I finally got to this, and the other contributions to the forum, and what I read sounded like the standard-issue Chavez-is-hero defense favored by most northern leftists.
It's irritating that people can only explain the mass abstentions -- of "natural" Chavez supporters, of course -- as being caused by the chavistas' mistakes: the referendums were too complicated, not explained well enough, not debated fully, etc. What about the "positive" refusal of voting? Why isn't abstention considered a political statement rather than a sign of confusion or apathy?