Theories abound about the paramilitary squad captured Sunday morning in the outskirts of Caracas. The whole story certainly sounds fishy: almost a hundred Colombian men, dressed in brand new military fatigues, riding buses thru the suburbs of Caracas well past midnight. They carry no weapons and are going towards a camp that is clean and is not guarded. The neighbors claim they had heard no shots, they had sensed no unusual movement.
The government has cameramen from its TV station on hand for the operation. The intelligence police not only treat the prisoners well (In one TV scene one of them is seen loosening the handcuffs of a prisoner), but they are open to the reporters, in contrast to their usual militaristic and barbaric style. Intelligence police actions tend to be secretive, the way is blocked, and nobody is allowed nearby. Meanwhile, the fact that the municipal police stumbled on the soldiers is denied, but there are videos to prove it.
Immediately, Chavez, the Vice-President, the Head of the intelligence police, Deputies and a variety of leaders from all sides of Chávez’ MVR come out saying exactly the same thing, talking about these terrorists, as if the Carapiacas urban terrorists that roam the 23 de Enero area were any different in style or nature. But I have never heard the Government criticize them or call them terrorists.
Chavez truly overdoes it, says the Governor of Zulia state wants to have him killed, Diosdado Cabello, blames his opponent in the Miranda Gubernatorial race Enrique Mendoza and Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel calls for the world to condemn the presence of this unarmed terrorists. Amazing for a Government that has yet to condemn the assassination of Chechen leader Kadyrov.
But where it gets to be a farce is when the intelligence police search the house of Carlos Andres Perez’ former wife. What could they ever expect to find there, the house of a former wife of a former President that has not been in Venezuela in five years, the last three months under medical care? Tonight they attempt to search the house of a National Assembly deputy who has parliamentary immunity.
Nobody has yet advanced an explanation on how close to one hundred men managed to travel by bus from the border to Caracas undetected. This in a country where the Government routinely blocks roads, searches cars and stops people on the highway. I have never been able to drive from Merida to Caracas without being stopped at least twice.
I advance two possible related theories for the charade of the last two days:
1) This was an operation by opposition fringe groups to create havoc and blame it on the Government later in May. The Government infiltrated the operation, but when the Municipal police of El Hatillo stumbled upon the paramilitary force, the Government how to act ahead of schedule, inducing the amateurish charade we have seen in the last two days.
2) This was a Government operation to create a scandal against the opposition later in the month, near the date when the ratification process of the signatures is supposed to take place. The charade had to be advanced for the same reasons as 1).
I favor 2), but the fact that the men were heading towards the farm of a well known fringe opposition member who advocates the violent overthrow of the Government does not allow me to rule out 1).
This is all guessing, unfortunately like so many things in this wonderful revolution, we will never figure out what really happened in this new charade.
The Devil's Excrement 
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