LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Venezuelan History
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In October and November 2001, CTV members across the country voted at 9,100 polling places in the first one-member, one-vote, secret ballot union election in Venezuelan history. The resulting leadership, headed by Carlos Ortega of the petroleum workers, is the most pluralistic in the CTV's history, with nearly all the parties of the left included. While the government attempted to prevent the balloting in several locations, independent observers from the Catholic University and the international labor movement called the elections free and fair. Regrettably, Chávez publicly rejected the CTV election results and refused to recognize the new leadership. And late in 2001, the Chávez-controlled Congress enacted a package of laws that eliminated collective bargaining and the right to strike in the public sector and the petroleum industry.
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It should be noted that the effort to either completely rewrite or to reform Venezuela’s constitution was nothing new in Venezuelan history. Between 1811 and 1961 Venezuela had 26 constitutions. The 1961 constitution lasted the longest, until 1999. However, it too has been subject to several reform efforts during the 1990’s. President Carlos Andrés Pérez, following the Caracazo, made some changes which allowed for greater participation in Venezuela’s political system, by allowing for the direct vote of state governors and mayors. This was the first step which eventually allowed for more parties besides Acción Democrática and Copei to be represented on state and local level.
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No participant in the drama of Venezuelan history is as well known, both nationally and internationally, as the great Liberator of the South American revolution, Simón Bolívar (1783–1830). Renowned for his military genius and his ability to lead and to inspire, Bolívar ... wrote brilliantly and prophetically on government and international politics. Among the greatest Venezuelan literary figures was Andrés Bello (1781–1864), outstanding in journalism, history, law, literary criticism, philology, and philosophy. Francisco de Miranda (1750–1816) is credited with bringing the first printing press to Venezuela and publishing the first newspaper, La Gaceta de Caracas; he was also an adventurer who, for a three-month period in 1812, held dictatorial powers in Venezuela. For most of the period since independence was achieved, a series of dictators held power, including Antonio Guzmán Blanco (1829–99), Cipriano Castro (1858?–1924), Juan Vicente Gómez (1857?–1935), and Marcos Pérez Jiménez (b.1914). Rómulo Betancourt (1908–81) was a leading political leader in the decades after World War II.
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If you look at the history of the Venezuelan revolution, this is a feature that has repeated itself over and over again. The reformists try to conciliate and to negotiate with the opposition, this encourages the counter-revolution to move forward, and it is down to the revolutionary masses to mobilise and defeat the counter-revolution, pushing the whole process forward again. After the Rosales rally the whole character of the election campaign changed. The rank and file Bolivarian organisations set up what was called the "Plan Oligarcas Temblad" ("Tremble Oligarchs Plan")[2]. On the Sunday before the elections there was yet another mass demonstration of strength of the revolutionary forces on the streets of Caracas. It is difficult to know how many were there, but it could be up to 2 million people, in what was one of the largest demonstrations in the history of the revolution since 1998.
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"Teodoro Petkoff is one of the leading political figures in recent Venezuelan history. His career began in the left-wing rebellion movements during the 60s as a member of the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV). He led a groundbreaking reform of the left in Venezuela assuming a critical stance toward left-wing authoritarianism and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968) with the foundation in 1971 of the party Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). An economist graduated from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Mr. Petkoff has been member of the MAS national directive, presidential candidate, and elected congressman in many occasions. In 1996 he became Minister of Economic Planning under the presidency of Rafael Caldera. After his tenure in the Caldera administration, he became director of the newspaper El Mundo and then founder and director of the newspaper Tal Cual ."
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In the wake of one of the closest and most important elections in Venezuelan history, Smartmatic today announced that its voting solution, the Smartmatic Automated Election System (SAES), performed with complete reliability and accuracy. During the referendum, the SAES machines transmitted accurately, rapidly and reliably, and after the polls closed, the Venezuelan Electoral Council and representatives of the different political parties successfully audited 54% of the voting machines.
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