Chano believes that Ortega, who won the presidential elections in Nicaragua the first time around "deserves a second chance."

This country can t be worse, the worker adds, with an air of resignation and hope, referring to poverty that affects 80 percent of the population and dramatic unemployment.

The mechanic hopes that the Sandinista leader will fulfill his promise of getting Nicaragua out of a slump of poverty, whose index is second to only Haiti on the continent.

The only aspect of which he appears convinced is that the Sandinista government will know how to cut down the growing wave of violence and delinquency that slams Managua.

He will put a stop to these, he says pointing with his chin to a group of young men covered in tattoos who are making a ruckus a few feet away.

Marlon Rodríguez, custodian of a home in Planes de Altamira, is more confident that Ortega will fulfill his promise of governing for the poor and by the poor.

"All told, we will be here to demand responsibility if he doesn t", he adds with a sly grin on his lips.

The young man considers, however, that these are not the same conditions as the 80s, when the governing Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front) had to confront an internal armed conflict financed and supported by the United States.

"Now no one will wage war on us," he affirms.

Fifty-year-old Carlos Martínez who could pass as the owner of the van repaired by Chano, a few miles from the gas station where we met, does not hide his dislike for Sandinism.

"He (Daniel) will not come through. You ll see that he is going to bring war and misfortune to Nicaragua"he claims, getting into his fancy silver gray van.

The Sandinista candidate who has managed to woo Nicaraguans after three failed attempts, to give him a second chance, is preparing to gather the reins of the country on January 10.

The settlers also gave accommodation and food to the more than 500 representatives from 35 ethnic groups that will arrive in La Paz to present their demands to the government headquarters.

Cimar Victoria, Yapacani farmers leader, assured that about a thousand people will join the march and accompany them until Bulo Bulo town.

The executive of the Single Farmers Workers Union Confederation, Isaac Avalos confirmed the indigenous people from Cochabamba will join the protest this week.

The main demand is to put pressure on the parliament to establish the agrarian reform announced by the Constitutional President Evo Morales last August.

The Bolivian government agrarian policy states reversion is a mechanism to recover land that does not accomplish a socio-economic function.

The disorder stems from the June protest strike by teachers prompting formation of the APPO in their support, organizing marches, sit-ins and camp-ins in Oaxaca and the capital, demanding removal of the governor.

The response was more violent repression, with 15 teachers and activists murdered in the past five months, including Brad Will, a NYC Indymedia photo journalist shot twice while filming the protest.

The Mexican Senate recognized that Oaxaca had become "ungovernable", but refused to remove Ruiz, a member of PRI party (Revolucion Instituional) allied with the governing PAN (Accion Nacional).

However, following more violence when the federal police tried unsuccessfully to evict the protestors rather than the paramilitary, the Senate asked Ruiz to voluntarily resign, which he refused to do.

Positions are hardening on both sides, with support for the APPO flooding in from many Mexican and international progressive groups and President Fox vowing to bring order to Oaxaca before he hands over power Dec. 1 to President-elect Felipe Calderon, himself a focal point of controversy in continuing protests of fraud in his election.

While the police entrench in the city with barbed wire and the population rebuilds their barricades protecting the university and call for cameras to film police harassment, PRD (Revolucion Democratica) party - part of the coalition supporting Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as legitimate president-elect - will again call for a Senate vote to remove the Oaxaca executive and judicial powers.

"The Chavez Regime: Fostering Anti-Semitism and Supporting Radical Islam" examines recent statements by Chavez, articles in the government-sponsored media and the remarks of academics and government leaders, creating a portrait of a regime that promotes virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitudes as it seeks to position itself as a regional and world player.

The Chavez regime's frequent anti-Israel statements, open support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and collusion with radical Islamic leaders like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran are having a "spillover effect" in Venezuelan society, with anti-Israel demonstrations, anti-Jewish graffiti and other displays of anti-Semitism becoming dangerously commonplace, according to ADL. The Jewish population of Venezuela is reportedly about 25,000 people.

[Ed: The Zionists must be overjoyed at the thought of Venezuelan Jews fleeing to Israel]

"President Hugo Chavez and his government institutions have elevated their anti-Israel rhetoric to dangerous levels, and it often crosses the line into anti-Semitism," said Abraham H. Foxman. "It is troubling that the leadership of a Latin American country, that once served as a safe-haven for Holocaust survivors and that still boasts a sizeable Jewish community, has taken a wrong turn into fostering hatred, prejudice and bigotry while supporting countries and groups who call for Israel's total destruction."

Rehashing Stereotypes and Demonizing Israel

Chavez and his government have resorted to implicit and explicit anti-Semitic displays, including rehashing the ancient canard of Jewish control, blaming Israel and the Jews for the world's problems, and adopting anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish financial influence. Recently, in a series of public statements on Israel's war with Hezbollah, Chavez repeatedly compared Israel to the Nazis and Hitler,
and in speaking to his own people he has on at least one occasion dabbled in classical anti-Semitic canards:

* Israel was committing genocide in Lebanon and its leaders should be held responsible and should be judged by an international tribunal ... The Israelis criticize Hitler but have done something worse." - August 25, 2006.

[Ed: Can't see anything wrong with this since it is empirically provable as true]

* This fascism is something similar to what Hitler did: bombard cities, kill innocent children, women and men, and destroy the infrastructure of people." - July 26, 2006

[Ed: again, this appears to be a very accurate statement]

* ... The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possession of all the wealth in the world ... -- December, 24, 2005.

[Ed: "a minority has taken all the wealth in the world". Again, demonstrably true]

Allying with Radical Islam

Chavez has strengthened and formed new alliances with extreme leaders in the Middle East, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Chavez also has fostered relationships with convicted guerrilla terrorist Illich Ramirez Sanchez (a.k.a. "Carlos the Jackal") and Holocaust denier Norberto Ceresole of Argentina.

During the 2006 conflict in Lebanon, the Venezuelan National Assembly and various Venezuelan states issued a number of one-sided declarations against Israel. Ch?vez was very aggressive in condemning Israel's actions against Hezbollah, recalling his charge d'affaires from Israel and threatening to sever diplomatic relations.

Anti-Semitism in the State-Sponsored Media

Anti-Semitism is routinely found in Venezuela's government-sponsored press, with stereotypical descriptions and caricatures of Jews and anti-Israel invective appearing in opinion pieces and editorial cartoons. Some examples:

* Those who are upset with Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela are the gangsters of the local Jewish mafia; the terrorists who control the Confederations of Israelite Associations (CAIV) and other criminal organizations of similar reputation." -- Los Papeles de Mandinga, September 19, 2006

* It was to be expected. The profound humanistic conviction and moral solidarity of Commander Chavez for denouncing the atrocities that are systematically committed by the state of Israel against Arab people have bothered the cancers of the inferno - international imperialism and Zionism." - Diario Vea, September 14, 2006

* Zionists, the destructive sect of radical Jews, are again impregnating the Jewish community with its animosity towards humanity. The genocide they executed in Palestine and Lebanon is similar to the Holocaust which the Nazis executed against them, and they will undergo another Holocaust because of the global hatred they are accumulating." -- Diario Vea, July 4, 2006.