Venezuela electoral army gets out votes for Chavez

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela electoral army gets out votes for Chavez
Published: Tuesday, 21 November, 2006, 11:39 AM Doha Time

By Brian Ellsworth

CARACAS: Cilia Chirino is sure President Hugo Chavez will sweep 10mn of a possible 16mn votes in Venezuela’s December 3 elections – and she has promised to deliver exactly 272 of them.

Chirino and a team of 12 Chavez campaign volunteers are in charge of mobilising every voter in the poor barrio of Sorocaima, tucked so far into the hillsides around the capital that residents grow corn and raise goats.

Chirino has spent the last three months walking up and down Sorocaima’s steep staircases dotted with ramshackle houses, knocking on neighbours’ doors, calling out “the revolution has arrived” in reference to Chavez’s socialist shake-up.
(snip)

But in the isolated and poor barrios of Caracas, most people say they appreciate being noticed for the first time by the establishment.
“Political parties never used to come here – I wasn’t even registered to vote,” said Carmen Leal, 43, a housewife in Sorocaima, as she finished sweeping her concrete living room floor.
“Now we have people that come to our door to tell us what’s happening.” –
(snip/)

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=118574&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19

[bobbie]

1. How nice to live in a country where poor people's votes aren't supressed

Unlike the US.