Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.
It is nice when in one day I discover two nice blogs by fellow Venezuelans (both in Spanish!):
http://afrael.iwebland.com/ by Afrael Ortiz who lives in Florida and is interested in music, programming and languages
and
http://www.enlacediario.ven.cc/ by Jose, no last name as far as I can determine who writes about cool blogs and links he finds abut many things including programming, Venezuela and many others.
Keep on blogging!! like Jerry Garcia would have said if he were alive
I was outraged and surprised at the superficial comment in today’s New York Times about Venezuela. In an Editorial about Latin America, the closing sentence is:
“It also means insisting that Venezuela’s opposition groups refrain from taking unlawful or violent paths in confronting President Chávez”
I am outraged because there is no similar call on Chavez and his violent bolivarian circles, partisans, military comrades and/or advisers who have constantly used violence and illegality to confront the opposition. I am outraged because the opposition has been patiently looking for the legal solution of a referendum only to be met by trickery and sneaky legal maneuvering at every instance. I am outraged because Hugo Chavez 18 months ago refused to sign the Quebec Declaration because he did not believe in the term representative democracy as he believed only in participatory democracy, but now has said that he will not resign if he loses the referendum asking for his resignation. I am outraged because violence has been the tool of Chavez all along, but security forces have never used tear gas against them unless guns were used, but most recent peaceful demonstrations by the opposition hev been met with the use of tear gas. I am outraged because the Chavez Government has intervened the Metropolitan police of Caracas in clear violation of the Constitution and the autonomy of municipalities. And I am outraged because the Chavez controlled National Assembly has blocked all efforts to establish a truth commission to determine what happened during the massacre of an opposition demonstartion in April where nineteen people died.
Finally I am surprised that such a comment can be made by the New York Times. How many more people have to die before the international press recognizes Chavez for what he is? How many more violations of the Constitution and the law have to occur? Clearly, we have to forget about any possibility of international support if the events of the last six months have not permeated through the informed circles of the world. We will get rid of Chavez by legal means if he allows it to happen, if not, we will have to play according to his rules, before we wake up one day to discover that there are no rules anymore…….
This article was published in Wednesday’s El Nacional (page A-11)and was written by Anibal Romero who wrote with Antonio Guzman-Blanco the comprehensive response to the Oxford Human Rights Seminar at Oxford University published here. I really liked the article, and thus have translated it liberally for your enjoyment. Unfortunately, El Nacional has changed its format in such a way that I can no longer provide a direct link to the original article, but has to be searched for manually (bad Web practice).
The revolution is dead, the despicable regime lives on
By Anibal Romero
Fundamentally, there are three factors that support political regimes: people’s fear in the face of repression, myths (understood as beliefs and values that support the collective spirit) and the will of power of the control groups. In Venezuela, the so called “revolutionary process” has maintained its presence only due to the dwindling presence of the third factor. People lost their fear a while back, and the myth of “Bolivarian” changes has sunk in the deepest and most irrecoverable abysm of incompetence, corruption, arbitrariness, begging and ethical degradation. As to the will of power of the caudillo and his partisans, the principal motor is the fear of abandoning the walls of protection that grants the formal Government of the Republic, a fear so delirious in front of the sure reality of a future and implacable sanction to its excesses.
From this experience we derive several positive and important consequences. First of all, the collapse of the Venezuelan left, deep in mud up to the marrow of the chavista muck. It will be difficult for socialist ideas to raise their heads again in the country and this will also open spaces for different visions, modern and equitable as to the course to follow both economically and socially. In second place, it is probable that we Venezuelans will get out of all this some sort of creative learning that will allow us to choose leaders with better aim and fulfill with fervor and dedication our civic duty. Third of all, it is important to emphasize the enormous achievement of the civil-military unity demonstrated by the alliance between the democratic coordinating committee and the dissident military officers of Plaza Altamira.
Even the most blindly antimilitaristic individuals of our Jurassic left and the most inflated egos of the opposition have made their self-criticism public and have accepted the importance of the crucial gesture of Altamira. Nobody dares to say anymore “you are either a citizen or you are military” and it is possible to observe some individuals hurriedly gathering yesterdays’ words cornered by the impact of the military disobedience. All of this is welcome and is manifest proof of ideological maturity.
The success of the opposition up to now can only be measured in its legitimate magnitude if we remember that the “Project” attempted to carry out a radical revolution of unequivocal leftist signature in Venezuela. Even if it is true that the goal seems preposterous, it is also true that the attempt was made with persistence and audacity. It has been the resistance of many common people, defending with courage their liberty in the streets, of the media, in the various trenches a tenacious combat, which has saved Venezuela from a brutal and disastrous destiny.
The revolution has died; there is no formula capable of recovering in the spirit of Venezuelans the fleeting attachment that the now discredited Bolivarian rhetoric enjoyed.
The caudillo that believed he was capable of raising an insurrection to the whole continent today is kept at a distance by his colleagues at international summits, as a sort of plague-infested individual and is used as a scarecrow in electoral campaigns to scare away voters, as happened in Brazil. Hugo Chavez pretended to emulate Fidel Castro and is ending his path, only much faster, harassed by the ghosts of his despotic ambition and abandoned by a population that has lost all respect.
The revolution is dead but the despicable regime remains.
