Caracas
Venezuela’s Supreme Court this week reversed itself and validated a petition demanding a presidential-recall vote. Opponents of President Hugo Chavez poured into the streets to celebrate, although demonstrators said they expected Chavez to use “trickery” to block the vote. The government immediately appealed. Chavez was elected to office, but rivals have accused him of trying to establish Cuban-style communism in his oil-rich country. An opposition coalition, including both business and labor groups, gathered 3 million signatures—600,000 more than they needed—requesting a recall. Nine people died in riots that broke out two weeks ago after an electoral council threw out huge blocks of signatures.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Fox’s Kilmeade sorry for ‘just kill’ homeless remarkSpeed Read Kilmeade’s ‘rare on-air apology’ also served as Fox News’ response to the controversy
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spinsSpeed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meetingSpeed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
