Venezuelan Election: Chavez's Opponent Manuel Rosales Gains Ground in Race (Translation)

El Universal ( Caracas, Venezuela ) ^ | September 25, 2006 | Elvia Gomez ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

redgolum and supremedoctrine, I have put you both on the ping list.

[StJacques]

". . . We should figure out a way to try to involve ourselves in this election, sort of as anti-Jimmy Carters, with whose help the corrupt Chavez probably won last time. . . ."

The truth is that Chavez actually did win last time, primarily because the opposition to him divided amongst themselves and never developed an alternative to Chavez that could compete for the vote of Venezuela's poor, who are quite numerous and recently radicalized by Chavez and his followers.

But this time things are different. The opposition is unifying and there is a clear alternative in Rosales. I do not want to mislead anyone into thinking that Rosales is some kind of conservative, because he's nothing of the sort. Rosales is still pursuing an agenda based upon large government subsidies to the poor in Venezuela. But the differences between Rosales and Chavez are marked. Rosales is extremely critical of Chavez for his close contacts with Cuba, Iran, and China. Rosales also desires the restoration of Venezuelan oil production -- he's from the state of Zulia, the center of Venezuela's oil industry -- and he wants American technocratic help to return to the country to assist in the process. Rosales is also pointing out the horrific corruption Chavez has instituted, the intimidation of the political opposition, and the growth in both organized crime -- especially drug trafficking -- and random violence in the country. Finally; Rosales is a committed Roman Catholic who has some widespread appeal among the religious poor in Venezuela, which is a real factor. If you put all of these together, you have the potential for a legitimate challenge to Chavez.

[Founding Father]

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 Chacon’s “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?

[StJacques]

"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?"

No one is going to be punished. That's the entire reason for the conflicting stories, to create such confusion that everyone can stand around and say that "the interests of justice cannot be served by merely lashing out because we're angry, we have to get to the truth."

Hugo, you can't handle the truth.

[StJacques]

This is a "heads up" post to let you all know that Chavez's opponent, Manuel Rosales, gave a big speech today announcing his platform, which is overwhelmingly a law-and-order proposal. I've just begun translating it and I will be posting it in a new thread later this evening, I'm guessing between 7:00 - 7:30 p.m. Central Time, so you might want to look for it. Even though I translate rather quickly, it is a long article.

For any of you who may be able to read Spanish it is at:

http://www.eluniversal.com/2006/09/27/pol_ava_27A783319.shtml

More to come ...

[Shuttle Shucker]

7-11 will no longer offer Chavez's Citgo gas:

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4218565.html

[StJacques]

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.

[Enterprise]

I wonder what his chances are of winning. How is it possible to have a free and honest election in Venezuela now?

[StJacques]

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.

[UpToHere]

ping

[realpatriot]

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!

[Shuttle Shucker]

Maybe Felipe Calderon won't recognize Chavez's narrow victory either... (assuming Chavez wins).

[StJacques]

Heads up to you Shuttle Shucker, I will be posting a Cronica de Hoy editorial translation tomorrow on the "Oaxacanization of the Country" which compares and associates AMLO and the APPO protest in Oaxaca.