I wrote a single post on the December regional elections hinting that I may not want to cover further than what I did, silly arithmetic prediction included. But the debacle in the chavistas candidate "nomination" process is so tempting... then again the ongoing slow motion suicide of the opposition keeps apace so why bother covering what may be the final set up of the totalitarian regime of Chavez whose end can only come through open rebellion? Started by chavistas themselves, mind you!
Let's start with the chavista mess.
Not only Hugo Chavez was the single voter in the PSUV primaries but he went against the vocally clear wishes of the natives, as seen for example in Carabobo and Aragua during his own campaign visits. His nominees were required a single quality, lapdog fealty to their master, and they were named to a given state even if they did not vote there. Furthermore some were named for ulterior motives which took into no account whatsoever the well being of the natives.
For example, as far as I am concerned, the nomination of Erika Farias to Cojedes and Rodriguez Chacin to Guarico states is to prepare a rearguard hiding place in deep countryside for the FARC guerrilla once some agreement is achieved in the Havana "negotiations" between the Colombian government and the FARC. The Southern part of these two states is remote enough and already the victim of massive expropriations which lands could easily be transferred to "retired" guerrilla control. Far enough of the Colombian border, not too far from modern facilities, hidden enough until better days come for the FARC. No wonder some in Cojedes are already bitching at the true radical bitch sent their way. In Guarico I have not heard yet anything for sure against the nominee but the openly avowed friendliness of Rodriguez Chacin with the FARC and his more than obscure past is an ill omen for the natives who may want to act on that. Then again they voted massively for Chavez, screw them as far as I am concerned.
At any rate, the chavista mess has got so bad that Chavez had to withdraw his initial nominee to Trujillo state (and it is expected that as many as two other states may change their candidates mere weeks before the election). In Trujillo, "bowing" to the natives who say the sitting chavista governor is one of the most corrupt and arrogant they ever experienced, Chavez has dispatched his sitting minster of defense, promptly retired from active duty. The only problem with Rangel Silva, besides his own poor personal qualities is that he is listed by the USofA as participating or at the very least not taking action against the increasing drug traffic through Venezuela. This is a possible future state governor that would face arrest if he were to go on vacation outside of Venezuela. Must I read also there a future drug/FARC route through Trujillo to Cojedes and Guarico?
Unfortunately the late timing of Rangel Silva implied that the electronic vote would have to be done under the face of the dismissed candidate. No problem, the electoral ministry of Chavez, CNE, promptly violated its own rules which are forcefully applied to the opposition but never to chavismo. The face of Rangel Silva will be on the ballot and the CNE loses yet more credibility, if it had any left.
Now, such mess inside chavismo should prompt in me some guarded optimism and motivate me to cover the elections more closely. But no, because the opposition is a mess itself.
First, the opposition is absolutely unable to find a response to all the recent abuses of the CNE. Since the CNE is working against the MUD, since the deliberate maneuvers of the CNE are dooming the chances of this one, why not take a stand? I truly cannot understand why the MUD is not only threatening NOT to recognize the results of December 16, but why it is not adding the threat that considering the recent decisions of the CNE they have decided to evaluate again whether the result of October 7 should still be recognized? Instead we get a Capriles so afraid of losing Miranda defending what he should not be defending at this stage. And we get even the incredible counter-performance of Leopoldo Lopez when he defended his work of October 7, completely misreading the mood of the opposition: we know that Chavez has more votes than us, what we want Lopez to do is to protest vigorously at the ways he got more votes instead of telling us to deal with it, forget about it, and go like sheep to vote on December 16.
Second, the opposition is unable to resolve its own divisions. In Tachira it is now all but certain that the state where we got the most votes in October 7 will go Chavez because we are running two tickets. In a way I am comforted because even though I support primaries I have always said that they do not solve everything. The MUD et al., went all hog from no primaries to primaries for all and we are going to pay the result in Tachira. By refusing primaries there and by not giving a fair compensation to the ex mayor of San Cristobal, then the opposition is divided between the said ex mayor and the sitting governor. That losing the state is in the end the fault of resentful the ex mayor is no consolation.
Same problem in Monagas where born again dissident "el gato" wants to run in spite of the existence of a winner of the MUD primaries No solution is on sight, ensuring that Monagas will go Chavez. And yet the compromise is easy: one side gets the governor mansion and the other gets all of the legislative council. Roll it on dice if you must. But no, each sides wants all...
Yes, I am not giving proper names to all of these creeps because they do not deserve to be mentioned in this post, all being about to join the opprobrium annals of Venezuelan history.
And there is a third! Today, 4 second fiddle players have announced that they were leaving the MUD because their opinion were not taken into account. Certainly the MUD has become quite a club, but is it the moment to bail out? Can't they just express some discomfort and wait for December 17 to blast away? Do they really think that the second fiddle (or even third or fourth...) that they really are can change December 16 outcome? The arrogance and self inflation of so many opposition characters truly never ceases to amaze me.....
I trust you now understand why I really do not feel like covering much this campaign. Certainly the pro Chavez side is repulsive but when I look at the misguided actions of the opposition I wonder if my time would not be better spent figuring out ways to survive on my own the onslaught of the communal councils to come until I can find the way to leave Venezuela. Because truly, there is no hope form the MUD politicians, more concerned with crumbs than the country's fate.