The Devil's Excrement

Today I woke up in a Dictartoship. Up to now Hugo Chavez and his hoodlums had been using the law to “hide” the repressive and intolerant nature of this Government. Last night they detained one of the two most important leaders of the opposition and an order is out to capture the Head of the Federation of Unions (CTV) the other visible leader of the opposition. The charge: treason and inciting rebellion. This is political, this is repressive and coupled with assasinations last Monday indicates to me that Chavez has decided to step out of Democracy. The charges against the two most important leaders of the opposition are just an excuse to neutralize them and silence others. The Government quickly charges two political opponents on these charges, but assasins from April are still free or not charged, no investigation has been made of other gunmen on Dec. 6th. and many other political and violent crimes have yet to be investigated. But this one has, with efficiency. Maybe the world will now understand what is going on here in Venezuela.

Witneses are saying on TV that the intelligence police officers who detained opposition leader Carlso Fernandez had no Court order to arrest him and made some shots in the air to stop him from leaving. This is absolutely illegal in Venezuela. What else is new?

As if the previous article were not enough, the Head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FEDECAMRAS) and opposition leader Carlos Fernandez has just been reported detained by the Intelligence Police (DISIP) as he was leaving a Restaurant. The beginning of formal repression against the Democratic Coordinator? Whatever happened to the letter and spirit of the agreement signed yesterday?

Last night the events leading to the deaths of the three military officers were so confusing that I preferred to pass on the subcject and simply quoted my brother’s reaction to the story. Well, the more I read the details the more I am reminded that one should never believe in coincidences. Imagine this:

Saturday night near midnight, three military officers, part of the dissident miltary officers of Plaza Altamira, together with two females accmpanying them are taken by twelve men in two cars and driven away. On Monday, two of the officer’s bodies are found in one location while one woman and the other officer are found shot to death in a separate location. Separately, the second woman, reportedly manages to escape, reaches a Hospital where she is treated for gunshot wounds. As she is being treated, a bus full of armed men shows up at the hospital looking for the woman and in the process injure five people, including one of the medical doctors traeting teh patient, with bullets and knives. Now, the group of armed men is led by the concubine or husband of Chavez MVR’s leader Lina Ron, who is known for saying “there will be no change without violence”. Five of the armed men are jailed by the municipal police, including Ron’s husband. A couple of hours later, Lina Ron shows up at the police headquarters and all five men are released. The Head of police resigns and the Mayor of Sucre District, the son of Vice-President Rangel, says the two events have nothing to do with each other and that some people are still in jail.

Today, without barely any investigation, the Head of the technical police says the two cases are not connected and the motive for the assasination is not political but “passional”. Meanwhile, some reports say that the three men were also witnesses to the assasinatiosn atht took place on Dec. 6th. in Plaza Altamira. The lone gunman captured that day, was accused of being close to the Mayor of another municipality of Caracas who is both close to Chavez and Lina Ron. Meanwhile,dissident leaders of Plaza Altamira, find the whole affair suspicious, including the fact that each of the military officers was from each of the three forces in the Venezuelan military.

Obviously, this all sounds so fishy as to being absolutely incredible that this is not political, led by Chavez’ MVR and another vioaltion of people’s political and human rights. To my surprise, Human Rights Watch, that has been so quiet and lenient, and in my opinion partial to the Government, about the events in Venezuela, issued today a press release urging the Government to investigate the cases, saying “all indications are that they were political assasinations”. Wow! What is going on here! Have these people seen the light?

Meanwhile, some people are even connecting Chavez’ cancellation of his trip to Malaysia as being related to the assasinations. Very heavy stuff in my opinion, but will it once again, come to nothing?