Opinion & Analysis

As if his post were at stake, Venezuela's left-wing President Hugo Chávez is showing up all over the country at election rallies, caravans, public works inaugurations, nationally televised public events and highly publicised midnight calls to his party's local offices in remote towns.

In several slums of this Andean capital, an armed guerrilla group wearing black ski masks teaches arts and crafts to local children, goes door-to-door to get the vote out during elections and protects residents from local criminals.

The Bolivarian Revolution is in the process of building a new type of state power in Venezuela, one that represents one of the most progressive poles in the postliberal constellation.

The old adage that "When America gets a cold, Latin America catches pneumonia" has been widely cited. However, there is good reason to believe that South America, in particular, can weather this storm with minimal damage if it adopts the right macro-economic policies.

Since taking office in February 1999, America's dominant media have relentlessly attacked Chavez because of the good example he represents and threat it might spread in spite of scant chance it will in today's climate.

While on the surface it may appear to be a simple electoral battle, something much different is at stake on November 23. Once again, the intricate process of the Bolivarian revolution will put its strengths and weaknesses in play in the form of an electoral contest.

As Venezuela increasingly incorporates a gender perspective in its public budgets, issues like the paving of roads and the construction of schools are being joined by new priorities such as teen pregnancy and domestic violence prevention programmes when it comes to spending.

Three laptops supposedly belonging to the Colombian FRC guerillas are the gift that keeps on giving. In May, Colombian prosecutor-general Mario Iguarán announced that he was formally investigating several people, including Liberal Party senator Piedad Córdoba, U.S. development consultant Jim Jones, and Telesur reporter William Parra, of FARC ties.

“On November 23, we will not just be voting for this or that governorship, we will be deciding the destiny of this revolutionary process”, says Stalin Perez Borges, a national coordinator of the National Union of Workers (UNT) and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) militant.

Anticipating a democratic victory in the November 4 presidential elections, 368 academics specializing in Latin America recently sent a letter urging Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama to become a partner, rather than an adversary, concerning changes already under way in Latin America.