Changing time zone

We are back in Caracas. The days in Los Roques linger in our memory and through physical reminders like sun-burn and mosquito bites. Winter has arrived in Caracas. That means that the temperature could be as low as 20 degrees during daytime and fall to around 15 degrees during the night. Actually a perfect climate - not too hot, not too cold.
Tonight Venezuela will change it's time zone and reduce 30 minutes from today's official time, meaning that we will be -3,5 hours from GMT. So why this drastic measure? According to official propaganda it's to avoid that the schoolchildren go to school while it's still dark, they are trying to convince the population that suddenly the day will have 24,5 hours. At least that's how the propaganda appears. So why not just let the school start at 8am instead of 7am?
Who knows, but with a president who wants control in every aspect of the citizens life this is not too surprising. Question is what will be the next measure? Change the alphabet? Shift the capital to a new location?

Island in the sun

On Tuesday we woke early and took the 30 min flight to Los Roques archipelago, some 200 keys forming a lake in the caribbean sea. The main island has 3 streets, 1 500 inhabitants and some small posadas. The airstrip is right by the beach and a 2 min walk to the village main square. Today we rented a boat with some other tourists that took us to different islands in the other end of the archipelago. White sand beaches, crystal clear waters and great snorkelling. Really a world from Caracas. No noise, the hotel room has no lock and the atmosphere is relaxed. In short: having a wonderful time, wish you were here.

Back to reality

This morning Caracas woke up like any normal Monday. Well, maybe more smiling faces on the street. I only got four hours of sleep after going to bed at 3:30am. The earplugs I normally use when flying saved me, the noise from the street was increadible. But on the other hand, it is not every day a country´s future is saved by a vote of 50,7% against 49,3%.
My nerves are still recovering from last night. First hearing the news from the international media (Reuters etc.) who early in the evening reported that Chavez had won. Later seeing the happy faces of the opposition, who were not allowed to share any result before the electoral council had spoken. People grew angry and at 1am the journalists waiting for the verdict at the electoral council almost broke in to the building DEMANDING that the results should be made public. Some time after 1am they finally shared the result and Chavez went out on national tv to admit his defeat.
Both Chavez and the electoral council CNE has gained a lot of confidence (that before the election was almost non-existant) by the wise decition of letting the elections be transparent and correct. It gives some weight to Chavez´s earlier (empty) words about democracy and the people deciding.
It feels like Venezuela can slowly recover from the dark and hopefully soon be back on track. With this election result Chavez cannot be reelected in the next presidential elections year 2012. The old constitution also states that ex-propriations at least have to pass a court decition (although the courts are still in Chavez´s hands). The central bank remains more or less independent. This may be a good "middle-way" for the so polarized Venezuelan population to reconcile and together decide for a less extreme political system for the future.
I think the Venezuelan students are worth all our respect, without their hard work of demonstrating, informing, taking on the face as opposition leaders, this would never have happened.

Celebration time!

It didn't take many minutes after the election result was announced until people started to concentrate in Plaza Altamira. Cars honking their horns, flags waving from the windows. We quickly joined as the plaza transferred into a giant party that outshine any new years celebration. People hugging each other with tears in their eyes- a truly emotional moment. Finally some hope for the future! Tv-crews were filming as people were dancing, playing instruments and chanting their election slogans; no to socialism, we won it, freedom etc. It is now 3am and more and more cars are joining, people hanging out of the windows or sitting on the roof. The sound will definately make it possible to sleep in our room facing the plaza. I have lots of photos from the celebration that I will upload tomorrow, until then buenas noches from a city filled with happiness and relief.

A victory for democracy

After a lot of deliberate delay of the electoral commitee preliminay results show that the venezuelan people have rejected the proposed constitution changes. Chavez is now on all tv channels sharing the result. Outside people are applauding the result and screaming out their relief.

Still waiting

It is now 11pm and we are in front of the tv, between cnn, rctv and globovision anxiously waiting for the electoral commitee to publish the official results. The political representatives of the two blocks already have the preliminary results and judging from the happy faces from the no side it seems like they have won. Rumors say that chavez is being pressured to admit his defeat, but is reluctant, therefore the long wait. The streets are still calm, everyone are waiting for the official result.

Waiting for the results

Sunday we stayed around Altamira. The day has been extremly calm, almost all stores and restaurants were closed and not many people were in the streets. Some cars circulated on the streets urging people to vote, but without taking position. Some groups of chavistas have passed by on motorcycles throwing fireworks as they pass by. Media is not allowed to give any indication on the result until 80 percent of the votes have been counted. Election stations were supposed to close by 4pm, but since queues were long at some localities, there are still 30 percent of the stations open (at 8pm). There is a tense feeling in the streets of caracas as everyone is waiting for the result. Whatever the result may be, one group will be very disappointed and it is difficult to say how they will react if their side loose the election. We will probably have to wait another 3 hours until the results are official. We have a first class view over plaza altamira and I will continue to update the page with the latest information.