Op-Ed Commentary

 

 

Michael Rowan: Chavistas in conflict

About half the voters are inclined to re-elect Chavez for six more years but national surveys show them in deep conflict. What they like about Chavez is that he has paid attention to them, created the missions, and put a lot of money on the streets and in their pockets in this election year. But they still face three hard choices with Chavez.

There is the choice between guaranteed monthly Mi Negra payments versus whatever the Chavez government may give them next year when it needs voters no longer because the elections are over. At 20% of all the oil wealth forever, Mi Negra looks substantially better than what Chavez offers in time-to-time handouts. Mi Negra also comes via the ATM rather than through the thieving fingers of the political middlemen, and that is very much in its favor.

Then there is the choice between private property versus the socialist and collectivist state property favored by Chavez. They want to own their homes and small businesses where they can improve their standard of living through hard work and profits. They don't want the state to own their property and they know the state enterprises are losers.

And finally there is the choice between spending Venezuela's oil wealth in the country versus spending it in foreign lands. This is a no-brainer for the Chavistas. They overwhelmingly believe that Chavez should spend the money in Venezuela not elsewhere. But Chavez, who has spent more than 400 days of his presidency jetting around the world giving away Venezuela's oil wealth, does not seem likely to change that behavior if he is re-elected.

Can the Chavistas trust Rosales? The negative campaigns against Rosales claim he is another Pedro Carmona, an Adeco wolf in sheep's clothing, and a front for George W. Bush. For the Chavistas, the choice may come down to voting for the devil they know versus the devil they don't know, but who is that?

Michael Rowan's is an political analysts, author and media columnist (Michaelrowan22@gmail.com) - Read about Michael Rowan's book "Getting Over Chavez and Poverty" at michael.rowan.book@gmail.com. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by Diario El Universal , on Nov. 14, 2006. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website. All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld.

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Petroleumworld News 11/22/06

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