Venezuela's Exclusion of anti-Chávez Candidates Faces a Challenge

[JBeukema]

Leopoldo López was once touted as a future leader of Venezuela, a young and appealing opposition figure who could have challenged President Hugo Chávez in next year's presidential election. After serving as mayor of Chacao, a major commercial district of the capital, from 2000 to 2008 — he won his 2004 re-election with 81% of the vote — the Harvard-educated López was poised in 2008 to run for mayor of all Caracas, with a 65% lead in the polls. But López was stopped in his tracks when he, together with more than 300 other Venezuelan politicians, were declared "inhabilitados" by Chávez's comptroller general, and disqualified from seeking public office until 2014 because they were supposedly guilty of corruption in their past.
Not surprisingly, say Chávez critics, 80% of those disqualified were opposition politicos. And, like López, most have never been formally charged, let alone convicted of any crime.

Venezuela's Exclusion of anti-Chavez Candidates Faces a Challenge - TIME

 

[martybegan]

Leopoldo López was once touted as a future leader of Venezuela, a young and appealing opposition figure who could have challenged President Hugo Chávez in next year's presidential election. After serving as mayor of Chacao, a major commercial district of the capital, from 2000 to 2008 — he won his 2004 re-election with 81% of the vote — the Harvard-educated López was poised in 2008 to run for mayor of all Caracas, with a 65% lead in the polls. But López was stopped in his tracks when he, together with more than 300 other Venezuelan politicians, were declared "inhabilitados" by Chávez's comptroller general, and disqualified from seeking public office until 2014 because they were supposedly guilty of corruption in their past.
Not surprisingly, say Chávez critics, 80% of those disqualified were opposition politicos. And, like López, most have never been formally charged, let alone convicted of any crime.

Venezuela's Exclusion of anti-Chavez Candidates Faces a Challenge - TIME

if anyone wonders how the hell germans let the Nazi party gradually take power through democratic (with some shennanigans) means just keep watching Venezuela.

(I know, godwins law in the second post, I lose the internets.)

 

[waltky]

Gettin' on with life after Chavez...

Venezuela sets presidential election for April 14
Mar 9,`13 -- Venezuelans will vote April 14 to choose a successor to Hugo Chavez, the elections commission announced Saturday as increasingly strident political rhetoric begins to roil this polarized country.

The constitution mandated the election be held within 30 days of Chavez's March 5 death, but the date picked falls outside that period. Critics of the socialist government already complained that officials violated the constitution by swearing in Vice President Nicolas Maduro as acting leader Friday night. Some people have speculated Venezuela will not be ready to organize the vote in time, but elections council chief Tibisay Lucena said the country's electronic voting system was fully prepared.

Lucena announced the date on state television, appearing in a small inset as the main picture showed people filing past Chavez's coffin at the military academy in Caracas, where his body has lain in state since Wednesday. Chavez's boisterous state funeral Friday often felt like a political rally for his anointed successor, Maduro, who eulogized him by pledging eternal loyalty and vowing Chavez's movement will never be defeated. Maduro is expected to run as the candidate of Chavez's socialist party.

Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, coordinator of the opposition coalition, immediately followed the election announcement by offering his bloc's presidential candidacy to Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda state who lost to Chavez in October. A Capriles adviser said the governor would announce his decision Sunday. David Smilde, an analyst with the U.S.-based Washington Office on Latin America, said the opposition needs to run a candidate in the presidential election even though he believes it will almost certainly lose.

Smilde said he wasn't sure Capriles will accept the candidacy. "If he says he doesn't want to run I could totally understand that," Smilde said. "He is likely going to lose, and if he loses this election, he's probably going to be done." In that case the opposition would be wise to run someone such as Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledesma or Henry Falcone, governor of Lara state and one of just three opposition governors, he said. That would give the opposition an opportunity to clearly articulate its platform and vision. "Really what this campaign would be about is allowing the opposition to put themselves in position for the future, to show that they have some ideas for the country," Smilde said.

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Preservation of Venezuelan leader's body not easy
Mar 9,`13 -- No one lives forever, nor do they last forever. At least not without a lot of tuneups.

