“Venezuela’s Oct. 7 general elections will be patrolled by 139,000 troops, [according to] the head of the military strategic command, Gen. Wilmer Barrientos,” laht.com reports. “The deployment seeks to provide security and help organize the elections efficiently ‘so that no inconveniences arise,’ he told state television.” Business as usual in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez’s dictatorship. Anyone who thinks Chavez will be removed from power at the ballot box—or that America will endanger the flow of oil to the U.S. by demanding something roughly akin to democratic elections—hasn’t been paying attention. The only real change: this is the year that the Venezuelan government outlawed private gun ownership and limited bullet sales to 50 rounds. Connect those dots and cry the beloved country.