Analyzing the recent Chávez victory and Venezuela’s future, Maria Anastasia O’Grady says, “Venezuela is not a democracy by any definition and Mr. Chávez is sure to be a thorn in the side of democrats for years to come. But legitimizing his abuse of power, in face of all the evidence, only makes things worse” (“Defining Democracy Down” Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2006, subscription required).

 O’Grady observes that Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has a registry of nearly 17 million voters in a nation of 26 million people—60 percent of whom are too young to vote!  Seventeen million voters is a statistical impossibility!

Chavez, she says, claims vindication and empowerment to pursue his messianic vision. She cites a report published by the Cato Institute on Venezuelan government corruption.  It “…painstakingly traced the ‘hypercorruption’ that is now flourishing as a result of record oil income, poor management, and the ‘ideological predilections’ of a president trying to ‘play a messianic role in world affairs.’ In 23 pages he neatly shows that Mr. Chávez, who claims to represent the progressive left, is nothing but an old-fashioned authoritarian otherwise known in Latin America as a caudillo.”  The paper is authored by Gustavo Coronel, a former director of the state oil company; the title is, "Corruption, Mismanagement and Abuse of Power in Hugo Chávez's Venezuela.”

 Read our own analysis of Chávez’sgovernment in the current World News and Prophecy, “Venezuela—Six More Years of Chávez.”  It details the corruption in Venezuela, its present and potential for future oil wealth, as well as Chávez’s designs on world influence.  Its heavy oil reserves are a major story, little reported on in the mainstream media.