The Devil's Excrement

Loved the response of Chacao’s Mayor Leopoldo Lopez when he said today commenting on the fact that he has been called to testify, as an accomplice, in the escape of oil manager Juan Fernandez from last Saturday’s rally. Lopez simply said:

“What I have to clarify, is that we have not, and we will not, be accomplices to the excesses of the Disip (intelligence police), everyone sees the manner in which they run over and react out of proportion, they use tear gas for everything, we have to evaluate the action, not of Poli Chacao, nor the Metropolitan police, but of the state polices, this is another way of turning what is a reality, it is Disip that has been using force against the citizens.”

He added” we are here, we will not run away. We have never had a response from the Attorney General, when we caught a vehicle spying on my office, which was the same one seen the same day of the explosions in the Spanish and Colombian Embassies, nor when we showed the bribing by the Director of Disip of some of functionaries of Poli Chacao, in the best style of “Montesinos”.

I have always wondered why the government has always said that the only way out of the political crisis was the recall referendum in August. Politically, it seemed to me to be a lose-lose proposition for President Chavez. First of all, he would be running against only himself. Second, he has little chance of surviving a recall referendum as demonstarted by the “Firmazo”. Finally, if he lost a recall referendum, he would not be able to run as a candidate in the elections aftwerwards. In contrast, by accepting an early election Chavez could wish that the opposition would split into various factions and either win or at least have a respectable showing coming in second place. (note I said “wish).

Well, today we hear Vice-President Rangel explaining, that Chavez, even if he lost a referendum would be able to run in the election that follows and that “nothing” in either the Constitution or the electoral law bans it. Now, I am definitely not a lawyer, but as explained again quite well by Deputy Gerardo Blyde today, article 233 of the Constitution says that once the mandate of the President is revoked, the Vice-President will assume the Presidency until a NEW President is elected within thirty days. Now checking the seven definitions of “new” in Webster’s dictionary or the nine for “nuevo” in the Royal Acadamy of the Spanish Language Dictionary it certainly does not appear as if Chavez would fit any of them. But, of course, when you have bought the Supreme Court, you never know how they might interpret it differently.

One interesting aspect of this statement by the Vice-President is that, as noted by my boss, for the first time ever the Government recognizes such a possibility exists….interesting.

Deputies of Chavez’ MVR party will ask the attorney General tomorrow to order the arrest of the opposition Mayors of Chacao and the Metropolitan District, as well as the Heads of the respective police forces. The charge? Not obeying the order to capture oil leader Juan Fernandez last Saturday during the opposition rally and helping to hide him because they were present at the rally. They also said that they will press the Attorney General for the liberation of the gunmen caught on video shooting at the peaceful march last April 11th. who are “unjustly” being held. I love justice in the Vth. Republic! They, of course, make no mention of the fact that the “Intelligence” police has been incapable of capturing even one of the union leaders that have outstanding orders for their detention. Or how about the “investigators” that have not even looked for the additional shooters of Altamira Square on Dec. 6th.? Or the ones that are looking into the torture and death of three soldiers and two of their girlfriends after being kidnapped from Altamira Square, but have yet to visit the square? Or the fact that a well-known militant of Chavez’ MVR showed up with an armed group to “rescue” the only survivor from that massacre and when arrested was himslef “rescued” by his wife MVR violent leader Lina Ron? Just some innocent questions on my part….

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton, challenged the US Government today to provide evidence of the charges made by Gen. James Hill that Venezuela is now part of the arab terrorist network and that part of the financing is being done through our country. The charges were made by the General at a Conference in Miami two weeks ago, as reported here. The island of Margarita was explicitly mentioned by the General. Separately, MVR (Chave’z party) Deputy Tarek Saab, who is of Arab ancestry, also rejected the accusations today.

What puzzles me is why it took them two weeks to respond to Gen. Hill’s accusations and it is not a coincidence that the two replied the same day. This seems to be part of a new campaign by Chavez and his collaborators to distance themselves from terrorism, even if they refuse to call the FARC terrorist, but the trail is long and I hope the US Government responds…..

Via Instapundit I learn of Thor Harvolssen’s good article in the magazine The Weekly Standard on Hugo Chavez and his friends in the terrorist world, he forgot Carlos The Jackal, but nobody is perfect…… Coincidentally, today’s New York Times has an article on that magazine and it quotes the Editor of The Nation saying that The Weekly Standard may be “the most influential publication in America”. At least we know the right people will be reading Thor’s thoughts on Chavez.

Iris Varela, a Deputy from Chavez’ MVR party, demonstrated her deep belief in democracy on Sunday during the President’s weekly program when she suggested the meetings of the National Assembly be moved to the barrios, such as Caracas neighborhood “23 de Enero” so they coudl approve laws without the “hindrance” of the opposition. Such a pretty revolution!

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister said yesterday that “Venezuela will not qualify the Colombian guerrilla as terrorists as that would be getting involved in Colmbian affairs”. The Colombian Government has asked the Venezuelan one to do this.

Is this doublespeak or it reaches triplespeak?

To give an idea of the way people feel by now and why things are tense, here is a report from a friend (TE) about last Saturday’s rally and what happened when the intelligence police patrol’s showed up( his father is approximately in his mid 60’s if not older) showing the level of frustration and despair of the people:

“I was a couple of meters away from one of the DISIP (intelligence police) patrol cars that were damaged by the fury and rage in the ramp towards Chuao, parallel to El Guaire at the end of the event. Unfortunately, I could not take part because I was trying to protect my mother and contain my father who in fury wanted to kill the DISIPs with his fists. I tell you, if it were not because of Enrique Mendoza (governor of Miranda State) who came to placate people and open the way for the patrols to leave speedily, there could have been a tragedy.

It matters little to be good citizens at this point. This is a demonstration that the BRAVE PEOPLE are sick and tired and it would seem the levels of being pissed off are overflowing fear… Good for Juan Fernandez and his bravery…Good slap in the face for the incapable talibans of the political police”