Caracas Chronicles

Quico says: Chávez henchman Diosdado Cabello’s decision to shut down another 29 radio stations (but which ones?) sounds very much like a mopping up operation. Because, between the first set of closures last month and the Heavy Duty self-censorship now evident on Venezuelan radio, most of the heavy lifting has already been accomplished. Just a few insufficiently cowed private stations remain and, as we can now see, not for much longer.

Actually, “mopping up” is pretty much the order of the day here. Because instituting a dictatorship, in practice, is all about closing down the possibility of mounting a serious challenge to the government by monopolizing the institutional and social spaces you need to organize people politically. By and large, the work of instituting a dictatorship in Venezuela has been accomplished. At this point, they’re just tidying up the loose ends.

The somber tone in yesterday’s anti-Chávez march – long gone are the days of oppo bailoterapias – bears out that even the most hardened of escuálidos know how bad the odds against us are by
now.