Chavez reelection

A photographic record of one man's quest for absolute power. Email comments to katycaracas at hotmail dot com.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Some pics, and links

I recieved even more pictures of the illegal use of government funds to help the Chávez campaign. The first one shows one of state-oil giant PDVSA's compounds, completely covered in Chávez electoral propaganda. I guess foreign observers were asleep when their Mercedes Benz sped past this one.


This other picture shows a PDVSA truck in the midst of a Chávez electoral rally. I wonder what it was doing there - handing out free water bottles?


Some fellow bloggers have documented this abuse and more. Here's a partial list:

Caracas Chronicles
- a blog I sometimes contribute op-ed pieces to. Blogger Quico enlightens and challenges opposition and chavista readers alike.

Bruni's blog - good source for how Chávez advertises on national media using government funds.

Vcrisis, Alek's blog - on the road with opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, and keeping a photographic record of abuse along the way.

Daniel's blog - the view from "the interior", as we Venezuelans dejectively call everything that is not Caracas.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A very red engagement

Most of you know that Hugo Chávez is breaking the law by using government funds to pay for his campaign. My work on this blog has been to document, with pictures, one of the ways this has worked.

But my work got a lot easier last week when Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez publicly admitted that PDVSA employees had to work for Chávez's re-election, or else they would be fired. Or rather, in his own words, "they will get the crap beaten out of them," because PDVSA is "red, very red." (referring to Chávez signature color)

The picture I received yesterday is further proof that this election is, indeed, a very red engagement. It shows a PDVSA truck happily advertising Chávez's candidacy on the back.


Now you know folks, as the back of the truck says, call 800-33727 in case of an electoral emergency.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Breaking the law, Andes-style

I have been getting more and more pictures documenting the use of public funds to advertise President Chávez's reelection, in clear violation of Venezuelan laws. This latest batch is from the Andean state of Mérida.


The first picture shows Chávez, in full Presidential-regalia, patting himself in the back by announcing that the state government has acquired 60 police cars. It was taken in mid-October on Avenida Las Américas, one of Mérida's main thoroughfares. It reads "overcoming challenges!", forgetting that the challenge does not lie in buying police cars, but in lowering sky-high crime rates, something the government has clearly failed at. One wonders how many more police cars could be bought with the money it takes to keep that sign up.


The second picture tells us that Chavez, looking severly constipated, is responsible for fixing up a bridge between Mérida and El Vigía, on a highway that is currently named for former President Rafael Caldera. One wonders how long it will be before they adapt the name to these revolutionary times. Oh, and a message to Chavez: dude, real men don't wear yellow...



The third sign says that Chávez is responsible for further construction on that same road - the picture does not include everything but the most important content is there: the picture is paid for by the Mérida State government, and it advertises the sitting President in violation of Venezuelan law.

The readers who contributed these pictures apologize for not taking more pictures. They told me that in every town you pass while driving the Trans-Andean road, you see Chávez signs paid for by each town hall.

Monday, October 02, 2006

A first-hand look at Venezuelan "democracy"

While travelling through my hometown of Maracaibo and Caracas in late September, I was shocked to witness first-hand how government ads and banners almost always contain a Chávez photograph and his name. I had been warned about this, and the pictures I had been receiving from brave Venezuelans seemed to confirm it, but it doesn't hit you as bad until you see the signs everywhere you go.

Governments don't usually have to advertise themselves in quite this fashion. After all, social programs don't usually require massive advertising. Have you ever seen a huge banner for Head Start in the US? How about the Peace Corps? Would banners advertising these programs display a picture President Bush? Probably not, considering their websites don't display Mr. Bush. Would they list his name anywhere? Does the US government advertise using the President's image just months before a Presidential election? Shouldn't social programs advertise how people can access them, or what they offer, instead of who is putting them in place?

All of this happens in Venezuela on a massive scale. In the highways and roads I drove through, the government was clearly the most advertised entity in the country.

Even if one were to justify the government having to advertise, say, its foreign policy or its infrastructure programs, it was clear the main purpose of all these ads was to show Mr. Chavez and directly link him to everything the government does. All the ads I picture below were clearly paid for by some government entity, leaving no room for doubt as to who was paying for them. The debauchery, the pride they obviously take in being able to get away with it, is quite obscene. A country with independent, functional electoral authorities would surely ban this sort of stuff, don't you think?

But don't take my word for it - judge for yourself. I apologize if the quality of the pictures is not ideal - I took the pictures from moving vehicles - but I think the point is clear in all of them.


