Luis Tascon, the Venezuelan congressman who put signers of a recall referendum against dictator Hugo Chavez on a special Internet-accessible blacklist, has met a miserable demise. In this way, he would seem to parallel Joseph McCarthy, who died an isolated drunk. That said, the signers of the petition cannot be compared to McCarthy’s targets – they were not interested in operating in secrecy, for one, they were not interested in subverting the U.S. system in the name of Joseph Stalin, and they were not doing anything illegal.

No, Venezuelans just woke up one morning and realized that signing a legal recall petition was the same as signing up for Hugo Chavez’s blacklist. And once signed, there was no getting off. They had no idea its only purpose was to punish them after Chavez stacked the votes and “won” the recall referendum.

Luis Tascon published their names on the Internet and as a result, few could find work, few could get passports, and few could live in the society as open citizens. Their freedom was gone.

Anyway, Chavez got rid of this guy and, so he says, his list. But is he getting rid of the people who denied Venezuelan citizens essential services and shut them out of the system on the agenda? Of course not.

Daniel and Miguel have excellent information here and here.

The mainstream media has now picked up the story here.