Pro-Chavez landslide forecasted municipal elections

[bemildred]

A hundred thousand troops will be deployed over the weekend in Venezuela to guarantee security during municipal elections announced military authorities in Caracas.

Next Sunday over 14 million Venezuelans will be choosing among 35,000 candidates to fill some 6,000 seats on city councils and community boards. Pro government parties and groups are expected to win by a landslide.

---

Pro President Hugo Chavez organizations will present a single, unified list of candidates, but the opposition is fragmented since its leaders could not agree on fielding joint candidates.

Spokesmen for the ruling coalition parties anticipated that divisions in the opposition will enable candidates who support President Hugo Chavez to win 75% of the posts in dispute, which is consistent with the latest surveys.

MercoPress

[Benhurst]

1. But have they asked Condi Rice about this? There's more to

running a democracy than getting the most votes.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Yes, Ms Most Influential must be consulted. You can be sure her

advice will emphasize lies, theft, and death as the key to running PNAC style democracy. She'll advise that if it's good enough for the U.S., it's good enough for Venezuela.

[getmeouttahere]

4. Good one, higher class...

this is why that proposal by the U.S. to "monitor" the spread of democracy in Latin America was such a joke, and why I was so very happy to see the OAS reject it!

[Mika]

3. Landslide? Interesting choice of word considering..

CEN officials forecasted a low turnout but better than the 24% of December 2000, when the last municipal elections.

How much better than 24% turnout I wonder? :shrug:

[bemildred]

5. There were a couple jarring notes like that.

It's probably the translation. I take "low" to mean well under 50%, and "landslide" to refer to the 75% plus municipal control, which if I read it correctly is actually a slight decline. But it's all guessing, is it not?

[Zorra]

6. Maybe US Democrats should take a page from the Populist playbook?

The Chavez message of promoting government of, by, and for the People seems to be working quite well in getting pro-democracy folks elected in Venezuela.

Maybe US Democrats looking for a unified message to present to voters could focus on this novel idea.

[bemildred]

7. Someone might, not the Democrats though.

Their job is to head off any such populist movement before it takes over. Chavez is seen as a horrible example of what could happen here,
government in the interests of the people.

[wli]

8. this is why we need a union-like affair

So we can use shutting down the economy as an ultimatum and recall government officials (hopefully we'll soon be able to recall federal representatives and the president) when things like CAFTA pass.

[bemildred]

9. A higher degree of public involvement and "attitude" would be essential.

As long as we (in the mass) sit around eating pork rinds and watching TV and believing most of the bullshit shoveled out for us, things will not change much,

[wli]

10. yes, pretty sad

[redqueen]

12. Kucinich proves your theory incorrect.

re: establishment dems, you're spot on.

However there are some that still have their souls.

[bemildred]

14. While I like Mr. Kucinich, and would vote for him gladly, ...

He proves nothing, although he is a counterexample to the idea that all Democrats are unworthy of support; but there are quite a few of those, actually, not nearly enough, but many.

So I think we agree.
Nice handle you have, Redqueen.

[arcos]

13. Venezuela is a poor country, the US is not...

Conditions are absolutely different... and to be honest, I'm not sure most Americans would be willing to give up a big part of their capitalism.

Hell, I'm not even sure most DUers would like a Chávez-style government, even though they may say they support it now.

[bemildred]

15. It would certainly be a big adjustment. nt

[Raiden]

11. VOTER FRAUD!!! lol

Gosh, Chaves is a COMMIE PINKO -and a dictator- he could never win an election!

I'm waiting for Condi to demand a more "transparent government" from Chavez -- which is pretty funny





I wish we had a president like Chavez

[Judi Lynn]

16. That Vene. madcap Cardinal Lara has more words of wisdom to offer

Published: Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Bylined to: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara forecasts bloodbath in Venezuela

Venezuelan Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara has launched another biting attack on President Hugo Chavez Frias in an interview with Miami's Channel 41.

There will not be a civil war, the Cardinal forecasts, but there will be a blood bath. "I pray each day that it won't happen."

The prelate insists that Chavez Frias won the recall referendum last year through fraud and his victory was validated by the "unfortunate intervention of former US President Jimmy Carter."

Another tidbit added to his already long list of verbal attacks directed principally at Chavez Frias that have pleased anti-Castro Cubans of Miami is the claim that the USA will rue the day it accepted the referendum results.

In his rosary of attacks, the Cardinal has granted interviews to El Tiempo de Bogota (Colombia), El Universal broadsheet (Venezuela) and Miami TV.

According to Castillo Lara, Chavez Frias is a follower of Fidel Castro, a dictator who hates Colombia, supports the guerrilla and wants a Communist State ... and furthermore, is responsible for the crime wave instigating the poor to steal.
(snip/)

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=44007

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He forgets there's a bloodbath very closeby in Venezuelan's memory, "El Caracazo," commanded by his beloved former (and now impeached for corruption) President Carlos Andres Perez:

Laying Blame for Polarization at Chávez' Feet "The consensus around judicial reforms has largely dissolved as the country has grown increasingly polarized in response to President Chávez's policies and style of governance." This argument is a favorite of the opposition, and as we saw above, is often recycled by the international media. Yet the idea that the country was not polarized on February 27th, 1989 during the Caracazo, for example, when anywhere from 327 (government figure) and 3,000 (independent estimates by journalists) people were killed by the Venezuelan military is extremely offensive to the Venezuelans who lived the tragedy.
(snip)

http://counterpunch.org/girdin08142004.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On February 27, 1989, Perez increased the price of gasoline and the cost of public transportation. Following an IMF model to garner foreign investment, his austerity policies hit the poorest people hardest. But Perez apparently did not expect Venezuelans to respond to "economic shock" programs with spontaneous protests, which erupted throughout the country. In some areas, rioters torched shops and set up roadblocks.

When the police went on strike, the government lost control. Perez called for a state of emergency. The soldiers fired into crowds. By March 4, the government claimed that 257 lay dead. Some non-governmental sources estimated the death toll at over 2000. Thousands were wounded.

Perez, who called himself a socialist, first imposed draconian measures on the poor and then had them shot when they objected. The Caracazo as the event became known, not only destroyed Venezuela's aura of stability but put an end to the political system that had replaced the ousted military dictator Perez Jimenez in 1958.
(snip)

http://www.upsidedownworld.org/ven-public-opinion.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click for thumbnail photos of "El Caracazo:
http://abn.info.ve/galeria/show.php?carpeta=El%20Caracazo.%20Fotos%20Frasso.%201989

Former President Carlos Andres Perez who continually howls for the blood of Hugo Chavez is _{George H. W. Bush's} friend, and occassional visitor in New York, where he keeps an apartment, and Miami.

This would be a man the good Cardinal Lara reveres. He's of a "better" social class.