A few people who'll probably be voting "NO" on February 15th

In Caracas today, opposition to Chávez's February 15th constitutional referendum vote that will let him (and all other politicos) run again for office put on an impressive and peaceful march. The route was 10.2km long and the turnout was put at 600,000 by the organizers. That numbers sounds overexaggerated to lil ol' me, but on the other hand the gov't is bullshitting when it says the turnout was low. What with one thing and another, you can bank on there being 300,000 people in the merry parade, a very tidy number. Here's the Reuters version of the proceedings and here's how Bloomie covered the march today.

As for the opinion polls, recent ones from the more respected firms (e.g. datanalisis, which although not perfect isn't bad) put the balance in favour of the "YES" vote that Hugo wants by 51.5% to 48%, more or less, with the momentum in the YES favour. Let's see if today's march can turn the tide in any way. Friends of Otto in Venezuela witha more-or-less neutral political view say that the whole caboodle will depend on the turnout on polling day, with the more people voting the better it is for Hugo.

So the stage is set for the last week before the vote. Make no mistake, this is a big moment for Chávez and Venezuela and will set the tone for years to come. Personally it's a tough one to call, so i'll limit myself to hoping that the peaceful attitude of both Chávez supporters and opposition shown so far (with a few Molotov-esque exceptions) is extended all the way through.

"Ooooh! I love a parade! Don't you?"

Only this one isn't some small fry thing.

Today's the day that pro-Evo Morales marchers from the South of Bolivia who began trekking on October 13th arrive in La Paz. The marchers are demanding that the draft constitution is left untouched from the document approved by parliament last year. (At that parliament meeting the medialuna fascists decided to boycott the proceedings and now they're all crying foul and how it's not fair their voice isn't being heard. Well tough titty, fachas. You had your chance to do things democratically. It should also be noted that contrary to popular press BS, there were plenty of opposition parties present at the time.).

Anyway, back to the march, and this thing is in the tens of thousands of people already. On Saturday as it approached the outskirts of La PAz these photos were taken and reports say the column is an impressive 10km long. That's a lot of Wiphalas, people.

Some dude named Evo Morales will be heading up the column as it enters La Paz today, and then there's talk of an open air session of parliament to ratify the already ratified draft constitution (before it goes to the general vote next year). Of course this is also controversial according to the Bolivian press; this because the Morales opposition controls the media outlets that call it controversial (you following this?).

A final note: Before reading any English media report on today's proceedings, maybe you should take time out and visit a decent source of information about Bolivia's draft constitution; for one thing, it guarantees plenty of self rule and autonomy for the nine departments that make up the country (though you'd never guess it from the way the fascists and their media apologists talk on the issue). What it does guarantee, however, is that Bolivia remains a single unified country. Apparently that's controversial, too......