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Published: November 27th 2008
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Voting
Queuing is everywhere here and of course elections day is no exception. So the elections came and went and well... nothing much happened. The weekend was the quietest weekend I've ever experienced in Caracas and by monday most things seemed to be back to normal. A bit of music and fireworks on sunday night, long before they'd even announced the results, was all that came out of it. Chavez of course instantly declared himself the winner, based on candidates from his party winning in the majority of the states around the country. But the truth is that he only really managed to win farmlands, causing one newspaper to refer to it as Chavez's agricultural revolution. In all big cities and states which are important economically and touristically (not many), the opposition seemed to have had somewhat of a walk-in victory, signaling that it might be more difficult than Chavez first had anticipated to summon the support he needs to be able to change the laws to make it possible for him to run for president, yet again, when his mandate finally runs out for the second time in 2012.
Perhaps it was the unexpected turn of events at the end of last week that dampened (no pun intended) the whole weekend. It
all started on thursday. At first it appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary. Just like everyday, it started to rain. Rain happens all the time here and although it does always cause some degree of commotion, and seems to be a general excuse for not doing any work, this time it was different - it didn't stop. It rained and rained and rained and the downpours seemed to only get stronger by the hour. At the time I was home in bed with an exceptionally evil flu and was mostly concerned with ensuring that the rain couldn't make it in through my not completely waterproof window. As soon as I had sufficiently secured my window I returned to bed for another couple of hours of blissful unconsciousness. Waking up from my fever fuelled haze, several hours later, I was surprised to find that my phone was owerflowing with text messages. On trying to figure out the cause of such a sudden increase in popularity I thought for a second that maybe they had all heard at once about my flu and all decided to write me to wish me well at the same time. That was not the
case... As I started reading the messages the pieces slowly came together and I soon realised that perhaps everything was not as normal as I'd thought outside my window. It turned out that the rains were not only exceptionally heavy but also refused to stop and had by this time caused most of the city to flood completely. As some of the highways had ceased to function as they were covered in, not only water but mud from the numerous mudslides from the mountains surrounding the highways, several parts of the city had become entirely isolated. In fact, my area was one of the isolated areas and many of the text messages were from worried friends asking me where I was or if I was stuck in the floods somewhere. So, by a twisted spell of fate, my flu turned out to be extremely well timed, as had I been at work that day I wouldn't have been able to make it home again. It took me until monday to fully understand the width of the problems that the rain had caused. Arriving at my bus stop to go to work I glanced over at the other side of the
road only to discover that the opposite bus stop didn't exist anymore. Along with a little kiosk that used to be there, the bus stop was now completely burried under several tonnes of mud and sand. And during the 30 minute bus ride in to work I witnessed several similar collapses by the side of the highway.
I guess it really is in crisis that a country shows its true nature. Some people here have somewhat of an obsession with calling this country a third world country. I never really listened. How could a country with so much oil and (potential) riches ever be considered a third world country? Surley such a phrase should be reserved for countries which appear to completely lack developmental capacity and whose population continuously struggle for survival? But when the rain came last week I admitt I had to reconsider my standpoint. Although it rains everyday for six out of twelve months here, the infrastructure cannot handle it. As the roads and streets have no drainage, they flood in an instant. And what decended on Caracas last week was no ordinary rain. It was a 24 hour downpour that would have convinced even the most hardheaded of rain accustomed Brits to stay inside and close all doors and windows firmly shut behind him. So undoubtedly it was going to cause some severe damage. Waking up the next morning I felt marginally better and decided to go for a five minute stroll down to my local supermarket. Turns out that was a very bad idea. Due to the fact that all the roads had flooded, no one in my area could get to work. So, they all decided to go to the supermarked to stock up on staples for an unknown period of time (i.e. buying everything they could get their hands on). The supermarket was full to the limit with people filling their trollies with water, canned food and toilet paper. And alcohol of course. The sight of all the people hoarding food instantly brought my mind back to all those comments about Venezuela being a third world country. Perhaps they were all right. Perhaps a third world country is one where the people start stocking up on food as soon as it starts to rain. Or before an election. Constantly anticipating political unrest and shortages of food and utilities - perhaps that's the definition. If so, Venezuela fits it perfectly.
Considering the tumult of the week and the expectation of political unrest, most CaraceƱos seemed to find it safest to stay inside and with exception of venturing out to actually vote, I don't think many people left their houses this weekend. But they sure did vote. It's easy to tell here as everyone who votes is instantly marked by having their littel finger dipped in purple permanent inc. When I first saw it I couldn't help but think of reports from countries who have just had their first ever democratic elections and where everyone are proudly showing off their tainted fingers. Surely there must be another way of making sure that no one votes twice? Either way, no one seemed to really mind as they were more than happy to be able to take a stand and send a message to Chavez that he's no longer wanted (well, in most parts anyway). Unfortunately the same message doesn't seem to have reached outside of Venezuelan borders, with many foreign newspapers reporting a big victory for Chavez, and organisations like Hezbollah announcing that they are very happy about Chavez's grand victory and that they stand united with the Venezuelan people in their struggle against America. Yeah right. Your average Venezuelan person is hardly in the middle of a struggle against America and is far from united behind Chavez in his pursuit of anti-Americanism. In fact, America is like a wet dream for a lot of people here and going shopping in Miami is a common pass-time for thousands of Venezuelans.
Yesterday the local newspapers reported that Chavez had decided to donate 5.3 million dollars to Bolivia to aid the construction of ditches and drainage to ease the effects of heavy rainfall. That must sting in the eyes of the people who live in the shanty towns of Caracas and who have just had their homes destroyed by the rain. It's obviously very noble of Chavez to help his friends in need in Bolivia. But what about his own country? Even so, the main problem facing Venezuela right now might not be Chavez... in fact, future problems could be much more likely to arise from the opposition. At the moment there are absolute tonnes of oppositional parties out there, but they are all just that - opposition. By joining forces on the mission of ridding the country of its current leader, that's really the only political statement they need. Therefore, it's impossible to know what will come next. Chavez might well have reached the end of his glory days but there is no guarantee that what comes after him will be any better. But then again I suppose there are no such things as guarantees in politics.
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