Manuel Rosales: "We’re going to increase petroleum production in the country, in order to raise the price of oil."

You’ve got to be kidding me…

"There were tense moments yesterday in the UCV [Central University of Venezuela] when a group of students carried out a demonstration of support for [opposition candidate] Manuel Rosales, and were attacked with gunshots, with the detonation of explosive artifacts and tear gas canisters." (From Ultimas Noticias).

From the BBC: "Ex-White House aide Oliver North - at the centre of a 1980s scheme to finance Contra rebels in Nicaragua - has warned the country not to return to the past.

Mr North said he hoped voters would not elect ex-Sandinista leader and former President Daniel Ortega - whom the rebels sought to topple."

Faced with the Chavista slogan of "10 million votes" (a.k.a. "10 million down their throats")  the opposition campaign did the only thing they could at the time: they pointed out that the embracing of 10 million votes is a divisive gesture. (more…)

The media is as crucial for the Venezuelan Revolution as it has been for the counter-Revolution. (more…)

Two students of mine were walking last weekend near Parque Central at 3am. Not generally a good idea, to understate the matter significantly. A young fellow, 14 or 15 years old, approached them and brandished a pistol, demanding money. (more…)

Informalization is massive in Venezuela, where the informal sector is larger than most of Latin America, and by extension the world. (more…)

Formerly the "Day of Discovery"—commemorating the conquest of the Americas—and until recently "Day of the Race" in honor of the reactionary ideology of mestizaje, October 12th has become a pole of tension in Venezuela. (more…)

It hasn’t been a good week for elections: (more…)

After the furore over the "Mi Negra" card, one might expect the opposition to tread lightly when it comes to race. Not to be. (more…)

So now Chávez is wearing blue instead of his traditional red (more…)

The Bolivian opposition—known for their whiteness, wealth, and separatist tendencies—are demanding that Venezuelan ambassador to Bolivia Julio Montes be declared persona non grata. (more…)

Numbers are so addictive. Soon, I’ll be a political "scientist." (more…)

Kudos to Puerto Rican rap/reggaeton duo Calle 13 for turning down an offer to perform at a march in support of Venezuelan opposition candidate Manuel Rosales. (more…)

Victory! My first ever email to the Times—a fine publication which I have always refused to read, and have only recently been forced to—is deemed worthy of a reply. On their corrections page, the Times printed the following: (more…)

Some videos by stic.man of dead prez, on the LAFCO (Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative) blog. (more…)

Bill Ayers is in town, giving some talks in association with the International Miranda Center (CIM), (more…)

Last night, we got to visit some of the educational missions, specifically the secondary-level Mission Ribas. (more…)

Bolivia is struggling through a constitutional assembly. (more…)

There has been much disagreement on poverty statistics in Venezuela during recent years. (more…)

The BBC has printed an article on the Venezuelan opposition, messing themselves in the process. (more…)

A very interesting story: most of the world press, especially in English, emphasized in the aftermath of Chávez’s speech at the General Assembly the alleged fact that the Venezuelan President had erroneously claimed that Noam Chomsky was already dead. (more…)