds to expand on their theory and she made no bones about what they hope to do:You'll notice that she just blithely uses the term "overturn," as if that were perfectly normal.If that doesn't work, the "strike force" are also talking about a Plan C, which would be to delay the vote certification for so long that the states can't send Biden's required 270 electors to Congress by the deadline, which under the 12th Amendment to the Constitution would throw the election to the House, where every state's delegation gets one vote. As luck would have it <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/pelosi-mobilizes-democrats-house-decision-on-presidency-422359" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Republicans hold 26 of the 50 delegations</a>. Surprise!Is any of this remotely possible? Sure. It's unlikely, but it's possible. It's tempting to think this is all so nuts that it could never possibly happen, but we thought everything Donald Trump has done over the past five years was nuts, and here we are. All our hand-wringing about this plot being un-American and destructive to our democracy is sadly irrelevant — not just to the preposterous Giuliani and the equally preposterous Trump but to the entire Republican Party. They have learned the power of total shamelessness, and it is profound. I would never count them out.</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum</a></div><div>
</div><div>The  Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendum" title="Referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">referendum</a> to determine whether <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez" title="Hugo Chávez" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Hugo Chávez</a>, then <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Venezuela" title="President of Venezuela" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">President of Venezuela</a>, should be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_election" title="Recall election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">recalled</a> from office. The recall referendum was announced on 8 June 2004 by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electoral_Council(Venezuela)" title="National Electoral Council (Venezuela)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">National Electoral Council</a> (CNE) after the Venezuelan opposition succeeded in collecting the number of signatures required by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Venezuela" title="Constitution of Venezuela" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">1999 Constitution</a> to effect a recall.</div>The result of the referendum was not to recall Chávez (58% no), but there have been allegations of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fraud" title="Electoral fraud" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">fraud</a>. In 2004, a report by election observers rejected the hypothesis of fraud,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-CEPRBlackSwan-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-observers-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[2]</a> but statistical evaluations released in 2006<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[3]</a> and 2011<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-specialsection-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[4]</a> disagreed. Former United States president <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Jimmy Carter</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_accept-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[5]</a> and his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Center" title="Carter Center" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Carter Center</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_report-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</a> all groups which had observed the referendum,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-observers-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[2]</a> and other analyses<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_center_analysis-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[7]</a> denied fraud, saying the referendum was performed in a free and fair manner.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_accuse_opposition-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[8]</a> Some individuals have disputed the Center's endorsement of the electoral process in the referendum.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[9]</a> The Carter Center looked into the allegations and released a paper and statistical analysis reaffirming their original conclusions.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-:1-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[10]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-:1-10" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">[10]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#The_petition" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1The petition</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Constitutional_basis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1Constitutional basis</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#The_signature_collection_drive" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.2The signature collection drive</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Timing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.3Timing</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Campaign" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Campaign</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Claims_of_foreign_interference" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1Claims of foreign interference</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Polls" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Polls</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#The_ballot" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3The ballot</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#The_day_of_the_referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4The day of the referendum</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Fake_recording" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Fake recording</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Exit_poll" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.2Exit poll</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Result" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Result</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Disputes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Disputes</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Allegations_of_electoral_fraud" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.1Allegations of electoral fraud</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Process_endorsements" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.2Process endorsements</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Analyses" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.3Analyses</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#Notes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8Notes</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">The petition</h2>The recall mechanism was introduced into Venezuelan law in 1999 under the new Constitution drafted by the National <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituent_Assembly" class="mw-redirect" title="Constituent Assembly" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Constituent Assembly</a> and sanctioned by the electorate in a referendum. Under its provisions, an elected official can be subjected to a recall referendum if a petition gathers signatures from 20% of the corresponding electorate. Thus, to order a presidential recall vote in 2004, 2.4 million signatures were needed - 20% of the national electorate.