Rest in the Vine: Go Ahead and Cry For Me: Venezuelan Democracy Gutted, Ecuadorian Democracy Stolen

Hungry Children and Honest Elections Hardest Hit

AP: "Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno appeared to have won Ecuador's presidential election but his opposition rival refused to recognize the results, calling on his supporters to take to the streets to guard against fraud.

Sunday's second-round runoff in the Andean nation of 16 million was being watched closely as a barometer of whether the left, which had dominated South American politics for the past 15 years, could stop a string of right-wing victories across the region.

With almost 99 percent of polling places counted, Moreno had 51 percent of the vote while conservative banker Guillermo Lasso stood at just under 49 percent — a difference of about 230,000 votes.

Lasso said he would challenge the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces after three exit polls showed him winning. He also questioned why results, which took three days to calculate following the first round of voting in February, were announced so quickly in Sunday's runoff.

"This is very sickening. We're not going to allow it," Lasso told supporters, adding that he had shared his concerns with the head of the Organization of American States in a phone conversation.

He accused President Rafael Correa of trying to install an illegitimate government and called on his supporters to protest peacefully but firmly.

Thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" crashed through metal barricades to almost reach the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito."

Fausta's Blog:

"As reported yesterday, early results showed opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso as the winner of yesterday’s presidential election, while later in the evening the CNE (National Election Council) declared Lenín Moreno as winning the preliminary count.

The CNE website is now up, showing as of the writing of this post:

Lasso 48.8% with 4,813,217 votes
Moreno 51.16% with 5,0142,295

However, last night the CNE’s results showed otherwise. Argentinian journalist Jorge Lanata tweeted a screen capture showing Lasso ahead on total votes and Moreno ahead by 2+ percentage points, with the comment,
“#IMustSay ECUADOR is the first country where 4,621,654 voters equals 48.93%. And 4,523,513 equals 51.07%.#Fraud"

Lasso tweeted a screen capture, “This is only one example of the records showing inconsistencies. They’ve switched their votes for ours.”.......

While the Ecuadorian Commies are stealing the election there, The Venezuelan Commies have abolished the legislature. Fausta again:

Venezuela: the Supreme Court takes over the National Assembly

"Undeniably, Venezuela is a dictatorship:

Venezuela Supreme Court Assumes Powers of Opposition-Controlled Congress

The Supreme Court, which is packed with allies of President Nicolás Maduro, ruled late Wednesday that the congress was in contempt of court for having sworn in three lawmakers from the remote Amazonas state whom the ruling party had accused of electoral fraud. The court said it takes over all “parliamentary capacities” until the conflict is resolved.
“Maduro now has all powers in his hands, without any checks and balances,” Mr. [Assembly President Julio] Borges said. “This is the action of a desperate man who knows the whole world is turning against him.”

Maduro and his regime have been doing this for a while; this move only makes it official.".......

There has been a wave of poisonings from starving Venezuelans eating yucca--you know, the way Karl Marx intended.

None of this will end well--but end it must.

Lord, let Your spirit of liberty be upon Your people and let oppression flee and be far from them, in the mighty Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen and amen.

Flee, flea-UPDATE: Due to backlash, Maduro orders puppety Court to restore Legislature, including immunity for criticizing his royal commie ass. Which really only proves the point, no?

Remember when Obama left the military dictatorship of Cuba for Argentina to tell South American schoolchildren this:

“So often in the past there has been a division between left and right, between capitalists and communists or socialists, and especially in the Americas, that’s been a big debate. Those are interesting intellectual arguments, but I think for your generation, you should be practical and just choose from what works. You don’t have to worry about whether it really fits into socialist theory or capitalist theory. You should just decide what works.”

Do Cubans get to debate? Is it an "interesting intellectual argument" to those in Maduro's jails?