Venezuelan Political Leaders React Positively to Regional Election Results

Mérida, November 24, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)– After the results of the regional elections came out, winning candidates of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) committed to strengthening socialism in their states, while winning opposition candidates emphasized security and said they want to work with the national government.

Pro-Chavez reactions

“Just like we have gracefully recognized the three instances in which the opposition won, we hope that they recognize that here there is a tremendous majority that many parties in the world would love to have,” said the newly elected mayor for the central municipality of Caracas, Jorge Rodriguez, before the results of two more opposition governor’s race victories, in Carabobo and Tachira, were announced.

“We’ve won 17 governors’ positions and furthermore, more than a million and a half votes compared to the last [constitutional reform] vote on December 2, 2008, while the opposition, in contrast, has lost votes,” he added.

Aristóbulo Istúriz, the PSUV candidate for mayor of Greater Caracas, who lost to Antonio Ledezma, said Caracas has been affected by atomization and called for the creation of a single vision for the city.

“Every municipality of [Caracas] considers itself to be separate from the others. Caracas…is fragmented.”

Hugo Cabezas, the PSUV candidate for the state of Trujillo, who won with 59.47% of the vote, said that he was satisfied with the popular support that he had. In Trujillo the PSUV won 17 out of 19 mayors, a result he felt would be important for the process of change.

Speaking to National Radio Venezuela, he said, “This victory isn’t [mine], but rather it belongs to the Bolivarian Revolution and it is due solely to the guidelines of our commander, Hugo Chavez.”

“The people of Trujillo can count on a soldier from now on…the people will know that this governor obeys the people, which was something that was lacking.”
 
The newly elected governor for the state of Barinas, Adán Chávez, encouraged the people to continue working “like we did during the campaign; with organization, unity and revolutionary discipline. He said that he took on the position with humility and awareness that there was still a lot to do.

Early this morning the re-elected governor for the state of Anzoategui, Tarek Saab declared that he was at the service of the national program of the president. “The message that I’ve been given has been a vote of confidence. I can say that I have defeated the dirty war, the slander, [and] the defamation that they committed against my management.”

Mario Silva, the PSUV candidate for Carabobo who lost, said, “The time of revolution is coming, in the very near future we’re going to defeat those who hold the flag of fascism and coups… the PSUV is committed to conquering power in Carabobo.”

Many other elected governors recommitted themselves to the people and to the socialist plan, including Rafael Isea, the elected governor of Aragua, who said that he would set up security and citizen prevention, communal power and health commissions, among others. He elaborated that he is in contact with the ministry for interior relations and justice, to transform the state police to a body of communal and preventative security.

Vanessa Davies, who is a member of the PSUV executive committee, recognized that the “PSUV consolidated itself as the number one political force of the country and now it is necessary to take on, with humility, an internal revision with the militancy and sympathizers, in open spaces for participation, …so that we start a process of self criticism necessary for the re-propelling the revolutionary process.”

Her message to the opposition that won in some states, was that the people “aren’t the same as 10 years ago, they are wiser and don’t tolerate abuses, neither by public institutions nor by police bodies.”

Opposition reactions

Antonio Ledezma, the new opposition mayor for Greater Caracas, asked Chavez and Istúriz to put aside their differences with him and to work with him to rescue Caracas from chaos and anarchy. He said he was going to work to “completely defeat the criminal underworld, to give back security to the [people of Caracas] that they demand.”

Decentralization is the aim of Henrique Capriles Radonski, the newly elected governor of the state of Miranda. He said an example of what should be decentralized is the prisons and that he hadn’t come to fight with the national government but to work towards a higher quality of life.

“Today in Miranda …colors are over, because my commitment is for all the Mirandans, …with the yellows, reds, blues, whites, greens and all the colors,”  he said in reference to party colors, adding that all the social programs are guaranteed to continue under his mandate. “Everything that has to do with help programs, missions, communal councils, all the programs that belong to the people are guaranteed, all the rights of the workers.”

Pablo Perez, the new governor of Zulia state said that he will work for Zulia in the same way that Manuel Rosales had for the past 11 years. “Manuel Rosales will be my big ally… my friend, my brother and my teacher….this is going to be a government of inclusion, where there won’t be political ideological differences…I ask the Venezuelan government for reconciliation, and we demand respect for the regional government of Zulia.”