Posted on 09/26/2006 1:12:02 PM PDT by StJacques
In nine states Rosales surpasses the President Elvia Gomez Jose Vicente Carrasquero, manager of the campaign command of the opposition candidate, announced that next Wednesday Manuel Rosales will present his government plan in the matter of citizen security, while later he will expound upon ideas in matters of housing construction and about the treatment the military sector will have which, he put forth, will be strictly attached to that which the Constitution forsees. In a press conference, accompanied by the ex candidate for the presidency of the republic, Roberto Smith (Venezuela First Party), Carrasquero explained that, according to data shown by recent regional polls, Rosales has managed to surpass the serving Chief Executive in the electoral preference in the states of Zulia, Lara, Falcon, Tachira, Miranda, Carabobo, Apure, Delta Amacuro y Amazonas. "We are pleasantly surprised," he said, that the "numbers are near those of Chavez in [the state of] Vargas" and that a "technical tie" exists in [the states of] Bolivar and Guarico. In the concrete case of the state of Miranda, the spokesman stressed the rebound, especially in the municipality of Sucre (Petare). Asked about the effect which the fear of reprisals may have on the results and the trustworthiness of the surveys which put Rosales in first place, Carrasquero said that the technical aspects [of the polls] are maximized, so that those questioned do not fear to express their true intention of voting. He stressed that the rebound of Rosales is a product of the direct contacts which Manuel Rosales has carried out with more than 200,000 people in 39 cities (16 states), in a trip that has taken him more than 168 kilometers. He insisted upon the importance which the plan against crime has, since one must put the brakes on "the shame of this government which has been incapable of articulating an efficient plan" against the [criminal] underworld.
El Universal (Caracas)
redgolum and supremedoctrine, I have put you both on the ping list.
http://blogs.salon.com/0001330/2006/09/26.html#a3078
Damage Control on the massacre, but no punishment on cover up?
Some damage control on the part of the Government, which in the end only complicates matters:
--Chavez recognizes there was excessive use of weapons and cynically begins talking about the human rights record of the Government as if Fort Mara, Puente El Llaguno, Plaza Altamira (twice) and many others had occurred in some other era. Maybe someone should show him the video of the song by Panaminian Ruben Blades Prohibido Olvidar.
We are still waiting for those guilty of Fort Mara to be charged. (In fact Chavez said one day it was a media scandal and the surviving soldier had light injuries, he died that night). Chavez admits that there was no confrontation.
--Chacon says there were only six people dead, in a slip of a tongue, which may have meant, thanks God there were only six.
--Andres Velasquez takes the Government to task, saying that the Government first denied the event ha taken place, then it said there was a confrontations between miners, then the Minister said it was a confrontation between the military and the miners and now the President admits there was excessive use of weapons and expresses doubts about the version of a confrontation. Velasquez ratifies that there are ten people dead, in contrast with Chacons only six version. Who is right?
--The Brazilian Foreign Ministry office announces that it has asked the Venezuelan Government for "detailed information" on the event, as some of the "seven" dead are Brazilian, introducing a new number for the deaths as well as a new monkey wrench into the affair.
The problem is that the law in the whole Bolivar mining region has become the Law of the Jungle as the military tries to enrich itslef (What else is new?) at the expense of the miners. There continued to be reports that a lot of gold owned by the miners is missing and that there are some miners that have yet to be found.
From a punlic relations point of view, the problem at this time is that the President and the Minister of the Interior and Justice are giving versions which are exactly the opposite of what both the Minister of Defense, General Ivan Baduell and the Governor of Bolivar State, retired General Francisco Rangel Gomez have said, not once but three times, falling into a trap of too many contradictions.
Will they then punish only some lowly soldiers for the massacre and not the high ranking Government officials for trying to cover the massacre three times, as well as covering up what the source of the conflict is?
7-11 will no longer offer Chavez's Citgo gas:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4218565.html
I have been pinged from several FreeRepublic threads on this subject today. The State of Florida wants turnpike Citgo stations removed as well. And there's more.
I wonder what his chances are of winning. How is it possible to have a free and honest election in Venezuela now?
I rate his chances of winning at about 35%, which is to say "not good." But I rate his chances of exposing Chavez's "fraud of democracy" at about 80%, which is to say I expect both national and international opinions of Chavez will change dramatically as a result of this campaign. Rosales is going to be a martyr for Democracy and I'm of a mind that, for that reason, he deserves our attention and our respect.
ping
Well, I might be tempted to say send the bombers to a country whose president comes to ours and calls our leader a devil,,,,,,,but in this case, I say save the bombs. They're doing a wonderful job on their own!
Maybe Felipe Calderon won't recognize Chavez's narrow victory either... (assuming Chavez wins).
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