...the people COULD vote out the Sandinistas ...

The people of Venezuela have had the opportunity last year to vote out Chavez, and declined to do so. In fact his vote went up. Hundreds of international monitors confirmed that it was a fair and democratic election. It just so happened it didn't go the way Bush would have liked it to go.

When the next election comes up they can expect to have another opportunity to vote Chavez or his successor out, if they so wish. That is, so long as a successful coup cannot be engineered to put in power a regime that would be more to the liking of Washington, which is a real possibility, and one which lies behind the actions that sparked off this thread.