Chavez said that the opposition wants to win the National Assembly elections of next year so that it can make a "constitutional" coup like in Honduras to get him out. Besides demonstrating that his knowledge of democracy is zero (if the opposition wins the majority he should actually consider resigning on his own since he will have clearly lost the trust of the country) he also announces his cards: he will do anything he can to make sure the popular will is not reflected next year. For that he had appointed two new seats to the CNE five member board, two women that are unconditional to chavismo when the constitution and law are perfectly clear that the CNE should be as impartial as it can. Not that it makes much of a difference, the two departing ones were unabashedly pro Chavez, but the two new women are real radical, the kind of radical that wear their allegiances on their sleeves. The two departing ones cheated but at least had the notion they were cheating: these two new ones will not even be aware of their cheating, kind of a natural second nature for them.
Chavez also said that he was ready to intervene and nationalize all the banking system as needed. In today circumstances this is dangerous because 1) the system is shaky after the 4 banks that were taken over last week and 2) in the middle of a recession driven by the government policies what is needed is quiet and calm to attract the rare investor still willing to come to Venezuela (I am assuming here though outside of oil I do not believe anybody will come to invest). In addition, the way he said it is a provocation, a pretense that it is fine for him to do any robbery he wants in the name of the people.
Why does he say that? Well, his numbers keep going down as the attempted war on Colombia did not pay any electoral dividend. So, talk of war has suddenly disappeared as Chavez did not want to be confronted by Uribe in Portugal. Instead he decided to go on the rampage with an atrocious populist and demagogic measure to try to hide the incredible corruption exposed in recent days. That is, a maneuver to try to blame every thing on the banks, even the corruption of his close associates.
But this attack on banks is coupled with an outright criminal declaration: he has decided that Venezuela cannot be reconciled, that the "bourgeois" class cannot get together with the side he represents.
"Son dos sectores enfrentados y aquí no hay reconciliación posible" There are two antagonist sectors and here there is no possible reconciliation.That is right, you read it well, the president of the republic is appealing to class war, to civil war, announcing that peace in the country is possible only when one side will have exterminated the other one. Pol Pot was not any clearer. I am sorry but I cannot conjure any other historical image. Unless of course Lula da Silva cares to explain to me why is it that I am wrong.
-The end-