Caracas Chronicles

The opposition will be holding a primary this Sunday. In 35 electoral circuits around the country, anyone able to vote will be allowed to select the person he or she prefers to be the unity candidate(s) for those circuits. This webpage, and this article by Puzkas, are a useful reference for the interested voter.

Sadly, you probably haven’t heard much about this. You probably don’t know who the candidates are, or what their positions are. In fact, chances are that you’ve heard more about former Spanish President Felipe González attempting to travel to Venezuela this Monday than about this primary campaign.

I don’t want to belittle the terrible circumstances that our political prisoners are in. But the media, and social media in particular, have been way too focused on the saga of Señor González.

(In case you don’t know, he was appointed to the legal defense team for our political prisoners. The government said “oh no you didn’t!” González insists on traveling.)

It’s all a silly little media circus. González’s presence will not make one iota of a difference to the fate of the prisoners. Sure, it will be a PR stunt, and it will keep the foreign press busy. Will that have any effect on the outcome of this saga? Unlikely.

In the meantime, important issues such as the goings-on inside our opposition coalition, fall by the wayside.

Perhaps if the MUD had drafted Felipe González to run for Parliament our primaries would have gotten more media traction. The only way to counter the information wars and focus on what’s important is to go out on Sunday and vote.

Too often we complain about the government throwing out distractions. This time, it’s our own side that’s distracting us from the import … SQUIRREL!