In Guayana, or Bolivar State

Monday 1, 10 AM

Just as I closed my previous post I heard on TV that 7 centers in Guayana had run out of signatures by yesterday. This is really quite telling.

The Guayana region is reputed to be today the one where Chavez has maintianed the largest support. Indeed it has become the most frequent destination for Chavez as he keeps inaugurating major public works (gossip says he might have a mistress in San Felix, but no matter how much I like gossip I am sure he can send plane tickets for her at will). The fact is that during the general strike Guyana was a weak link for the opposition. The reason? Guayana is dotted with large inefficient state enterprises, inefficient because since they were created they have been a source of patronage. Guyana has pretty much followed whoever is in office to keep its privileges.

Well, that 7 centers run out of forms is quite telling.

And a footnote on Yaracuy. All was calm there through the week end, at least as far as my sources can tell. But the pace was rather weak and Yaracuy seems to be a little bit behind other states although it would have reached 108% of its assigned share to reach the 20% national. Well, I am not worried since Yaracuyanos are known to postpone everything for the last minute and today we could gather more signatures that Saturday or Sunday. We'll see.