Electoral Fraud update
Details and one hopeful thought on today's earlier posts
02/25/2004

I had to make an emergency delivery trip to Valencia to help a customer, our company driver being already on another delivery. In a way it was good since it forced me to three hours of peaceful reflection in the van. The first conclusion is that the opposition can still prevail.

The eternal optimist in me made me ponder one hypothesis (though I tend to come across as a pessimist, but this is the price that realistic and pragmatic people must pay). Perhaps the CNE directors had to give Chavez a way out since he has not been able to produce hard evidence of a "megafraud" to this day. Yes, zip, nada, except a few little things that might invalidate a few thousand signatures out of the few hundred of thousand he needs to have killed outright. This way, by "suspending" 1.4 million the CNE might hope to agree with God and The Devil. Indeed, it all but annulled the 1.4 million that Chavez wanted to annul, but it also give one more chance to the opposition if they manage to motivate 500 000 of their supporters to reach again the 2.4 + mark needed to mandate a Recall Election.

This little sliver of hope and decency will depend of course on the new rules that were supposed to be published today. But on TV a few minutes ago I learned that the CNE Vice President, Ezequiel Zamora, did not attend today's meeting and when interviewed did not rule outright his resignation. This would be of course catastrophic. Zamora would be replaced by somebody as favorable to the opposition as he might be himself, but it would mean that the CNE has become an unmanageable entity wrecked by political interests.

Anyway, a few updates.

El Universal English section has published an account elaborating the details of what I posted earlier on today. Note the size and weight of the "electoral phone book" that the CNE will be obliged to publish next week!!! My name will appear in the press. Goody!

The USA have emitted a communique supporting the efforts and recent proposal of the OAS and Carter Center (and other international factors such as the European Union). The speed of this announcements certainly indicates the preoccupation overseas.

The opposition has called for a massive rally on Friday, just during the sessions of the G-15, which by the way have dropped to a G-6 since yet another one "excused" his presence. But Mugabe is still coming. I can hardly wait for the effusive welcome that Chavez will offer. We might even get a cadena. Chavismo on his side will call "1 million or more" people in Caracas streets this coming Sunday.

I am sick and tired of this thing, but if something worthwhile and new comes up, I will log on once more tonight.