The Wire

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has survived a coup, strikes that have paralyzed the country and now a referendum on his rule. Its not that he’s unpopular. He’s survived because he’s made many friends, especially among the poor who have benefited from his radical economic reforms. But it’s his enemies, the political and economic elite, that have attempted to oust him from office since his election in 1998. It’s still doubtful whether they’ll accept this latest result – dubbing it a ‘gigantic fraud’ and refusing to participate in an audit conducted by the government and international observers. Paulina Vidal spoke to Dr Barry Carr, the Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne.