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The opposition’s united-front candidate, Manuel Rosales, has been giving form to his alternative proposal for the country with which to confront the “21st Century Communism” championed by government-coalition candidate Hugo Chávez. The country vision outlined by Rosales is summed up in the premise “the birth of a new democracy,” as announced this week when he made public the bases of his government program.

There are five core areas where Rosales would focus the action of his government; these are:

The social, where he includes training for decent jobs as the engine that would drive the fight against poverty and inequality, along with the discussion of collective employment contracts; consolidation of decentralization and recognition of dissent, to which end he gave assurances that he would work with all the country’s governors and mayors; the problem of abandoned children; and the building and remodeling of 1.5 million housing units.

On the economic front, he proposes doing away with unemployment and restoring the rule of law and respect for private property.

In the political-institutional area he includes rescuing public institutions, where the priority would be the Electoral Branch and the National Armed Force; guaranteeing the transparency and autonomy of the branches of government; and addressing the problem of insecurity from a structural viewpoint by ensuring decent treatment for the police forces, setting up a Federal Government Council, and respect for human rights.

The goal on the international front basically consists of recovering a position of respect in the concerted effort of nations, removing the country from conflicts and terrorism, and reviewing present international treaties to discard those that breach Venezuela’s sovereignty.

Rosales also announced the first government policies he would implement during his first 60 days in office. They include transferring funds for the Mi Negra program; implementing a program of free school meals, uniforms, textbooks and supplies; exempting items in the food basket from VAT; reducing income tax for companies that hire young people, women and the disabled; returning its autonomy to the Central Bank; eliminating political-party overtones from education; and declaring a state of emergency in the areas of housing and security.

It’s still early days for Rosales to be counting his chickens, however. First, he has to go up in the polls, where, according to the optimists, there is “a technical tie” and, according to the pessimists, he has a paltry 40%. Then, he has to have enough courage and determination to lead the masses of the opposition to overcome all the difficulties and traps with which the CNE has mined the path to the elections. As General (R) Francisco Usón rightly says, “without a clear, well-thought-out strategy, Rosales doesn’t have a hope, even if he gets the votes.”

VenEconomy is a Venezuela's leading specialized publisher in the economic and financial area. VenEconomy's Points of View on the issues of the day, as seen by VenEconomy during the last week. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by VenEconomy, on 10/27/2006. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers.

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Petroleumworld 10/31/06

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