Late night TV in time of crisis
Thursday 12, February 2004

I am a little bit restless tonight and not being able to sleep I went back to watch TV. For some reason I decided to watch the State TV (VTV) instead of a rerun of the X files. And indeed sometimes there are such cosmic coincidences: after I while I did not know which one I was watching.

I caught it when some "star", that I have never heard of, was being lengthy interviewed and saying how much he supported the "revolution" or some such nonsense. But that is par for the course for the state TV. Then during commercials VTV showed their little daily feature called "contact with reality" where supposedly real people say what is going on really in the country, as opposed, I suppose, to what is seen on the media from the other side. I was rather surprised to see Jimmy Carter starring in today’s clip!!! He was simply stating that he did not think that the Electoral Board (CNE) could not finish in the set dead line. Personally I would have agreed with Jimmy Carter when he said that, had I been in the country two weeks ago. But what is interesting is that this became the clip "du jour" just as the CNE postponed the final verdict on the Recall Election.

We moved on to a re-run of this morning talk show, En confianza, directed by Ernesto Villegas. I used to watch Mr. Villegas talk show on occasion as I considered that he was doing a valiant effort to provide some balance. He was probably the only show on VTV to even try it. That is, until October 2002. From then on he only invited people from the Chavez side and objectivity was pretty much sent away. As the strike unfolded he became more radical in his comments, still hiding behind his good kid looks. I thought that he had been given orders from above and wanted to keep his job but over time I had to admit to myself that he was the real thing. I was just finding out that his heart had been all along on the Chavez side. Since the agreements of May 2003, he has started to invite again some opposition figures, but rarely more than a token guest. Oh well.

Tonight rebroadcast was a gem. His guest was an obscure professor from Zulia who has created a polling organization of sorts that is been wildly quoted in the chavista media, giving of course very favorable numbers for Chavez. Ana Irene Mendez was presenting her numbers in not very glamorous fashion, which is also a trade mark of VTV aiming at being simpler and thus "closer" to the people. But her numbers did not add up, literally. In one chart she stated people's vote intentions. First item was Chavez with 49 %. Second item was candidate A with 16 %. Third was candidate B with 11 % and in fourth candidate C with 9 %. There was a final column of none of the above, with 4 %. The exact numbers I do not recall but one thing I do recall was that their added total was 41 %! 49 + 41 = 90. I am sure of the 49 and 41, I counted them twice. She had lost 10% along the way!!!! This is inexcusable as she had included a none of the above column!!!!!!! But Chavez red column looked so much bigger than the other guys’s columns in pastel tones. Undaunted and unquestioned she moved along to explain how surveys can be fudged (she should know) and ended by reading some religious work on the poor and the rich and how unfair it is all.

During commercials we were treated to a breaking news item, at 11:30 PM! Saturday there will be a giant popular market held on Avenida Bolivar. The voice over with some footage of a previously held market was from some general that I have not heard of until today. He was haltingly explaining how important it was to hold such a market this Saturday as "people" needed all those difficult to find/buy basic staples. Besides the fact that it is an admission of economical failure that the government must step in for direct subsidy for the masses, it is interesting to observe that this market is convoked a few hours after the opposition decided to hold a protest march on the shenanigans of the CNE. And part of the protest is schedule d to walk to the CNE through Avenida Bolivar. Talk of childish and desperate strategies from chavismo! And then some people wonder on how why I do not pay much attention to rumors of coup and counter coups. I mean, if the only thing that they can come up in the middle of the worst crisis since the general strike is to hold a open air street fair, then how could they organize a military coup pro Chavez?

I think I can go to sleep now, oddly.