Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez - who first attempted to come to power through a failed coup attempt against a democratic government - recently went on a crusade accused all those who opposed him in Venezuela of treason. Ending the idea of a loyal opposition is one of the steps that F.A. Hayek outlines in “The Road to Serfdom.”

Chavez recently won a referendum that would end term limits thus allowing him - if he wins a third term - to say in office beyond January 2013; at which point he will have already marked 14 years in power. Venezuelans previously voted down the term limit ban as part of a referendum constitutional reform bundle in late 2007. But Chavez refused to accept the “No” vote, which he called “shit.”

So, Chavez step up another referendum. He learned his lesson. This time he outlined his anti-democratic measure in almost intelligible language, touted propaganda on T.V., radio, public building, and even on the metro; and forced all 3 million state employees to rally support for his referendum or else be fired.

This grotesques dictator actually went on Venezuelan T.V. and held up a sample list of state employees and said that he would check it to make sure who voted “Yes” or “No” for his plan. Meet Venezuela’s Joe McCarthy.

But Chavez did more than that. He threatened the nation saying that “without Chávez there will be war.” What does that mean? That if he loses at the ballot box, he’ll order his supports to tax power through arms? Why not? Remember this man began his foray into politics through a, albeit failed, military coup. He doesn’t have a democratic bone in his body.

[Source.]

All the while threatening war against his own people, using tear-gas on student protesters, prohibiting demonstrations in Caracas, and calling those who planned to vote “No” traitors, Chavez has the temerity to state that it was the opposition, not him, that was pursuing violence.

Chavistas have gotten so thuggish that they recently held up opposition youth at gun point:

“Days earlier a group of armed chavista radicals had attacked the Ateneo de Caracas, one of the capital’s most important cultural centres. Complaining that it was being used for “ultra-rightist” activities, they hurled tear-gas grenades and fired shots. They held scores of people at gunpoint for hours, stole their mobile phones and vandalised the premises. The assault was lead by Lina Ron, a prominent member of Mr Chávez’s referendum campaign. None of the assailants has been arrested or questioned. As if to dispel any doubt that the invasion of the Ateneo had the government’s support, the next day the finance ministry ordered the eviction of the cultural centre from the state-owned buildings it has occupied since the 1980s.

Ironically, the Ateneo provided Mr Chávez with a platform when he entered politics after leading an unsuccessful military coup against a democratic government in the 1990s. The incident highlights his regime’s increasingly authoritarian bent.”

Holding people up at gun. Accusing the opposition of treason. With they way things are going in Venezuela the killing fields will not be far off if this dangerous socialist is not dealt with.