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Comment by kome | Hacker News Reader

yes, like Venezuela. http://www.freedomhouse.org/country/venezuela

Just because they have elections does not mean it's a democratic country.

I remember seeing anti-government graffiti late at night one night, and the following afternoon it had been replaced with a portrait of Chavez. The people who I talked to who were members of the opposition party were uncomfortable talking about voting against Chavez. Admittedly this was way back in 2006, but it still points to Venezuela not being the most free country.

I also was in Caracas in 2006. I remember seeing graffiti "Vota Por Chavez" and the next day "Vota Por Chavez Jodete", the last part added overnight. It all depends on where you were (this was near parque del este, a more middle-class pro-opposition area).

I went in expecting a dictatorship and left feeling that it was a democracy. Or at least much more than a hopeless dictatorship as all the articles I read made it sound. There did exist fear about expressing anti-Chavez sentiment in and around the barrios[1], but this was mainly due to fear of the people in these areas being dangerous and potentially lashing out. And in fact, many people were just scared of the barrios period.

[1] Poorer, temporary-turned permament housing throughout the city, if anyone isn't familiar.

Most dictatorships have a semblance of normalcy. They need to have some kind of economy. Typically, people are not cowering in their huts fearing being bulldozed over at any moment. People can even prosper under dictatorships, like say, in Chile, back in the 70s. There might even be cases where most people 'have it good'. But it also means that a group or person makes all the big calls and has power over the judiciary and can intimidate or coerce the legislature.

It also means there are informant systems which keep an eye out for 'troublemakers' (opposition ideas) and people don't open up completely about their dissatisfaction.

Christopher Anderson[1],[2] is left of center and he felt disappointed to put it mildly, at what he saw in VZ.

[1]http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/capitolio

[2]http://5b4.blogspot.com/2009/08/capitolio-by-christopher-and...

You do realise that Chavez's popularity was in part due to the subsidies and social care he provided people?

He essentially sacrificed the economic stability of the country to win elections. While its not a nice thing to do for the future of the country its understandable that you could win an election legitimately using such a tactic.

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