“Let’s do it! No problem." --Maduro
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/8626
Background: Venezuela votes electronically but they use OPEN SOURCE CODE that belongs to the PUBLIC--code that anyone may review--and they do a whopping 55% audit (comparison of electronic totals to ballots)--more than five times the audit needed to detect fraud in an electronic system.
By comparison, all states in the U.S. use 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that the public is forbidden to review, code that is largely owned and controlled by ONE, PRIVATE, FAR RIGHTWING-CONNECTED corporation (ES&S, which bought out Diebold)--and half the states do NO AUDIT AT ALL while the other half do a miserably inadequate 1% audit.
That is one reason why Jimmy Carter recently called Venezuela's election system "the best in the world."
Venezuela CAN do a 100% audit. (In the U.S., half the states CAN'T do any audit--let alone a 100% audit--and the other half don't bother to do even a decent audit. They 'trust' Diebold/ES&S. Gawd!)
The ironies created by the Corporate Media's "Big Lie" coverage of Chavez are plentiful. "Chavez the dictator" has been in charge for over a decade, yet Venezuela, during that time, created "THE BEST ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE WORLD." Frankly, I wish we had that kind of "dictatorship" here...um, the kind that trusts the will of the people, the kind that SERVES the people, the kind that the fascist 1% slander as a "dictatorship." (Guess who also got called a "dictator" by the fascist 1%?--FDR!)
This is WHY Nicolas Maduro can confidently and immediately agree to a 100% audit. The system is very transparent and almost impossible to rig (compared to ours, which is 100% RIGGABLE by whoever is controlling ES&S*).
Obviously, given this close (and reliable!) vote count in Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro has to prove himself to the 5% to 10% of "undecided" Venezuelan voters who always voted for the Chavez government, though they may not have been 'chavistas" or socialists or as enthusiastic about the Chavez government as those reliable 50% of Chavez voters were. (Chavez won elections with 55% to nearly 60% margins.)
The forces at work against universal health care, free education through college, good wages/benefits, low unemployment, social and political inclusiveness, national control of Venezuela's huge oil reserves and use of those profits to benefit the people who live there--and, indeed, the forces at work against honest, transparent elections--are very, very powerful, and can use this close election to try to destabilize Venezuela, if they can, to remove this example of democracy and social progress, and to re-assert control not only of Venezuela's oil but also of the U.S. 'Southern Command''s "circle the wagons" region--Central America/the Caribbean--and, if possible, to re-take South America, where the leftist democracy movement has nearly swept the continent.
It's one thing for Capriles to ask for a recount. It's quite another for him to say that the Maduro government is "completely illegitimate" (as he is quoted as saying in the above cited article). A recount is a fair request. Calling the government ""completely illegitimate" just because the vote is close is destabilization. It invites riots and disorder and may well be part of a plan to do just that.
Maduro has a lot of responsibility as do all members of his government--responsibility that goes way beyond Venezuela's borders. Venezuela was the pioneer and inspirer of this vast and historic leftist democracy movement. How Maduro and his supporters lost a 10% to 20% lead over the past few weeks I'm sure will be closely analyzed. It may be that the Corporate Media's drumbeat has finally done its work--has 'gotten' to some Venezuelans (the more iffy Chavez voters) with its non-stop negative campaign of distortions and outright lies against Chavez and now Maduro. That, to me, is the key thing that happened over the last few weeks. We saw it here at DU. We saw it throughout the Corporate Media. It was, in fact, sickening--some of the worst and most dishonest so-called 'journalism' I have ever seen--across the board, from the New York Slimes to the New Corker, from Rotters to the BBCons, and from the Associated Pukes to the Wall Street Urinal.
However, it may be internal issues instead or in combination with the Corporate Media's "Big Lie" war against the Chavez government. It is certainly a time for Maduro government and internal chavista self-criticism, as called for by the head of the National Assembly (a chavista and former VP). The successes of the Chavez years on policy--and they have been many and dramatic--need to be expanded into areas that have not been successfully addressed, such as bureaucracy and local police corruption, and the prevalence of guns (Venezuela is a gun-loving society). It is also a time for LEADERSHIP--to fill the void left by Chavez and to pull the country together, to fend off destabilization plots, to counter the Corporate Media and U.S. government "Big Lie", AND to improve on the Bolivarian Revolution--to make it yet more inclusive and yet more successful in its best goals--food and shelter for all, education for all, opportunity for all, a vibrant, creative economy, a vibrant creative democracy.
I DON'T think it's all up to Maduro. It never was under Chavez either. (That was one of the Corporate Media's "Big Lies"--in their effort to build up a "bogeyman" whom they could pummel and overthrow.) This is a deep, REAL social and political revolution, driven from "below." It's up to all Venezuelans to preserve their "New Deal" and their inclusive democracy. THEY achieved these things. Chavez alone could not have done so. Nor can Maduro. But this is nevertheless a big test of leadership for Maduro. He obviously still has a way to go, to earn Venezuelans' trust and to rally the country's creative energy. I hope he and they succeed. Capriles, I suspect, is a Reagan-in-sheep's clothing. Reagan began the dismantling of our own "New Deal" and turned our democracy right around into a fascist oligarchy, making the Bush Junta possible and even inevitable. I hope Venezuelans don't fall off that cliff, as we did.
-----------------------
*(It's sobering to realize that the head of the Pentagon, Chuck Hagel, was the first beneficiary of ES&S's rigged elections. He first ran for Senate WHILE he was an investor in ES&S and THEY did the 'vote count.' He helped CREATE this totally riggable system. So, who controls ES&S? My best guess: a consortium of "dark actors" in the CIA and the Pentagon serving war profiteers, of course, and other transglobal corporations and banksters. NO ONE gains high office without their okay, and they groom candidates for certain positions, then 'elect' them--or, as I believe was the case with Obama--ALLOW them to be elected, provided they agree to certain strictures, such as NO prosecution--and not even investigation--of Bush Junta war criminals, highway robbery of the American people with bankster bailouts, and so forth. Above all, our false office holders and our permitted-to-be-elected office holders must. not. expose. the. fraudulence. of. private. corporate. 'vote.' 'counting.')
= new reply since forum marked as read