This is a car belonging to Maracaibo City Hall. The picture was taken in early October in the parking lot of Maracaibo's Sambil shopping mall (not a hotbed of revolutionary communism by any standard). The car has a picture of Maracaibo Mayor Di Martino as well as Chávez, 20 pounds lighter. The slogan reads "Fatherland and life", which is curious given that the rallying cry of the revolutionary left has always been "fatherland or death!" Does this mean they won?



When you drive from Maracaibo to the airport, you see a lot of construction for the Maracaibo Metro. I won't get into the discussion of whether or not a city like Maracaibo, without a functioning bus system and only 1.6 million people spread out in an extended plain, actually needs an expensive subway system.

The picture above is jointly paid for by the Infrastructure Ministry and Maracaibo's (chavista) City Hall. It pictures Chávez and Maracaibo Mayor Giancarlo Di Martino, and proudly announces that "Maracaibo City Hall and the Infrastructure Ministry are building the Maracaibo Metro." It also shows the "banner" of the Chavez government, the sign with the three people holding hands saying "Venezuela now belongs to all of us." In the background, the green Metro trains are harder to make out.



A few meters down the road, as if to drive the point home, we are again reminded that Chávez and Di Martino are (perhaps personally?) building a Metro. The text reads "Let us continue building hope...!", reminding the voter that Chávez wants to "continue building hope" until 2030, at least. In the upper right-hand corner we see another government lemma, "With Chavez, we all govern." How institutional! Again, the ad is clearly paid for by City Hall and the Infrastructure Ministry.


A few more meters down the road, a similar ad showing Di Martino and Chavez in the same poses. This time, the ad is to advertise the Copa America, the South American soccer tournament set to take place in 2007. Maracaibo is one of the host cities, as is implied in the text and in the soccer players you can see in the background.

However, the main message in the ad is that Di Martino and Chavez seem to, personally, be responsible for bringing the cup to the city. Chavez's slogan is also clearly visible in the ad.


And yet another hundred meters or so down the road, the point about the soccer tournament is reinforced. Chávez is shown wearing red-hot electoral gear, only this time they do not even bother to show people actually playing soccer. I should mention that the stadium where the cup will be played is at least 10 kilometers from where this ad is placed.


When you start getting closer to the airport, you even begin to see Chavez's image on street signs! The above picture is of a sign signalling an important intersection. The banner in the middle is the logo of Maracaibo City Hall, and on the left you see a picture of Chávez and Di Martino handing out some sort of housing solution. The text again says "Let us continue building hope...!" The gall of using public funds to advertise the Chávez government's accomplishments in housing is doubly offensive when you realize that housing is one of the areas where the government's record is most disappointing, as admitted by even Chávez himself.


Once you reach Maiquetía airport and begin the slow, winding drive into the city, you notice that the focus of the government seems to be on foreign policy. This struck me as an unorthodox electoral strategy, but what do I know?

The above sign shows Chávez with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and it reads "Breaking the blockade, Venezuela deserves respect!" This slogan was visible in many other signs on that road, as will be evident in the paragraphs below.

As for the content of the slogan, I was left wondering what blockade the government is referring to since Chávez sells millions of barrels of oil per day to the US. My guess is that it's either the Cuban embargo, or some sort of diplomatic blockade that the Venezuelan government believes the US government is enacting.

Finally, it is not clearly visible, but the ad displayed the government's logo.


The above picture, visible a few meters after the previous one, is an ad for Misión Ribas. This social program is, in theory, in charge of granting high school diplomas to all those adults who failed to get it when they were in school. While its goal is admirable, the government's claim of having reached 250 thousand people per year seems ambitious and has so far not been verified by any independent entity.

The sign is paid for by Venezuela's state oil-giant PDVSA, and it reads "With Chavez, the people govern"; "Mision Ribas is an act of liberation"; "250,000 integral high school graduates"; "4th graduating class, Victory is necessary"; "Toward the construction of socialism." Again, the ad is red-hot (the color of Chávez's political party), and it features a smiling Chávez next to Oil Minister Mr. Ramírez and a Native Venezuelan activist. It also features a picture of José Felix Ribas himself. I'm sure his heirs appreciate the free publicity.

One is left wondering whether the goal of Misión Ribas is to graduate those left out by the system and actually give them tools to survive in a globalized world, or rather to "construct socialism."


