Ten terrible days for Hugo

The outgoing President's current campaign opposes to his previous campaigns. The candidate of the masses that walked in the villages and filled the squares and avenues has been left behind. The youth and tireless speech for hours is far away. Today, what we have is a tired character who fights to keep the positive view of a government that is in full decline and, because of his efforts, his hours dedicated to the campaign are getting scarcer.

However, Hugo's attempts to keep afloat his government are getting short and, due to the worst 10 days of administration, these efforts steam up.

The nightmare days started with the war featuring the prisoners of Yare I (Venezuela's jail) claiming a death toll of 26. Then, the workers of Guayana basic enterprises turned their backs on him. They demanded the signing of the expired collective bargaining agreement during a nationwide obligatory simultaneous radio and TV broadcast.

Rains and the number of people left homeless increase every day, and on this opportunity, the most affected was doubtless Cumanacoa town (Sucre state), when Cúpira bridge (it connects Venezuela east with west) fell, leaving isolated the east of the country. Amuay tragedy was the last straw.

The red campaign's first half left a big conclusion: it was boring. The impact of the social programs have not been as expected; the speech has lost its euphoria; young people are conspicuous by their absent; social networks have been underused and the candidate participated in 11 officials acts only.

For the second half of the red campaign, we should expect a Chavezism offensive aiming at stopping, in a way or another, the trend in the surveys. However, they know that it is not an easy task. In this last month of campaign, the red people encounter three big obstacles that are going to make their life impossible.

The first obstacle is the ghost of a young Hugo Chávez of previous elections who undoubtedly led his revolutionary project. The second one is his own administration which is famous by its corruption, inefficiency, deterioration, outrage and persecution. The last obstacle is the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski who is making an impeccable campaign by visiting 160 villages in less than 50 days so far.

In the next days, red people will count on an unlimited budget for works and projects thanks to the Chinese-Venezuelan Fund and its available USD 6 billion. Will the days be enough to waste that quantity of money and to buy some more promises? Will the outgoing president engage in his campaign or in some governance?

While we debate the answers at home, we can assert something: these ten days will take its toll on the red government.

Translated by Karina Salas