Patience appears to be running out with leaders of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)

Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Patience appears to be running out for leaders of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in their dealings with minor allies which once were going to merge into President Hugo Chavez' attempt to forge a single monolithic movement. PSUV First Vice President Alberto Muller Rojas accused the minnows of saying one thing and doing another. This was after Chavez directly criticized leaders of Patria Para Todos (PPT) and the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) last week. The issue at stake is that the smaller parties are adopting a more independent line in the nomination of candidates for November's regional elections. PPT, for instance, says it'll name six candidates for state governor. Muller urged the smaller parties not to play the part of the "classes of privilege" by splitting the pro-Chavez vote. In private, PSUV activists concede that PPT, in particular, could take votes away from the party in key states. Libertador Mayor Freddy Bernal called for other parties to "respect" the PSUV's candidates.