CONTINUES PREPARATIONS FOR FRAUDULENT ELECTION
The London Committee of the National Liberation Front [FLN] has again called attention to the curious preparations of the Betancourt government | for the elections, The London Committee charges that "the biggest elec toral fraud in Venezuelan history" is now being cooked up.
The latest evidence of this is the arrest at the beginning of October of 23 members of congress, including deputies and senators, Sweeping . arrests have also been made of opposition political leaders, students and university professors,
Other incidents of similar kind should be noted, The premises of the Unified Trade Union Congress of Venezuela were ransacked and the furniture destroyed. Forty members of the organization, including leaders, were arrested,
Two newspapers, one independent the other an organ of the liberal opposition party, were raided and the presses destroyed.
The press, radio and television have been throttled by tight censor» ship, a _
The principal cities, including Caracas the capital, have been placed
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under Army control, The National Reservists have been called up.
Working=class areas have been declared military zones and the inhabi tants subjected to continual harrassment by the occupation troops.
Betancourt!s need for fraudulent elections is evidently due to the unpopuliarity of the social and economic policies followed by the govern= ment coalition (Democratic Action and the Social Christians). The key issues are:
(L) The complete failure of agrarian reform, one of the principal planks in the platform of promises which brought Betancourt to power,
(2) A ten per cent increase in unemployment in the last four years, .
(3) Misuse of public funds, particularly to corrupt sectors of ‘the government apparatus, :
(4) Thousands of bankruptcies of small concerns. This is associated with the government's surrender of national resources (oil, iron ore) to foreign monopolists, Profiting from their concessions, these foreign interests gained better competitive position in relation to Venezuelan concerns. .
(5) Persecution of educators and intellectuals for their political ideas, oe, SO - .
(6) The mounting drain on the country's monetary reserves.
(7) Further accentuation of the already marked differences between _ the rich and poor,
LFor previous article on Venezuela elections see World Outlook’ 0ctober 25,