1999 was a warning to Venezuela – at that time, at least 30,000 people died in mudslides due to government neglect and never got any aid after that either.

This week the torrential rains have returned and it turns out the communist government of Hugo Chavez has had much better things to do than reinforce hillsides where his “beloved” poor live over the past six years. 4000 people have been evacuated – and a lot got out on their own, already fully intuiting that the government wasn’t going to do a thing help them. Here is Miguel’s photogallery of the effort to get out of the rains and floods.

Alek Boyd has written and posted some of the best criticism about the inner dynamics of the government’s neglect. Chavez has really turned that once-vibrant country into a dump.

Daniel has an excellent personal account – he writes of his brother’s experience too – stuck in a flood and who should appear but El Supremo, to “comfort” him. He couldn’t get away from the guy! He says the TV cameras blanked out the boos from the locals directed at the Venezuelan dictator.