4) Chávez Loyalists Troll Barrios for Venezuela's Undecided Juan Forero New York Times August 15, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/international/americas/15venezuela.html
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 14 - Evelyn Uzcanga, 27, is all Chavista, all the time, a fervent believer in President Hugo Chávez, the country's firebrand leftist leader.
So with the president facing a recall referendum on Sunday, Ms. Uzcanga on Friday donned her bright red T-shirt and red cap, both emblazoned with the message, "For Chávez, Vote No." She then trudged the steep hillsides of her barrio urging undecided voters to vote against the recall.
"I'd like to ask you some questions, which you can freely answer," she said politely to Jessica Carrillo, 23. "Forget about my shirt for a moment. Do you know how you are going to vote?"
When Ms. Carrillo said she was unsure, Ms. Uzcanga began her pitch - that the president had delivered to the poor who, like Ms. Carrillo, had long been ignored by politicians.
"Well, I'm more with 'No,' because of what Chávez has done, the doctors, the markets, all that," Ms. Carrillo replied, referring to government programs that range from literacy classes to new sidewalks.
With that, Ms. Uzcanga smiled and continued her climb past the tumbledown cinder block houses of Calle 18.
It is still far from certain that the president will win, but recent polls suggest the efforts of Ms. Uzcanga and other devotees of Chavismo have helped give the government the edge as it tries fending off the latest effort by a dogged opposition movement. In the final days, the campaign has been directed at the undecided voters, the so-called neither-nors, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of Venezuelans who could go either way.
The opposition needs nearly 3.8 million votes to recall Mr. Chávez - more than were cast to elect him - but it could still lose if the government musters more.
In El Valle, a neighborhood built helter-skelter along hillsides, the Chavistas are working to win voters. Organizers say their goal has been to reach every single apartment, house or hovel, all 50,000 of them.
Starting in May, going door to door, volunteers tried to find out how many people lived in the sector, and how many lacked proper identification that would allow them to vote.
Then, in a second stage in the last month, the command center tried to estimate how many people would vote for Mr. Chávez, how many would vote against him and how many were undecided.
Now, by their own estimate, 75 percent of the 96,000 voters in the district support Mr. Chávez, up from about 50 percent in May.
Ms. Uzcanga's role has been to spend up to 15 hours a day tramping along narrow passageways between ramshackle homes, seeking voters.
Some people in Calle 18 say they have had enough of El Comandante, as the president is known in the barrios. One woman, speaking behind her door, said she was tired of his rambling speeches interrupting her soap opera.
But even those who said they were against Mr. Chávez conceded that most people in the barrio would vote against his recall.
"That is why we do what we do - and what we do is walk," Ms. Uzcanga said. "Up and down and around, sometimes until late at night. We will only be satisfied if our president can stay."
