Venezuelan student leader Stalin González (his real name, his parents are leftists) opposes Chavez on Marxist terms. His been shot at, gotten death threats, and is central in student opposition to the upcoming referendum in Venezuela which, if it passes, would rescind term limits for Chavez and make the central bank part of the government rather than being independent.
González believes that Chávez’s socialist rhetoric is a lie because the country has not set about to create a working class, instead surviving off its oil wealth.
“This government talks a lot, but it does very little,” González said. “Chávez isn’t a Marxist-Leninist, he’s a crazy military officer.”
While Chavezistas view an anti-referendum vote as blocking the road towards socialism, others, it is clear, see such a vote as blocking a power grab by Chavez.