Venezuela: World Social Forum, Day 1

Venepoetics translates an opinion piece by Oswaldo Barreto ^[1] in which he expresses his bewilderment that fellow social activists around the world are coming to Venezuela in solidarity with Chávez while speaking out against tyranny. Katy adds on some sarcastic annotations ^[2] to an O Globo introduction to the Forum. Solana Larsen writes ^[3] that rumors are flying that Brazilian president, Lula da Silva will not be attending because a corruption scandal has made him “persona non grata.” Miguel Octavio, suprised by the size of the crowd, calls yesterday's opposition march ^[4], “quite succesful,” while Oil Wars asks ^[5], “is it just me or does anyone else notice [the opposition] holds rallies when they are sure there aren't going to be any elections anytime soon to burst the balloon of their absurd numbers?”