Million more say Yes

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Million more say Yes

(Wednesday 26 November 2008)

REDMOND O'NEILL


REDMOND O'NEILL reports from Venezuela on this week's elections.
WAITING for the results of the regional and local election results in Miraflores, Venezuela's presidential palace, is unlike anything in Europe.


The "palace" is not in a park in a rich part of Caracas, but in the centre of low-cost housing projects in Libertador, one of the two poorest boroughs of the capital.

Our room is filled with the sound of a gathering crowd of red-shirted Chavistas. The surrounding streets echo with the sounds of horns blasting in solidarity as they pass and the roar of processions of motorbikes.


These are the people who spread news that President Hugo Chavez had not resigned at the time of the right-wing military coup in April 2002. The people's presence is palpable.


You can easily imagine how the putschists and the young soldiers who finally turned their guns against them felt as a million people surrounded the palace to defeat the coup.


The final election results are now clear. Chavez's United Socialist Party won well over a million votes more than the opposition, a margin of more than 20 per cent, taking 80 per cent of the mayor's offices and 77 per cent of the state governors.


This shows that the hair's breadth defeat of Chavez in last year's referendum on a raft of complex constitutional amendments reflected opposition to some of those proposals, not rejection of the president's social transformation programme.


The turnout was a record 65 per cent, highlighting the vibrancy of democracy in Venezuela, and the results were accepted by both the president and the opposition, giving the lie to claims in some British media that Chavez would put "tanks on the streets" in states that he did not win.


I visited a polling station at 5.30am after being awoken by the Chavista mini-calvacades with trumpets touring the city to remind people to get up and vote.


I saw for myself the meticulousness of the democratic process. Every stage was monitored and checked by the independent electoral commission with the participation of all political parties and the determination of Venezuelans to use their vote.


The huge margin of victory for the Chavistas showed that the work with Cuba to extend free health care to the population, the eradication of illiteracy, expansion of free education and improvement of living standards have left an indelible mark on Venezuelan society after years of plundering of the country's resources by a tiny minority.


At the same time, the results underlined that the government must now urgently tackle the acute problems of shanty towns, crime, transport and waste disposal in the big cities. It was here that the opposition made gains, winning the metropolitan mayoralty of Caracas, the governorship of the interlocking state Miranda and of the next two most urbanised and economically important states, Zulia and Carabobo.


But the opposition has no answer to the cities' problems. On the contrary, their backers are responsible for them.


For 50 years before Chavez was elected, they took the country's oil wealth for themselves and left the majority of the population to sink into appalling poverty. They used the army and police to suppress the discontent that this caused.


For them to now talk about democracy and development is simply a sick joke.


If the Chavistas now give top priority to massive investment in and reform of the infrastructure and public services in the cities with the same enthusiasm and vigour with which they solved the crises of health, education and raising the living standards of the poor, they will renew the cities and take the revolution forward to a new phase.


This will continue to light the beacon of democracy and social progress that it has become for hundreds of the millions of people throughout the world.

Redmond O'Neill was observing the elections on behalf of the Venezuela Information Centre of which he is vice-chairman. He was director of Transport for London and deputy chief of staff to mayor Ken Livingstone for eight years.

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[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Chavez fears plot to split Venezuela

(Friday 28 November 2008)






WARNING: Hugo Chavez (right) with Bolivian leader Evo Morales, whose country is suffering an attempted breakaway by states wtih right-wing governors.

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez warned on Thursday that the right-wing opposition could attempt to Balkanise the country "like Bolivia" to stall the Bolivarian revolution.

Mr Chavez pointed out that the "far right in Colombia is very pleased" that the Venezuelan opposition won the governorships of two important states on the frontier between the two countries, Zulia and Tachira.
In last Sunday's local elections, candidates for the president's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) took 17 of the 22 states being contested, winning over a million more votes than the scattered opposition parties.
However, the gains by the right in states bordering Colombia have raised fears that the opposition could prepare plans to secede and try to split the country.
"I have learnt that there are those in Zulia and Tachira who could be reactivating a 'media luna' plan for Venezuela," Mr Chavez revealed, referring to the "half moon" of states in eastern Bolivia whose right-wing governors are attempting to defeat President Evo Morales.
"Although the opposition have failed to win important states such as Barinas, Sucre and Bolivar, they could try to do the same here as in Bolivia because they have taken an important space in the centre of the country, in Miranda and Carabobo," Mr Chavez warned.
"From these governor's palaces and mayor's offices, I believe that they could try to cause political instability and use it as a cover to justify anything," he said.
Venezuela's National Electoral Council has already opened an investigation into riots by opposition supporters in Zulia after PSUV candidates won elections in other states.
The electoral council's offices were attacked and officials' cars burnt, but its president Tibisay Lucena said that election workers would not be intimidated.
"The people have made their decision and, despite the violence, threats and blackmail - all the political pressure - we have confirmed the results because they are the voluntary will of the people of Venezuela," she said.
President Chavez's warning concerning possible Colombian encouragement for Venezuelan secession follows speculation that the US is considering setting up a military air base in La Guajira, on the desert frontier between the countries.



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