Word: chavez
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...participation among the lower classes, most activities sponsored by the state are heavily politicized. At a ceremony held this month to hand over workers' permits to employees of the state oil company, 600 oil workers in red shirts and caps chanted "They won't come back!" - a reference to Chavez opponents who used to manage the company. Countless people who signed in favor of holding a referendum to oust Chavez in 2004 have claimed they have been blacklisted from getting a government job. A foundation for homeless children organized by the Caracas mayor's office even had their kids write...
...Chavistas and the opposition fight over everything, including colors. The Chavez-aligned party Fatherhood for All recently demanded the Supreme Court prohibit Rosales' campaign from using the color blue, arguing they had already claimed it. The court rejected the appeal. Not even Venezuela's biggest sports rivalry - a match-up between the Caracas and Valencia baseball teams - could compete with the country's political duel. A packed game in Caracas earlier this month erupted with rallying cries from Rosales supporters and retorts from chavista baseball fans when the opposition candidate appeared in the stands. So loud was the political disturbance...
...polarized environment, conflicts and disturbances that seemingly have very little to do with national politics are often framed as a government-versus-opposition feud. When police injured eight people in a clash after fishermen seized a local port in the sleepy eastern town of Guiria, the local governor, a Chavez ally, was quick to blame the violence on "a group of people who want to destabilize the country." But when asked, fishermen said the conflict was far from political. They just wanted to be able to use their ice plant again, they said, since the port authority had shut...
...Chavez certainly has reason to be suspicious of the opposition. His opponents first tried undemocratic means to get rid him - through a coup and strikes - before failing to oust him democratically in a recall referendum in 2004. Chavez's opponents further dug themselves into a hole when they boycotted parliamentary elections last year, leaving the legislature completely controlled by Chavez allies. And though the opposition-backed private media has cooled down since the days of the coup, its reporting is often heavily slanted against Chavez...
...Chavez's heavy-handed governance has also helped fuel the opposition. Praising Ramirez for his speech caught on tape, Chavez suggested jokingly that his minister be nominated for a Nobel Prize in publicity for inventing a phrase that calls the company's color "red, very red." He urged Ramirez to repeat his remarks "100 times more" and bragged that other institutions like the military also supported his revolution...