Chávez showed what he could do best again: he insulted people, he particularly attacked verbally the US government.*
If he intended to create more tension in the market and make oil prices go up, it did not work.
Check the oil prices.
Did his popularity rise among the die-hard Chavistas? No, even if the hard-core ones got new emotional fuel. Did the ones who are just hungry believe more in him? I doubt it. Did Chávez manage to distract the ninis a little bit about Venezuela's failing infrastructure, dramatic criminality levels or sheer corruption? Hardly.
* There are more videos where you can hear all the insults and repetitions, but I was feeling lazy. You can find them fairly easily or look at the posts Miguel wrote.
If he intended to create more tension in the market and make oil prices go up, it did not work.
Check the oil prices.
Did his popularity rise among the die-hard Chavistas? No, even if the hard-core ones got new emotional fuel. Did the ones who are just hungry believe more in him? I doubt it. Did Chávez manage to distract the ninis a little bit about Venezuela's failing infrastructure, dramatic criminality levels or sheer corruption? Hardly.
* There are more videos where you can hear all the insults and repetitions, but I was feeling lazy. You can find them fairly easily or look at the posts Miguel wrote.
Off topic, but I dont know where else to place my comment ...
ReplyDeleteI did not vote about the EU observers as in principle I would say yes, but if they send the same kind of observers as last time it would be more damaging than helpful to have them.
Any idea if the EU made changes in their selection of observers ?
Hi, Bridge. Some Venezuelans I know wrote to the EU officials responsible. The EU representatives said some things were not like that but we know they talked differently indoors.
ReplyDeleteThey won't be spanking people but they would be doing things better.
The article I mentioned in London's Times caused some effect.
There are people now within Venezuelan parties considering inviting the EU again. I think they must hurry up and invite the EU observers ASAP but they definitely have to stress the EU has to change its approach. They also have to inform the EU better about things Europeans may overlook because they are just too different from what they see in Europe or elsewhere. I think both sides often take for granted things: Venezuelans do not know many things Europeans ignore.
Please, if you can, write to PJ (there is a site) and tell them to call the EU observers asap.
Some of issues: it is a lie the opposition has a lot of media control. Venezuela is not "Caracas plus Valencia plus Carabobo". Most people do not have cable TV or Internet or satellite (notwithstanding the shanty houses around Caracas with all those sat dishes).
El Universal + El Nacional + Notitarde + El Carabobeno do not make more than 500000 editions.
So: once in "el monte", no coverage.
There are lots of proofs about how the government is using state resources to finance the PSUV.
That needs to be addressed. Equal access to "la televisión de todos".
And and and and and.
The EU is used to places like Belarus, where you cannot even say "Lukashenko is bad" on TV. In Venezuela you can say in Globovision Chavez is a dictator or mention the Antonini case or talk about the crime numbers. But that is in Globovision and Tal Cual and the newspapers a minority reads. The EU observers have to take into account that is about it with our "freedom".
A lot of issues about the electoral process have to be reviewed: PSUV witnesses overrepresented while people who signed against Chavez are automatically excluded from being witnesses and and and and.