Venezuela’s Chávez faces new election threat

.........Chávez’s days of discontent started Aug. 15 when a vital bridge connecting Caracas to eastern Venezuela collapsed. Four days later, gangs at the Yare I penitentiary confronted each other with guns and explosives leaving 26 dead, including a visiting family member. It was an embarrassment for an administration that has declared prison security one of its top concerns but has been unable to staunch the bleeding. During the first half of this year, 304 inmates have been killed and 572 have been injured, according to the Inter-AmericanCommission onHumanRights, which called on the government to step up efforts to disarm prisoners.

The following day, Chávez traveled to the city of Guyana to hold a live broadcast—carried on all TV and radio stations — with workers of the state-run Sidor steel plant. Presidential cadenas are usually tightly scripted and designed to highlight government achievements, and they’re a key part of Chávez reelection strategy.

That’s why Venezuelans were surprised to see steel workers shout over the president and complain that the government hadn’t renewed their labor contract, which expired over two years ago. Amid the commotion, Chávez’s microphone was cut and the broadcast abruptly ended. It was the first time that anyone could recall a cadena being cancelled mid-transmission....

.........But all the troubles were overshadowed early Saturday, when a huge fireball erupted at the [Amuay] refinery, part of the nation’s largest refinery complex. The blast left 151 wounded and homes leveled.....

...The man fighting Chávez for the presidency, Henrique Capriles, 40, has called for full investigations into Amuay, the jailhouse riot and the bridge collapse...

.... Chávez has pledged millions in aid and offered to build thousands of new homes for Amuay residents. He’s also trying to turn the tables, accusing opponents of being “vultures” who want to turn disaster into political gain.

He's busy raising his private army while outlawing private gun ownership.

Venezuela bans private gun ownership - Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.

Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October.

...Besides the health of President Chavez, security is the main concern for voters ahead of presidential elections in October.

.....Hugo Chavez's government says the ultimate aim is to disarm all civilians, but his opponents say the police and government may not have the capacity or the will to enforce the new law.........

Venezuela plans a 'guerrilla army' against US invasion [Chavez's private army] -- "Venezuela is training a "guerrilla army" aiming to be a million strong by 2013 to fight off a possible US invasion, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday. "Plan Sucre" -- apparently crafted with input from close ally and fellow US foe Cuba -- covers the legal, logistical and other angles necessary to "transform a professional army into a guerrilla army," Representative Maria Corina Machado told El Universal newspaper.

The former presidential candidate said she had obtained a copy of the plan, printed by an institution affiliated with the national army.

"The strategic objective is to build a new Bolivarian military doctrine" that would prepare Venezuela to be successful in a prolonged popular war against "the empire," or the United States, Machado said, citing the document.

"This is clearly a proposal with Cuban inspiration and advice."

She said the military plan also provides for strengthening the guerrilla force at the expense of the regular army.

The plan calls for "strengthening the territorial militias, in order to ensure the necessary strength for the overall defense of the nation, targeting recruitment levels of one million by 2013 and two million by 2019," Machado said, citing the document.

Venezuela's militia corps, described by firebrand leftist President Hugo Chavez as "an army of the public."...

MEANWHILE Cuba is bleeding the country dry as they control everything that goes in and out of the port facilities at Puerto Cabello (as well as Cuban control over products imported from abroad which has [among many other things] impacted food availability).

“No matter what the country, the juvenile left projects its own faults onto its opponents.”

__________

....”Since the ascension of Thatcher to Downing Street in 1979, the Tories had been presented as a nasty, evil party that wanted to destroy communities in their war against the miners, gut health care, and take money from the poor to give to the rich via the poll tax [i]. Does this sound familiar to any Americans at all?

.....the Shy Tory Factor are present in America in 2012. According to the mainstream media, the Republicans want to deny people health care, throw Granny off a cliff, and generally reduce the country to a Dickensian nightmare when the rich get richer, and do so by pulling bread out of the mouths of the hungry. Mixed with the aforementioned labeling of Republicans and Tea Partiers as racist, this is quite a suppressive combination.

While this blend of the Bradley effect and Shy Tory Factor may not affect voters in red states, in purple states it is not difficult to see why those intending to vote Republican may not wish to publicly identify as so, even to a pollster promising anonymity, in fear of being judged as the new Jim Crow.

The other note worth mentioning is that, in the Shy Tory Factor, the only person who knew of its existence before the election was the leader, whose internal polling is usually more accurate. Could this be why Obama’s team seems to have gone into panic in recent weeks? Do they know something the polling companies don’t?

The Bradley effect has been influential, if at all, only by a few overall percentage points. But if it is wrapped up with an American version of the much more powerful “Shy Tory Factor,” we conservatives may be in for a treat in the form of a massive landslide come the first Tuesday in November.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/08/how_the_shy_republican_could_be_masking_a_landslide.html

Venezuela bans private gun ownership - Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.

Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

Obama would do the very same thing if American didn’t cherish the 2nd amendment and understand exactly what would happen if they were taken away. All dictators follow this pattern and then remove all citizens rights and turn them into slaves of the state.

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