The idea must have occurred to Godgiven C that fateful weekend when General Hugo Carvajal was suddenly jailed in Aruba and barely escaped deportation to the US. At that point it must have been clear to Godgiven, no more Miami, Andorra, Panama and the like in the future for him. Except for places he would not like to visit, like China, Cuba, Iran and Russia, he was now trapped in the hellish country the former Hugo created and he helped destroy. Not even his family could safely visit the Empire or even neighboring countries, as you never knew what trick could Obama play against them with all his influence. Well, he must have thought, if I am trapped in Venezuela and feel so claustrophobic about it, I will make sure my enemies are too. Because he felt truly awful. What would he spend all his money on if he was trapped in Venezuela?
Thus, why jail them? Why not sue the few remaining media outlets in the country and have the Judge ban their owners, Directors, legal counsel from leaving the country and thus subject them to the same unfair punishment the gringos imposed on him?
And so he did. The first chance he got, a really preposterous case, he sued for defamation everyone of importance at El Nacional, La Patilla and Tal Cual and a friendly Judge complied his wishes and 22 members of the respective Boards, including Miguel Henrique Otero, Teodoro Petkoff (again!) and Alberto Ravell (who is not in Venezuela) are now prohibited from leaving the country.
The case is so preposterous that all these media outlets did was simply to reproduce verbatim what Spanish newspaper were saying about Godgiven. This not only violates freedom of speech, but even international treaties exempt such reproductions of news items from legal liability, except for the source.
But it gets even worse. According to Venezuelan law, the Court had to notify each of the defendants, something that has yet to be done and under no circumstance can the Judge rule that the defendants were prohibited from leaving the country or be a flight risk if she had not even talked to them or knew in detail anything about them, other than they were on the Board of these media outlets.
And to add insult to injury, the defamation case got really speedy consideration and resolution in a country where the average prisoner has not seen a Judge in the first few months after its detention and most spend two years without sentence.
Of course, their name is not Godviven C. (A pseudonym used to protect the author of this blog).
Oh! his power! His manipualtion of Justice!
The intent is clear: To intimidate. If the simple reproduction of news items published outside or inside the country by any media outlet can be a justification to sue you for defamation and block you from leaving the country, the few media outlets that maintain some form of independence will be silenced even more.
And reporters, media owners, Directors will all be trapped in Venezuela and with Godgiven to boot. Just think, none of them can take a jaunt to Aruba to get some shampoo, soap or even Harina Pan, let alone enjoy their wealth.
The worst part is that at some point they may even be trapped for hours with Godgiven in Court.
It is hard to think of worst punishment for them…
The Devil's Excrement 
May 14, 2015 at 10:29 am
“Friendly judge” , nice. Scared as shit judge is more like it.
May 14, 2015 at 9:56 am
[…] Godgiven Traps His Enemies With Him In Venezuela […]
May 14, 2015 at 9:26 am
El Indio Billonario no quiere admitir que la flecha no tiene la culpa.
May 14, 2015 at 6:03 am
Is Venezuela a socialist state? Socialism is defined as an economic and political system based on public or collective ownership of the means of production and bureaucratic central planning. To this extent we have a socialist regime, under the patronage of another well-established socialist nation. Venezuela is giving a bad name to socialism, and it is understandable that the International Left tries to distance itself from the Venezuela regime. Venezuela is a clear example that socialism is not synonymous with good governance (ask any Russian or any Cuban). You have to be really really good to make a socialist economy work. I don’t consider the guys who rule Venezuela and Cuba to be in this category. Certainly not Godgiven C.
May 14, 2015 at 9:06 am
I love your “you have to be really really good to make a socialist economy work”. You have to be really really good to succeed at anything in life.
Where there is no private ownership of the means of production and where you have central planning there is no way to make it work -even if you are really really good, as you put it- to make it work.
What does it mean to be really really good in socialism? Who has to be really really good, the citizen or the leader?
Would Chavez’ socialism have achieved even its smallest successes -of which I can’t think of any- without a capitalist world outside of Venezuela that consumed oil?
May 14, 2015 at 6:43 pm
They had successes. It’s just that corruption has overwhelmed it all. The people who run Venezuela use “socialism” as a means to their ends. It’s all about self-richment. Take the VP Jorge Arreaza who is married to Chavez’s daughter. They have amassed $700 million USD. Arreaza doesn’t come from a poor family. His parents were consular officials in the days of the Liberal Republic but millionaires they weren’t. Now he’s a millionaire 700x over.
Venezuela has always been a corrupt country, but now it is the most corrupt country in the Americas on a par with the likes of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iraq.
As for Latin socialism, the gulf is wide between all the other socialist republics because they haven’t attacked the private sector to the extent that Venezuela has. Uruguay functions. Even Bolivia and Ecuador function while Venezuela does not. So what is it about Venezuela? In my view, it is, when you cut through all the noise, a question of character. They’re lazy compared to other Latins. Perhaps oil is the devil’s excrement because unlike other Latin nations which have had to work for industrialized progress, Venezuela went from being the poorest country in South America to the richest in the 1920s by tapping a spigot.
May 15, 2015 at 6:12 pm
I don’t know where I read it (here?), but there’s a great story about the USSR after the breakup, and its movement toward a capitalist economy:
A Russian minister (of something) was in England on a fact-finding mission, and even after “doing his homework” prior to the visit…and paying close attention during his tour…he asked the question:
“But who is responsible for bread distribution in London?”
I love this story, because it illustrates how clueless true socialists are, and how true socialism doesn’t work. To them, the idea of the free market taking care of things was implausible.
May 14, 2015 at 5:33 am
As things get worse, since they are out of control, we will reach a point where the simple demand for elections or any democratic process will be an act of some crazy radical that deserves punishment. It’s like when you are a victim of crime and instead of blaming the State everyone blames you for being there.
I totally disagree with those that make fun of the situation or when declaring to the media talk about a weak regime. I honestly believe that fear is behind, because as long as you consider an opponent weak he is not worth of your confrontation; it’s a superior complex. It is ironic, they have total control of institutions, and are willing to do anything to remain in power.
I believe that we have to join the grievances and the protest of those whose liberties and rights are violated, as a source of moral high ground and start believing that there’s a high probability that what is left of Venezuela can be lost.
May 14, 2015 at 5:05 am
One doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry:
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/export-freeze-sows-bitterness-in-venezuela-chocolate-trade-2/
How inept does one have to be?
May 14, 2015 at 4:42 am
I get a kick out of reading TalCual and then Noticias24. It’s hard to imagine that these two papers are talking about the same country. If Noticias24 is to be believed, Venezuela is a paradise.
It’s hard to say how this all plays out but October looms large with a $6 billion debt payment due. On the one hand, Venezuela has effectively ceased to function but on the other hand, the Fx regime allows many to make insane profits. It’s hard to kill a cash cow though clearly the Venezuela cash cow is being milked to death and the country with it. Repression becomes the only solution for the regime. Godgiven is going to protect his gains. Better a Venezuelan nightmare of blood in the streets than an American prison.
Also hearing that the Brazilian Senate has or will vote to condemn Venezuela’s treatment of political prisoners. Good news really and I say this as a leftist because the Latin American left cannot remain silent to the ongoing tragedy that is Venezuela. Venezuela isn’t socialist, it is kleptocracy. And the Latin left needs to distance itself from the abuse of a regime that is socialist in name only. Uruguay is socialist. Venezuela is no Uruguay.