Pre-election jitters

There is a tense calm today in Venezuela. Normally political parties are full of announcements as to what is going on, where, how and what is being settled as far as monitoring, news press rooms, etc... Very little of that. Or at least much less than usual.

The consequence? I have NEVER seen my San Felipe Central Madeirense as full of people as today. There were at least 10 carts full of food waiting in line in front of each cashier. You could barely walk through the aisles as these lines reached halfway down many an aisle.

And to bring the point home, on the way back home (after I gave up buying anything at the CM) there was the most incredible spectacle in front of the Banco Industrial: of all days they chose today, finally, to pay a lot of the back dues of a given number of Misiones. There were lines, and lines of people in the street, all sort of organized by army personnel and all in the middle of total filth as people had been standing for hours, eating, drinking and tossing everything in the gutter from where cars and the breeze spread generously around the trash. Dantesque!

Added later: I went, got my camera and drove again through the Banco Industrial chaos. I had to take my pics from the car, discretely (thank the deity for AC and digital cameras that you can sort of hold close to your dashboard so nobody can see you, in particular the soldiers that can become quite, well, you know). I did manage to take two pictures that do reflect the scene. Click to enlarge.

In the first one you can see the army truck. Note that it is the Army that is keeping public order, not the state police!!! That should speak volumes as to what they expect to happen from a crowd growing angry by the minute as harsh sun and despair conjugate fast. The next picture is a little bit further. You can see the lines on each side of the street trying to find any protection they can against the sun. It is 1:30 PM as I take these pictures.

You can see the trash, you can see the street vendors. You cam imagine about three blocks like that and a couple of half blocks where the line ends with less people. A vision from hell! And they will vote largely for Chavez! Go figure!!! If they had a real job they would not have to go through such an indignity. But Chavez controls them much better this way!!!! One day before the election! Can the blackmail be any clearer than this obvious abuse!!!

Tags: elecciones3D, misiones