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Constitutional basis[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Constitutional basis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>The recall referendum is provided for in two articles of the 1999 Constitution:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Article 72: All [...] offices filled by popular vote are subject to revocation.</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Once one-half of the term of office to which an official has been elected has elapsed, a number of voters representing at least 20% of the registered voters in the affected constituency may petition for the calling of a referendum to revoke that official's mandate.</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">When a number of voters equal to or greater than the number of those who elected the official vote in favour of the recall, provided that a number of voters equal to or greater than 25% of the total number of registered voters vote in the recall referendum, the official's mandate shall be deemed revoked and immediate action shall be taken to fill the permanent vacancy as provided for by this Constitution and by law.</dd></dl><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Article 233: The President of the Republic shall become permanently unavailable to serve by reason of any of the following events: death; resignation; [...] recall by popular vote.</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">[...] When the President of the Republic becomes permanently unavailable to serve during the first four years of his constitutional term of office, a new election by universal suffrage and direct ballot shall be held within 30 calendar days. Pending the election and inauguration of the new President, the Executive Vice President shall take charge of the Presidency of the Republic.</dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">In the cases described above, the new President shall complete the current constitutional term of office. If the President becomes permanently unavailable to serve during the last two years of his constitutional term of office, the Executive Vice President shall take over the Presidency of the Republic until the term is completed.</dd></dl><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">The signature collection drive[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: The signature collection drive" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 252px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anti-chavez_march.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anti-chavez_march.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">A rally in </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas" title="Caracas" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Caracas</a> during the recall effort in 2004.</div></div></div>In August 2003, about 3.2 million signatures were presented by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BAmate" title="Súmate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Súmate</a>, a Venezuelan volunteer civil association, founded in 2002.These signatures were rejected by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on the grounds that they had been collected prematurely; i.e., before the midpoint of the presidential term.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]In September 2003, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist" title="The Economist" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Economist</a> reported that the government used a "rapid reaction" squad to raid the offices of CNE (the government body overseeing the petition drive), where the petitions were stored.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[11]</a>In November 2003, the opposition collected a new set of signatures, with 3.6 million names produced in four days. The CNE rejected the petition, saying that only 1.9 million were valid, while 1.1 million were dubious and 460,000 completely invalid.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">citation needed</a>] Reaction to the decision to reject the petition (for the second time) resulted in riots that led to nine dead, 339 arrested, and 1,200 injured.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]The petitioners appealed to the Electoral Chamber of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_Supreme_Tribunal_of_Justice" class="mw-redirect" title="Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Venezuelan Supreme Court</a>. The court reinstated over 800,000 of the disputed signatures, bringing the total to 2.7 million[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">citation needed</a>], above the 2.4 million needed to authorise the referendum. However, about a week later, the Constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court overturned the Electoral chamber's ruling alleging that the latter did not have jurisdiction for that ruling.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">citation needed</a>]The list of signatories was subsequently collected by the government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-Al%C3%B3_Presidente_N%C2%B0180-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a>The names of petition signers were posted publicly online in what became known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasc%C3%B3n_List" title="Tascón List" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tascón List</a>. The president of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_Workers_Confederation" class="mw-redirect" title="Venezuelan Workers Confederation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Venezuelan Workers Confederation</a> was quoted by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press" title="Associated Press" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Associated Press</a> as claiming that the Chávez government had begun dismissing petition signers from government ministries, the state oil company, the state water company, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas_Metro" title="Caracas Metro" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Caracas Metro</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_hospital" title="Public hospital" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">public hospitals</a> and municipal governments controlled by Chávez's party.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] The Associated Press also quoted Venezuela's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_Minister" class="mw-redirect" title="Health Minister" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Health Minister</a> as justifying petition related layoffs by saying "all those who have signed to activate the recall referendum against President Chávez should be fired from the Health Ministry". He retracted these remarks several days later by saying that they were his own personal opinions and not a matter of public policy.