General Baduel declares to VOA his belief 'in democracy as it is decreed in our constitution.'
Washington, D.C., November 23, 2007 - In an exclusive interview, Venezuelan General Raul Isaias Baduel told the Voice of America (VOA) yesterday that the Venezuelan people will vote against the upcoming Constitutional referendum on December 2.
Breaking with Hugo Chavez, his former boss and political ally, he stated, "In Venezuela the people will vote 'no' massively to the referendum."
General Baduel, retired Minister of Defense, declared, "I am a fervent believer in democracy because that is the greatest will of the Venezuelan people. I believe in democracy as it is decreed in our constitution."
Excerpts from the interview aired today on the VOA Noticias television program and on VOA radio. The full interview will be broadcast several times over the weekend. The interview will be posted on VOA?s Spanish-language website: www.VOANoticias.com .
VOA Noticias is a 22-minute live newscast from Washington Monday through Friday, covering news developments in Latin America and the world, along with reports from Washington, D.C. and the United States. On weekends, it provides a news summary of the top stories and highlights of the week. VOA Noticias airs at 2100 UTC (5:00 p.m. EDT), and repeats at 2130 UTC (5:30 p.m. EDT).
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts more than 1,000 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 115 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
For more information, please call the Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail publicaffairs@voa.gov .
(Source: VOA)