The Cuban daily Granma had so much faith in Chavez and his referendum that it had already announced his victory. To Castro, his disciple's defeat was unthinkable, so it took him by surprise. It meant that Chávez could not be reelected - yet Carlos Lage, Cuba's First Vice President, had publicly announced in Caracas in 2005 that Cuba, de facto, had two presidents: Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

Castro is dying and Chávez, unless he breaks the law, will cease to govern at the end of his current term. Now what?

In its 69 amendments, the proposed Venezuelan Constitutional reform laid down the groundwork to create a future federation between the Cuba and Venezuela. If both nations were to unite formally in the future, they needed to bring their legal systems closer together. Venezuela had to imitate the Cuban legislation, which in turn was inspired by the Soviet laws dictated in the 1930s, during the Stalin era. For now, that is no longer possible.

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