Monday, December 4, 2006

Chavez big loser amongst Venezuelan voters abroad

Surely by now you’ve heard about Hugo Chavez’ landslide reelection victory in Venezuela yesterday. But interestingly enough Venezuelans living abroad and registered to vote overwhelmingly supported Chavez' rival- former governor Manuel Rosales. For example, about 300 of the over 11,000 Venezuelan expats who voted in South Florida cast their ballots for Chavez! As one Venezuelan who voted for Rosales observed:

“Mr. Rosales represents everything that is positive about Venezuela. He's a democratic man who truly loves his country and won't give away our natural resources like Mr. Chavez has done to gain influence overseas.”

Chavez may be celebrating now and reveling in his victory but he cannot ignore so much sentiment against him by Venezuelans living abroad especially if they aspire to form a formidable political force a la Cuban exile groups in the U.S. If Chavez wishes to remain in power for another 6-year term he will have to effectively face his opponents living outside of Venezuela.

Links- VivirLatino (blog), Bloomberg, ABC News, CNN, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Bradenton Herald, BBC News

Image- Bradenton Herald (Anti-Chavez supporter outside of the voting area at Miami’s Orange Bowl)

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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:32 PM

    What a surprise, you'd think all the members of the former ruling elite from Venezuela living it up in Miami would be big supporters of Chavez and the poor, indigenous, working class majority he represents...

    (notice the sarcasm in my voice...)

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  2. MPH3:53 PM

    We here in the US have much to learn from this greatest of great men. Here is a list of suggestions:

    -Perhaps we too may capture fingerprints of the US electorate before they vote. It is vital that that Venezuelans allow El Comandante Chavez keep tabs on the enemies of freedom so that they may be punished. This is the only path to a free and OPEN election. I suppose this is easier to accomplish when the voting machine company is owned by the State. Diebold, beware.

    -We ought to consider shutting down private news services here as well. The imperialists are poison and this is essentially a national health issue at the heart of it all. Congratulations Chavez on clamping down the Corporate Media. There is no need to be timid any more when the enemies’ goals are so plain.

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  3. Erwin C.4:06 PM

    Sarcasm duly noted, anonymous.

    It is fascinating to observe how the anti-Chavez Venezuelans living abroad have gained strength, especially in an area like South Florida. When I first moved to Miami in 2000 few Venezuelan expats were worried though not to hysterical over him. Nowadays they are dreaming of Chavez to step down as soon as humanely possible. What a difference a few years makes, huh.

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  4. Erwin C.4:20 PM

    mph- Chavez' actions are sometimes dubious at best as you have noted. And he's running a quasi-dictatorship wrought with frivolous rhetoric against the U.S. But then plain and simple reality is this:

    Hugo Chavez is president of Venezuela.

    Aside from criticizing his every move we should examine why he is so popular and why the Venezuelan opposition cannot make any significant inroads. This is not to justify all of Chavez' actions, mind you, but if roughly 3 out of 5 Venezuelans elected him then there's something distinctive about Chavez' appeal that we don't know about.

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  5. Anonymous6:07 PM

    I think mph is part of that Miami elite...LOL.

    I do find it amazing how people criticize Chavez for his relations with the media elite in Venezuela. I actually cannot think of a country where the media is so openly against the government and where the media openly encouraged an undemocratic coup against a democratically-elected government, yet somehow the democratically-elected president is the one who gets criticized? We all know that the media elite can lay no claim to having gained their power through democratic means, especially the Venezuelan media.

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  6. Anonymous6:18 PM

    erwin,

    In regards to the anti-Chavez Venezuelan ex-pats: I remember being in San Juan shortly before the beginning of the US invasion/occupation of Iraq and there was a small anti-Chavez demonstration going on in one area of the city. The thing that struck me about it was that these were not your typical demonstrators, I mean when do you see political activists (mostly women in this case) carrying political signs WHILE wearing designer clothes, decked out in loads of jewelry, and carrying designer handbags??? It was quite the scene. It was made even funnier by all the signs with Chavez AND Saddam on them.

    I'm not sure what was going on in Venezuela at the time...I think it may have been around the period of the oil strike...

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  7. Erwin C.6:19 PM

    now, now, anonymous. attack the message but not the messenger please (even in jest).

    Actually, your partly right. There is a sector of the Venezuelan media that is privately-owned and against Chavez and in their reporting. The government-run media, on the other hand, is undoubtedly pro-Chavez as can be seen, for example, in allowing Chavez to transmit "Hello President" for hours on end.

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  8. Erwin C.6:31 PM

    to the other anonymous (the one that posted at 6:18pm)- Regardless of how they dressed, what I'm curious about is if they viewed their protest as a mere social gathering or as a true political protest. I've been to several human rights protests and demonstrations where participants where there to impress a girl or just becuase they were in the mood to raise a ruckus.

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  9. Anonymous8:40 PM

    erwin,

    in regards to the San Juan event, I think it was very much a socialite type thing, much like they would have a cocktail party while watching polo (not sure if that's popular in Venezuela or not). There actually was a large party tent set up, so the comparison is quite apt. It was mostly women, so I imagine it was very much a social event of that well-to-do crowd for wives of the rich and powerful to meet other wives of the rich and powerful.

    Now, why they thought all the posters of Saddam Hussein were a good idea for their "cause"...well, I can't answer that one!

    Oh, and keep up the good work...I really enjoy reading your blog.

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  10. Erwin C.8:49 PM

    It's unusual how people will interpret political rallies/protests in different ways. That's the way the world turns, I guess.

    Thanks very much anonymous for your comments.

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