Venezuela is no tyrann - an article in the Guardian by Francisco Dominguez last October:

[Joe Chi Minh]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/14/venezuela-democracy-honduras-chavez

Still just as relevant today. The country's been under constant siege and the last thing a young democracy needs is a phalanx of powerful and brazen right-wing subversives (particularly, media tycoons), ever conspiring with foreign countries against the regime.

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is a good one. I missed it last winter. Thanks!

They make a point which holds true here, too: the right-wing HAS to resort to hideous, underhanded, dirty measures to try to get the upper hand, since the majority of people hate them, and they don't win elections. That's only possible when they they control the news media, and feed their filthy lies to enough people to make a difference, but the truth ALWAYS comes out, in the end.

They are ETERNAL criminals, and greedy, clumsy, rigid, stupid people. However, let's not be unrealistic. They do have their horrible flaws, too.

Recommend.

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Deleted by jcm. What's the point of arguing, when time and the zeitgeist are on the progressives'

side.

[AlphaCentauri]

2. I was watching some latin american News TV channels

the stories and the details in the news are so different than those in the US

[protocol rv]

4. They sure are, but Chavez is the most disliked politician in Latino America

And that's a fact.

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. How do you square those two, proto? Proto says, "That's a fact!". So it must be. He said it

very emphatically. Oh. And he lives there. How about those for authoritative qualifications?

[naaman fletcher]

9. To be fair,

Having once been to Cuba seems to be the main qualification for some of the pro-castro crowd.

[AlphaCentauri]

11. It could be since the opposition is part of the elites that control the big media in latin america

propaganda can control more people than a whole army

[ChangoLoa]

13. I wouldn't say the opposition is part of the elites

I'd say a part of the economical elites in Venezuela is in the opposition and another part of it, the most powerful nowadays, is in the chavismo. It's a pretty frequent configuration in an oil state.

[protocol rv]

3. Sorry Joe

But I live in Venezuela. The ones who don't like the Chavez government is us. We don't care for the lousy economy and the other things we see going wrong. Do you know what we really don't appreciate? Communists, sandalistas, and other foreigners who defend this lousy government we're stuck with. And by the way, we happen to be the majority.

Check the latest polls, the majority is anti Chavez now that the poor see his handouts can't overcome the lack of jobs, the high prices, the power cuts, the lack of water, and the criminals running all over the place.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. "And by the way, we happen to be the majority." And the moon is mde of green cheese.

[naaman fletcher]

8. Is there any reliable source of polling data?

I know there are some recent polls out with Chavez below 50%, but I have no idea if those polls are reliable.

[Joe Chi Minh]

10. Common sense tells you that hungry people are going to vote for the

party that gives them bread.

In an affluent society, the unworldly people tend not to bother to vote, but a politicised people with bitter experience of economic oppression within living memory, and who have seen the beneficial effects of their vote, know better; while the Venezuelan rich are a small minority. It's not rocket science, or psephology, for that matter. Just common sense.

[ChangoLoa]

12. You seem to think our society is primary and amazingly easy to understand

Poor people want bread from the party, right wing oligarchs and left wing revolutionaries fighting for power...

Always the same with most Europeans and North Americans... which one are you?

[protocol rv]

16. I guess you're not in Venezuela

The poor here want more than bread. This is Venezuela, my friend. They want their beer on Saturday night, and they want to buy a nice dress for their wife, and have some money to take the bus and go to the beach and eat fish and tostones. And they don't like the way the crime rate has been going up. Nor do they like to see the way the hospitals are being ruined. I guess you don't realize poor women here give birth in the public maternity hospital, and the main one in Caracas is a disaster. So these are the "little things" they care about, and they are not getting. Then they hear about Chavez buying fighter bombers and space stations from the Russians, and donating money to Cuba and Bolivia. And they're not happy. And this is why the polls are starting to show a clear trend, Chavez has lost his teflon.

But wait, there's more. I just pointed out what's making the poor turn against the government. But this country has a fairly large middle class. And when it comes to the middle class, then we have to add other factors. We don't like the corruption, and we definitely don't want to see people getting jailed for speaking out against the government. We don't like to see Cubans come to Venezuela to do things Venezuelans can do, and we like to see the government respect the collective agreements negotiated by the unions. And these are the things which make so many in the middle class dislike Chavez.

So I don't even have to discuss the upper classes. The poll results are clear, the consensus is evolving that this government is full of incompetent people who want to make Venezuela into a copy of Cuba. And this we don't want.

[protocol rv]

15. Reliable enough

The data seems reliable enough. They called the election results in the past. It's too early to call the elections, but the data they show is pretty clear, the majority is anti Chavez now. And the economy is likely to do a lot worse in the next few months. The latest econometric projections are for a serious blow to GDP, rising unemployment, and slightly lower inflation because we'll be in a really serious depression. And this means the poor are going to be turning against the PSUV. As they say in the USA, people vote with their wallets. And their wallets are going to be empty.

[EFerrari]

14. Thanks, Joe! I also missed this the first time around. n/t