http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americ...est/index.html
"Chavez told a crowd gathered in the center of Caracas that if the referendum was approved and the result was questioned -- "if the 'yes' vote wins on Sunday and the Venezuelan oligarchy, playing the [U.S.] empire's game, comes with their little stories of fraud" -- then he would order oil shipments to the United States halted Monday."
Ok, so, if Chavez wins his referendums (by popular vote of his countrymen) then everything is hunky-dory... If he loses, then he blames the US for meddling, cuts off the oil and then what... ???
"Despite the animosity that Chavez routinely aims at the United States, the two countries remain closely tied economically -- the United States is Venezuela's biggest oil customer and one of the few countries that can refine its low-quality crude. Venezuela accounts for up to 15 percent of U.S. crude imports."
If the US doesn't get the oil, and Chavez has been financing his poverty programs using oil revenues, what happens then? Looks like at least part of his revenue stream dries up and he now finds his programs underfunded to some extent.
By then, he will be "Dictator for Life" like Castro, and the poor will simply continue to suffer...