The intellectual future is not with Chavez

Diego Sharifker, new UCV student leader

The oldest university in Venezuela, a public one, the Universidad Central de Venezuela held its students elections last Friday.  Chavismo sensing yet another historical lost sent some of its red shirted violent to perturb the election.  But it did not help.  Saturday afternoon we learned that chavismo suffered another stinging set back.

And it was not even close, it was beyond landslide: the opposition students sent two lists, the first one getting 6,170 votes and the second one 4,860 while the pro Chavez list got a paltry 1,380 votes (results not complete yet but not expected to change much).  Roughly FOR 1 STUDENT VOTING PRO CHAVEZ 8 VOTED AGAINST HIM.

This pattern is repeated in all the best public universities, maybe not with such margins but always with ample margins for the opposition of at least 2 to 1, except for the UDO where the opposition has started winning elections but no landslides yet.  For the record the "bolivarian universities" speedy concoctions to ideologize a student base so as to fill up public administration do not hold student election, probably too afraid that the opposition could get enough vote to embarrass the regime, amen of even winning in one of these universities of rather poor educational level according to all reports I get.

In other words in any campus where you need to think independently to study and graduate the regime loses.  The intellectual, technical, scientific future of Venezuela is definitely not with Chavez.  Nowhere but in these elections can we see best the failure to inspire of a regime after 12 years.  The only thing Chavez inspire these days is rejection.