Update from Caracas

Antonio, one of our guides in Caracas in April, sent an e-mail to Dena, one of the women on the tour. She forwarded it to me:

Sorry to write you back so late. I´d been dealing with several things at a time and unfortunately, those which I am in touch trough the internet are suffering the consecuences.

Things are quite interesting lately. Looks like, according to most polls, the opposition will loose the referendum. What really concerns most of us is that opposition leaders not only keep denying those polls (including a few firms from the US) but also that they refuse to say publicly that they will respect the referendum results. If you put this together with the fact that tons of illegal explosives were found in a ranch close to Caracas, plus the larceny of C4 and war weapons from military facilities, then the scenario turns a bit scaring.

In terms of people´s mood I would say that chavez supporters are willing to "defend" what they consider a secure victory...which is not the same feeling I can observe in opposition members. Looks like they don´t really know what would happen if their leaders decide not to recognice the results provided by the National electoral council.

Whatever happens on 15 August, the whole country is waiting for the results in order to restart normal life. So far almost everything have been put on hold.

Sorry I can´t write you a bit more. I will write you a few lines after the referendum

Regards

Antonio

The real question, I fear, is whether the Bushies will accept a Chavez victory. I think the Chavistas can handle the opposition, just like they did in 2002. Handling the CIA and the NED and the bipartisan support in Washington for overthrowing Chavez' legitimately-elected government would be the real problem. Hopefully aWol will decide that Kerry and the messes he's made in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and the budget are enough to try and deal with for now. Unfortunately, no one ever went broke misunderestimating the sanity of George W. Bush.

Good luck to Antonio and Alicia and Marcela and Roberto and all of the other fine people in Venezuela who deserve a much better future than our imperial government wants to allow them.