A new motto that is appearing in t-shirts and placards of the anti-government demonstrators synthesizes a mood that is increased more and more about the management of president Hugo Chavez after 11 years in the power: “Chávez, anvil ponchao”.

In the slang of the baseball, a batter with three account of strikes is retired or ponchado. The expression between the Venezuelans, who keep a deep passion by this sport, denotes to a person in a negative context.

The list of “strikes” against Chávez continues growing: The increasing rate of higher inflation of Latin America, blackouts, the height of the violent delinquency and a financial scandal in which there is involved bankers near the government.

The Bolivariana Revolution - as Chávez calls to its socialist political project, that according to him is inspired by prócer of South American independence Simón Bolivar is debilitated and advances with difficulty.

The protest motto “anvil ponchao” appeared recently in standards during games of the baseball, that the own Chávez follows close by, and it extended to signals and t-shirts during street protests.

The last week, thousands of demonstrators lashed to the government to retire the signal of the service of cable to Radio Caracas Television the International (RCTV). Confrontations later, in which antiriot police participated, in favor governmental and competing students of Chávez, left two young people dead.

Also the last week, the executive vice-president and minister of Defense, Ramon Reedbeds, resigned, mentioning personal reasons.

The state economic controls, in as much, have failed in containing the inflation of 25%, that mine quickly the income of the poor men, who have been the nucleus of their political endorsement. Chávez devaluated the currency during January, an adjustment that allowed the Government to impel the public cost, but that it will still more impel to the rise of prices.

A challenge or to flee forwards?
In spite of all the recent complaints, Chávez continues being the most popular politician of Venezuela, with the aid of programs Populists like whom the gratuitous attention in centers of health occurs in cash to single woman mothers and taken care of by Cuban doctors.

The agent chief executive has abundant money to pump to those programs, mainly after the devaluation duplicated the oil income of Venezuela, when turning them to local currency.

Insisting on which its revolution is far from finishing, Chávez is had bold to challenge its opponents to that they ask for new referendo a revocatory one. In 2004 it survived referendo to shorten his mandate, with 58% of the votes.

“They say that I resign”, she said to Chávez the last week, “because I do not serve for anything, because the country is sinking, et cetera. Good, but “Why they do not make referendum revocatory, because”.

Its greater force can be in the weakness of the opposition in Venezuela, that still it must remove benefit from the support reduced to Chávez, that from already has said that it will look for the re-election in 2012.

A challenger has not arisen that is able to break their dominion in the power. (AP)