Chavez to slow revolution with dose of pragmatism

By Saul Hudson - Analysis

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will slow his self-styled revolution with a dose of pragmatism but will not veer from his goal of building a socialist state despite a stunning defeat in a vote on giving him new powers.

Venezuelans narrowly rejected Chavez's bid to overhaul the constitution and enshrine socialism as a state priority in a referendum vote on Sunday. The reforms would also have allowed him to stay in power for as long he kept winning elections.

But the anti-U.S. president said he was not changing "a single comma" of his Cuba-inspired plan even as he acknowledged in the first vote concession speech of his life that he failed to persuade Venezuelans to accept his proposal -- "for now."

Voters balked at a reform they felt put too much power in Chavez's hands and eroded private property rights in the No. 4 oil exporter to the United States.

Chavez said he made a mistake, not because the reform was wrong, but rather because he proposed the changes to embed his "21st century socialism" in the OPEC nation before Venezuelans were ready for them.

"I made a mistake over choosing the strategic timing for making the proposal," Chavez said in an interview on state television. "Maybe 2 million, 3 million, even 4 million Venezuelans are still not politically mature enough to openly and wholeheartedly embrace a socialist project."

MIND THE GAP

While the president remains popular and powerful, Sunday's vote confirmed a gap has emerged this year between what "El Comandante" wants and what many of his supporters need.

To bridge the divide, the man who controls Congress and most provincial governments must heed the vote warning and be more practical even as he steers the same basic socialist course, senior aides said.

The opposition's criticisms of his economic management have resonated for the first time in years among his poor backers.

Telecommunications minister Jesse Chacon said many Chavez supporters did not vote for the president because they are unhappy with high crime, inflation, and food shortages.

Chavez is used to comfortable wins at the ballot box but won just 49 percent support on Sunday, his lowest tally ever.

"I am convinced that, if we follow the path of a practical socialism, a concrete socialism, then we can move from 50 percent to a higher figure," Chacon said.

Party stalwarts recited the mantra that the ex-soldier lost a battle but not the war in his bid to install socialism.

"It's two steps forward, one step back," Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas said.