Posted by
PoliCzar on Monday, October 09, 2006 7:25:58 PM
“Thousands marched Saturday in the biggest show of public support yet
for Venezuela’s main opposition presidential candidate, who pledged to
undo what he called the ills of President Hugo Chavez’s government.
Manuel
Rosales accused the government of mismanaging the country’s oil wealth
and ignoring crime. He also played on fears that Chavez’s close
friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro was leading Venezuela down
the same path as the communist island. “
At least we can see
that some of the people in Venezuela can follow international affairs,
or at least get some of their ideas from them. The world is busy
dealing with the evils of the world, namely Iran and North Korea, but
must always remember that countries with potential dictators can show
up at anytime. This is the case in Venezuela. As we know Chavez came to
this country and gave anti-Bush and anti-US government speeches. Of
course the right to free speech is one here in America we believe it.
I’m sure if I went down to Venezuela and gave anti-Chavez speeches, I’d
be thrown in jail or worse. Not so for Rosales, who is a governor of an
oil rich Zulia state. He will be going up against Chavez in the
December election. He has declared, “(We have) a government that is a
puppet of a communist, totalitarian system. ... We have a government
that is governing from Cuba.” Though that could be the truth, what is
true is that Chavez is trying to move into a dictatorship role by
changing the country’s election practices and even amending their
constitution in his own favor. This, as we know, must not happen.
It is surprising that there were no riots or fights at this rally. According to the reports:
“Venezuelan
authorities had promised to have as many as 2,500 officers on the
streets to ensure security amid concerns about violence as Rosales’
supporters traversed sectors of the capital that are pro-Chavez.”
“Caracas’
metropolitan police estimated the crowd at about 9,000, but reporters
on the scene estimated the turnout was more than 10,000. The crowd
packed full a 2-mile avenue. “
The main worry about the December
election is fraud and faulty electronic voting machines. Chavez’s
opposition believes that there will be fraud and that the machines will
be tampered with ultimately swinging the election toward Chavez. Even
still, Rosales says it is the right of everyone is his country to vote.
As Americans we can learn a lot from this. We must vote to protect our
Democracy and freedom just as they vote to change theirs. Every time we
have an election with errors or court rulings it sends a strong signal
to other countries that our process does not work. This should not
happen.
If anything, last Saturday’s rally shows us that in
another country in the world that may fall to totalitarian rule, people
believe and want freedom and a true democracy. They’re not afraid to
show up in a peaceful rally to demonstrate that the people always have
the power to create their own freedom.