The following line stands out, in a bad way, in Alexandra Ulmer’s report on the ruling party’s internal elections.
“The revolution doesn’t work like it used to. You don’t feel that emotion anymore,” said a teacher at a state-run school in a low-income part of Caracas, who is disappointed with President Nicolas Maduro, the former bus driver and union leader she helped elect in 2013.
Still, the 50 year-old woman who asked not to be named, was voting on Sunday, in part because she fears for her job if she does not support the government.
It is not spelled out entirely, but (given how the international press has reported about Venezuela for well over a decade) readers will assume the anonymous teacher means that she fears government reprisals.
The NYT, infamously, did give the name of a public sector worker who explicitly claimed in 2012 that she feared government reprisals if she voted for the opposition. It turned out she had been, quite without fear, broadcasting her support for the opposition far and wide.
I think I’d fall over in my chair, if Reuters, or any other outlet, reported allegations of opposition aligned bosses in private industry using bribery or coercion to get political support. Remember that only about 20% of Venezuela’s workforce is in the pubic sector.
Apparently reporters cannot find any private sector worker, even if granted anonymity, to say they were pressured or bribed to show support for the opposition.
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