Time to go Leopoldo

Dear Leopoldo Lopez

I think one should know when to call it quits even when all is unfair, as it is in your case. We all agree that Ruffian and Chavez have set you a rotten trap, that in the annals of Venezuelan electoral treachery the "inhabilitaciones" will occupy a ranking position. But let's face it, at this point it is clear that the government will not back down and if it backs down it will be in a way that will not allow you to register for the November election. That is, considering the unavoidable judicial delays, even if next week by some miracle the TSJ decided for you, you might still not be able to clear up your name in time to register for the November election. At this point your only chance is for Ruffian to say "oops! I made a mistake with you! Sorry!". You and I know that this will happen only if Chavez himself calls Ruffian.

You are a smart politician Leo, you know that Chavez is not going to abandon Isturiz. He is revolutionary, he is black, he has accepted to become servile to Chavez. Furthermore Chavez cannot afford to have the opposition control the political marches permits of Caracas, cannot afford the opposition to control the biggest Caracas bureaucracy outside of the central state, cannot afford to have the opposition main spokesperson sitting on Plaza Bolivar. True, you had an excellent chance at becoming chavismo worst nightmare but you will not. At least not from the Alcaldia Mayor.

So what should you do? You should go out and declare your support to one of the other guys also running, make a pact with your choice and publicly engage yourself to run the campaign side by side with him/her just as if you were the one running for mayor. You should said that the best way for the people to express their disgust with the rottenness of the electoral maneuvers of chavismo is to vote for whomever you support. In the same breath you will say that all the free time you will have left after the election will be spent in running a series of referendum initiatives to correct such injustices. You need to make chavismo know that you will be an even more formidable adversary of chavismo once you get free of pothole fixing, and you must ask people to help you become just that, by voting for whomever you support.

This is what a true statesman, a man of great vision would do. Are you such a man Leopoldo?

-The end-