The day after: the tidal wave of the Recall Election passed through
And a couple of additional comments on this week end

Monday 31, May 2004

There is a movie hitting the cineplexes of the world about some monstrous storm due to weather changes. On the adds, one can see a frozen Miss Liberty pointing out to a snow buried Manhattan. Well, I do sense some of that this morning as the political players are strangely frozen, as seen on TV morning talk shows.

First, the fact that it is forbidden to announce results before the Electoral Board, CNE, has done so threw a cooling effect on the joy of the opposition leaders doing the TV rounds. Not to mention that even if they could boast of the numbers, it is still a long way until the Chavez administration recognizes that fact. In other words we seem to be frozen until perhaps Friday, the supposed self imposed deadline of the CNE to publish the results, a deadline by the way “promised” to Jimmy Cater by the CNE. Promises, promises…

Meanwhile, guests were trying to make complex verbal contortions to announce without announcing it that results were positive for the opposition.

From the chavista angle, only one dared to brave the opposition media, the master of all lies and the prince of snitchers, Luis Tascon. This representative from Tachira State has made quite a name for himself by setting up a web page where one could find the ID numbers of all people that ever signed against Chavez, since the dismissed October 2002 consultative referendum. This web site has been used extensively, from putting pressure on public employees to refusing to issue passports and ID cards. Newspapers are littered with such abuses and yet the Ombudsman, whose job would be to denounce such administrative misdeeds has remained dead silent.

Well, Luis Tascon was also frozen in his own way. Repeating the same arguments to claim that the opposition did not collect the signatures, and trying to prove that the few hundred of fake ID found were the work of Accion Democratica (the ever useful boogie man of chavismo). As if 1000 fake ID would be enough to counter 700 000 signatures. But this communisto-fascist argumentation has been perennial: if you can find fault with one single argument, no matter how insignificant that one is, then you can claim that all is faulty in your opponent argumentation.

Other frozen fossils were on the State TV, VTV. There, people were once again talking of the 2002 Carmona coup. As if this event by itself justified the permanence for ever and ever of Chavez. In other words since democracy was denied him once, then in turn Chavez had all the right to deny democracy for ever.

Truly, some chavistas are trying to freeze freedom, just as their brain is frozen.

Other notes from this week end
Among the many curiosities of yesterday. Chavismo convoked a “:celebration” party downtown. As if they had managed to have enough “withdrawals” to cancel the 700 K + signatures re-validated. A friend of mine that lives near Plaza Caracas told me that there was a racket there quite late, perhaps stimulated by some free booze. This morning when interrogated on that, Tascon stated that it was a celebration of democracy, celebrating that the opposition finally behaved. And he did not even blush.

In San Felipe. During the week end, chavistas went around the neighborhoods offering money for people willing to withdraw signatures. One of my employees told me that they offered to pay him some bills. Apparently some people accepted the offer, he did not.

In El Junquito. I have a friend that was a witness in one of the collection tables there in November. Still, my friend had to revalidate the signature! At any rate, from that table the count on Saturday was of 70 people showing up, with 13 to withdraw their signature. ALL OF THE 13 belonged to one of the many "misiones", the near charity programs that the Chavez administration has undertaken. ALL OF THEM were told to withdraw or else. In a depressed are, the decision was easy to predict.