Venezuelan Community Organizers and Local Officials in Get Out the Vote Drive

[Say_What]

<clips>

Caracas, December 1, 2006 (venezuelanalysis.com)— With only a week to go before the election the grassroots movements in the barrios of Caracas and the town halls are organizing to ensure a large turn out on election day and that it passes without incident.

Richard Madera works in the town hall of the eastern Caracas barrio Petare. It is his task to tour the area to talk with those who will work in the voting centers on December and to stop by at meetings of the local democratic bodies such as the missions or communal councils to make sure everyone understands what the procedures are for the day.

Richard’s first stop was to a school in La Agricultura in Petare. All voting centers will be in schools throughout Venezuela. In a classroom about 20 men and women are waiting for him. As usual in Venezuela half of those present, probably all the women, have their children with them. These people are going to be working in the voting center on Sunday.

He begins by telling them that there will be people responsible for the voting tables, some for security, and others will ensure the lines of voters remain orderly. The voting lines at the recall referendum of 2004 were long. No matter what time Venezuelans arrived at polling stations they could expect a wait of 10-12 hours.

The opposition at the time accused the government of trying to sabotage the elections by making people tire of waiting. The problem was even more serious in Chavista strongholds, though.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2155


Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez flood Caracas's streets during Chavez's closing campaign rally in Caracas November 26, 2006. Venezuela's presidential election will be held December 3, 2006. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Comando Miranda/Handout (VENEZUELA)


Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attend a closing campaign rally in Caracas November 26, 2006. Venezuela's presidential election will be held December 3, 2006. REUTERS/Edwin Montilva(VENEZUELA)

[Peace Patriot]

1. Venezuela's absurd rich oil elite opposition, funded by your tax dollars,

will pick on any little thing to scream, "ELECTION FRAUD!" The long lines were in the poorest areas because that's where the most people were MOTIVATED to vote--to keep Chavez and the Chavez government in power, which have done so much for the poor of Venezuela--and, by extension, for everyone, since using all human potential and living in an equitable society are beneficial to everyone. Schools, adult literacy programs, medical clinics, free university education, low cost housing, small business loans and grants, participatory democracy (community councils which decide what they need and pass those proposals to the government), baseball diamonds and equipment in even the poorest communities, land reform. Hope.

They also blamed the "purple finger" fingerprinting ID process. They demanded that it be suspended. And the election commission acquiesced, hoping to calm their hysteria at being the minority in the country. Then--after they got what they wanted--they boycotted those elections anyway (the midterms), because they knew they were going lose badly.

Like I said, they are absurd. I think they cannot understand that the country is no longer tipping over and pouring all the oil money into THEIR pockets. They are spoiled, petulant, egocentric, and don't seem to really care about their country, just about themselves and their privileged life. They are used to fascist and rightwing governments handing them privilege, power and money on a gold platter.

Kind of like the freepers and the rich here--the 30% (I'm convinced that's all the support Bush ever had)--who consider it unfair when they can't steal elections and bully their way into power.

It's sure great to read about Venezuelans' concerns and activism regarding their elections. I have been so impressed with what I've read about the solid organization of the grass roots. People go out with pots and pans and other noisemakers, and awaken the neighborhood at 3:00 am on election day, to remind people to go get in the long lines to vote. Others bring food and drink to keep people in line comfortable. It's a community party--but also very orderly and respectful. They are so proud of their Constitution and their viable, working, effective democracy--and they have a right to be.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Some reliable information on Venezuela, from the left...

Article about leftist Rafael Correa's big victory, recently, in the Ecuador presidential election. Correa won by more than 57% of the vote--and a sweeter victory for the left I've never seen (although it's hard to choose--Evo Morales' election in Bolivia was pretty sweet!). The Bush Junta so-o-o wanted to stop this overwhelming leftist trend in South America.

Some choice quotes...

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2151

All the latest news from Venezuela, from the leftist (majorityist) point of view...

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php

www.venezuelanalysis.com is a refreshing break from our war profiteering corporate news monopolies' attempt to brainwash us with propaganda transcribed straight from the Bush State Dept. on how bad leftist (majorityist) government is, how authoritarian it is, how it is dictatorial, and how Hugo Chavez has made friends with Castro, Castro, Castro, Castro, CASTRO!

Resist! http://www.venezuelanalysis.com

[Judi Lynn]

3. With Chávez, Some Venezuelan Entrepreneurs See Opportunity

With Chávez, Some Venezuelan Entrepreneurs See Opportunity

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 3, 2006; Page A21

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 2 -- Venezuela's business establishment often warns that if President Hugo Chávez wins reelection Sunday, it won't take long before the populist firebrand transforms Venezuela into a communist state, dooming its oil-rich economy. Alejandro Uscátegui, an industrialist here, couldn't disagree more.

