La Jornada: A divided Venezuelan opposition will perhaps conquer some mayoralties and a couple of governorships

VHeadline Venezuela News reports: "This Sunday, Venezuelans will vote to elect governors and mayors. Despite the fact that the Executive is not up for election, President Hugo Chavez has tried to convert the electoral process into a new referendum in his favor, to erase the defeat he suffered in December 2007, when large segments of the Chavista electorate and even those affiliated to the ruling party, abstained to express their dissatisfaction with the absence of, or lack of motivation in government policies."

Writing in today's edition of La Jornada de Mexico, Guillermo Almeyra admits that the divided Venezuelan opposition will perhaps conquer some mayoralties and a couple of governorships, not as an alternative, but because of its neo-liberal and pro-imperialist policies which are not very popular in the current crisis of global capitalism and Barack Obama, triumph in the US presidential elections.

"Inasmuch as Obama may be 'imperialist', he is NOT Bush and, to the dismay of the Venezuelan opposition, he has become today's hero in the eyes of many South Americans."

"The problem could come if too much importance is attributed to a massive and overwhelming triumph for Chavez' candidates," La Jornada's Almeyra writes. "Hopefully, I am wrong, but abstention could be high again. Voters are more worried about inflation, which could reach 11% in January. It was 17% in July and 28% in September and was over 31% last month. There is also the possibility of an imminent devaluation of the Venezuelan Bolivar against the US dollar and a fall in real wages (a fact, not reflected in official figures). There are also United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) lists of allegedly corrupt elements and opportunists, and acts of repression by state-owned companies (SIDOR, PDVSA) and the National Guard which have forced by the Labor Minister to reinstate Orlando Chirino, who had been dismissed as coordinator of the National Union of Workers (UNT) which supports the government."

La Jornada's Almeyra notes that Chavez lives surrounded by a circle of "advisors" that he should rather lose than listen to, and (as a result) has a very unrealistic view of the political reality -- an opinion qualified by the vice president of Telesur who in a recent interview complained that the President had said the channel is seen by 50 million when reality shows it is viewed by as few as 100,000. He adds that Chavez does not realize the terribly negative effects of the 'boliburocracia' (a corrupt bureaucracy) that, by virtue of their narrow perspectives of the world, are often a part of the problem. He, essentially, relies on their loyalty to him, no matter that many of them are completely inept for the job.

La Jornada: That's why there are tens of thousands of participants and groupings in the PSUV, like in the communist parties of the former East Europe bloc, who benefit from their loyalty to 'the Leader' and swear by socialism even though they are in fact counter-revolutionaries!

"A political campaign without ideas or projects, an administrative apparatus in the style of the Mexican PRI governments, does NOT help much, either, to build workers' awareness or to differentiate who are the opportunists in PSUV itself, while many are really struggling to bring Venezuela out of capitalism."

"A mish-mass of ideologies -- like Chavez' declaration that the Communist Party (PCV) and Patria Para Todos (PPT) are counter-revolutionaries, because (although they support his government and even the candidates of the PSUV in almost all districts) they are opposed to some of his ideas -- leads to a general confusion over who precisely are the real counter-revolutionaries."

"Like a good military man, Chavez demands submission and vertical command ... but the construction of socialism requires pluralism in framework of the revolution, a spirit of self-criticism, decisions from the bottom up in every major question. It is NOT socialist, nor the act of a citizen to be declared incapable of thinking for him/herself and there is no need of a Leader to think for one's self. In the words of 'The International' (anthem), there should neither be Leaders of Saviors Supreme..."

Today's local and regional elections in Venezuela will not change much, according to La Jornada's Guillermo Almeyra, unless the opposition, with difficulty, makes gains in a symbolic district or if abstention is higher than in December 2007, both of which are unlikely. What can affect it is the dropping price of oil on national development plans, such as food self-sufficiency, in competition with small surpluses in oil revenues from petro-diplomacy in the Caribbean and Central America, and also with important projects elsewhere in South American (like BanSur).

Popular power and popular control of municipalities is therefore more important than ever, since it could prevent waste and the incompetence of a bureaucratic apparatus and sabotage from the right, since a new electoral defeat will make people even more resentful and prepared to do anything. The PSUV is NOT fit for purpose, because of its vertical command structure and bureaucracy, to promote and build People Power.

• Within its ranks, however, there are no doubt many top performers who are able to confront the task.

It is therefore necessary to avoid that, if they win the municipalities but not the States, they should become militants in control of the popular institutions through an open and democratic functioning assembly.