President Chávez shows up once in a while

Following his reelection last October 7, public appearances of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez are downwards, found a survey made available to El Universal.

The analysis covers July-November 2012. Based on the probe, acts of government led by Chávez in July totaled 1,770 minutes, versus 695 minutes for electioneering.

Remaining numbers show that telephone contacts accrued 25 minutes; press conferences 240 minutes, and interviews 120 minutes. Grand total: 2,850 minutes of public appearances.

The number of appearances in August escalated up to 3,370 minutes, broken down as follows: acts of government (2,260), electioneering (1,075), telephone contacts (10) and press conferences (385).

Chávez applied the brake in September, according to the report.

The exposure time lowered to 2,466 minutes: acts of government (652), electioneering (745), telephone contacts (214), press conferences (580) and interviews (275).

In October, silence was apparent. The president's public appearances were limited to 879 minutes, broken down as follows: acts of government (308), electioneering (380), telephone contacts (31), press conferences (100) and interviews (60).

After securing an additional six-year term in office, things would change. No telephone contacts, no press conferences, no interviews. Only acts of government for 495 minutes.

Tweets

The red little bird is not tweeting that much. Chávez appears seldom, let alone @chavezcandanga.

The president has reduced his tweets. In July, he posted a peak of 56 messages in the last five months. From then on, messages dove: 36 in August, 32 in September and 21 in October.

The smallest amount of tweets was recorded in November: four in the aggregate.

Chávez's absence in the election campaign for state governors has attracted people's attention and given rise to any kind of comments and remarks. Nevertheless, as he anticipated on November 1: "It is not my main task in this stage, but the battlefield is for them (candidates for ruling Socialist Party of Venezuela).

Translated by Conchita Delgado