November 15th., 2006

Pdvsa Reveals Electoral Strategy

ABSTRACT:

• The “Chavez phenomena” is sheltered on oil.

• The opposition obtained the video wherein the President of PDVSA harangues the employees to disobey the electoral provisions and threatens with retaliation to those who are not with the Revolution.

• He reminded them that they had already fired 19,500 employees for not being revolutionaries.

• Fascism and Stalinism go hand in hand under the auspice and inspiration of Chavez.

• Chavez political project is of marked Marxist orientation.

• “Only those who accept mental subjection will be entitled to eat, work, think and communicate”.  Opinion of a qualified spokesperson of the Catholic Church.

• Teodoro Petkoff points out that a regime official culture is aspired, using the education system to doctrine children and youth.

• The spokesperson of the European Popular Party affirms that liberty is in crisis in Venezuela.

• The International Socialist attentively examines the Venezuelan situation.

• Chavez says that in 2007, a 14 year phase of hard work will be initiated to consolidate the new period.

• Surveys reveal technical tie between Rosales and Chavez and Chavez continues to descend.

• More that 2 Million people that make up bureaucracy and another million that benefits from the Missions are pressured with the finger print voting machines, under the threat that use of such machines, allegedly will evade the secrecy of the vote.

• Rosales ventured to the Baseball Stadium, packed with fans, and received an extraordinary ovation.

• Will there be elections on December 3?

Pdvsa Reveals Electoral Strategy

In books and essays that explain the Chavez phenomena, oil appears as the background curtain.  Means of communications of parts of the world have attentively followed the unfolding of electoral events in Latin America and now turn to Venezuela, where, in only two weeks for the Presidential election, surprisingly, there was a confession regarding oil and politics from the Government.  It made the national and international opinion shudder.  The President of PDVSA, Rafael Ramirez, called upon the high ranking officers of the Industry to deliver a political harangue.

The meeting was private, and hence he spoke without euphemisms.  He did not suspect that one of his collaborators was filming him, and the harangue was turned into a video tape that was delivered to the candidate of the opposition.  Venezuelan and foreign TV networks included the video in news and special programs.  Ramirez intervention was justified by Chavez, who demanded to follow the guidelines from the President of PDVSA and added that such guidelines were valid for other State enterprises and for all Government authorities, including the Armed Forces.

What did the President of PDVSA say?  We will try to brief the essentials: “This is an informal meeting to talk about the elections, to deliver guidelines since I feel that there could be confusion regarding the political limitations of the company.  Forget about provisions that allegedly oblige us to refrain from the electoral controversy.  Our only commitment is to the President, since it was him who appointed us and we have to be loyal to this trust.  It is a crime, an act contrary to the revolution to try to stop the political expression of the company, and we wanted to say this to avoid surprises when we take the actions we need to take to guarantee the interests of the President.  We fired the officer that authorized candidate Rosales to visit the premises of the Industry, because we do not admit any infiltration of the enemy and any similar actions will be dealt with impressively.  Be reminded that we fired 19,500 employees because they were not revolutionary and we are willing to keep on doing it to guarantee that the company is aligned with the President.  Upon the elections we do not admit people that have any doubts, because we are in a revolution, and whoever forgets it, we are going to make him remember with “fists”.  What is being debated here is political power, meaning, control of the oil and gas, and in this debate PDVSA is red, from top to bottom”.

The Socialist leader Victor Hugo de Paola affirmed that Rosales unfolded the perversion of fascism and Stalinism that go hand in hand under the auspice and inspiration of Chavez.  “His bedtime story book while in prison was “My Struggle”, according to the testimony of other Military officer companions”.  Red has always identified Chavez.   The country saw him for the first time on TV on February 4, 1992 with his red parachute beret, announcing his failure, “for now” of the military rebellion that battled against the Constitutional government of Carlos Andres Perez.  With a red outfit he is still seen on his “chariot”, from which he asks for support to continue in office, six more years, “for now”, as proclaimed in his last poster posted by his followers in the streets and avenues of all the country.

CHAVEZ, THE RED

 Today, in Venezuela, red is a chromatic symbol of a political project, identified with a marked ideology of Marxist orientation.  Red is built, from the Government’s part, as the desideratum for the structure of the country. It has been spoken of red State enterprises and services, red army and red education.  The cultural tools will have to produce red brains, a nonpolitical red mass, guided by a supreme leader that defines what is real, what is good and what is correct for all the rest.  Only those who accept mental subjection will be entitled to eat, work, think and communicate.  This is what is written in El Nacional by  Ovidio Perez Morales, hierarch of the Catholic Church and who presided the Plenary Council, renown to be moderate and prudent in his opinions. 

