Their TV stations there would have Chavez on live in a little box proclaiming, for instance, that the strike efforts were a failure, hoax and non-existant and the big picture would be a live roving camera going down the street showing just the opposite. It was really comical, if the stakes were not so grave. Or, he'd be saying only some local Caracas disruptions were happening, but the rest of the country was fine, and then the shots from elsewhere around the country showed him to be lieing again. Or, last week, that the petro strike wasn't affecting gas supplies in the country and that most every gas station was open, and there would be the cameras again showing it wasn't so. They do that all the time to him, it's so easy, he opens his mouth and the video rolls and shows the truth. In fact, one TV station in Caracas I'd watch has a regular nightly comedy section as the final segment of their news report called "Chavez vs Chavez" with Rocky movie theme music for the background as they show one clip of Chavez from the past making some declaration and then another, very recent, clip that is in direct contradiction to his earlier pronouncements.
His lies and deceptions have caught up to him and his active/vocal support has largely shrunk to only those with a vested interest in his power maintaining theirs or they are paid or bused or given free beer/food to come to his rallys. The second day of the strike the media there got a copy of the MVR notice that went out telling all the local party chieftans to send X number of drivers to Caracas to drive around town all day to make the traffic look normal to lesson the appearance that the strike was really happening! TV stations even interviewed some of the hired drivers from out of town that were being paid a couple bucks to drive around all day! This is the kind of stuff that goes on down there, but there are so many now against Chavez that inevitably somebody from inside catches wind of these type shenanigans and blows the whistle to the press.
It's amazing and only the USA media still parrots his and his supporters pronouncements without showing this dislocation from reality. Sentiment is very lopsided towards Anti-Chavez and contains a large cross-section of the culture there. This is not an evenly split respectable difference of opinion. It's a no-rules, anything goes, Chavez eager not to have his dynasty evaporate in the glare of reality. It's also why the opponets of his are not eager for another election, they know he'd cheat, they just want him to go!
-Shane
The problem is that Chavez has been subverting that very thing, and yet I understand that elections are constitutionally permitted yet.
I'm sure Chavez could resign under the constitution of Venezeula, but who is his automatic successor? Surely it's one of his cronies, right?
I guess I'd favor a military coup, suspending the constitution and calling for an early election, but doing so causes damage to democratic principles.
I fear greatly for our democracy-loving friends in Venezuela. Gasoline will run out by mid-week, and the country will descend into chaos. Chavez will not relinquish power easily. I fear thousands will die before he's gone.
But gone he will be, because his supporters are courageous and outnumber Chavez's supporters by a large margin.