Chávez' authoritarian move was predictable

After more than 10 years of watching Venezuela's authoritarian President Hugo Chávez, it's hard not to notice how predictable he has become: He always moves one step backward after a political setback, then two steps forward the minute the world looks away. These days, there is little question where he's at. After losing a Dec. 2 referendum that would have allowed him to stay in office indefinitely, he spent six months playing Mr. Nice Guy, only to start violating the most basic democratic rules in recent weeks. Chávez's wants to assure his victory in key Nov. 23 elections for state governors and mayors. I was thinking of this one-step-two-steps political routine while interviewing Leopoldo López, one of Venezuela's most prominent banned politicians, who was officially stripped of his right to run for Caracas mayor earlier this week. López, the 37-year-old mayor of the Caracas' municipality of Chacao, was riding high in the polls. On Monday, Venezuela's Chávez-dominated Supreme Court ruled him unfit to run for office, alongside about 270 other candidates, nearly 90 percent of whom belong to the opposition.