Shortages eroding Hugo Chávez's support
President Hugo Chávez's popularity has fallen as frustrated Venezuelans protest over a lack of water and electricity.
Chavez's headline addiction might cause conflict

W atching Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez call on his armed forces to ``prepare for war'' with Colombia, I couldn't help wondering whether he will end up like the late star of the TV series The Crocodile Hunter -- a victim of his own addiction to headlines.

Remember The Crocodile Hunter ? It was the TV series in which Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin -- amazed us every week by coming dangerously close to poisonous snakes, lions, crocodiles and other wild animals. As Irwin's ratings rose, so did his need to perform ever more daring acts in order to keep his ratings from falling.

Every time I watched Irwin pulling off an intrepid feat --like putting his hands inside a lion's mouth, or tying up a crocodile's mouth with his bare hands -- I shook my head with an eerie feeling that his need to surprise us with increasingly bold actions would end in tragedy. He died in 2006, when he got too close to a stingray in Australia's Great Barrier Reef and was pierced in the chest by the animal.

Latin America's Money Man


Venezuelan voters appeared to be turning out in lighter numbers than expected Sunday for a national plebiscite on constitutional changes toward President Hugo Chávez’s vision of “21st Century Socialism” in what has proven to be Chávez’s toughest election challenge during his nine years in power.

The reforms would allow Chávez to seek re-election indefinitely, give him virtually total control over public finances and allow him to create new territories that would be governed by hand-picked officials instead of elected local authorities.

Analysts have said a low turnout would favor Chávez because many opponents were threatening not to vote in an election they thought he would rig if necessary. But election observers were noting by early afternoon Sunday that fewer people than expected were voting in Chávez strongholds and anti- Chávez neighborhoods alike.
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Hugo Chávez's message fails to attract Peruvians

Dissatisfied and dispirited, most Peruvians think that the country's recent economic boom has passed them by.

That should make Peru fertile territory for the populist message that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been attempting to spread to the downtrodden in the rest of Central and South America.

``Without a doubt, Chávez wants to gain a foothold here,'' said Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski, who served as Peru's prime minister in 2005-06. ``He needs to expand his network. The one Indian country [in South America] where he doesn't have control is Peru.''
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For Chávez, money no longer buys love

V enezuela's narcissist-Leninist President Hugo Chávez is not getting his money's worth for the billions of dollars he is spending in public relations abroad: According to a new poll, his approval ratings in Latin America could hardly be worse.

The newly released poll of 20,200 people in 18 Latin American countries conducted by Latinobarómetro, a Chilean-based firm, shows that when asked to evaluate foreign leaders on a scale from zero to 10 -- with zero being ``very bad'' and 10 being ``very good'' -- Latin Americans gave Chávez the worst rating among a list of 17 regional and world leaders.

What may be just as bad news for the Venezuelan president: The leader who topped the list was the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who got a score of 7.
BY PHIL GUNSON
Special to The Miami Herald

CARACAS -- Turn out the lights, shorten the shower to three minutes, buy a portable generator.

That is President Hugo Chávez's message to the citizens of energy-rich Venezuela, where the ``socialist revolution'' has brought power cuts, water shortages and collapsing public services.

In the past month, thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets to protest the lack of basic social services, from electricity to water. On Thursday, about 100 demonstrators turned out in Caracas calling for Chávez to solve the problem.

Some burned electricity bills while others simulated plugging electric devices into candles.

``We're accused of wasting electricity, but the fact is the government didn't plan, didn't invest and didn't carry out maintenance,'' Aixa Lopez, president of the Committee of Blackout Victims, told the TV news channel Globovisión.

For more than a decade, Chávez has dominated Venezuelan politics, establishing a grip on power unequalled in the region, outside of Cuba. But lower oil prices, as well as the effects of economic mismanagement and neglected infrastructure, have begun to erode his popular support. A weak and divided opposition seems poorly placed to take advantage of the opportunity.

Late last year, Chávez mocked critics who warned that Venezuela, more than 90 percent dependent on oil revenues for its foreign earnings, was poorly positioned to ride out the global crisis. The country's economy, he said, was ``bulletproof.''

But after more than four years of rapid growth, Venezuela is now firmly in recession. Worse still, its shrinking economy has done little to blunt inflation, which is running at close to 30 percent a year -- around three times the regional average. And the economic downturn is having a predictable effect on the government's popularity, just as it gears up to fight crucial legislative elections next year.

The latest data from polling company Datanálisis shows voters evenly split, for the first time since mid-2004, over whether the president has been good or bad for ``national wellbeing.'' Only 17.2 percent say they would vote for him if the presidential election were imminent -- down from over 31 percent in September.

``I don't have much time for opinion polls,'' said pro-Chávez legislator Luis Tascón. But he admits that the president's political movement, ``has, in effect, suffered a decline'' since its high-water mark in 2006 when Chávez was reelected.

``It's a worrying picture for chavismo,'' Tascón told The Miami Herald, ``but it's not fatal.''

The government's great advantage, he argues, ``is an incoherent opposition, without leadership and without a platform.'' Even so, power cuts, he says, ``will undoubtedly have a political cost'' for the government.

In early 2007, after winning re-election, Chávez decreed the nationalization of those parts of the electricity industry still in private hands -- notably the Caracas power company EDC. Since then, there have been seven national power outages. In most parts of the country, weary consumers have grown used to frequent, unscheduled blackouts lasting hours.

