Freedom 1 Chavez 0

Hugo Chavez's bid for unlimited power forever was narrowly defeated in a vote estimated to be as close as 51% to 49%!

Okay, so that is great news! But, and with Chavez there is always a but, I doubt this will be the last attempt by Chavez to hang on to power - I'm sure he is already studying Putin's latest examples of power retention.

But for the moment, let us all rejoice for the Venezuelen people - they've been through so much and this was a tremendous moment of courage for them.

Full election story here from Breitbart.

Chavez Loses Constitutional Vote

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez suffered a stunning defeat Monday in a referendum that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and impose a socialist system in this major U.S. oil provider.
Voters defeated the sweeping measures Sunday by a vote of 51 percent to 49 percent, said Tibisay Lucena, chief of the National Electoral Council, with voter turnout at just 56 percent.
She said that with 88 percent of the votes counted, the trend was irreversible.
Opposition supporters shouted with joy as Lucena announced the results on national television early Monday, their first victory against Chavez after nine years of electoral defeats.

Some broke down in tears. Others began chanting "And now he's going away!"

Cecilia Goldberger, a 56-year-old voting in affluent eastern Caracas, said Venezuelans did not really understand how Chavez's power grab would affect them. She resented pre-dawn, get-out-the-vote tactics by Chavistas, including fireworks and reveille blaring from speakers mounted on cruising trucks.
"I refuse to be treated like cattle and I refuse to be part of a communist regime," the Israeli-born Goldberger said, adding that she and her businessman husband hope to leave the country