Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Tough EU report European Union observers issued their preliminary  report on the election, which was quite tough on the disequilibrium in the use of Government funds and resources to favor Chavez' campaign. The EU noted that there were "persistent problems during the campaign" with a "strong institutional campaign at the service of the President-Candidate Hugo Chavez, disequilibrium in the media and the participation of civil servants in pro-Chavez rallies" The Head of the EU delegation noted that this disequilibirum in information in both public and private media took place without the Electoral Board taking any measure to correct it. She added that the institutional campaign in favor of Chavez overran that of Rosales. She also noted that they received multiple complaints of civil servants being pressured to participate in rallies or express their support for Chavez. Shes said that while they did not have the instruments to validate and evaluate each case, they had sensed, noted and evaluated the intervention by the Minister of Energy and Oil Rafael Ramirez. She said that what Ramirez did is in violation of an Act, subscribed by Venezuela that establishes that "States should take up the necessary measures to insure the principle that the vote is secret and must be respected and voters should be able to exercise their right to vte freely and without fear" She noted that national and international legislation limits the participation of public servants during campaigns and that Art. 25 of Venezuela's Suffrage Law mandates that civil servants have to maintain their impartiality in their exercise of their positions. Despite this, she said the EU delegation witnesses the extensive participation of public servants identified as such during the campaign. They did note that the process went well and people participated extensively.  Curious how tough this one was, compared with the on in the RR, where there were irregularities galore. 7:01:55 PM    comment []

A final bit of love from Chavistas in Valencia And how about the "love" expressed by the Chavistas in Valencia, Carabobo, for the opposition when they proceeded to loot, ransack and burn the headquarters of Rosales' campaign in that city? In his press conference today, former candidate Manuel Rosales charged that this was done right under the nose of both the local police and the National Guard, who said they had "orders" not to intervene. Rosales said that one of the vehicles used in the looting was a PDVSA truck and gave the plate numbers of that vehcle and another one that participated in the affectionate looting of his headquarters. He asked Chavez to determine who these people were and order an investigation. 6:38:28 PM    comment []

Will political prisoner be pardoned? President Chavez suggested today that the Government may pardon general Francisco Uson. Chavez said "I am willing to review that case and some others, but it all will depend on their cnduct in prison, taht they have not continued promoting terrorist conspiracies". Uson was Vice-Minister and Minister of Finance in the Chavez administration until April 2002, when he was the first Minister to resign when he saw the shootings from the very special vantage point of his office. He was imprisoned in 2004 for suggesting on a TV program that the soldiers that died at a military prison in Fort Mara may have been killed with a flamethrower. Hopefully Chavez will pardon Uson and the many other political prisoners, few of which have ever participated in terrorist conspiracies. 6:30:34 PM    comment []

Thanks to almost all I usually don't like to leave personal messages in this blog, but I certainly wanted to thank all those that wrote to me in the last few days, thanking me for the work I do with the blog. Many have become friends, some virtual, many even beyond the virtual world. This is perhaps the highlight of my effort, to find so many friends around the world who care and share so many ideals with me, even if we may have disagreements. The insults came from the usual suspects, all of whom live abroad and I would like to invite to come down, drop their lives, and come and enjoy what they think is XXst. Century Socialism with the Venezuelans. 5:29:45 PM    comment []