Lovely report here -> http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/07/17/tightening-grip-0
Human Rights Watch has a less than an unbiased attitude towards Latin America, it seemed hugely relaxed when a pro-US coup overthrew the democratically elected president of Honduras 3 years ago.
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At least the majority of his country voted for him so he was democratically elected – better than we can say for our leader.
You would struggle to find a world leader anywhere who has won more elections than Chavez, certainly none in the Americas.
And former US President Jimmy Carter, who has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in connection with monitoring democracy and human rights, has said :
“Of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”
BTW that includes better than the US election process, according to Jimmy Carter.