In an article "Venezuela needs as much unity as necessary," VenEconomy calls for unity between the leaders of the opposition, in order to join, and thus aspire to defeat, the Chavez party in the next elections.
It bases its summary an a "dream" of returning to the "democratic paradise" of the Fourth Republic ... a "democratic paradise" where they committed countless abuses against the population and the most gruesome crimes took place.
Many political leaders were killed, tortured to death, in prison ... thrown alive from helicopters and many (most) demonstrations were put down in blood and fire.
Many newspapers and magazines were closed; journalists imprisoned, beaten or killed; books were banned or confiscated; singers, artists and a former President vetoed on radio and television, in newspapers ... the government vetoed countries that ere not to be visited by Venezuelans and, if someone dared, they'd be put in jail when they got back; civilians under military trial, etc.
As regards electoral matters, the residents selected those to attend the "electoral party" every 5 years ... they used to call it an "Election Carnival." Candidates were "selected" because even if the poor could legally participate, they were not allowed to in real life ... voting centers were situated far away from their places of residence. Those who voted were only those who were driven to the voting center ... and, of course, the "electoral party" was a contest of traps, fraud and tricks between two "major parties" ... but to be honest the trickster and master of electoral fraud were the Adecos (and they continue, although disguising themselves nowadays as Un Nuevo Tiempo and Alianza Bravo Pueblo)
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For the vast majority of Venezuelans, 1958-1998 meant one of the darkest periods of all order of abuses on behalf of a democracy that never existed.
The richest country in Latin America ended up hosting one of the poorest populations in the continent, with more than 80% of its inhabitants classified as being under the poverty line, while " by the way ... its business and political minority classes have the equivalent of almost 10 times the amount of illegal foreign debt of the country in foreign banks. This debt was another of the great fourth republic legacies...
But for VenEconomy's editor (and the representatives of the Venezuelan oligarchy), this kind of democracy really represented a paradise; since their relatives and friends benefited from all of Venezuela's oil revenues to the point that they came to consider these privileges as something natural for them...
Today they claim that these privileges were, and are, being stripped from [them] as something that belongs to them...
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