The Devil's Excrement

Barely had the ink dried on the decision by the Supreme Court to stop the illegal intervention of the Metropolitan police by the Government, that the Chavez Administration issued another decree which we are sure will eventually be found to violate the right to private property established in the Venezuelan Constitution. Tonight, the Government issued a decree that allows Venezuelan authorities to confiscate any transportation medium to guarantee the supply of gasoline and staples. The decree even says they can do this “without any detriment to the right to private property”. Thus, the Chavez leftists try it again, tomorrow somebody will ask for an injunction, two weeks from now the Court will say it can’t be done. In the meantime, rights are violated, property is used and misused without compensation, but “the right to private property has been respected”. What’s next? Cancelling elections for the next ten years, without affecting the basic democratic rights of the Constitution?

(Now I ask myself, if the Government claims the strike is failure, why did it have to do this?)

In a severe blow to Chavez’ plans, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that the decree issued by the Chavez administration was void and that the Metropolitan Police and all of its facilities have to be returned to the Mayor of Caracas. Moreover, the Court took advantage of the decision to rule that the National Guard can not intervene in establishing order in civilian life unless the appropriate regioanl authorities agree with the measure because the regular police action has been overflowed. This was ruled earlier by a lower Court and was not the subject of the suit. This decision contains what every legal opinion had said all along, but the Constitutional Hall of the Highest Court is considered to be the most pro-Chavez of them all and thus there was no certainty as to the decision. The Chavez administration has defended the decree all the way. Even at noon today the Minsiter of the Interior and Justice (or is it Injustice?) had said the Government was ready to intervene other police forces, in reference to that of the Chacao municipality which yesterday was charged with having illegal weapons. . 

Shaking hands in peace                                     Peaceful protest (From reuters)

Only a couple of hours after I posted my brother’s comment about the error of believing the Venezuelan crisis is a one of rich versus poor that may end in Civil War, the events demonstrated exactly how wrong these people are. On Monday some people barricaded a highway in Caracas. From one of the barrios nearby some pro-Chavez people came down and it appeared there might be a confrontation. There was none, and the picture above shows Chavistas and opposition supporters shaking hands at the end (I can’t tell which side is which!). Well, today the opposition barricaded the same highway, the Chavistas showed up and guess what?. They ended playing an improvised game of soccer in the middle of the highway, which reportedly the Chavistas won 3-2. That is the Venezuela we all remember until Hugo Chavez showed up in his coup attempt in ’92. We want it back!

(Photo by Oscar Sabater, official Devil’s Excrement photographer)

From my brother the Tyromaniac:

They still are trying to portrait this fight as White vs. Black, Rich vs. Poor, that is also bullshit. Most venezuelans are mixed race and, as normally happens in mixed raced countries, families have a variety of colors. So, some of my sisters, who are rabidly anti-Chávez, have darker skin than most of Chávez supporters, much darker than Chávez himself, while the pro-chávez parlament officials, accused yesterday of having millions of dollars in accounts in the US, are as light skinned as any opposition supporter. The lack of serious journalism in a newspaper like The New York Times is really depressing.

To which I add: If Chavez were perceived as right-wing (part of his thinking is) the world would be outraged at his statements and actions.