Chavez Looks Beyond 2013 as He Faces Serious Challenges

When voters abolished term limits for President Hugo Chavez over the weekend, they handed him a long-sought victory, one that could easily embolden him to step up his socialist-inspired visions for his country.

And yet, major obstacles to that revolutionary dream lie ahead, in the form of sagging prices for the country’s oil and a sizable opposition whose strength is not eroding.
Mr. Chavez, a consummate political survivor, even reflected this in his victory speech, focusing on more mundane tasks like improving government efficiency and combating violent crime, as if acknowledging the criticism leveled at him during the campaign and the limitations likely to be imposed on any grand plans for the time being.

“This is a victory even for those who voted ‘No,’ ” Mr. Chavez said Sunday night, in a nod to the country’s opposition.

Steve Ellner, a political scientist at Oriente University, said, “He was in effect saying that in the immediate future, the government will not push further radicalization.” He said, “Lower oil prices undoubtedly influence Chavez’s decision to follow a more cautious approach.”

Mr. Chavez had ample reason not to focus his remarks on oil prices, even if it is this commodity that determines the nation’s fortunes. As Arturo Uslar Pietri, a towering 20th-century intellectual figure here, once put it, “Venezuela is not a country — it’s a country glued to an industry.”

New York Times