Yesterday there was a women’s march, but the Chavistas were waiting to attack it and had to be cancelled…….
Archive for January, 2003
From the women’s march, which never took place
January 22, 2003Poster from the women’s march yesterday
January 22, 2003
With a smile
Supreme Court stops referendum
January 22, 2003The Venezuelan Supreme Court issued a precautionary measure against the referendum scheduled for February 2nd. on the basis that it questions the validity of the participation of one of the members of the Electoral Board in the decision. Such is democracy here, a request by two million people can be stopped because of only one…..
(By the way, it was a weird decision, announced by the Vice-President (!!!) before the Court had a chance to do it and one of the Justices of the Electoral Hall that made the decision was an alternate, different from the one that was part of the Hall this morning, such is justice in the Vth. Republic. Democracy, ha!, the decision, if ratified implies, there is no electoral Board in Venezuela and there can not be an election until the Chavez controlled Assembly selects a new Board!)
Note added: Later today, in a very curious move, the Constitutional Hall of the Supreme Court ruled that the referendum suspended by the Electoral Hall, was valid from the point of view of the question. The Hall ruled the question valid and the effect to be non-binding…..So we are f……. on a technicality and pardon my french, I am not very happy today.
Caracas Chronicles on the march in Charallave
January 22, 2003From Caracas Chronicles on the march in Charavalle two days ago, see the pictures of the Chavistas shooting below:
And I am mindful of the way the term has been abused for political gain over the last 17 months, but when I look at what happened in Charallave yesterday I can think of only one word to describe it: terrorism.
And state terrorism, at that.
It’s not just the incredible cowardice of the attack, its openness, its shamelessness. Perhaps even worse is the way the chavista mayor of Charallave more or less claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a statement that can’t be that far off from what Hezbollah issues after shooting up some Israeli settlers. After proudly announcing that Charallave is | chavista territory,| mayor Marisela Mendoza said she hoped “it won’t even occur to the opposition to try to march here again,” apparently not fully aware that she was coming perilously close to confessing to being an accessory to murder. Because, oh yes, did I forget to mention that? Among the dozens of wounded there was one guy who never made it out of that march.
Foreign Currency Trading suspended
January 22, 2003The Venezuelan Central bank has suspended foreign currency trading for the next five days….here we go again…the more things change, the more they stay the same….
Carter’s two proposals
January 21, 2003I thought long about whether to write this or not. The Carter Center presented today two proposals to the negotiation table. I am sure they are nothing new to the negotiation table, except that Carter is here and it is news. What is new, is a different style of negotiation than Gaviria’s, more upfront, with distribution of the proposals to the press and everything. (I wonder how Gaviria feels about it). Carter said Chavez would be amenable to either, but I am not. Basically, the two proposals include an end to the strike, rehiring of PDVSA workers, commitment etc.. One proposes a recall referendum on August 19th., the second a Constitutional amendment to shorten the Presidential period to four years, allowing reelection.
I don’t like the recall referendum. It takes too long, there has to be elections after it and, in some sense, there is nothing that is negotiated, give or take two months, that is the law. I can’t see why Chavez would like it either, he would not be able to run in the elections after it. I like the second proposal, amendment and then immediate elections. Only an electoral mandate can stabilize the country and establish some foundation for a different and peaceful Venezuela.
More pictures from the Miami rally
January 21, 2003
Mafe sent these pictures from the Miami march, if she is one of the two with the Chavez mask, more reason to put them here in my blog!!
Venezuelans mantain their sense of humor through it all
January 21, 2003Through it all Venezuelans mantain a sense of humor. Below I show a comic strip and a link to recent humor
What are you watching. The Fight! Thats not a fight that’s Chavez! Yes he is fighting so as not to fall prey to intelligence
And then there is this link to the new salutation of the Venezuelan National Guard
The face of the paid revolution
January 21, 2003
These are pictures of the pro-Chavez crowd at yesterday’s march which ended with one death and 29 injured. Look at the crowd (Count the guns!) and then I ask two questions:
1) For those amateurs sociologists that like to explain the crisis in Venezuela in terms of rich vs. poor, black vs. white, the pictures suggest it might actually be more men vs. women. Is this just a “macho” revolution? Where are the pro-Chavez women? Taking care of the kids at home?
2) A second explanation might be that they are paid thugs and that is what the Chavez “revolution” has been reduced to, paid thugs injuring and killing the peaceful opposition, which by the way (look at all the photos in the Pictures section) is composed of both men and women and I would say there are more women than men.
What’s your choice of the two?
Microsoft shuts down Venezuela office
January 21, 2003Microsoft is temporarily closing its office in Venezuela out of concern for security as a 50-day national strike has sparked rioting. Microsoft made the decision to ensure the safety of the 85 sales and support workers in its Caracas office, said Ricardo Adame, a Microsoft spokesman.
There is no rioting, just demonstrations, I am sure Microsoft workers are taking part in them, they will now have more time to do it!
The Devil's Excrement 