Venezuela goes to the polls this Sunday, October 7, for the presidential elections.  This time, most of the political forces opposed to president Hugo Chávez have united under a common candidate, Henrique Capriles, of the Primero Justicia party.  Lacking Chavez' capacity for mass mobilization, the Capriles campaign has resorted to all kinds of communication techniques to try to detract votes from Chavez' reelection.  In the past week, there have been denunciations of thousands of phone calls to Venezuelan homes, in early hours of the morning, seeking to generate a rejection of the Chavez candidacy.  Many of these calls have been traced to the Telmex telecommunications company in Mexico, property of Carlos Slim (reputed to be the richest man in the world).

The following testimony, by Brazilian journalist Renata Mielli, shows that other multinational companies are also involved in the anti-Chávez campaign.  (Mielli is part of the ComunicaSul collaborative communications initiative that is covering the elections in Venezuela).

Caracas. - The electoral dispute in Venezuela is a close fight. After 14 years in office, Chavez is naturally suffering from wear and tear among some groups of the population. Evidence of this is the fact that the opposition has made progress since the last election, in 2010, when the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) won 95 seats in the National Assembly, against 61 for the opposition, losing its absolute majority in the Assembly, while maintaining a simple majority.

The opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is taking advantage of the government’s burnout, using a supposedly left-wing discourse to try to win over grassroots support, saying it will maintain social programs, while at the same time sending a message to economic power groups promising the demise of "socialism of the 21st Century". He has explicit support from large multinational companies and is using every means possible to obtain a victory on October 7, which includes assailing both Venezuelans and non-Venezuelans.

Queuing at the Chavez tents
 
Chavez relies on popular mobilization, with brigades on every corner distributing campaign materials and calling on the people to defend the gains of the Bolivarian revolution. Queues form at the tents to get materials and posters of the commander.
 
Electoral harassment, a personal testimony
 
On the second day of my stay in Caracas, I installed a chip for a Movistar mobile phone, (Movistar is the Telefónica company in Venezuela). To do that, I registered my name and address, and, as I am a foreigner, my passport and my address in Brazil. I was assigned a phone number. The next day, less than 24 hours after the phone was activated, I received the following message: Want to be a volunteer for Capriles? Send SMS to 212 with *HCAPRILES + ID card+ E-mail - and, you know! BE SURE TO VOTE Primero Justicia - Bottom left.
 
I was stunned. That is an electoral assault! That night, tuning into the news in the hotel, I saw repeated complaints of people who were receiving messages of various kinds from Capriles’ campaign. Not only messages, but also phone calls, some even in the early hours.
 
Well, it is clear then that large telecom companies are supporting the Capriles campaign. Ok. But the electoral scheme of the opposition candidate goes much further.
 
After a lot of work to post a web-newspaper in youtube with interviews made here, after a few minutes a banner ad popped up on my youtube channel with Capriles propaganda. As I do not believe in coincidences, I immediately understood why. When posting the video, I selected keywords, including Venezuela elections, that were recognized by the publicity of the opposition candidate.
 
These two episodes give a small idea of the dimension of the tension of the electoral dispute in Venezuela and of the offensive of the Capriles candidacy. In Brazil, this type of propaganda is totally illegal, according to the Electoral Justice system. And yet the media are accusing the government of Hugo Chavez of promoting an attack on freedom of speech!

(Translation ALAI)
 
http://www.comunicasul.blogspot.com/