VenEconomy: Is the Venezuelan Government Resorting to Violence Because of the Lack of Sufficient Votes to Win Back the Parliament? From the Editors of VenEconomy Latin American Herald Tribune November 26, 2015
On Wednesday, armed groups supporting the Venezuelan government murdered Luis Manuel Díaz, a young political leader who was one of the secretary generals of the opposition party Acción Democrática (Democratic Action), when a campaign event in Altagracia de Orituco, Guárico state, was coming to an end. This was the end of a day of planned violence by the State against leaders of the democratic opposition, whose main protagonists are once again violent paramilitary groups against Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo López, and Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda state and former presidential candidate. This is the eighth attack against opposition events in 12 days of electoral campaign, six of them with firearms.
The question arises as to whether this is an escalation of violence from the Government in light of the obviousness of the failure reflected in all opinion polls made public this week. Opinion polls that, like the ones conducted by local pollster Alfredo Keller y Asociados, show that among voters who claim are going out and cast their vote, the preferences are 59% to 25% in favor of the opposition. Polls also indicate that not only the popularity of Nicolás Maduro has dropped to 25%, but the memory of Hugo Chávez, the icon of the Socialist Homeland, has lost 18 points to 49% in 2015.
It is also appropriate to ask ourselves whether this wave of violence that took the life of another citizen in the hands of the Venezuelan government is a sample of the "heavy firepower" Maduro was talking about a few days ago. According to Maduro, that "heavy firepower" is one of the "qualities" of the supporters of the Bolivarian revolution as they hit the streets.
Is this the new phase the Maduro government will be entering after corroborating that all of its pre-electoral strategies have failed?
Is Maduro and his people moving from verbal violence and aggressiveness to physical violence and crime of their opponents, as they did against students who staged peaceful demonstrations in 2014?
Is this the electoral strategy to follow for not having been able to "sell" to the population a non-existent economic war from the private sector of the economy, the American "empire" and the oligarchs as the reason for the empty shelves at food establishments nationwide; or not having been able to stir up a feeling of nationalism after the threats of conflict with Colombia and Guyana, so it could take advantage of jingoism at electoral level?
Is violence and death what the Government has prepared for the Venezuelan opposition, faced with the overwhelming failure of its ambitious effort to import a sufficient volume of basic foods and drugs to create an illusion that is putting an end to the shortages issue and winning the economic war, thus defeating the illegal resellers of goods (aka bachaqueros), paramilitaries, and the greedy entrepreneurs from the "empire"? A failure caused by an internal struggle between members of the own State and the ruling party seeking to extend their power quotas, as well as the massive corruption of government officials and external accomplices getting richer out of more than $880 billion that have entered the public coffers over the past 16 years.
Is it not enough for Maduro and company to have arbitrarily disqualified leaders from the opposition of proven regional popularity? Or having manipulated electoral constituencies for the votes in constituencies with smaller populations, where pro-government voters are a majority and votes are worth double or even triple than in constituencies with larger populations?
Or all the dirty tricks that include an attempt to confuse voters of the Democratic Unity (MUD-UNIDAD) opposition coalition with the voter’s card of MIN-UNIDAD (a party that is aligned with the Government’s interests) that is nearly identical and is placed right next to it? Or the intimidation of voters who work in public administration, the beneficiaries of social programs, and students and professors from public universities and institutions satisfies its yearning for power?
Polls have shown that the Government will not be able to maintain its majority in the Parliament this year not even by giving away consumer electronics and other durable products taken from small and medium-sized retailers as it did late in 2013, or by distributing the foodstuff it has failed to produce or import, or through handouts and salary increases that translate into "bread for today and hunger for tomorrow." A break point for its totalitarianism.
Is this the reason why the State is preparing to shed more innocent blood in Venezuela?
Leonel Fernández*, please open your eyes!
*CDV.org: Leonel Fernández is UNASUR's Special Representative in Venezuela Elections see link
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