Alejandro Armas in "30 minutos"
Revelations about a possible electoral fraud in Venezuela? Could Jorge Rodriguez lie to that extent?
And an acknowledgment for Jimmy Carter.

Alejandro Armas is a representative to the National Assembly. He was elected in 2000 on Chavez lists and became for a year the chairman of the fiance committee. His break up came with Chavez when he decided that some accounting was necessary. Chavez does not tolerate anyone to remind him his duties.

Tonight Alejandro Armas, one of the most distinguished and serious opponents of Chavez, who sat for months at the negotiation table without losing his temper is commenting on today events in "30 minutos", my favorite opinion program on TV where Cesar Miguel Rondon gives you the "scandal" of the day without a word pronounced a tone higher than the other.

Well, tonight both men are rather in shock about the events that I related earlier on.

Alejandro Armas ratifies that the counting is not proceeding, that the validation books are in Tiuna Fort and that is why Rodriguez did not want the journalists go to the counting room. He also confirmed that indeed today there was a meeting to discuss a "change" in the rules approved BEFORE the validation process. And that is why Zamora was not invited. Imagine that!

In other words, it seems that Rodriguez has lied and has tried to cover it up by invoking respect for the CNE and other such nonsense. Rodriguez lost tonight an excellent opportunity to hide and stay silent. In a fit of hubris he thought that he could come out after Carter left and dish him out. He was caught like a small time liar. Or he is the only one telling the truth.

It is fascinating to see how Rodriguez, a psychiatrist by trade, a leftist politician for family reasons, has let himself become the tool of fraud for reasons that can be charitably attributed to a narcistic complex.

Meanwhile Armas is talking in the sternest language I ever heard him talk. Even peaceful and straight arrow men can come to lose their temper when vileness is just too much to bear.

I would like to close shop for the night expressing my personal gratitude for Jimmy Carter. He has been vilified quite often by many an opposition member in Venezuela. But in this blog the reader will not find a word against him, though on occasion I wondered how clear he was about the Venezuelan situation. I always knew that when the time for firmness would come, he would be as firm and objective as one could be. In the 1980 US election, my first election while living in the US, I was surprised by a rather unjust rejection of his rule. But I had only seen the last 6 months of his term and I could not judge.

Maybe Mr. Carter was not an effective president, perhaps too much of a preacher, but I think that his second career has been very productive and Venezuela is extremely lucky to have him give us a hand. Thank you Mr. Carter. We know that you alone will not be able to solve our problems, but without you they would have been indeed much harder to solve.