Summary on Venezuela 62 (after the elections)
The regional elections renewing themandates of the Governors of all 23 states resulted in a landslide for thePSUV, who took 20 of them (the result in Bolívar has been contested by theopposition candidate, Andrés Velásquez), while the opposition took Miranda (Henrique Capriles), Lara (Henri Falcón) and Amazonas (Liborio Guarulla). Theloss of Zulia, the important oil-producing state bordering Colombia has beenvery painful, but retaining Miranda was extremely important, and Caprilesclaimed, without saying it in so many words, the right to again become theunitary candidate of the democratic opposition in the next presidentialelection, which is likely to place sometime next year against Nicolás Maduro,currently Executive Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, anddesignated by Chávez to be his political successor. For the results click on www.cne.gov.ve/divulgacion_regional_2012/ and select the state on the left side of thewebpage. Abstention was 46.06%, about the same as in previous regionalelections, but scandalously high given what was at stake.             The statements by the PSUV Governors-elect have varied widely,and seem to suggest two fundamentally opposed approaches. On the one hand, thenew Governors of Anzoátegui (Isturiz), Trujillo (Rangel Silva, yes, the formerMinister of Defense), Guarico (Rodríguez Chacín, yes, the former Minister ofthe Interior), and Carabobo (Ameliach) have vowed to “deepen the revolution”.On the other, those of Táchira (Vielma Mora), Arias Cárdenas (Zulia) and Mata(Margarita) have taken a very conciliatory approach, Vielma Mora evenannouncing that he intended to cooperate closely with the private sector. Itmust be said that these three states had been opposition strongholds, but werethese statements previously agreed with Maduro, or even Chávez, or are they theresult of a new found independence of some of the new Governors? The positionstaken certainly reflect their previous reputations, but one is surprised thatthey would show their colors so clearly so early in the game. Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, the ExecutiveDirector of the MUD, and Antonio Ledezma, the Metropolitan Mayor of Caracasrobbed of his constitutional attributions by Chávez, made fairly strongstatements vowing not to give up but work hard to recover the ground lost.There probably will be a vote recount in Bolívar, the large state coveringabout one third of the national territory and rich with iron ore, bauxite, goldand hydro power. (Enrique ter Horst es un abogado venezolano quien sirvió en El Salvador como jefe de misión de ONUSAL)