Teodoro Petkoff, an incarnation of the democratic left wing, insists in signaling from his newspaper Tal Cual, that the crusade for red aspires an official regime culture, the use of the educational system to doctrine children and youth in “the values of the revolution”, control over the NGOs that defend human rights, the liquidation of university autonomy, the nationalization of art, science and sports, the definite transformation of the Armed Forces into Chavez praetorian guard, and his aspiration to an indefinite re election and a sole party.

 Bandera Roja (Red Flag) is one of the political movements that support Rosales.  This is the last insurrectional group that renounced to armed struggle.  Its leader, Gabriel Puerta Aponte declared that Chavez´ red has nothing to do with the ancient dream of international Socialism.  “This red, he added, warns that 8 years of militarism may end up in a bloody conflict, if this paranoid, tropical remedy of Kim Jong II aspires to perpetuate in power in a fraudulent way.

In a Seminary effected in Caracas regarding the them “Europe:  a commitment for liberty and democracy”  Jaime Mayor Oreja affirmed that the popular Europeans feel obliged to be present in the places wherein liberty is in crisis, and Venezuela is one of those cases.  We see Venezuela at a crossroad:  rectification towards a democratic tradition or the prolongation of the current process, whose more evident characteristics are the elimination of the dialogue between the government and the opposition and the disqualification of the adversary as a constant practice on the part of the government and the predication of hate in the official discourses.  It is a clear totalitarian tendency that seeks to perpetuate itself in power.  He announced that the European Union will send an Observation Mission.  The International Socialist met in Santiago de Chile with the presence of Socialist European parliamentarians and people of the Latin American left wing.  The Venezuelan situation was object of special attention, agreeing to send an Electoral Observation Mission to verify the democratic quality of the December 3 elections.

Today the presence of the European Union was formalized.  It will have to commit to provisions dictated by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which restrict its liberty to verify the transparency and electoral equity, to formulate recommendations that guarantee and reveal eventual irregularities, such as the government’s control of the voting tables and the impossibility of the citizens to presence the scrutiny.

ELECTORAL SCENARIO

Rosales, the opposition candidate, insists on a debate with Chavez.  “This only indicates that they are loosing bad”, responded the President candidate.  He explained his plans:  “we are preparing for the take off of the Simon Bolivar National Project that will start on February 2, 2007.  Such date will initiate a 14 year phase of hard work to consolidate the new period”.

In the war of surveys, turned into the center of the campaign, it clearly shows that upon three weeks for the elections, one out of four voters is undecided.  It is the undecided, Rosales´ objective group, who soared up 30% in October, and according to various companies, there is already a technical tie between both candidates and Chavez continues to descend.  The message in the street reflects a notorious fact:  Rosales´ domain.  Chavez´ events do not seem as crowded and enthusiastic, but the Opposition’s candidate insists upon his party men not to succumb to “triumph”.  He is conscious that he defies the power of the State, whose instruments are harassment and coercion to public employees and the beneficiaries of the Missions.  More than two million people make up bureaucracy, according to government statistics.  There are no measurable data regarding the Missions, since the different programs function without administrative controls.  The National Workers Confederation esteems that the Missions may give occupation to 650,000 people, and that the recently created social production companies (EPS) employ, with no labor benefits, some 350,000 political activists hired per week.  If the guidelines from the President of PDVSA work out, the governments´ machinery may take to the voting tables a significant percentage of the electoral registry.  The arguments to convince the “clientele” are the “finger print voting machines”, an electrical addition to the voting machines that allegedly allows knowing, in real time, the choice of the vote from voters.  In the government’s offices and in the management of the Missions, it is said that such machines exist to control the vote.

Apart from the coercion, the positive effect of the 30 social programs oriented towards the poorer sectors, which constitute the majority of the population is undeniable.  Benefits, effective or not, create favorable expectations.  In the “focus group”, one may see that Chavez has achieved to have his name associated with the vindication of poverty, en though poverty has been increased during his mandate.

In spite of the social programs and the potential of the government’s  machinery, the re election is threatened by the displeasure and apathy of the pro Chavez masses, as well as the radicalization of an ideological message that turns bizarre and repulsive to the common people.  Rosales has privileged the message of living together and the need for a change and insists on the President’s responsibility for the failure of his management, the non compliance of his promises and the insecurity problems, unemployment and corruption, and high cost of living.  The Government took it seriously when Rosales was acclaimed by 50,000 spectators of a Baseball game between the Caracas and Magallanes, rivals with fans similar to those in the encounters between Yankees and Boston or Real Madrid and Barcelona.  Two days later, the President denounced that the counter-revolution was conspiring, that it was “examining scenarios” and called his followers to declare themselves in “orange alert”.  Rector Ugalde´s question is still in force:  Will there be elections on December 3?