Opposition Stages Massive Protests Against Hugo Chavez in Caracas

Like their Tea Party counterparts in the United States, tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in the streets of Caracas today to protest the policies of Hugo Chavez amid rolling blackouts, water rationing, skyrocketing crime rates and rising inflation.

From FOX News via Instapundit comes the news that tens of thousands of ordinary Venezuelans took a page out of the American Tea Partiers' book today, taking to the streets in force to protest the policies of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. A number of factors are driving the heated public anger toward Chavez and his policies are water rationing, government-regulated rolling blackouts, skyrocketing crime rates and a currency devaluation expected to boost inflation, which rose 25% in 2009. Political rivals of Chavez organized today's massive protests to coincide with the 52nd anniversary of the uprising that toppled Venezuela's last dictator, Gen. Marcos Perez Jiminez. Many of the protesters are wearing tee shirts that read "3 Strikes: Blackouts, Water Rationing and Crime. Chavez, You've Struck Out!" The negative sentiments voiced by 79-year-old Olga Damjanovich were commonplace throughout:

"Chavez is leading the country to ruin," said 79-year-old Olga Damjanovich at the opposition protest. "He's controlled all the country's institutions for more than a decade, so how could it be possible that he's not responsible for the problems weighing down on us?"

Many of the protesters are laying the blame for Venezuela's many problems on Chavez' drive to accelerate the process of turning Venezuela into an idyllic Socialist state. Yet despite the outpouring of anti-Chavez sentiment today, many of the Venezuelan president's supporters are downplaying the protests, point to the fact that Chavez has survived much bigger dangers during his presidency (including a botched coup attempt in 2002), and point out that the opposition has no real alternative to present to the Venezuelan people. Political analyst Margarita Lopez Maya, a political science professor at the Central University of Venezuela, believes increasing numbers of Venezuelans are putting the president's capacity to resolve problems in doubt, but they haven't embraced the opposition as a result.This is not the first time Venezuelans have taken to the streets in force to protest Chavez or his policies. In 2007 and 2009, thousands took to the streets of Caracas to protest Chevez' forced shutdown on opposition television and radio stations, which Chavez accused of being behind the 2002 coup attempt against him. Last August, thousands took to the streets again to protest Chavez' new education policies. But not all of the problems are a direct result of Chavez' Socialist-driven policies. As Digital Journalist Leo Reyes reported earlier today, continuing droughts in Venezuela have severely impacted the country's hydroelectric power grid, the driving reason behind the government's rationing of electricity.Chavez himself has been making the news lately on a number of fronts, primarily as a foil to the United States. He has accused the US of violating Venezuelan airspace, threatened war with Columbia, and most recently accused the United States of being behind the devastating Haiti earthquake, which Chavez claims was the result of the US testing a super-weapon it plans to use on Iran.