Dec01/05 - On the beginning of the end of a failed attempt to establish a Bolivarian Dictatorship

PMBComment: AS EXPECTED all major political parties have now exited from Sunday’s elections. The electoral route - once more - proves its fragility given the repugnant combination of ill will and naïveté that plagues and defines Venezuelan politics. With the cancellation of the December 4th election a forgone conclusion; with the country in high-risk political limbo; and with the Chávez administration fully exposed as the third rate burlesque act it is, the people of Venezuela have to understand, once and for all, that their destiny depends on the ability of the disenfranchised majority to step forward and up the ante. The bar has to be raised quite high and new leaders have to be measured by stricter standards. The unraveling of the congressional elections is no surprise to those of us who have long stated that those who govern in the manner of the Chavistas cannot afford to surrender power and assume the full and just consequences of their crooked deeds.

The next few days will be critical for Venezuela's future and those observing it from afar better hold on to their conclusions until the whole plot plays itself out. Conventional wisdom and past experience are not necessarily good guides for the future. Continuing to assume that there will be elections which the government will win by a landslide - like many a wire service are now reporting - reflects a level of ignorance which is hard, or impossible, to explain or combat. We are at the beginning of the end of Chávez's attempted dictatorship. The days ahead will be fraught with danger, but the legitimacy sought by the regime through fraudulent elections will never again be available to it - and that, and its implied consequences, you can take to the bank. PMB