Not From Around Here

Evil South American pineapple god Hugo Chávez has ushered in a return of the "big man" syndrome of charismatic autocrats which has done so much harm to the little brown peoples of Latin America, the Caribbean and the United Fruit Company.

Venezuelans have voted in a referendum to abolish the limit on the number of terms elected officials can serve, thus making the country's electoral system more like Britain's. Chávez claimed that staying in office for more than a decade was not unusual, and cited US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but not British prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.

Now that Chávez has gained a veneer of legality for his Islamo-Communist revolution, some analysts predict stagflation and devaluation of the currency - a situation Chávez is ill equipped to cope with as he is unlikely to be willing to throw money at banks just because they are unable to cope with the rigours of the free market.

Many Venezuelans blame Chávez for introducing such non-British reforms as free health care and food discounts. However, at least one Venezuelan credits Chávez with crumbling infrastructure, high crime and inflation, despite the presence of a political opposition which actually disagrees with his policies.

"Many who are worried about unlimited executive power will be dispirited by the results. The record of such indefinite re-election in the region has been very unhappy," said Michael Shifter, of the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank, who is probably not British.