Blogging live from Caracas, Venezuela today, I found myself stuck in an hours long taxi line at a mall in Chacao, an upper middle class neighborhood in Caracas. Amid the prettily decorated mall trees, people were carrying red and green cello-wrapped baskets of Bimbo-brand Panettone and bottles of Concho y Toro wine, something nice for the holidays but certainly not rarified upper class delights.

The line moved unbelievably slow and darkness fell after a couple hours. I started asking people around whether they voted, what they thought of their president and what they thought the future held. I had expected to see some optimism based on the result, but I did not find a whole lot of it. It????s a sign of something.

A middle class tour guide told me that Bush was in bed with the oil companies and that was the only reason the U.S. did not call the fraud it knew existed at the recall referendum. That????s why the problems are there now. ‘Just wait,’ he insisted to me: ‘The U.S. will invade just like it did with Saddam,’ he said.

A computer science student who worked as a shopgirl told me: ‘We are really scared now. What will become of us? I need to look at long term future. I take care of my 12-year-old sister, what kind of future does she have now that Chavez is dictator for life?’ She added that the vast youthfulness of the country might be a marketers dream but it also portended a lack of a collective political memory. ‘People here are not like US or Europe and are really young. The US population is older and knows what it doesn????t like now. Nobody in Venezuela has any mistakes they would like to avoid because they don????t remember anything. So they will have to make mistakes. How far will it go? I am scared.’

Housewife in a pink jogging suit: I hate Hugo Chavez so much. He????s given a lot to the poor and he????s going to run out of things to give away. And the poor won????t appreciate what he gives. The whole model is based on giving more from others. Then what? Will it be the stick for us? I think it will.

Young university professor: Hugo Chavez has just made himself dictator. Did you see (National Assembly chief) Nicholas Maduro? He launched legislation today to make Chavez president till 2030. He????s not wasting any time. And did you notice that the only reason Hugo Chavez got his 25% of the vote was that civil servants were threatened with loss of their jobs if they didn????t turn up to vote. He got that 25% in the last hours of voting. But I think he is losing power anyway. He acted scared on Sunday. I think he is scared he is losing power and all his efforts to rouse his faithful, like with his Cadena speech today, is him trying to rally his people. I don????t think it????s working.

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Here is some good coverage of Venezuelan events from the blogosphere:

Fausta????s well-written news roundup here.

Miguel????s got a link and an explanation to the Maisanta file, Hugo Chavez????s special blacklist against the opposition here.

Pedro has an item on the OAS observer report, declaring Hugo Chavez????s latest odious election pretty gamy.

Alek Boyd has a fine, well-linked essay titled ????The Die Is Cast.????

Alex Beech has an excellent piece on Hugo Chavez????s latest meddling in Peru.

Daniel in Yaracuy has a comprehensive and first rate election analysis here.

UPDATE: How????d I miss this? Boz has an excellent roundup of the reaction in the U.S., with comprehensive coverage of both the government and media reactions, something I don????t have a sense of from here in Caracas. His don????t-miss can be read here.

And Jim Hoft????s GatewayPundit is full of pictures and sharp commentary about the aftermath of this wretched election – it????s well worth a click here.

UPDATE: And Academic Elephant is never to be forgotten! Read it here!