Chavez used cash, appliances to buy votes

Miami Herald:

Venezuela's government distributed electronic appliances, food and cash totaling tens of millions of dollars in an effort to secure the loyalty of voters in poor sections in advance of recent elections, according to evidence and testimony obtained by El Nuevo Herald.

Pro-government officials in the municipality of Sucre alone handed out $10 million in cash on Nov. 22 and the day of the balloting, Nov. 24, offering each person between $140 and $480, according to campaign workers who spoke to El Nuevo Herald. Their candidate nevertheless lost.

President Hugo Chávez' allies won 17 of the 22 state governorships and most of the municipal elections, though opposition candidates captured the other five governorships and enough municipalities to claim a victory over the leftist president.

Documents seen by El Nuevo Herald showed that several companies associated with the government, primarily the state-owned oil company PDVSA, purchased the items distributed during the campaigns with the assistance of businesses located in Panama and South Florida.

The goods included mattresses, water tanks, small appliances, food and even cellphones and vehicles, according to the documents. Some of the electronics and small appliances were obtained from the Panamanian free-trade zone and distributed to prospective voters throughout Venezuela, as part of the campaigns.

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In some cases the schemes were not even concealed.

A pamphlet titled ''Building the Beautiful Revolution'' that was distributed to low-income and rural sectors of Sucre state promised those voting for pro-Chávez candidate Enrique Mestre almost $1,160 in food items, a refrigerator, a blender, a washing machine, dry goods and a freezer filled with meat.

In the states of Falcon and Carabobo, squads of workers armed with brooms, paint and brushes went into the homes of rural families, cleaning and painting the properties in exchange for votes, according to testimonies obtained by El Nuevo Herald.

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In the eastern city of Cumaná, the pro-Chávez candidate distributed more than $11.6 million in cash through a local bank to 66,015 voters to win the elections, according to documents shown to El Nuevo Herald. Similar schemes were conducted in all of Venezuela's 300 municipalities by pro-Chávez candidates with funds obtained primarily from PDVSA, Berrizbeitia said.

Polling expert Alfredo Keller said he estimated that vote-buying could have accounted for one-third of the votes received by the pro-Chávez candidates in the November elections. Of the 52 percent of the total won by pro-government candidates during the regional elections, he said, only 34 percent represents voters truly loyal to Chávez.

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It may be the only time voters get anything of value from the Chavez regime. In the US we do it differently. Our candidates give money to TV stations and newspapers, although the Demcorats also give "walking around money" in some big cities.

Chavez could not survive a fair election.