I don't normally just do "news" here, after all, most of my readers are cruising the net and have access to all the sources I do. In this case, however, I'm making an exception. Why? Because, as I write this, there isn't the slightest evidence at the New York Times or Washington Post (even on the South America page!) websites that an election even took place in Venezuela today. Why are they ignoring it? Because there's no way to disguise what happened, or to spin it in favor of the U.S. line (although they will try mightily to do so once they catch their breath).
At the moment, the BBC is the only news organization carrying the story:
"Parties allied to President Hugo Chavez say they have won all 167 seats in the country's parliament, after elections boycotted by the opposition.
"None of the five main opposition parties took part, accusing the electoral body of bias. Only about 25% of registered voters cast a ballot.
"The Fifth Republic Movement, Mr Chavez's party, won 114 seats in the 167 single-chamber National Assembly, according to senior party member, Willian Lara. He said the remainder of seats had been won by allies of the president."
Venezuela has charged, and Washington has denied, that the boycott aas a Washington-backed plot. Whether it was or not, there's no doubt that the opposition parties were taking their lead from Washington, and decided to boycott the election when they realized they didn't have a prayer of winning. The Chavez government is immensely popular in Venezuela because of the way it is funneling the country's oil income into social needs. Partly because of that, I'm highly skeptical of the alleged 25% turnout; we know from past elections (and polls) that Chavez's popularity is well over 50%. It's possible that Chavez supporters, realizing that the opposition had folded its tent and snuck away in the night, weren't motivated to vote, but I tend to doubt that. Sending a message to the opposition (and to the world) was a key part of the election, and a key part of the defense of the country -- the stronger the support for the government, the less likely the U.S. is to either attack (which is unlikely in the short term) or to undertake serious destabilization measures like a blockade. So we'll see what further information emerges in the next few days on that one point (the turnout), but for now, one thing is definite -- Hugo Chavez and his party will continue to lead the Bolivarian revolution, and the Venezuelan people, forward.