As much as it may seem like the bodies of famous world leaders such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Mao Zedong have been preserved for all eternity, their enduring physical presence is simply an illusion aided by science. Only the Venezuelan officials who have promised to preserve Hugo Chavez and display his body "for eternity" inside a glass tomb know exactly how they're going to do it.

But if they were to follow procedures that are used in the United States, the technique might be rather simple: repeat embalming. "The first thing to remember about embalming as we do it in the U.S. is that it is designed to delay the natural deterioration of the body; it's not forever," said Vernie Fountain, a licensed embalmer and owner and founder of the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills in Springfield, Missouri. So what does that mean exactly? You might want to put down your sandwich before you read on.

In the U.S., most embalmers use a machine that injects fluid laced with chemicals, principally formaldehyde, into an artery of the body, while the majority of the blood is emptied from a vein. Often a chemical known as a humectant is added, which "helps to fill out the body, some of the hollow spaces, and adds a degree of moisture," Fountain said. While he stressed that he has no personal knowledge about the condition of Chavez's body at the time of his death or when it was or will be embalmed, Fountain said one possible method of preserving his corpse is to follow the embalming process with a periodic injection of humectant or something similar to keep moisture in the tissues. Makeup also helps to cover areas that have gone brown with dehydration.

Just to be safe, Venezuelan officials could take an extra precautionary step and make a face mask, using Chavez's real face to form a mold that could be placed over the flesh in the future "and keep it looking more like he did when he died," Fountain said. The process of embalming a body for a few days or many years is essentially the same, note Fountain and Camilo Jaramillo, a Colombian embalmer and alumnus of the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service.

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[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right, da fix is in - Chavez crony wins Venezuelan election...

Nicolas Maduro wins Venezuela presidential election
15 April 2013 - Socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro has won a narrow victory in Venezuela's presidential poll.

Mr Maduro, who was chosen by the late Hugo Chavez, won 50.7% of the vote against 49.1% for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. The electoral commission said the results were "irreversible".

There has been no comment from Mr Capriles, who earlier on Sunday has suggested there was an attempt to doctor the result. Mr Maduro told a rally of supporters in the capital Caracas that he had won a "just, legal and constitutional" victory.

However, the margin of victory was far smaller than that gained by the late President Chavez over Mr Capriles at elections last October. Almost 80% of eligible voters took part in the poll.

BBC News - Nicolas Maduro wins Venezuela presidential election

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Venezuela divided: Recount sought after razor-thin victory of Chavez successor
15 Apr.`13 - Venezuela awoke to political turmoil Monday after Hugo Chavez's chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, won the country’s presidential election by such a tight margin that his rival demanded a recount.

The country, already shaken by the death from cancer of its dominating leader, faces uncertainty after Maduro secured 50.7 percent of the votes in Sunday's election, compared with 49.1 percent for Henrique Capriles -- a difference of just 235,000 ballots. "This is the most delicate moment in the history of 'Chavismo' since 2002," Javier Corrales, a U.S. political scientist and Venezuela expert at Amherst College in Massachusetts, told Reuters, referring to a brief coup against Chavez 11 years ago. "With these results, the opposition might not concede easily, and Maduro will have a hard time demonstrating to the top leadership of Chavismo that he is a formidable leader."

Capriles refused to recognize the result and said his team had a list of more than 3,000 polling irregularities, Reuters reported. "This struggle has not ended,” he said. "We are not going to recognize a result until each vote of Venezuelans is counted.” "I didn't fight against a candidate today, but against the whole abuse of power," said Capriles, the 40-year-old governor of Miranda state. "Mr. Maduro, you were the loser. ... This system is collapsing, it's like a castle of sand -- touch it and it falls." Officials said Maduro would be formally proclaimed winner at a ceremony and rally in downtown Caracas as early as Monday afternoon, Reuters reported.

For his part, Maduro said he would accept a full recount, even as he insisted his victory was clean and dedicated it to Chavez. "We've had a fair, legal and constitutional triumph," Maduro told his victory rally. "To those who didn't vote for us, I call for unity." One key Chavista leader expressed dismay over the outcome, The Associated Press reported. National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, whom many consider Maduro's main rival within their movement, tweeted: "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism."

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