Election Maps
I love maps. My grandfather loved maps and my two brothers do as well. I find it easy to lose myself in a map, to follow my imagination. Computer software has made maps more visually complex, layered and even interactive. So when Caracas Chronicles posted an interactive Google map of Venezuelan election results “for those of us into this sort of thing,” I said, “Yup, that’s me.”
A screen shot of the Venezuelan results (pre-audit).
There are certain striking similarities to the maps you find of the 2012 US presidential elections — like this interactive one from the Wall Street Journal.
Red covers more area than blue, for one. Also, the blue often represents more densely populated areas.
What red and blue mean is a bit more complicated, however. Red in the US means conservative (opposite of socialism) while red in Venezuela means liberal (popular democracy turned socialist turned…?). Blue in the US means liberal (though certainly not socialist) while blue in Venezuela means opposition to red (and what might be considered liberal in the US). Many say that in the US blue and red are two sides of the same coin. Here in Venezuela they are definitely two separate coins.
Anyhow, I suggest you take a couple minutes to play around with the two maps linked above. They’re fino cambur.
Fino Cambur 