The picture above is a few hundred meters after the previous one, and it shifts the focus back to foreign policy. Again, the mysterious blockade is mentioned, and it features a picture of a smiling Chávez and Malaysian Prime Minister Badawi. While I tend to be well-versed in foreign affairs, I had never seen a picture of the Malaysian Prime Minister. It's strange that my first encounter with his likeness is a giant billboard outside Caracas International Airport. I wonder what the Malaysian government feels about participating in an illegal campaign ad in our country. Their dismal record in human rights suggests they probably don't care.


Further down the road, another prominent ad featuring Chavez with the Presidents of Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile, as well as the foreign minister of Mexico and an old man who used to be dictator of Cuba. I was particularly shocked to see the Chilean President in this ad given that I live in Santiago and I have not seen a billboard with her face on it since the campaign ended in January.


The above picture was, regrettably, partially blocked. Still, you can make out Chávez's grin welcoming the visitor to the main customs area at Maiquetía International Airport which, I believe, is technically under the control of the National Guard. The billboard comes to you courtesy of Seniat, our local tax-collecting office. In other words, it was paid for by you and me.


And finally, the pièce de résistance. My friends in Caracas had told me about this ad, and it took on mythical proportions in my imagination. Seeing it the first time made my skin crawl.

The ad is placed on the side of the former headquarters of PDVSA in Chuao, one of the main business districts in Caracas. This is also the home of some of the city's most notorious traffic jams.

The building now houses the University of the Armed Forces, which I assume makes it a military installation. The huge banner of Chávez holding a small child reads "University of the Armed Forces - Educational excellence open to the people - Toward 200,000 students." It also shows a map of Venezuela and a portion of what is currently Guyana annexed to it. I don't know, but if I'm the Guyanese government and I see a military building showing a part of my country as belonging to Venezuela, I would be worried. I guess the Guyanese are used to these chest-thumping displays on the part of Venezuelans.

Monday, September 11, 2006

A photographic dossier

The above picture was taken in September in Circunvalación 1, a busy Maracaibo street. It shows chavista Maracaibo mayor Giancarlo Di Martino and Pres. Chávez, the former conveniently dressed in red-hot chavista electoral gear. Nominally, it is an ad paid for by Maracaibo City Hall to advertise the 2007 America's Soccer Cup. The sign says "For 10 million hopes", as in 10 million votes for Chávez, the President's electoral slogan. Notice also that Chávez, his slogan and the color red appear much more prominently than the actual Soccer tournament. It's nice to see Maracaibo City Hall worried about promoting a Soccer tournament, we all know how under-advertised those tend to be. I guess the cleanup of Lake Maracaibo was simply not a priority.
This ad is prominently displayed in the Ducolsa building in Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela. I did not know what Ducolsa was, but no need to Google it, since the ad says "It is (sic.) the Venezuelan State's entity, an appendage of the Ministry of Energy and Oil, positioned nationwide as the leading Production and Social Welfare Enterprise in the area of building and equipping integral habitats (sic.), in harmony with the policies of justice and poverty abatement that Our Bolivarian Government (sic.) is spearheading." It also shows Chávez dressed in his red campaign uniform, and prominently says "With CHAVEZ, the people govern". Boy, was that a mouthful to translate!



This one is a bit harder to read since the angle is not the best. It is from the Miranda tower, a PDVSA building in Maracaibo, taken in September. The banner says something like "Sowing oil for integration and for life.", and it shows a three-story high Chávez (yikes - hide the children!) looking yonder a la Chairman Mao. Notice Chávez conveniently attired, yet again, in electoral red.




The above picture was taken in mid-July at Sabana Grande Metro station, in the heart of Caracas. It is an ad paid for by CASA, the government entity in charge of administering, among others, the government's "Mercal" chain of supermarkets that sell ultra-subsidized groceries, courtesy of the Venezuelan taxpayer.

The ad refers to "10 million opportunities" for Venezuela, in reference to the Chávez re-election slogan, "10 million votes"...

One is left wondering: why would CASA run an ad without referring to its low prices? Or, then again, why does CASA need advertising at all? It is, after all, nothing more than a bureaucratic pitstop.



The above is a picture of an office inside the Labor Ministry in Western Venezuela, taken in mid-August.

As is clear, the Labor Ministry proudly shows a poster of Chavez with the electoral slogan "10 million", as in 10 million votes, a goal that has now been scaled down. Details on the reader or the exact location of the office shall remain, like the person in the photo, confidential.



This picture was taken in the first semester of 2006. It shows the facade of a PDVSA engineering office, PDVSA being the Venezuelan government's enormous oil company. The huge advertisement on the front wall reads "toward 10 million", as in 10 million votes for Chávez. The two hands and the slogan are an integral part of Mr. Chávez's re-election campaign.