Overseeing a variety of companies, Uscátegui is among a growing number of business leaders who reject the doom-and-gloom scenario and see something else entirely in Venezuela's free-spending government: opportunity.

"We think President Hugo Chávez has done a very good job," said Uscátegui, president of an association, Entrepreneurs for Venezuela, that is closely allied with the government. "Here there has been incredible growth in companies. There are businesses that close, sure, but they don't close because of Chávez."

Eight years into what Chávez calls "21st century socialism," Venezuela's economy has evolved into one marked by contradictions: the highest growth rate in the Americas and grinding underemployment, out-of-control consumerism and a lack of investment, troubling uncertainty and golden prospects.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/02/AR2006120201208.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. There's something very interesting about your first photo!

It's good to point out to readers to examine the OTHER parallel streets which are filled with red shirts. There are MULTIPLE AVENUES filled with Chávez supporters. Now that's something you don't see every day!

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

Just posted this NT Times article to a Chávez thread in G.D.:



Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Supporters waited in Caracas on Tuesday to greet Hugo Chávez, who is seeking re-election as president of Venezuela, as his motorcade passed.

Venezuela’s Economic Boom Buoys Chávez
By SIMON ROMERO

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 2 — To understand why Hugo Chávez seems set for victory in Sunday’s presidential election and a strengthened mandate for what he calls a socialist revolution, consider the vigor here of that most capitalist of institutions: the stock exchange.

Housed in El Rosal, an upscale district with new skyscrapers and hotels, the 59-year-old Caracas stock exchange was the site of frenzied trading this week. Its main index climbed to a record high of 46,741, topping off a 129.2 percent rise this year that has made it one of the best performing markets in the world. On Friday, the index climbed 8 percent for its biggest daily gain in four years.

“For all of Chávez’s faults, his government has been extremely pragmatic in economic terms,” said José Guerra, a former chief of economic research at Venezuela’s central bank. “State-supported capitalism isn’t just surviving under Chávez,” he said. “It is thriving.”

Often lost in the campaigning between Mr. Chávez and his electoral challenger, Manuel Rosales, is that Venezuela, with the largest conventional petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, is having one of the most significant oil booms in its history. Economic growth this year is set to pass 10 percent, making Venezuela the fastest-growing economy in the Americas.

The Chávez government, while wrapping itself in socialist imagery — like red clothing — and deepening its alliance with Fidel Castro’s Cuba, has made this expansion possible by quietly working with Venezuela’s banking system. The rush of petrodollars into the economy has led bank deposits to climb 84 percent in the past 12 months, according to Softline Consultores, a financial consulting business here.
(snip/...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/world/americas/03venezuela.html?ex=1322802000&en=ba76b40e5c8230be&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss



Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Mr. Chávez was cheered on by supporters in the streets of Caracas during a campaign rally Tuesday.

[Judi Lynn]

5. This article by an American living in Caracas may be eye-opening for you!

December 1, 2006

At Home with the Anti-Chavistas
Sleeping with the Enemy
By GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER

A guided tour of the political, economic, and racial geography of Caracas, Venezuela in four vignettes, courtesy of a friendly and unwitting member of the anti-Chavista opposition.

1. The Political: Parque Central

I thought the jig was up when I told Raúl where my French friends live. "Oh, they must be Chavistas!" I played dumb. Playing dumb was my only option: housing in Caracas is incredibly scarce, and I had already been looking for weeks before coming upon the empty room in Raúl´s house.
(snip)

2. The Racial: The City Center

Like many escualidos-a term for the political opposition which designates them as feeble and sickly-our landlord has a veritable phobia of the old city center. "Here it's dangerous, but compared to the center, this area is like a convent." He and others go into great detail about how slick and ruthless the thieves of the center are, about how they will rob me blind and kill me for my shoes. I try to remind myself that they are speaking of the area of the city that I know best, and in which I have spent months already and where I work every day, where the food is better and the people friendlier.
(snip)

3. The Economic: Sabana Grande

Sabana Grande used to be nice. Nestled between the old Center and the wealthy municipality of Chacao (reputedly the wealthiest in Latin America), it used to be a European style boulevard where the bourgeoisie could relax with a glass of lager at an outdoor restaurant. Now, Raúl reminds me, it's choked with buhoneros, the street vendors of the massively-informalized Venezuelan economy who, he is at pains to emphasize, even "piss on the street." But somehow the question doesn't become one of the lack of public restrooms, or even of the lack of jobs in the formal economy. The irreducible alterity of someone from a totally different political, racial, and economic situation provides all the necessary answers.
(snip)

The success of popular organization in Venezuela is so striking-and Chávez's return to power after the short-lived April 2002 coup was proof enough of this-that the radical opposition is left with only one option: the poor must be mobilized so that they can be smashed.
(snip/)

http://www.counterpunch.org/maher12012006.html