VHeadline.com commentarist Oscar Heck writes: Only a few months ago, the Venezuelan opposition was ranting and raving (as usual) about Chavez having “unhealthy” relations with so called “rogue states” such as Iraq and Libya.

Who invented the expression “rogue states?” The USA did.

The Venezuelan opposition has continuously demonstrated their admiration for the USA, its policies and its ways of life ... using USA-style rhetoric such as: rogue states, evil, dictator, communist, fascist, tyrant, terrorists, insurgents, axis of evil, weapons of mass destruction ... in association with Chavez ... and democracy, liberty, civilized and freedom when describing themselves.

So grand is the Venezuelan opposition’s love for the USA that they even invited the USA to militarily invade Venezuela. It is therefore no surprise that the Venezuelan opposition were able to accuse Chavez of having “terrorist” relations with “evil dictators” such as Moammar Gadhafi ... which would eventually lead to Venezuela compromising its “freedom” and “democracy.”

Reflective of US policy, which includes abusive and without-conscience embargoes against certain countries (including, formerly, Iraq), one of the USA’s largest credit card companies makes a note that no purchases using this credit card can be made within Cuba, Iran, Libya, Myanmar and Sudan. Libya certainly appears to be on the US’ list of undesirables ... correct?

Well, this week, a seven-member US congressional delegation met with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. What a surprise. They even went to visit Gadhafi’s old home which was bombed by the USA ... a bombing in which Gadhafi’a adoptive daughter was killed.

What will the Venezuelan opposition say now? How about: “Beware of the USA ... it is now a threat to our democracy and freedom.

The USA is a terrorist government, indulging in evil, subversive and secretive discussions with rogue-state-dictator Gadhafi who is planning, along with the USA, to fabricate huge amounts of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons ... and the USA, along with that evil tyrant Gadhafi are already training terrorists to become communist insurgents ... all with the view of taking over the world by force. Fascists!

or:

“The USA is allowed to deal with Libya, but Chavez is not ... even though Libya and Venezuela are OPEC countries, and the USA is not. The USA is allowed to meet with Gadhafi because the USA has good intentions for the human race ... democracy, equality, freedom, freedom of speech, liberty, peace, etc., ... even if they have murdered, bombed and assassinated millions of people world-wide in the name of peace, freedom and democracy.

The USA has the right to meet Gadhafi because it is the USA who imposed embargoes on Libya. Chavez is not allowed to meet with Gadhafi because Chavez, along with Gadhafi are planning to take control of the world and turn the world into an evil communist dictatorship, close all McDonald’s restaurants, shut down Nike factories, make TV, radio and internet illegal, cut off the heads of all writers, philosophers and musicians, sell only Polar beer at government beer-stores, allow people to only eat arepas with cheese ... and send all children to communist-brainwashing camps.”

So, opposition people, what will you say now about Chavez and his relationship with Gadhafi? Any ideas? What are your options? It seems to me that your world is slowly crumbling, but accelerating. There is not one charge against Chavez (from the opposition) that has turned out to be anything more than invented lies, distortions or manipulations.

And so ... the opposition continues, like hungry vultures waiting for Chavez to die from his injuries ... injuries inflicted by the opposition sectors ... such as the CTV, Fedecamaras, Gente de Petroleo, Coordinadora Democratica, Globovision, Venevision, TeleVen, RCTV, El Nacional, El Universal, Tal Cual and a few anti-Chavez websites.

The latest has to do with the CNE. Unethical, heartless, and shameless, lying Venezuelan reporters and editorialists are trying to convince the outside world that Chavez is the one who is “stalling” the process of signature verifications. Stalling? What is this? This cannot be farther from the truth. Every few days, the CNE does a press conference reiterating the fact that the process is normal, the counting and verification of signatures is being done as planned, but that it will take some time ... and to stop inventing stories about the CNE or about Chavez having anything to do with the CNE or the CNE’s efficiency.

However, the Venezuelan opposition still has a hard time understanding that the CNE is independent of Chavez and that the CNE is composed of people who are actually there to do an honest job. Perhaps the Venezuelan opposition thinks this way because they have the habit of acting dishonestly? Also, the opposition seems to be having a very difficult time understanding simple concepts.

Do they really think that all signatures (millions) will be verified, confirmed and counted within a couple of weeks?

This could be done if the CNE had thousands upon thousands of employees ... which is not the case. Even then, every signature must be verified, transcribed, confirmed and cross-checked ... to make sure that there is a minimum of errors. This is a big job.

An additional factor that the opposition fails to bring to the forefront is that first, the counting and verification of signatures collected by pro-Chavez people against anti-Chavez elected officials must be counted. This is not yet finished. There were apparently somewhere in the vicinity of 2 million signatures collected.

So, let’s do a small calculation.

Suppose that the CNE has 1,000 people (which I doubt) verifying and confirming signatures. To do a good job, it seems to me that each verifier would do, at the most, about 6 signatures per hour ... and actual working daily hours would be 6 hours. This results in 36 signatures per day per verifier. Thus, it would take 55 working days (a little over 2 months in real time) for 1000 people to verify 2,000,000 signatures ... and this is not counting compilation, analysis and report writing. It has only been 40-44 working days (due to Xmas days off) since the collection of signatures against anti-Chavez officials.

Now, if the opposition claims to have collected 3.5 million signatures against Chavez, this means that all signatures must be verified. This results in 97 working-days worth of signature verification. Therefore, using some simple math, the verification of signatures collected against Chavez will only be completed near the end of April 2004, providing the signature counting begins in early February 2004.

The CNE must do as accurate a job as possible ... and that cannot be rushed nor compromised.

Ah, ... but perhaps the opposition wants to rush (push) the CNE ... so that later, the opposition can accuse the CNE of having done a “rush job,” inaccurate and ultimately fraudulent.

This issue is far from over ...

While some opposition people believe that Chavez is “playing with fire,” (because they accuse Chavez of interfering with the CNE), the opposition itself is getting into hot water by continuing to throw false accusations against a government that has, over and over, stated that they will accept whatever decision the CNE takes ... and go to referendum if it must be so.

What is the opposition so worried about? They should be thanking the Chavez government. It is because of the Chavez government that Venezuelans now have the right to referendum. (Another first in Venezuela. Previous Venezuelan governments operated almost entirely by decree, decrees that were rarely, if ever, challenged.)

Oscar Heck
oscar@vheadline.com