AN deputy Carlos Escarra claims United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) strengthened and unbeatable in November elections

National Assembly (AN) Deputy Carlos Escarra claimed the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had been strengthened and would be unbeatable at the November elections -- but he evidently overlooked the implications of a rebellion in the ranks in Guarico state. A group of about 200 PSUV activists claiming to represent 5,200 party members traveled to Caracas to say they were leaving the party to join Patria Para Todos (PPT) in protest against the PSUV primary elections on June 1. Eddys Leon gave PPT Secretary General Jose Albornoz a letter saying that during the primaries, PSUV militants put obstacles in the way of people they were representing, and 40,000 party members had been "excluded" from voting. Only 20 polling stations had been set up in the state capital, San Juan de los Morros, he claimed. PPT was once willing to vanish into the political ether by joining the PSUV. But unrest among party activists nudged the PPT leadership into desisting, who now emphasize PPT's autonomy as a political entity.