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]As a compromise, the CNE set aside five days in May 2004 to allow the owners of disputed signatures to confirm that they did, in fact, back the referendum call: this was known as the reparo process. At the end of that verification effort, the total number of signatures stood at 2,436,830, according to the CNE. Thus, the target had been reached and the referendum could take place. During that time, thousands of forged ID cards and equipment to create forged ID cards were confiscated by the police. Supporters of Chávez believed that the opposition used these to forge signatures. The opposition claimed that the equipment and the ID cards were planted.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a>The CNE later admitted that 15,863 signatures of those signatures that were verified in May 2004 belonged to people who had died in 2003.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Timing[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Timing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>The date chosen for the recall referendum was significant: had the recall vote been held on 19 August or later, Chávez would have been into the fifth year of his six-year term and had he been voted out, Vice President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Vicente_Rangel" title="José Vicente Rangel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">José Vicente Rangel</a> would have taken over and served out the rest of Chávez's presidency (in accordance with Article 233 of the Constitution, above). With the vote called for 15 August, Chávez was not yet into the last two years of his term in office; an unfavourable result would therefore have meant the calling of fresh presidential elections within the following 30 days. Chávez had expressed his clear intention to stand in the election, had he been recalled; the opposition factions, however, maintained that he would have been disqualified from doing so.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Campaign</h2><table class="box-Expand_section plainlinks metadata ambox mbox-small-left ambox-content" role="presentation" style="margin: 4px 1em 4px 0px; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 10px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(242, 133, 0); border-image: initial; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; width: 238px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 1.25em;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image" style="border: none; padding: 2px 0px 2px 0.5em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg" class="image" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><img alt="[icon]" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="14" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/30px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/40px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="44" data-file-height="31" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></td><td class="mbox-text" style="border: none; padding: 0.25em 0.5em; width: 187.688px;"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section needs expansion. You can help by <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none !important; padding: 0px !important;">adding to it</a>. (January 2009)</div></td></tr></tbody></table>Between late May 2004, when the CNE set the referendum date, and 15 August, the date chosen, a contentious campaign took place, with both sides convinced of victory. Late on, however, with some signs that the referendum would fail, the opposition appeared to become increasingly desperate.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Claims of foreign interference[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Claims of foreign interference" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BAmate" title="Súmate" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Súmate</a> (the civial association organizing the recall effort) received a US$ $31,000 grant in September 2003 from the United States <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_Democracy" title="National Endowment for Democracy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">National Endowment for Democracy</a>, an organisation funded by the United States government. The grant, earmarked for "election education", was used to promote voter education about the constitutional recall process.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[14]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[15]</a> The Chávez government prosecuted four Súmate officials for high treason and conspiracy, for accepting funds from the U.S. Congress.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[16]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[17]</a> Chávez supporters see the Súmate NED grant as an example of the U.S. intent to overthrow him.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[18]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[19]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[20]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Polls[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Polls" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>Although support for Chávez had been low in 2003 and early 2004, polling data showed a shift as the campaign got under way. Most polls, including those by firms linked to the opposition which had showed low support for Chávez in 2003 and early 2004, predicted a rejection of the recall in the weeks before the referendum.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-HellingerLAP328-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[21]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[22]</a>Numerous pre-referendum polls, both by opposition and by pro-Chávez groups, during the previous months and weeks predicted the No vote to win by a margin of between 5% and 31%. For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greenberg_Quinlan_Rosner_Research&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research</a> Inc. and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DATOS&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="DATOS (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">DATOS</a>, both commissioned by the opposition, found margins in favour of No by 5% and 12% respectively in June 2004;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[23]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[24]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datan%C3%A1lisis&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Datanálisis (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Datanálisis</a> found a margin of 14% in favour of Chávez in June.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[25]</a> On 11 August, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W.Jensen" class="mw-redirect" title="Robert W. Jensen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Robert Jensen</a> wrote that recent polls ranged from 8% to 31% for margins in favour of the No vote.