One of the
ironies of the current Presidential campaign is that while Chavez became President
by visiting every barrio, town and city in the country and being in touch with
the concerns and worries of the people, he has so far campaigned only by
holding rallies, where he is carefully protected from any contact with the
people.
Meanwhile,
Manuel Rosales’ campaign is exactly the opposite. Everyday Rosales visits numerous
barrios, concentrating his campaign on attracting those whose support for Chavez
has become lukewarm to cold in the most popular barrios of the country.
Rosales
has now been attacked a few times by pro-Chavez groups, some of which have
gathered hours ahead of Rosales’ scheduled stops, to attempt to block his path.
While these thugs are threatening, Rosales has refused to stop his visits and continues
his daily visits to these areas.
The day
before yesterday Vice-President Rangel, representing
the absentee President in his nth. trip in 2006, said that the attacks on
Rosales are simply a reflection of the rejection by the people of his candidacy
and that Rosales should simply go “at his own risk” into those areas.
There are
quite a number of conclusions that can be derived from this statement by the
Vice-President:
–First of
all, this is an irresponsible and inefficient Government incapable of providing
security for its own citizens, as demonstrated not only by crime statistics, but
by the fact that it can not even provide the necessary security for people to
go out campaigning in the exercise rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
–Second,
the Government assumes no responsibility if anything were to happen to the
unity candidate of the opposition, saying he is provoking the people and if he
does go in the barrios, he does at his own risk
–Third,
Rangel is indirectly authorizing the aggression of a leading politician in the
country, just because he is daring to go and campaign in what apparently Rangel
believes is his own turf as if 100% of the people supported Chavez. To me, this
is simply an attempt at intimidation.
Obviously,
Rangel fails to see a number of ironies in all this. Yes, Rosales has been
attacked a few times, but he continues doing this day after day, attracting
large and festive crowds and in some cases, protected not only by the police
but by but Rosales’ own supporters in the barrios. Listening to the problems
the people have, talking to them, being with them.
But the
biggest irony of all this, is that Chavez does not dare campaign openly in any
barrio or even city. It is not only his intense paranoia which stops him from
doing so, but the fact that he can not tolerate the criticism, complaints and
protests that have met him when going into facilities or stages to hold
rallies. In fact, only last week, two ladies started heckling him and kept
complaining at the President during one of his staged indoor “events” and
Chavez asked them to quiet down and said that his party needed unity and not
“washing the clothes in public for everyone to see”. This from the man who
eight years ago loved crowds and went to sports and artistic events so that he
could receive the daily dose of adoration from his supporters.
He can no
longer do that and even if he did, his intolerance to dissent and discussion,
would simply make him look very bad, with his outrageous outburst and his
unhappy expressions.
That is
why Chavez prefers to campaign in Beijing,
Harlem, Buenos Aires or New York and enjoy the comforts and pleasures
of international travel, reading Chomsky and Sartre and meeting his heroes. he loves signing
agreements that nobody will ever complain to him were never completed or
fulfilled and dreaming of becoming the leader of the Third World, while failing
to fulfill his most basic campaign promises to the people of this small
country, despite the biggest oil windfall Venezuela has ever seen.
The Devil's Excrement 
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