I mentioned in the comments section of a previous post the importance for Cuba that hugo chavez maintain his “presidency” of Venezuela. Rosales, the opposition candidate, has stated that should he become president of Venezuela, oil subsidies – to Cuba and elsewhere – will cease. This is a matter of grave concern for the fidel-less Cuban Government as curtailing the oil received from Venezuela would wreak havoc on what’s left of the Cuban economy and the island’s infrastructure.
hugo chavez, backed by Cuba’s government – will not go down without a fight, of course, and will use every means available to ensure that he maintains power. Because for chavez, like his mentor fidel, it isnt about the people, it’s about the power over the people.
Alek Boyd has a report on a memo passed out by the “management” of Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA – now run and managed exclusively by the chavista government – coercing all oil workers to vote for Chavez in the December 3rd elections. You can read about it here, with images of the original documents.
The PDVSA manuever is strictly from the fidel castro handbook of despotism.
There are also reports (video) – posted yesterday at Abajo fidel – that chavez will suspend the elections altogether thus proving what we have been saying all along: the people of Venezuela no longer live in a Democratic state, but rather a totalitarian system mimicking the Cuban model. Should chavez suspend the elections, then you will be witness to the Cuba of the 21st century and the downfall and ruination of Venezuela.
I fervently hope the people of Venezuela manage to get Chavez out of power, for their sake and Cuba’s, but they never should have gone for him in the first place. It was never hard to figure out what he was and where he was coming from; he was anything but subtle. Even apart from ideology, just the way he looks and acts and carries on should have been enough to make people realize he wasn’t fit for the job. Castro, at the beginning, was much more deceptive. Chavez should not have fooled anybody. He certainly didn’t fool Cubans.