Elecciones en Venezuela

¿Cómo creen que será el resultado de las elecciones de mañana en Venezuela? Me temo que Huguito arrasa de nuevo. El autoritarismo, pobreza y corrupción galopantes son sólo detalles menores. Lo importante es que el Pueblo de Venezuela recuperó la Dignidad:

As Sunday’s presidential election draws near, Venezuelans and their neighbors would do well to compare Hugo Chávez's record to his rhetoric. In 1998, Chávez capitalized on public frustration and ran for the presidency on a strong anti-corruption platform, defeating Henrique Salas Romer, former Governor of the state of Carabobo, an excellent public manager but perceived as an elititist. Eight years later, Chávez's promises remain unfulfilled, and democracy has given way to an authoritarian regime in which the electoral system is totally under his control.

Voting machines are controlled by a company, Smartmatic, with a very murky history. The Board of Directors of the Electoral Council is made up of Chávez's followers, and the electoral registry is highly unreliable. 39,000 voters are over 100 years old -- one lady appears to be 175 -- and 62 persons share the same name and birth date: Jose Gregorio Rodriguez Gonzalez, born April 8, 1962.

Thanks to a combination of record oil income and minimal government transparency, Venezuelan corruption is at an all-time high. By incurring significant new national debt, Chávez obtained some $25 billion in fresh money to spend at his whim. That and oil sales have put over $200 billion into government coffers, but there is very little to show for it in the way of public works or effective social programs.