This month, the president admitted there was a crisis in both the power and water industries. This came on the heels of a similar admission regarding healthcare. He put the blame mainly on the El Niño phenomenon for producing drought -- Venezuela is 70 percent dependent on hydro power for its electricity -- and on consumers for their wasteful habits.

Much of his ire was aimed at shopping malls because, he said, they foment capitalist values. ``They're going to have to buy their own generators,'' he threatened, ``or I'll cut off their electricity.''

Ordinary Venezuelans have been urged to use less water and turn off the lights. ``Some people sing in the bath for half an hour,'' Chávez told a recent cabinet session, broadcast live. ``What kind of communism is that? Three minutes is more than enough!''

Formal water rationing has now been introduced, government departments have been told to reduce their electricity consumption by a fifth, and the president has created a new Electricity Ministry in a tacit admission that the state has failed to manage the power industry correctly.

That, say critics, is an understatement. When Chávez came to power in 1999, he inherited a long-term plan to increase electricity generation to keep pace with rising demand.

LITTLE DONE

According to Víctor Poleo, who was deputy minister for electricity at the beginning of the Chávez era, despite huge sums of money allocated, little has actually been done.

``My guess is that of every $100 pumped into [electricity] generation and transmission since 2003, $75 has been stolen by the politicians,'' Poleo said.

Estimates vary, but daily consumption exceeds supply by at least 1.5 gigawatts, and the problem is compounded by poor maintenance of generators and transmission lines.

Angry consumers have mounted hundreds of protests, to little effect. Earlier this month, residents of the southwestern border state of Táchira dumped damaged household appliances outside the offices of the Venezuelan Electrical Corp. (CORPOELEC), demanding compensation.

``Levels of social conflict in this country are extremely high,'' said political commentator Manuel Felipe Sierra. ``But the fact is, the protests are not linked to any political leadership.''

Venezuela's united opposition front, whose acronym is MUD, is composed of a large number of political parties, none of which polls as much as 5 percent. The combined weight of all potential challengers to Chávez is less than 12 percent, according to Datanálisis.

The parties are embroiled in a discussion about how to pick joint candidates for the legislative elections next year, and even the politicians admit they have failed to galvanise public opinion.

``There has been no effective, short-term response on the part of the opposition,'' to the current crisis, Sierra said.

If anti-Chávez sentiment were to translate directly into seats in the single-chamber parliament -- known as the National Assembly -- the opposition would easily win a majority. But the government controls the electoral authority (known as the CNE) and also recently revoked the principle of proportional representation.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/09/chavez-devalues-bolivar-markets-currencies-venezuela.html

bye-bye Hugo!

Lo seguro e lo' tragao'...

Great new economic strategy starting to unfurl.
S.

The buffoon Narcissist-Leninist "Porque no te callas" Chavez, like a chimp, repeating Leonel Fernandez infamous and regrettable quote that the Dominican economy was "bullet proof".
As far as energy and water saving measures he could have instead decreed three minutes to take a shower every three months, like Fidel Castro's miliciano's in the Sierra Maestra, as well as mandatory beards for all men, also prohibiting shaving of women's legs and underarms. LOL.
Sadly, and what is more worrisome is that the DR receives considerable financial benefits, for the oil purchases that the Venezuelan government sells to the DR in exchange for political mileage, and if Venezuela goes deeper in the red, these benefits might evaporate.

Oil price is rising again.
Of course water economy is important. US wanton waste must end - California is also short of water.
They could have a plimsoll line on baths
We collected rose hips to be made into syrup for babies as a substitute for orange juice, saved paper, and bathed in four inches of water with a "Plimsoll line" on the bath side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/36/a4017836.shtml
Global warming brings drought to millions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spains-drought-a-glimpse-of-our-future-833587.html
Everyone can help....
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/08/05/brazilians-urged-to-pee-in-the-shower-to-conserve-water/
Don't eat beef........
http://www.monolake.org/about/waterconservation
a 2 lb steak will use 5000 gallons of water.....
S.

Oil price is rising again.
Of course water economy is important. US wanton waste must end - California is also short of water.
They could have a plimsoll line on baths
We collected rose hips to be made into syrup for babies as a substitute for orange juice, saved paper, and bathed in four inches of water with a "Plimsoll line" on the bath side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/36/a4017836.shtml
Global warming brings drought to millions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spains-drought-a-glimpse-of-our-future-833587.html
Everyone can help....
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/08/05/brazilians-urged-to-pee-in-the-shower-to-conserve-water/
Don't eat beef........
http://www.monolake.org/about/waterconservation
a 2 lb steak will use 5000 gallons of water.....
S.

Cubas's economy is going from strength to strength and attracting investment.
New electricity plant!
Cubans will get power nearly all of the time soon because they use it carefully and conserve!
http://www.reuters.com/article/idAFN1115557720100111?rpc=44
S.

Dont worry Gen... if things have been turning so bad for Venezuela's poorest, Chavez' trump card, defeating him in next elections will be easy.

I hope that Venezuela returns to the flock, and becomes a leader in the region setting the example like Lula did in Brasil. The generous Venezuelan oil treaties and gimmies for the region, will probably not last forever, especially for Cuba, the DR, Haiti and other countries, so we better be preparing to pay for the actual prices of oil, in the very immediate future.
Whoever takes power after Chavez, better start investing quickly, in the infrastructure of the aged state owned petroleum monopolies, to make them more efficient. Also try to change "the dependence on the state" mentality, and demands of clientelism in all of Venezuela that has become a national pastime.