The will of power fueled by the fear of moral and judicial punishment, and the instrument of manipulation and buyout of consciousness which is provided by the money of the public treasury, still preserves in power the band of ruffians that at a bad hour took control of the Venezuelan state. It is imperative for the opposition to maintain the sensible path that it is crossing, cultivate and make more solid the civil-military union, not to fall for the traps of the regime and not to present battles that it can not lose.
The objective, now, is to weaken the will of power of the governing group, evidencing its isolation and illegitimacy. Impatience is our biggest danger and serenity is our most useful ally. We should not fight on the ground chosen by the enemy, but in that which we select. We should not fight in the time frame that the adversary wishes, but in the moments of our convenience. And above all, we should remember that civilians and military are all Venezuelans: we are the problem as well as the solution.
The Venezuelan Supreme Court dealt the Government two important setbacks in the last two days. Yesterday, the Court ruled that two articles of the controversial Land Bill were unconstitutional. The first article number 89, gave the Government the possibility of intervening private lands that were not in use. The Court said this was unconstitutional. The Court also ruled that Art. 90 was not Constitutional, the article banned invaders of public lands from receving any compensantion for property built in those lands or crops lost.
The second decision was the order to cancel the discharge of General Perez Rojas who was discharged after the Ministry of Defense held an “investigative council” to discharge him. The Court held that the Constitution establishes that no high ranking military officer may be tried without a pre-trial by the Court itslef to determine if there are grounds for dismissal.
The most awaited case, the one relating to the injunction agaisnt the intervention of the Metropolitan Police was not decided on today. The Government did get a reprieve in that the general strike was postponed for a week.
The march was mostly normal. At the end, the National Guard dropped tear gas on some people that stayed near downtown a little too long. Perhaps there was too much enthusiasm on the part of the Guards, but that is to be expected given how much they seem to be compromised with the government. There was tear gas for everyone.
On other news, the opposition blocked the Francisco Fajardo freeway again today. They threatened to bottled up Caracas until the workers union calls for a strike. The rebel military at Plaza Altamira seemed to distance themselves from this action.
From The Raven:
Fifty women undressed for peace. In Spanish the word for peace has only three letters PAZ, but I get the feeling in Venezuela we would need more than fifty naked women in order to attain peace, the way things are going.
My brother has created an Internet broadcast of Radio Libertad (90.7 FM), the unofficial radio station of Plaza Altamira. The signal is not great because it has a limited range and he lives right at the fringes, but here is the link
To make ot work you will need quicktime, get it running, say open URL and paste the link:
rtsp://alfredo.octavio.net:79/mystream.sdp
Enjoy even if the signal is not great!!!
After an afternoon of confrontation between protesters and the National Guard, there continues to be a lot of tension in the city. There are many facts and rumors floating in the air which I will attempt to sort out:
-The Supreme Court ordered the President to issue the electoral bill, ratifying that four members of the National Electoral Commission are needed for any decision.
-The Electoral Commission met and ratified with four of its members all of the decisions of last week.
-The Head of the intelligence police said this morning that the “bomb” last night at TV station Globovision was no such thing and was only a “fire”. This afternoon the Technical Police found the fragmentary granade that was used, including the triggering mechanism, brand name, model and that it was Made in Germany.
-The oposition is seriously considering a nationwide strike for an indefinite period.
-There will be a march tomorrow from Plaza Altamira to the National Assembly to protest the takeover of the Metropolitan police by the military, the Head of the Metropolitan police that was supposedly removed on Saturday guaranteed that over eight hundred policeman will guard the march tomorrow.
On the rumor front:
-The Government will takeover forcefully Plaza Altamira tonight where dissident military officers have been for over three weeks. Reportedly the Government will declare a state of emergency prior to this sometime tonight.
-The highest ranking military officer in Plaza Altamira, Gral. Medina Gomez said that the troops that are being used agaisnt the peaceful demonstrations are not military but former cops and members of the Bolivarian Circles.
-Reportedly the Government had told OAS mediator Cesar Gaviria that it would not intervene the police or take over Plaza Altamira while the negotiations were taking place and Gaviria is quite upset at the Government’s actions.
-Gaviria reportedly was in the Dominican Republic this weekend at the Iberoamerican summit where he met privately with most Heads of State to discuss the possibility of invoking the Democratic Letter of the OAS of which Venezuela is a participant.
Monday 4 PM
The National Guard has now dispersed a demonstration that had been blocking the main highway that goes through Caracas. Once again, how quick they are with the opposition and never with Chavez’ supporters. I think we are heading for a violent confrontation.
On the good news side, the Supreme Court did tell the President that he could not return the electoral bill to the National Assembly (see story below) and that the National Electoral Commission can make decisions by a majority even if it does not have all of its members due to the resignation of some of them. Well, there is some law, even if no order…..
Monday 4 PM
The National Guard has now dispersed a demonstration that had been blocking the main highway that goes through Caracas. Once again, how quick they are with the opposition and never with Chavez’ supporters. I think we are heading for a violent confrontation.
On the good news side, the Supreme Court did tell the President that he could not return the electoral bill to the National Assembly (see story below) and that the National Electoral Commission can make decisions by a majority even if it does not have all of its members due to the resignation of some of them. Well, there is some law, even if no order…..
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The Devil's Excrement 