Chavez losing natural constituency

Emilio Campos was a keen backer of the leftist Venezuelan leader, but a sharp drop in living standards and government intimidation of unions have put him and other blue-collar workers in opposition.

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Other hot-button issues are rising crime and what many see as Chavez's attempt to quash dissent with a spate of high-profile arrests of labor leaders, political opponents and media figures. In January, the government jailed local ironworkers leader Ruben Gonzalez for alleged "conspiracy to commit a crime."

In a jailhouse interview with The Times, Gonzalez said his only crime was organizing 3,500 fellow union workers to demand back pay that has been due them for more than a year. He said he may soon have company in the slammer: Dozens more union leaders are facing criminal charges, he said.

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Must all be one big mis-translation.

The government routinely fails to honor union contracts. They also fail to pay their bills. Given the high inflation rate, some groups are punished by holding their wages constant, without raises. Some are given high raises, such as the military. But with inflation like it is, the raises just don't keep up. Yesterday I paid 4 BF for a newspaper - at the official rate that's about 80 cents. And this means readership is going to disappear.

The inflation is also impacting many other services. Taxi, bus transport is getting ridiculous. i went to price a combo washer and dryer, and the price is beyond my range, and I'm middle class. So I'm looking for something used. The price of movie tickets is also exploding, and never mind going to a restaurant. I wonder, who the heck is eating out now? Or buying shoes?

In all supermarkets last week. 55 in the markets. I was shocked man. This weekend it went down to 45. And it grows everywhere in this land.

Go to the road between Guarenas and Higuerote, and you can find avocados a lot cheaper. And mangos. The price in the city is inflated by greedy capitalist farmers who sell the product to greedy capitalist truckers who bring it into the city and expect a profit. This idea of profit is evil, it makes them think they can get extra money and use it to buy shoes for their family, or something crazy like that.

The bums don't realize they should be happy because they provide a socially useful service to the comunes. And I'm sure the comunes can pay them with home made sancocho and a beer.

Quit complaining. Chavez is a man of the people! You must just be some rich kid who is complaining that you can no longer exploit the masses for your own benefit!!!!!

It seems the Guri dam water level is starting to go down again, it's at 8,2 meters above collapse, and one of the turbines has failed due to vibrations. Brazilian engineers working at the hydropower plant are getting ready to walk out because they aren't getting paid. And you say I complain too much? They can't figure out how to ration electricity to preserve the water in the dam, and they dare not to pay the people who can fix those turbines? It's crazy.