The Issues: A Beginning

Before I get started on anything, I need to impart a few words of wisdom from a Venezuelan friend of mine who is working on Manuel Rosales' political campaign. He wrote me recently - En Venezuela, todo es posible - In Venezuela, anything is possible. More than any others I have encountered so far, these few words have helped me to frame the political situation here into something manageable.

Now, at the time, I know he was speaking in a political context but as I've learned quite quickly, now and when I was here on my exchange, this phrase can easily be applied in a variety of other scenarios. One particularly good example comes to mind.

Just the other week, I was getting off the Caracas metro in one of the plazas about to catch the bus home, pretty normal stuff. Across the street and just in front of me passed something I thought I would never see: a tow truck, towing another tow truck, which had broken down, still towing the car it had originally been towing. As this ménage à trois of vehicles drove by, I was stifling the urge to burst out laughing, only a massive grin and few chuckles made their way through. In that moment, I was definitely a foreigner. Everyone around me could have cared less.

So what... a tow truck, towing a tow truck, towing a car. The more I thought about it afterwards, and the more I added in a what my friend had said, the more it just made sense. Others who saw the tow truck parade might also have thought that it was just a little ridiculous and would have dismissed the thought in just the same instant. Why? Because in Venezuela, just about anything is possible, whether it's in the street or in the office. With that in mind, it's time to talk politics.

Where to begin is a thorny issue already; what is certain is that no one can discuss Venezuela without talking about oil as well. With the high price of oil in today's markets, Venezuela has enjoyed a prolonged period of petrol dollars that have heavily financed the activities of the Chavez government. More than any other industry, oil has given Venezuela political clout and economic mobility domestically and internationally.

The oil industry dominated by the monopoly Petróleos de Venezuela Sociedad Anónima or PDVSA was nationalized in the 1999 constitution introduced by Chavez. The organization has had a rocky history with the government since then, starting the massive general strike against the president in December, 2002. The subsequent response of the government was to fire the rebellious management and dismiss 18,000 PDVSA workers. Recently, PDVSA was declared throughout by Venezuela's oil minister to be rojo, rojito (red, rosy red), this being the colour of choice for Chavez and his supporters, indicating its allegiance to the Chavez government.

Chavez has been heavily criticized by the opposition for diverting funds from oil revenues to other countries in South America and offering a subsidized price of oil-for-doctors program with Cuba. Another interesting aspect of the international dimension of oil in Venezuela is the war of words the persists between Chavez and the United States over a variety of issues. The reality beyond the rhetorice in the short-term is that both of these countries really need each other. The US needs the oil that Venezuela produces as much Venezuela needs another customer to provide a steady flow of dollars into the country.

What must definitely be said of Chavez though is that he has not just wasted the wealth that oil has brought. Many public works have been initiated and finished from bridges to new metro stations, access to education and doctors, new homes for working class families, and other improvements that have given many Venezuelans visual proof that he is actually following through on his promises. This is probably one of the most interesting dilemmas that face the population. Many will agree that he has done some very good things and made people more aware of their political capital as a society.

However, his other actions and words have been simply too damaging and radical for many Venezuelans in terms of international relations with other countries, the centralization of power under the president, the mixing of executive, judicial, and legislative branches, the continued devaluation of the national currency, and on and on. Though Manuel Rosales and the opposition do seem to have a solid platform and plan for Venezuela, the election will likely come down to who will vote for Chavez and will vote against him. Anything is possible as they say here, so we'll have to wait and find out what happens.

Photos from Caracas

Some photos during my three week stay in Caracas:

Myself with Zhair and Pablo, two friends of mine from San Cristobal.



Venezuelans love their whisky. Someone was mentioning to me that Venezuela drinks more whisky per capita than any other country in the world. All I can say is that I don't think he's making it up.



This rather short and well-adorned bed belonged to Venezuela's national hero, Simon Bolivar.



