A slow-motion coup in Venezuela.

The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Wednesday, March 31:

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As time drags on, a constitutional solution to Venezuela's political crisis slips further away. By nicking away at democratic institutions and the rule of law, President Hugo Chavez may well achieve what other autocrats have done by military force or so-called self-coup: Silence his critics and assume absolute power. The Organization of American States should take more decisive action before it is too late to rescue democracy in Venezuela. It must find better ways of preventing future slow-motion coups.

Venezuela's pressure cooker has been heating up since Chavez was elected in 1998 by a landslide. Ironically, he promised a ``direct'' democracy in which he would carry out the will of the people through referendums and polls. Through 2000, he initiated no less than four sweeping referendums and elections that resulted in a tailor-made constitution, a new National Assembly and new Supreme Court.

Since then, poverty has swelled, and his popularity has plummeted. Chavez has been maneuvering to deny the will of the people and avoid a recall referendum based on provisions that he wrote into the constitution. That's anything but ``direct'' democracy.

Opposition members collected more than enough signatures for a recall vote on Chavez. To block the recall, his supporters on the National Electoral Council challenged the validity of 870,000 signatures. The OAS and Carter Center, which monitored the process, saw no sign of large-scale petition fraud and stress that technicalities shouldn't void the intent of voters who signed petitions legitimately.

The signature question now has gone to Venezuela's Supreme Court, which ...