by Emmanuel H. Joseph
Government Information Service
On Monday, 16th February, 2009, Prime Minister of Dominica, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit extended congratulatory remarks to the President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez for his remarkable victory at the polls. Venezuelans have voted to lift limits on the amount of time elected officials can stay in office, allowing President Hugo Chavez to stand for re-elections as he seeks a third term in office.
“... I wish to place on public record our own congratulations to President Chavez. He is indeed and has been a good friend of Dominica. Through his leadership, we have seen the deepening, strengthening and broadening of relations between Dominica and Venezuela and the Dominican and Venezuelan people which has boiled down to the mutual benefit of Dominica and Venezuela. We are very pleased with the results and wish to congratulate him personally and of course congratulate the people and Government of Venezuela.”
Prime Minister, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit
Existing constitutional laws limit the period of office for the president to two six-year terms which meant that Mr. Chavez would have to leave the presidency in three (3) years time.
A previous attempt consisting of sixty-nine (69) constitutional changes was narrowly rejected in 2007. Mr. Chavez has said that he needs to stay in office beyond the end of his current term in 2012 so that he can secure what he calls ‘Venezuela’s Socialist Revolution’.
Dominica has benefitted tremendously from Venezuela over the past four years. The Prime Minister said that Dominica is a much better place because of the assistance provided by the Venezuelan President towards the island’s economic development.
Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela
"Look at the housing situation in the country where we have been able to spend over thirty five million dollars (XCD$35 000 000.00) so far. Look at the infrastructure in Dominica, for example, the airport development, various roads and projects across the country; the construction of schools, assistance to the agricultural sector, the health sector, for example, the miracle eye care programme; though the surgeries were performed in Cuba, the financing came from the Government of Venezuela. We have the Social Tourism Programme here in Dominica where every week, about thirty (30) tourists come from Venezuela to fill some of our hotel rooms. Some of the participating hotels and guest houses will tell you that they had certain reservations at the initial stages of the programme, however, they have benefitted tremendously as a result of the Social Tourism Project. President Chavez gave instructions to the Venezuelan airline where he bought a special plane to fly from Venezuela to Dominica to help increase tourism business in Dominica and to help improve the economic fortunes of Dominica.”
Head of the electoral body confirmed Monday that more than eleven million (11,000,000) voters took part in last weekend’s referendum in the South American country. |