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[26]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">The ballot[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: The ballot" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation" style="margin: 0px 134.594px; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 10px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(162, 169, 177) rgb(242, 133, 0); border-image: initial; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); box-sizing: border-box;"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image" style="border: none; padding: 2px 0px 2px 0.5em; text-align: center;"><div style="width: 52px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="image" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a></div></td><td class="mbox-text" style="border: none; padding: 0.25em 0.5em; width: 986px;"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section does not <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">cite</a> any <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">sources</a>. Please help <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none !important; padding: 0px !important;">improve this section</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing_with_Wiki_Markup/1" title="Help:Introduction to referencing with Wiki Markup/1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">removed</a>. (March 2010) (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Learn how and when to remove this template message</a>)</div></td></tr></tbody></table>The following question was put to the Venezuelan electorate:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">¿Está usted de acuerdo con dejar sin efecto el mandato popular otorgado mediante elecciones democráticas legítimas al ciudadano Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías como presidente de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela para el actual período presidencial? ¿NO o SÍ?</dd></dl>Translated into English:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Do you agree to revoke, for the current term, the popular mandate as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela conferred on citizen Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías through democratic and legitimate elections? NO or YES?</dd></dl>For the recall to be successful, there were three conditions:<ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">A turnout of at least 25% of the country's 14.25 million registered voters.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">More anti-Chávez votes than the number who voted for him in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela_presidential_election,2000" class="mw-redirect" title="Venezuela presidential election, 2000" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2000 presidential election</a> (3.76 million).</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">More "yes" votes cast than "no" votes.</li></ul><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">The day of the referendum[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: The day of the referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Polling stations opened at 6 am Venezuelan time on 15 August 2004. Later in the day, faced with a 70% turnout, lengthy queues of waiting voters, and delays exacerbated by the use of novel electronic voting equipment and fingerprint scanners, the electoral authorities agreed to extend the close of voting twice: a four-hour extension of the deadline that took it to 8 p.m., followed by an additional four hours announced later in the evening, which took it to midnight.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]A record number of voters turned out to defeat the recall attempt with a 59% "no" vote.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[27]</a> Former U.S. president <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jimmy Carter</a>, who was in Venezuela to observe the electoral process, said of the patiently waiting Venezuelan electors, "This is the largest turnout I have ever seen." In previous presidential elections, turnout figures were at an average 55%.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-Galeano-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[28]</a>All Venezuelans aged 18 and up whose names appear on the electoral roll were eligible to vote, including those residing abroad: polling stations were set up in Venezuelan embassies and consulates abroad.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Fake recording[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Fake recording" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>At 15h50 local time on 15 August, CNE rector Jorge Rodríguez and CNE president Francisco Carrasquero announced on national television that they had found an audio CD where a faked voice of Carrasquero declared that the opposition has won the referendum with a total of 11,436,086 "yes" votes, and that Chávez's mandate was thereby revoked. Since this was several hours before the closing of the polling booths, and since Carrasquero declared the recording to be fake, this appeared to be a case of attempted sabotage of the referendum. The attorney-general was called on to conduct a full inquiry into the incident and to locate and arrest those responsible for the spurious audio recording.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[29]</a>Journalist Fausto Malavé told the Venezuelan opposition press that the recording was an evident parody that had been circulating in city streets for at least two months, claiming that it was surprising that it was only brought to public attention then. He also expressed concern at the significance that was attributed to it by the CNE.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[30]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Exit poll[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Exit poll" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinadora_Democr%C3%A1tica(Venezuela)" title="Coordinadora Democrática (Venezuela)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Coordinadora Democrática</a> commissioned an exit poll from the American firm of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn,Schoen%26_Berland" class="mw-redirect" title="Penn, Schoen & Berland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Penn, Schoen & Berland</a>, which showed Chávez losing by a 60–40 margin. PSB used volunteers from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BAmate" title="Súmate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Súmate</a>, a NGO which was the primary organizer of the recall referendum, and involved around 200 polling places<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-Barone-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[31]</a> out of 8500. With over 20,000 responses the exit poll produced a much larger amount of data than most opinion polls (typically around 1000 responses), leading to an extremely low <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_error" title="Sampling error" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">sampling error</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[32]</a>Publication or broadcast of exit polls was banned by electoral authorities, but results of the PSB poll went out to media outlets and opposition offices several hours before polls closed.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[33]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Jimmy Carter</a> said that Súmate "deliberately distributed this erroneous exit poll data in order to build up, not only the expectation of victory, but also to influence the people still standing in line".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_accuse_opposition-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Result</h2><table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: right; clear: right; text-align: center; margin: 0em 0em 1em 1em;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez" title="Hugo Chávez" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hugo Chávez</a>'s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Venezuela" title="Elections in Venezuela" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Election</a> Results</td></tr><tr style="background: rgb(246, 246, 255);"><th>— <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_recall_referendum,2004" class="mw-redirect" title="Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2004 recall referendum</a> —
Recall Hugo Chávez?
