After Major Opposition Turnout Yesterday in Caracas, Today's Chavez Event Canceled (Translation)

El Universal ( Caracas ) ^ | October 7, 2006 | El Universal (Caracas) staff article

[StJacques]

Lara: It was an error of the opposition to compete with Fitcar

Caracas. -- The planners of the electoral campaign of opposing candidate Manuel Rosales "committed a serious error to put themselves in competition with the International Caracas Tourism Fair (Fitcar) 2006, in the judgement of the Minister of Communication and Information, William Lara.

After traveling throught the different pavilions which are located on the Francisco de Miranda Air Base, [Lara, who] also serves as the National Coordinator of National Tactical Command(CTN) of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) asserted that the public attendance at the Rosales meeting today came mainly from the interior of the country while the residents of Caracas opted for the fair, as the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) reviewed it.

On the national tourist event, Lara maintained that it is a success renowned in Venezuela and all the world.

He suggested that in its next edition the fair may have simultaneous seats in Caracas, Maracaibo, Puerto La Cruz, and Puerto Ordaz and other important tourist destinations of the country.

He considered that although Fitcar was itself conceived as an event for the capital, it is necessary to attend to those inhabitants of the interior who wish to participate. "Thus we would expand the success of the event and we would open it up to other Venezuelans," he added.

The head of the Minci [i.e. the Ministry of Communication and Information] assured everyone that the fair is a success from every point of view. "Even though there are some critics, it must be recognized that a large part of the press has given positive coverage of the events of Fitcar 2006," he pointed out.

On the mobilization in support of the presidential candidate of the revolution, Hugo Chavez Frias, summoned for this Sunday, Lara explained that it is being treated as a local activity directed by the inhabitants of those Caracan neighborhoods of Coche and El Valle.

"It is not a national event nor a regional one. It doesn't compete with Fitcar. It will be a brief event and its participants can go to the fair at the conclusion of the get-together," he maintained.

[StJacques]

I have what I think is a very interesting article put up on the El Universal (Caracas) web site last night which seems to indicate that the Chavez campaign is furious with the people of Caracas, who are their main base of support, for turning out in such large numbers for Manuel Rosales yesterday. I ask you all to forget the spin as you read the following translation -- please note they are cancelling a major campaign event they had scheduled for today, probably because their turnout would have been less than that which Rosales had yesterday -- and ponder my theory that Chavez and his cohorts are determined to punish the people of Caracas for giving Rosales such a strong turnout by taking away their hitherto exclusive hosting of the Feria Internacional de Turismo de Caracas (International Caracas Tourism Fair), a massive event which is now underway in the Venezuelan capital, and which probably helped to boost the turnout for Rosales yesterday.

I say that reads like retaliation and, if I'm right, it could be a major mistake on the part of the Chavez campaign. You do not punish your political base.

Want to see why the Chavez campaign is upset? Take a look at these photos of the Rosales rally yesterday, and remember, Caracas is supposed to be Chavez's home turf. I honestly don't think that Chavez and his campaign could match this. This could be a very big deal in this campaign.

[StJacques]

A Latin American Left Watch ping for you all.

Anyone wishing to be included on the ping list may either ping me from this thread or contact me via Freepmail.

[KJC1]

Thank you for translating and posting this.

What an enormous turn-out!

[California Patriot]

Encouraging to see these pics. Thanks.

[Thombo2]

Perhaps Chavez is not as popular as the msm/left would have us believe?

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Boycott Citgo?

Or boycott Chavez?

[RoadTest]

"You do not punish your political base"

You do if you are Kim Sung Il or Fidel Castro.

I don't mean to be smart-alecky. I like your article and am encouraged by it. I just wonder how much leverage based on free elections the Venezuelans have left?

[mware]

Maybe Chavez should have given some of the cheap gas and oil to his own people.

[mware]

If I am not mistaken the last election in Venezuela they had some serious problems. Many people against Chavez did not even go out and vote. Can't recall if it was out of protest or they just were intimated and did not vote.

[Uriah_lost]

Jimmah will be on the scene shortly to assure us all that Chavez is loved and is the "completly legitimate" Maximum Leader....for life....

[McGavin999]

OMG, look at that turnout!

[Billthedrill]

Many thanks for the post. If Huey does lose - does he step down? That's got to be on a lot of people's minds in the Rosales campaign.

[StJacques]

". . . If Huey does lose - does he step down? . . ."

Chavez has enough control over the electoral rolls, he has a lot of his activists registered twice, and other means at his disposal to fix the election. I only rate Rosales's chances at about 45% to win right now. So I don't think we will see Chavez face a "loss" as the votes are counted. The real question will be "does Chavez get to do it in the dark?" I'm thinking the most the Rosales campaign can accomplish is to put the lie to Chavez's "popularity," which will change everything and eventually lead to his removal by the Venezuelan Army, who will have international support next time if Chavez is taken out in a coup when everyone abroad recognizes that he is "illegitimate," unlike the last time, when a lot of international opinion opposed his removal given that the weight of opinion was that he had won a fair election.

I think that's the most Rosales can realistically accomplish, shining the light of day on Chavez.

