Caracas Chronicles

I’ve always advocated participation. I thought the 2005 election withdrawal was a mistake.  Even yesterday, I tweeted that abstaining would be a mistake.

But after hearing Capriles’ message yesterday, and listening to arguments for either side, I think the arguments for NOT participating are the strongest.

Here is what I would suggest we do:

1. Tell the government clearly that, in order to participate, Maduro should separate himself from whatever post he has prior to registering as a candidate. Power should be handed over to Diosdado Cabello (Arreaza’s appointment as VP is illegal).
2. Defense Minister should resign.

If that doesn’t happen (which it clearly won’t), we don’t play ball. End of story. They want an opposition? They want the democratic veneer that comes with a contested election? They need to respect the rules of the game.

My positions are laid out in my tweets, and in the comments to the post about Henrique’s choices.

Obviously, there is no right answer to this, and if they decide the opposite, what the heck. But to me the right answer is clearly staring us in the face.

Update: Five minutes after I posted this, the MUD decided to do the complete opposite, which only proves just how influential this blog is!