The ability to recall elected officials is central to the Bolivarian process, but who will be the first Chavista to be recalled? To attempt to recall a revolutionary is to necessarily draw accusations of "counter-revolutionary." But it is also necessary, and a precedent needs to be set.

We seem to have two clear candidates in the metropolitan area: mayor of Libertador municipality Freddy Bernal, and metropolitan mayor (of all municipalities) Juan Barreto.

I have a soft spot for both, and I can overlook a bit of inefficiency (good revolutionaries aren’t always good administrators) and corruption (some things change slowly). But both seem to be catering to the middle-classes at the expense of the poor, and this is unpardonable.

Bernal, specifically, has recently ordered that the street vendors in some parts of the city not be allowed to return to work. Previously, he had been promising not to remove them until sufficient indoor markets had been constructed (unlike the scum in wealthy Chacao, who outlawed the formal economy entirely). But now Bernal has given in to middle-class pressure, violating the constitutional right to work in the process.

According to a source in the metropolitan mayor’s office, Barreto has been doing something similar, spending large sums on middle-class apartment blocks, and even a raised walkway around Plaza Venezuela, while there remains a massive housing deficit in the city for the poorest sectors.