As Hugo Chavez continues to say that in Venezuela there is no strike but a conspiracy to oust him, approximately 1.5 million conspirators gathered in Caracas at a secret meeting held in the Autopista del Este, the Highway that crosses Caracas. The march was the largest so far, surpassing easily the one that ousted Chavez on April 11th. Keep in mind that the Metropolitan area of Caracas is estimated to have 3.5 million people at this time.
The atmosphere was absolutely festive as six separate marches from the East, West, North and South of the city converged at the Altamira Distributor of the eight lane highway that crosses the city from East to West. There were speeches, flags, songs, chants and the main theme was :”Hugo Chavez leave now”
Meanwhile, the Government continued to suffer setbacks on both the legal and the oil front. On the oil front, gasoline shortages became the norm in most of the country, Caracas seemed to be suffering the least, but no unleaded gas was to be found anywhere in the city. Meanwhile the President of PDVSA recognized that the company was at a standstill while roughly at the same time the Vice-President said things were going back to normal. Two gasoline trucks confiscated by the military overturned, one full of gas, the other one empty. The legal front was becoming interesting as two judgements by administartive Courts were not being followed by the Generals ordered to return private property in one case, and return all property of the Metropolitan Police to the Mayor in the other. Many high ranking Generals have been saying all along that they were “institutional”, a word that loses meaning when Generals disobey the rulings from civilian Courts. Watch this aspect of the crisis as it may become the clashing point between the Generals that still “support” the Chavez Presidency.
Below some pictures. Top row from the media, bottom rows, my own and Reuters.
The Devil's Excrement 
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