Constitutional vote - new constitution approved in Venezuela - Brief Article

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 24, 1999

A man begs for money on a street in Caracas Dec. 14. Figures indicate that 68 percent of the Venezuelan population cannot meet their basic needs, while some 11 million Venezuelans live in extreme poverty. Venezuelans approved a new constitution Dec. 15 that President Hugo Chavez said will help to end widespread poverty and government corruption.

Msgr. Baltazar Porras, president of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, said Dec. 11 that Chavez was fomenting "fear and hate" and dividing Venezuelans in his campaign for a new constitution.

The president called church leaders who oppose the proposed constitution "degenerate priests." He also attacked opposition intellectuals as "illiterates," called newspaper owners "accomplices of corruption," and compared those leading the "no" campaign to a "truckload of pigs."

Critics said that the constitution will install a Cuban-style regime, with power concentrated in Chavez's hands, the state intervening heavily in the economy, free suppressed and too much power given to the military.