Caracas Chronicles

Guys:

I studied literature, not statistics, so the scientific rant is BORING (at least for me!). My main trouble, for all you guys is:

LAST SUNDAY, ALL VENEZUELANS GOT TO VOTE. THE LINES WERE AMAZING (Justin Delacour, as a witness, admitted that, and, as he didn´t know each and every vote, he surely, for the sake of fairness, would stand by his words!), NO MATTER WHERE YOU WENT, NO MATTER WHO YOU WERE, NO MATTER IF YOU CHOSE ‘YES’ OR ‘NO’, THERE WAS A MASS STANDING NO FIRST WORLD COUNTRY HAS SEEN IN AT LEAST 50 YEARS!

NOW, GUYS: MY PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL, PROBLEM, IS:

Can exit polls be so wrong? Fujimori was considered by dear little Carter and the OAS as a”cheater” after those exit polls. Hummm!!! Daniel Ortega accepted his defeat under exit poll evidences, HUMM! Noriega ALMOST admitted his defeat on those “exit polls”! HUMM.

But then, with an unproofed e-system, guys like Dan Burnett told me (us): “You lost! Admit it and move over!” Some Americans doubt the “legitimacy” of Bush´s presidency for just one reason. HUMMM! The e-voting!

So, All of you (and Dan, this is for you) , and also on the name of “foreign” correspondants that took this as a trip to tropical beaches, why should I accept your perceptions as final opinions after less than a week? How long did you take to accept “fair results” in Bush´s case? If I remember well, it was at least a month…

This election was supposed to bring some “stability” to the region (that was CARTER´S ROLE!).

But, even among “light” Chavistas, that wasn´t the evident result. Yesterday, I took a cab. The driver (I told him I had voted yes), never told me how he had voted. He was dubious… as the rest of Venezuelans.

I repeat, again, what I´ve said all along: Maybe the YES lost. If the numbers had been undoubtedly counted in some number of polling stations, I would have accepted the results. After two bottles of good rum, I would have stood up, and followed Mr. Burnett advise and move on. But not even Chavecos are doing it… The cab driver was depressed and worried…

So, as a question to reasonable independents: should I accept your “we are the First World, we are the children” song and dance along? No, guys. I´m a human being, not a number in your fair statisticts that say: in Venezuela, 80 % is poor, so Chávez should at least have 80 % support!

Even if official numbers are right, he just got 60 %. SO SOMETHING IS WRONG. MAYBE WE ARE ALL WRONG!

Look here: over every neck, there is a head. If not, we´ll all look like chickens on the fridge! Something was wrong in the e-vote in Venezuela. If those “soi disant” liberals don´t address my reasonable doubts, the same they had over Bush´ election, I´ll assert that the only valid democracy was the classical one… the one with slaves Pericles developed! And, of course, I´ll be among the Third World slaves… As always.

Best regards, take care, keep safe, stay cool! And, oh, yeah: use e-voting machines. That´s the safest way, guys. Venezuela just prooved it!