[RoadTest]

"Jimmah will be on the scene shortly to assure us all that Chavez is loved and is the "completly legitimate" Maximum Leader....for life...."

Probably, the rotten, bucktoothed peanut. All ex-Presidents should retire, sit down and SHUT UP!

[RoadTest]

"f I am not mistaken the last election in Venezuela they had some serious problems. Many people against Chavez did not even go out and vote. Can't recall if it was out of protest or they just were intimated and did not vote."

Yeh - I seem to remember something like that that.

[cgk]

Nice to see this on Drudge - he has a pic up with the link from BBC.

[HelloooClareece]

Yes, and ABC radio reported it as 8-10,000 people.

[McGavin999]

That's amazing. I wonder just how long we're going to continue to allow this to go on?

[StJacques]

"That's amazing. I wonder just how long we're going to continue to allow this to go on?"

Is there any better indication of the bias of the MSM than the fact that they have underestimated the attendance at this major Venezuelan election event so drastically? I saw one El Universal (Caracas) article yesterday which said the crowd may have been as large as 200,000 people and my own, and admittedly unscientific, estimate based on the pics is that it was between 150,000 and 175,000. What in the world is up with 8,000 to 10,000? That's an outrage!

[StJacques]

Guys, how about a followup article? This is a translation of a second article from the El Universal (Caracas) web site, which speaks to the rally yesterday, put up today at:

http://politica.eluniversal.com/2006/10/08/pol_art_28292.shtml

And as two preliminary "translator's notes," when Rosales talks about his "third knockout," he is referring to the progression of his political victories as Mayor of Maracaibo, Governor of Zulia, and now his candidacy for the presidency. And "Democratic Action," or AD, is a political party supporting Rosales.

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"We are going to score the third knockout!"

"We want neither more lies nor breadcrumbs which exceed the petroleum bounty"

ELVIA GÓMEZ
EL UNIVERSAL

It was not Maracaibo, but it was as if it had been, judging by the sun and the heat. For the unitary candidate of the opposition, Manuel Rosales, yesterday attempted to put forth his home region [i.e. the State of Zulia] as an example that yes it is possible to defeat Chavismo, and thus he harangued the thousands of demonstrators who attended his gathering.

"I have said to the people that we are here to win as we did in Zulia. This is going to be the third knockout which we are going to score in all Venezuela! This time it is going to be victory in all the country!"

The opposition mobilization showed that the voters prefer to do things in their own fashion, and thus do they situate themselves for the most part in those places [where they are] accustomed to being, as in the marches carried out between 2002 and 2004 in place of the points suggested by those who brought them together. Neither did the AD [i.e. "Democratic Action"] militants pay attention to the call from their leadership for their abstention [from those regular places] and they added themselves to the "Avalanche" exhibiting their party symbols.

Some things have changed. While a group of demonstrators advanced via Lecuna Avenue, to the height of Central Park, a solitary egg smashed harmlessly against a vehicle. There were no other aggressive acts. Neither were there brushes with the Metropolitan Police. And one civil employee, to whom one commented that the San Agustin march was not very crowded, declared immediately: "It's because there are four other marches."

There are two armies to take care of us

The preamble of the political event was brightened up by figures of the national theater such as the singer Kiara -- who sang the National Anthem -- Carolina Perpetuo and Nelson Bustamante.

A while later, accompanied by his wife, came the words of Rosales, who through 41 minutes spoke to a crowd which, on this occasion, was very much marked by the participation of the common people, to whom the bulk of his speech was directed.

The candidate confirmed the outlines of his government program, based on the Mi Negra debit card, as well as the promises of fighting against crime, in favor of school lunches, the funding of schoolbooks and equipment free for everyone.

He maintained his questioning of the "gift money chest" of Chavez -- to whom he referred as "the typical" -- and he guaranteed that when he is elected there will not be "one barrel more" donated abroad.

"It is necessary to leave behind all the stories the government invents," Rosales said, who once again stressed that it is "a Chinese fable" that they run the risk the 3rd of December of having a vote that is not secret.

"We will receive the people's victory vote by vote because these elections are going to be guarded, guaranteed by two armies: the army of the Venezuelan people and the National Armed Forces who are going to guarantee the respect of the popular will and the secret ballot. And on the night of the 3rd of December, when they announce my victory, when the experts sound off, that day I am going to decree the night of the great embrace of all Venezuelans (...) We are not going to permit persecution nor abuse, so that he who may have some invoice on the exchange has it broken or bounced, [or that] he who may have some vestige of hate, that he erases it."

Rosales warned against "triumphalism." "This is not the time of bending the knees, of staying at home in pijamas and slippers, it's the time of the struggle for victory."
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I am very struck by the fact that Rosales is warning his followers against "triumphalism," which is telling them not to become overconfident. No matter how you may project the outcome of this election, Rosales and his followers are expecting to win. But I note with caution that Rosales finds it necessary to reassure everyone that their ballot will be secret. Voter intimidation by Chavez and his goons is still a part of this picture. The timing of these remarks suggests to me that perhaps voter intimidation is what we must watch out for in this campaign. I've made a note of that.