Lately I?ve been following Venezuelan politics very closely, and my interpretation is that Chavez is the farthest thing from desperate, more now that he was practically picked off most governorships and city governments in the last elections. Chavez is running unchallenged and way ahead of the pack, there?s no coherent opposition, and no outstanding anti-Chavez leadership. Chavez political discourse has been very effective, he?s been able to exploit the traditional distrust of US foreign policy of the majority of the population.
The tension was already there, after forty years of the previous regime, the poor were no better off. So it wasen't difficult for Chavez to convince the poor that they had been led all along, as from a carrot on a stick, and that the old regime was at fault.
In order to unseat Chavez, the opposition has to come up with something really creative.
Mirador