Source: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cne.gov.ve/referendum_presidencial2004/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%2336c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" c="C" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">CNE data</a></th></tr><tr><td><table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: center; margin: 1px;"><tbody><tr><th>Candidate</th><th>Votes</th><th>%</th></tr><tr><td>No:</td><td>5,800,629</td><td>59%</td></tr><tr><td>Yes:</td><td>3,989,008</td><td>41%</td></tr><tr><td>Non-voting:</td><td>4,222,269</td><td>30%</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>The preliminary result was announced on 16 August 2004 on national television and radio after 94% of the vote had been counted.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[34]</a><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">No:  4,991,483 = 58%</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Yes: 3,576,517 = 42%<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[35]</a></li></ul>According to these early-morning results, the first condition (a quorum of 25% of the electorate) had been satisfied. The second condition (more votes against Chávez than he received in 2000) would probably be satisfied. However, the third condition (a simple majority: more people voting "yes" than "no") had clearly failed.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Disputes[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Disputes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Allegations of electoral fraud</h3>After the preliminary results were broadcast, the opposition Coordinadora Democrática declared that fraud had taken place, stating that its own data (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn,Schoen%26_Berland" class="mw-redirect" title="Penn, Schoen & Berland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Penn, Schoen & Berland</a> exit poll, which was performed by volunteers from Sumate, the NGO which had organized the referendum) put the "Yes" vote at 59% and the "No" vote at 40%.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-eluniv983-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[36]</a> Their exit poll showed the opposite result to the official voting data, predicting that Chávez would lose by 20%, whereas the election results showed him to have won by 20%. A poll company representative, Schoen commented, "I think it was a massive fraud".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-Barone-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[31]</a>Coordinadora Democrática also told the press that no opposition representation was present when the votes were counted and that the physical ballots had not yet been taken into account.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-eluniv983-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[36]</a>Election observers insisted that no fraud had taken place,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-CEPRBlackSwan-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-observers-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a> but scholarly analyses published over the years to come disagreed. A statistical study by Maria M. Febres Cordero and Bernardo Márquez was published in 2006 in a peer-reviewed academic statistics journal.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-corderomarquez-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[37]</a> The study used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis" title="Cluster analysis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">cluster analysis</a> to review differences in vote patterns between voting certificates on the basis that voters were randomly assigned to certificates (each voting center had on average 2 or 3 certificates, typically for computerised and manual voting systems). It concluded: "[The] Venezuelan opposition has statistical evidence to reject the official results given by the CNE. The irregularities detected were observed consistently in numerous voting centers and the magnitude of the irregularities imply that the official results do not reflect the intention of voters with statistical confidence."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-corderomarquez-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[37]</a> They estimated that 56.4% had voted yes to recall Chavez, as opposed to the official result of 41%.The presence of systemic election fraud was also supported by six analyses in a special section in the November 2011 issue of Statistical Science. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raquel_Prado" title="Raquel Prado" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Raquel Prado</a> and Bruno Sansó examined the exit polls;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[38]</a> Luis Raul Pericchi and David A Torres examined the no-votes against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law" title="Benford's law" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Newcomb-Benford law</a>;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[39]</a> Isbelia Martin discovered anomalous patterns in telecommunications;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[40]</a> Ricardo Hausmann and Roberto I. Rigobón analyzed patterns related to exit polls; Raúl Jiménez examined the distribution of valid votes, null votes, and abstentions in each precinct;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[41]</a> while Gustavo Delfino and Guillermo Salas reported on the anomalous relation between signatures requesting the recall, and the yes-votes.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[42]</a> The section is introduced by an article written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_L.Carriquiry" title="Alicia L. Carriquiry" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Alicia L. Carriquiry</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-specialsection-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[43]</a> One of the papers, by Hausmann and Rigobón, was a later version of a paper disputed by the Carter Center, and contains a response to that criticism.