What Chavez does not want foreigners to know


Jimmy Carter, an old friend of Ceasescu and Iran's Shah, irresponsibly said Venezuela had the best electoral system in the world...basically because it's electronic and it uses paper trail. That's enough for the digital illiterate and for those who are not living in Venezuela.

As we have said, there are many things that are going wrong with the whole electoral process. One of the latest tricks by the government-controlled Electoral Council was to allow a ballot with a position representing a party with the face of opposition candidate Capriles but which, if crossed, would mean votes for someone else.

We asked the Carter Centre about this but the Carter Centre hasn't answered yet. We have sent to different newspapers worldwide information about the Carter Centre's position, so they know the Carter Centre should answer.

In the picture above, taking near Guacara, in Northern Venezuela, you see a checkpoint manned by Venezuela's National Guard. The National Guard is supposed to help in national security and it also plays a role during election time.

Very big you can see a sign stating "Independence and Socialist Fatherland" and Chávez's slogan after he got cancer, "We shall live and we shall overcome". You also see a picture of the caudillo. The National Guard should be, according to our constitution, an apolitical institution. Instead, it is yet another tool of the military elite.

Do you think the National Guard will be cooperative when it comes to a kosher voting process? Do you think they will behave as they should when it comes to keeping an eye on ballot boxes?

We are still waiting for the Carter Centre to take a position on the latest developments in Venezuela. It hasn't said anything yet about the two opposition activists murdered in Barinas by Chávez officials.

We wonder if it is really true that Mr Chávez promised the Carter Centre "support" for some electoral process elsewhere in South America. Have you heard or read something about it?