Enablers

The Opinion Journal describes, yet again, the changes (T)Hugo Chavez is trying to make to the constitution of Venezuela. These are fundamentally undemocratic, tyrannical changes that empower autocratic rule disguised as "participatory democracy." They wonder if the west's enablers will finally open their eyes to what is happening in Venezuela.

Mr. Chávez wouldn't be close to pulling this off if he hadn't already used his nine years in power to neuter Venezuela's independent political institutions. To gain control of the Supreme Court, Mr. Chávez increased the number of justices to 32 from 20. Then he fired the National Electoral Council (CNE) and named his own version, which presided over a crooked and non-transparent August 2004 recall referendum.

Former President Jimmy Carter nonetheless blessed that fraud, and the Bush State Department went along too. For their part, Venezuelans have so little faith in an honest vote that they boycotted the 2005 legislative elections; chavista candidates won 100% of the seats.

In 2002 Mr. Chávez also purged the military after it refused to fire on protestors and briefly removed him from power. In that event, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd rushed to support Mr. Chávez while ignoring the pleas of labor unions, human rights activists and religious leaders that he was abusing his power. Another enthusiastic supporter is Joseph P. Kennedy II, who in exchange for discounts on Venezuelan oil has been promoting the president as a benefactor to America's poor.

Despite this help from abroad, Mr. Chávez's popularity at home has been dropping sharply as Venezuelans rebel against this electoral putsch. Students have been pushing back hard against limits on free speech, and even former ally General Raul Baduel has called the referendum a "coup against democracy" and joined the opposition.

Right offhand, I'd say the answer to the question posed by the Opinion Journal is no. The enablers will not make a peep of protest. They'll ignore this or make excuses. There is a chance that the people could vote this down, but it is a slim one. Chavez owns the entire electoral process and the vote is probably already over before it even begins. Hence his preemptive threats to cut off oil to the US if our government protests the results. People like Kennedy, Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey and all the others are too narcissistic to give a hoot about the people of Venezuela and the nightmare that is descending on them.