The Venezuelan election is today: here's hoping all goes well

[Greeby]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2035204.ece

Probably a forlorn hope given that the BFEE are involved in there somewhere

[Judi Lynn]

1. You note the two attempts to sell the idea Hugo Chavez has had two

6 year terms under his belt already. Very misleading, isn't it, when his first term started in 1999?

Getting a straight story from these fools would be such a shock some readers might succumb to mild heart attacks.

[Peace Patriot]

2. What the poor, the grass roots and the left have built in Venezuela is...

amazing. They have built themselves a democracy, by their own hands. This morning, bugles and pots and pans will be sounding in all the poor neighborhoods in Caracas, reminding people that it is election day and awakening them to go get in line to vote. The lines are often long because so many want to vote. This election is their story, even more than it is Chavez's story. That's what our corporate news monopolies don't want you to know.

[malaise]

3. Viva Chavez n/t

[Judi Lynn]

4. Venezuela’s Economic Boom Buoys Chávez

Venezuela’s Economic Boom Buoys Chávez



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

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.

[cal04]

5. Long Lines at Venezuela Polling Stations

With queues in some polling stations, Venezuelans started very early to vote in the Sunday presidential elections, which favorite candidate is President Hugo Chavez.

In a first tour of La Candelaria zone and "23 de enero" popular neighborhood, Prensa Latina could verify the massive number of people to vote.

According to TV and radio reports, the situation is similar in other states, with a good participation of voters in the over 11,000 polling stations.

(snip)
About 500 international observers are attending these polls, among them experts from the Southern Common Market, the Organization of American States and the European Union.

http://www.plenglish.com/