One of the nicer spots in Caracas, Plaza Altamira with El Avila Parque Nacional in the background.



Another look at the obelisk.



La Galeria de Arte Nacional



Inside the Galeria



This handcarved work of art commerating the indigenous influence in Venezuela was just outside Las Bellas Artes. What I wasn't able to capture in this picture are the people living in this little park just to the right of this piece.



I spent a day in a nearby pueblo called El Hatillo. It's an artisan, weekend getaway kind of place for people in the city. This is their Plaza Bolivar in the centre of the town.



The stores and streets in the town are typical of the style below.





A barrio just above El Hatillo.



Yours truly at a baseball game. Venezuelans love their baseball - it's pretty much their national sport. This is a game between Los Leones de Caracas y Los Tiburones de La Guira.



My friend Ismery and I with the Tiburones mascot.

A hot dog á la Venezolano.

Mauing down on my perro caliente.

El Estadio Universitario de Caracas

On The Horizon

Epale panas,

Just wanted to send a quick 'thank you' to everyone keeping up with me in South America. I'm hoping to get some more pictures up soon and another look at the actual political issues that are on the agenda for the December 3rd election. In the meantime, keep up the comments, good, bad, funny, or otherwise. Hope things are going well back in the Motherland.

Later,

Ollie

Commentary #1: The Basics

Ok chicas y chicos, the moment you've all been waiting for has arrived: I will try and give a little bit of a prospective and explanation of how thing are going down politically in Venezuela at this current moment.

As some of you may already know, there is a coming presidential election on December 3 that will decide the future of Venezuela for the next six years. The incumbent president, Hugo Chavez, is running against a group of other candidates of whom a governor from the Venezuelan state of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, poses the greatest threat to denying him a second term. The vast bulk of the support of the opposition to Chavez is behind Rosales; most of the other presidential candidates are expected to renounce their bid for the presidency and support either of these two candidates.

Chavez is expected to win the election, though Rosales' campaign has represented one of the most concerted efforts by opposition forces thus far to rally behind a politically savvy and popular candidate. Prior efforts by those not in favour of Chavez's style of government have included marches, rallies, a crippling general strike, something of a coup d'etat, it was never carried out in full nor was it successful for other reasons, and a recall referendum. All of these have failed to unseat Chavez who remains as popular as ever among working and lower-income classes of Venezuelan society.

Chavez does also command the support of some powerful financial and economic actors such as industrial banks and manufacturing companies. It is definitely not true that all the upper- and middle-classes are against him. Some are fully onboard with his umbrella plan for Venezuela, La Revolución Bolivariana. The bulk of these people and their interests however are not in align with his, if not completely behind Rosales and his plans.

In just under a month then, Venezuelans will take to the polls to either re-elect Chavez or usher Rosales into power. The mood thus far has been pensive, but not too tense yet. It was only two years ago that a second-time rejected, disputed recall petition left a handful dead and many more injured after riots in the capital. The country is certainly passionate about its politics but no one has the stomach for more blood in las calles.

En Venezuela

Just got to Caracas. No problems getting into the country and everything has gone pretty smoothly so far.

For people that are not familiar with Caracas, or Venezuela in general, some ground rules may apply:

1. Drive wherever, however, and whenever you want. Red lights do not apply, just don't hit the car next to you. (Gas, by the way, is hovering slightly over 28 cents a litre. Most cars and SUVs fill up for two dollars.)

2. Align yourself politcally - more on this soon.

3. Foster an instant love for all things baseball.

4. Expect gridlock at any hour of the day, any day of the week.

5. Get ready to party.

I have to say that there's certainly less culture shock this time for me. I still have to check myself though to believe that I'm actually here. The Spanish, fortunately, is coming back in waves and I'm finding it pretty easy to get around and do things.

Although there's no real order to the chaos here in the city, it's not hard to get used to if you try. The only other thing is the heat - 30 degrees at least through most of the days. But like they say here, "Asi son las cosas amigo."