Valium, that is. "Taking aim at opponents who say he is assuming too much power, Chávez said, "I recommend they take a pill, what do they call it, a Valium."
The remark came as Chavez announced his intention to alter the Venezuelan constitution to remove term limits.
His other proposals include reducing the working day to six hours, easing restrictions on the government's ability to nationalize industries, and reasserting government control over the Venezuelan central bank
In other news about autocrats' economic policies, Mugabe's Zimbabwe draws ever closer to chaos. "Official inflation is given as 4,500 percent, the highest in the world, but independent estimates put it closer to 9,000 percent." The price controls that Mugabe imposed have emptied shops of goods as people find it unprofitable to produce anything at the price the government deems reasonable.
Not that Mugabe is unconcerned about the crisis: "I would like to invite our true and genuine friends to join hands with us in investing in the abundant natural resources of this country," Mugabe said at a ceremony to mark Defence Forces Day. Apparently not appreciating the irony, he noted that "The security and safety of their investments is guaranteed by the professionalism and loyalty of our defence forces."
IPE @ UNC
IPE@UNC is a group blog maintained by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The opinions expressed on these pages are our own, and have nothing to do with UNC.
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Thursday, August 16, 2007
Take a Pill
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