Courtesy of: AFP
A series of incidents in the past week – a prison riot, bridge collapse and explosion at an oil refinery – may have damaged Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s reelection hopes, as new polls show he has lost the lead to opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. The explosion at the refinery in Amuay has drawn attention to the state oil company’s decaying infrastructure and Chávez’s mismanagement of the country’s oil resources. Questions remain, however, about whether the guilty parties will face any punishment for the accident. Meanwhile, an NGO released a report about media attacks in Venezuela, Chávez uses the government-controlled media to attack the opposition and the electoral council bans an opposition ad about violence in the country – opposition leaders called the ban a violation of free speech.
Venezuela’s presidential campaign: Gaining ground, The Economist
Technical glitches, heckling from his own supporters, thinning crowds and bad polling news. With just over six weeks to go before Venezuela’s presidential election, Hugo Chávez’s bid for another six years in office no longer looks quite the push-over it once seemed.
Venezuela’s Chavez faces new election threats, Miami Herald
It’s been a rough month for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. In less than two weeks, he has had to deal with a deadly prison riot, a collapsing bridge, flooding, an embarrassing confrontation with steel workers on live TV and the country’s worst oil-industry disaster, which killed at least 41 and still has families digging through the rubble looking for loved ones.
Chavez Trails Rival Capriles for First Time in Poll, Businessweek
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez trailed opponent Henrique Capriles Radonski for the first time in a Consultores 21 poll ahead of elections in October.
Venezuela oil blast evidence of deteriorating infrastructure (+video), Christian Science Monitor
Venezuelan Vice President Elías Jaua said Saturday evening the death toll had reached at least 39 after a blast tore through the country’s biggest oil refinery, Amuay in Falcon state.
Venezuela’s Refinery Explosion: Has Chávez Made Petroleum Too Political?, TIME
When I visited Venezuela’s Paraguaná oil refinery complex, the world’s second largest, in 2007, anxieties seemed to flare like its burn-off pipes.
Critics question flow of Venezuelan aid, Financial Times
At the entrance to a rundown neighbourhood in the outskirts of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, a sign proclaims: “Welcome to District Hugo Chávez”.
The Misrule of Law, New York Times
Venezuelans are reeling this week from the deadliest accident in our nation’s industrial history.
Press freedom group: Venezuela media under assault, Associated Press
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a new report Wednesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government has used threats and a barrage of restrictive measures to gradually weaken the country’s private news media.
Insulting Hugo Chavez challenger is prime-time TV in Venezuela, LA Times
It’s prime-time TV in Venezuela and the host is saying that opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, whose grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, is a Nazi and Hitler cultist.
Venezuelan electoral officials order political ad off the air, Chavez opponents cry foul, AP
Venezuelan electoral officials have ordered off the air a political ad that depicts the murder of a young man to highlight concerns about crime.