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[44]</a>Some individuals have disputed the Center's endorsement of the electoral process in the Venezuelan recall referendum of 2004.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[45]</a> Fox News' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Schoen" class="mw-redirect" title="Doug Schoen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Doug Schoen</a> told Michael Barone at U.S. News and World Report, "Our internal sourcing tells us that there was fraud in the Venezuelan central commission. There are widespread reports of irregularities and evidence of fraud, many of them ably recorded by Mary Anastasia O'Grady in The Wall Street Journal last week. Carter is untroubled by any of this, and declares that Chavez won 'fair and square.'"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[46]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[47]</a> The Carter Center looked into the allegations and released a paper and statistical analysis reaffirming their original conclusions.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-:1-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[10]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Process endorsements</h3>The day before the polling, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter expressed confidence that the vote would proceed in a calm and orderly fashion. Carter commented that, "I might project results that will be much more satisfactory than they were in 2000 in Florida".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[48]</a>On the afternoon of 16 August 2004, Carter and OAS Secretary General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Gaviria" title="César Gaviria" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">César Gaviria</a> gave a joint press conference in which they endorsed the preliminary results announced by the CNE. The monitors' findings "coincided with the partial returns announced today by the National Elections Council" said Carter, while Gaviria added that the OAS electoral observation mission's members had "found no element of fraud in the process". Directing his remarks at opposition figures who made claims of "widespread fraud" in the voting, Carter called on all Venezuelans to "accept the results and work together for the future".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_accept-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Center" title="Carter Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Carter Center</a>"concluded the results were accurate."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_report-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Department_of_State" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Department of State" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">U.S. Department of State</a> accepted that the results of the subsequent audit were "consistent with the results announced by (Venezuela's) National Electoral Council."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[49]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[50]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maisto" title="John Maisto" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Maisto</a>, U.S. Permanent Representative to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States" title="Organization of American States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Organization of American States</a>, added that the results of the referendum "speak for themselves", saying that the quest for Venezuelan democracy "does not end with a single electoral process or referendum" and urging the "democratically elected government of Venezuela to address and recognize the legitimate concerns, rights, and aspirations of all of its citizens".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-51" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[51]</a> Regarding the recall effort, in testimony before the U.S. Senate, Maisto also pointed out that Carter had said that " 'expression of the citizen must be privileged over excessive technicalities' in resolving issues surrounding the tabulation of the signatures".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[52]</a>European Union observers did not oversee the elections, saying too many restrictions were put on their participation by the Chávez administration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[53]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Analyses</h3>Economists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Hausmann" title="Ricardo Hausmann" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ricardo Hausmann</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University" title="Harvard University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Harvard University</a> and Roberto Rigobón of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Sloan_School_of_Management" title="MIT Sloan School of Management" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">MIT Sloan School of Management</a> performed a statistical analysis at Súmate's request, analyzing how fraud could have occurred during the referendum. They concluded that the vote samples audited by the government were not a random representation of all precincts, noting that the Chávez-backed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Electoral_Council(Venezuela)" title="National Electoral Council (Venezuela)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">CNE</a> had "refused to use the random number generating program offered by the Carter Center for the 18 August audit and instead used its own program installed in its own computer and initialed with their own seed." They also noted that opposition witnesses and international observers were not allowed near the computer hub on election day.