Chávez wins, his opponents cry foul. Economist.com

Venezuela’s electoral authorities say President Hugo Chávez has won a referendum called by his opponents in an attempt to force him out. Opposition leaders are crying foul but it looks like Mr Chávez and his incompetent “Bolivarian revolution” will roll on...

...Mr Chávez’s apparent victory may be another manifestation of poorer Latin Americans’ loss of faith in the free-market reforms that swept the region in the 1980s and 1990s. These lifted many people into the middle classes but failed to reach some of those at the bottom of the heap. A Latinobarómetro poll taken in 18 Latin American countries, published exclusively in the current edition of The Economist (see article), showed that 71% agreed that their country was “governed for the benefit of a few powerful interests”.

In several recent elections, voters have opted for candidates espousing leftish policies and railing against “neo-liberalism”, such as Argentina’s President Néstor Kirchner and Brazil’s President Lula da Silva (though the latter has continued with orthodox economic policies). In Venezuela’s Andean neighbour, Bolivia, rising protests by Amerindian groups and coca growers forced the resignation last year of the country’s free-market president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada....

Economist.com