Chavez's days numbered'

SA Time: vrijdag 8 juni 2012 15:12:12

'Chavez's days numbered'
June 8 2012 at 11:23am
By SAPA
REUTERS

Washington - The days of cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez are "numbered," and without his support the leftist regimes in
Cuba and Nicaragua will struggle, outgoing World Bank chief Robert
Zoellick said on Thursday.

Chavez is Latin America's most prominent leftist leader, and critics say
he runs an autocratic regime that has cracked down on human rights in
his oil-rich country.

"Chavez's days are numbered," Zoellick said in a speech in Washington,
adding that if his subsidies to Cuba and Nicaragua are cut, "those
regimes will be in trouble."

"The democrats of Latin America - left, centre, and right - should be
preparing," he added.

In power since 1999, Chavez is currently seeking a third consecutive
term as a "revolutionary socialist" despite two surgeries to remove
malignant tumours. He has not disclosed the type of cancer he has or the
prognosis, fuelling political uncertainty and a wave of rumours.

"There will soon be an opportunity to make the Western Hemisphere the
first Democratic Hemisphere. Not a place of coups, caudillos, and
cocaine - but of democracy, development, and dignity," Zoellick said.

Venezuela has been Nicaragua's main ally since leftist Daniel Ortega
returned to power in 2007. It is also a member of OPEC, the Organisation
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and sends 100 000 barrels of
heavily subsidised oil to Cuba every day.

On Cuba, Zoellick said debate at an April Summit of the Americas in
Colombia about inviting the communist island's regime to such meetings
"sounded like hollow echoes from another era."

"Look ahead, not back," said Zoellick, a former US Trade Representative
who will leave his World Bank post at the end of the month.

The Summit of the Americas ended without consensus due to a deep rift
between some Latin American states and Washington over Cuba.

According to Human Rights Watch, Chavez has weakened Venezuela's
democratic system of checks and balances, contributing to a "precarious
human rights situation" in the country of 29 million people.

Zoellick also urged Latin American countries to use the global commodity
boom to create broader and more diversified economies.

Overall, he added, Latin American economies still need investment and
more robust economies, especially in local currencies. - Sapa-AFP

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