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-UniversalElectionFraud-54" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[54]</a> According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal" title="The Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">the Wall Street Journal</a>, a computer-science professor at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_University" title="Johns Hopkins University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Johns Hopkins University</a> said, "The Hausmann/Rigobon study is more credible than many of the other allegations being thrown around."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[55]</a> The Carter Center looked into the allegations and released a paper with a statistical analysis in response; this stated that the audit sample data, in particular the statistical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation" class="mw-redirect" title="Correlation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">correlation</a> between the number of "Yes" voters and the number of petition signatories in each audited voting centre, were consistent with nationwide results, and reaffirmed the Carter Center's earlier conclusions.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-carter_center_analysis-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Economic_and_Policy_Research" title="Center for Economic and Policy Research" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Economic and Policy Research</a> drew on the Carter Center analysis and elaborated on the issue, criticising Hausmann and Rigobón's statistical model.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-CEPRBlackSwan-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a> Furthermore, the CEPR analysis noted that "although Hausmann and Rigobón's analysis does not require this data to be accurate, it does require that its errors be uncorrelated with those of the signatures, something that cannot be assumed without any verifiable knowledge or observation of where the data came from.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[56]</a>Javier Corrales writes in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Policy_Magazine" class="mw-redirect" title="Foreign Policy Magazine" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Foreign Policy Magazine</a> that the opposition was "shocked not so much by the results as by the ease with which international observers condoned the Electoral Council's flimsy audit of the results."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-HugoBoss-57" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[57]</a> The sample for the audit was selected by the government controlled National Electoral Council, and according to the opposition was not of sufficient size to be statistically reliable.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Venezuelan_recall_referendum#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[58]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">See also</h2><div>...</div><div></div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/6/venezuelan_pres_nicolas_maduro_targeted_in">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/6/venezuelan_pres_nicolas_maduro_targeted_in</a>Greg Palast: Koch brothers could save two billion dollars a year if they

can replace Venezuelan heavy crude crude with Canadian tar sands – one

of the dirtiest sources of carbon emissions on the planet.<a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/02/koch-brothers-driving-keystone-xl-pipeline-from-canada-to-cut-out-venezuelan-oil/">http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/02/koch-brothers-driving-keystone-xl-pipeline-from-canada-to-cut-out-venezuelan-oil/</a><div>=</div><div>csm 2013</div><div>
</div><div>— For those with merely a passing interest in Latin American politics, just 10 years ago it was easy to see <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Brazil" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: none;">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Venezuela" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: none;">Venezuela</a> as identical tropical states with charismatic presidents leading their countries toward socialism.The reality, however, is much different, and goes way beyond the rivalries of Portuguese vs. Spanish, samba vs. salsa, or soccer vs. baseball.Both <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Hugo+Chavez" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: none;">Hugo Chávez</a> in Venezuela and <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Luiz+Inacio+Lula+da+Silva" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; line-height: inherit; cursor: pointer; outline: none;">Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva</a> in Brazil dramatically reshaped their societies, reducing inequality to its lowest level in decades. But to many observers, the differences in their approach may have long-lasting implications: While Chávez boosted the poor at the expense of the economy and the country’s democratic institutions, they argue, Lula took a more moderate and potentially sustainable route.</div><div><div>=</div><div>webodec venez:</div><div>
</div><div>https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-april-12-2017/</div><div>
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</div><div>
</div><div>Venezuela and Latin America with Miguel Tinker-Salas, Professor of Latin American history at Pomona College.  He is a leading expert on Venezuela and on political and social issues confronting Latin America. He’s author of several books including “Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know”. And “The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela”.</div><div>
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