The aftermath of last Sunday's regional elections has been overshadowed by concern that Venezuelan politics could be set to return to the violent ways of the not so distant past. And it would appear that hard elements among the president's supporters or chavistas are the cause of that.
Ceremonies in which prominent opposition electoral victors were to be sworn in on Wednesday were marred by violent behavior and disorder in Los Teques, capital of Miranda state, and Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia state.
Miranda was arguably the opposition's biggest election trophy, with Henrique Capriles Radonski toppling Diosdado Cabello, a big wheel in the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the race for governor by 579,349 votes (53.27%) to 499,570 votes (45.94%).
Men in red shirts ran amok not far from where Capriles Radonski was being sworn in before an enthusiastic crowd of his own supporters. Red is President Hugo Chávez' political trademark, and this was said to have been just one of several indications that the miscreants were his supporters.
The trouble was said to have been started by men on motorbikes who threatened the crowd. This prompted opposition sympathizers to reply with volleys of bottles and stones, and fighting erupted.
Questions hung over the conduct of a recently-promoted Miranda state police deputy commissioner who was alleged to have countermanded an order to separate the two sides and quell the disorder.
The head of the force confirmed that an "irregularity" had taken place but didn't go into detail or say what would be done about the officer. One of Capriles Radonski's campaign vows was to weed out bad officers from the police ranks.Rioters attacked several newly elected members of the state legislature, some of whom had to be protected by security officers. An opposition candidate who didn't win was said to have been punched in the face. With the police unable to control the mob, a squad from the National Guard was called in and restored some semblance of order. Three people including one police officer were reported injured afterwards, but apparently there were no arrests. Tension persisted into the next day, when storekeepers fearful of looting suddenly brought down their shutters.
In Zulia, dozens of protesters besieged a theater where the popular opposition outgoing governor, Manuel Rosales, and his successor, Pablo Pérez, were to be sworn in on Wednesday. Barred from running for a third successive term, Rosales won by a large majority in the race for mayor of the state capital, Maracaibo.
The swearing-in ceremony was delayed four hours before Rosales and Pérez formally took office. Reports reaching Caracas said that some of those involved in the violence outside the theater had few scruples of their political affiliation and loyalty to the government.
They were demanding that the regional branch of the National Electoral Council (CNE) carry out a fresh audit of the vote because they were convinced Pérez had won by fraud. This was an echo of the accusation the opposition frequently made after it lost one election after another when Chávez was at the height of his popularity a couple of years back.
During the disorder, several officials from the CNE and their cars also became targets of men angry about the outcome of the election. This prompted a plea for peace the following day from CNE President Tibisay Lucena, whose impartiality has long been an object of suspicion for the opposition.
While confirming that violent incidents had taken place, Lucena did not say by whom they had been committed. "This isn't the way, and that's the position of the electoral power," she said.There was also tension in the president's home state, Barinas, were his elder brother, Adán, was elected to succeed their father as governor with a flat 50% of the votes cast. For three days, the candidate who came second, Julio César Reyes – a rival chavista – has refused to concede defeat and he has called his supporters out on to the streets.
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