Venezuela does not escape to the electoral hurricane that shakes the region. Chavez adversaries doubt that he is willing to turn in his power by an electoral way and they condition their participation in the elections to fair game, specially, to the compliance of Constitutional provisions that govern suffrage. The final Report of the Electoral Observation Mission of the European Union, submitted this week by the European Deputy Silva Peneda, has oxygenated the environment. It confirms the preliminary report dated December 6, 2005, backed by the European Parliament and the Spanish Parliament, denounced by Chavez as a maneuver from Washington to destabilize his regime. (Venezuela Today, December 14 and 19, 2005).

In March 5 past Hello President, Chavez stated once again that an abstention maneuver was on, godfathered by the US. He warned that if the Opposition had no candidates, he will propose a Constitutional reform in order to stay until the year 2031. Only a few doubt that Chavez´ purpose is to retain power indefinitely, but it calls to attention his concern about being a sole candidate.

The followers of an active presence in the electoral campaign point out that the candidates would be accepted as valid spokespersons of the opposition and could denounce in important scenarios of the international community, issues such as autocracy, militarism, the use of oil to export the revolution, the strategic alliance with Iran, the violation of human rights, the politicization of the judicial system, restrictions to means of communications, harassment to the opposition, specially to journalists, the severe penalization of the so called opinion crimes, and in general, the democratic deficit within the process that will end up in the presidential election. As back up elements, they count with the reports from the Human Rights Interamerican Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights, Journalists without Frontiers, SIP, and all the group of institutions and personalities of high international qualification that coincide that in spite of the government’s attempts to cover its acts with legality, Venezuela still lacks a true Rule of Law.

Originally posted by DYepes
I was under the assumption the oil is used for power in Cuba seeing as they will never get any coal from one of the largest and closest sources on Earth (USA). If I am wrong please correct me.

Electric plant to generate power from wood splinters

HAVANA, Cuba, October (Ariel Delgado Covarrubias, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) - Authorities have announced that they will start construction early next year on a power plant that will generate electricity from wood splinters in the Isle of Youth, south of Havana province, according to a report published in the government daily Juventud Rebelde.

In August, Cuba purchased 265 diesel-powered power plants worth over $350 million from South Korea and Germany destined to generate electricity for key strategic economic and military installations on the island. This indicates a major shift in the electric power generation strategy and an acknowledgment of the deteriorating and obsolete electric infrastructure of Cuba.
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-Since these power plants will not be used to supply energy to the population at large, the common Cuban citizen would have to continue to suffer the dreaded apagones (shortages of electric power).