The Devil's Excrement

Tomorrow will be the first day for people to ratify or repair their sinature for the petitions to recall both pro-Chavez and opposition Deputies to the National Assembly. Unfortunately it has been raining a lot in the last few days which threatens to make the job more difficult. It would be a pity if the process is hampered by the weather. The process will last three days. Next week, the process for the signatures for the petition to recall Hugo Chavez will take place on the same days of the week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully tomorrow the sun will shine, but it does not look very good short term.

El Foro por la Vida, a coalition of human rights organizations condemned today the threats on the life of Liliana Ortega. Ortega, the Head of COFAVIC has been receiving threats and pamphlets against her have been thrown at the entrance of the building where that organization has her office. The pamphlets say “Am I getting paid to defend the rights of the crooks from the opposition” and say “May she rest in peace”.

Ortega is one of the leading fighters against human rights violations in Venezuela and has done, in my opinion, an incredible and consistent job over the last fifteen years.

How low can people stoop to?

El Foro por la Vida, a coalition of human rights organizations condemned today the threats on the life of Liliana Ortega. Ortega, the Head of COFAVIC has been receiving threats and pamphlets against her have been thrown at the entrance of the building where that organization has her office. The pamphlets say “Am I getting paid to defend the rights of the crooks from the opposition” and say “May she rest in peace”.

Ortega is one of the leading fighters against human rights violations in Venezuela and has done, in my opinion, an incredible and consistent job over the last fifteen years.

How low can people stoop to?

I simply translate what our illustrious Minister of Health said in Geneva. Did he think nobody was listening? Is this guy as idiotic as he sounds? Will he go back to fixing varicose veins soon? You be the judge:

Venezuela intends to put under state control private medicine institutions, among them hospitals and insurance companies, said the Minister of Health Roger Capella, accusing these companies of benefiting without investing anything.

“We are going to rescue what the private organizations robbed and kidnapped from the state” said Capella where he is attending the WHO meeting.

We have financed (??) the private system in Venezuela that has taken advantage of the money of the State, said the Minister at a meeting with reporters.

Capella specified that “we are not taking anything from anyone; we are recovering what was slowly given to private groups during five decades, damaging public health in the country”

“The private sector did not invest one cent (??), they only made money”, said Capella who specified that the process of controlling those companies would take two to three years.

The Minister of Health noted that among the private insurance that he wants to place under state control there are companies “both national as well as multinational’, among them some European and Spanish ones.

He said the objective of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will be to implement a unified public health system that would group all 68 public institutions that currently exist.
  
He said that currently the health system in Venezuela functions in disperse fashion, fragmented and uncoordinated, and of course, totally inefficient”.

There is no national orientation for expenditures, said Capella who pointed out that public health expenditures have tripled in the last few years and represent 4% of GDP, but if you add all resources it reaches 10 to 12%.

For now, all I will say on this issue is that Mr. Capella is famous for putting his foot in his mouth. I think the Government will not welcome these statements and most likely they will deny he ever said that. He has been Vice-Minister and Minister during much of this increase in budget (which is in Bolivars, so it is not real), if it is run inefficiently, he has had a huge share of responsibility in it. As far as I know, there has never been public financing of private medicine in Venezuela. In fact, many years ago, I was in a committee that rejected purchasing a piece of equipment for a medical doctor for scientific research because the equipment would go in the office where he had his private practice. I also wonder whether he plans to put under state control his clinics for varicose veins…

The Directors of Sumate held a press conference to inform the public that they have been asked to go to the Attorney General’s office to testify as “accused” in the case of the contribution by the National Endowment for Democracy from the US to their cause. NED contributed $53,400 to Sumate’s efforts. Curiously, the same Attorney General never found any cause for concern with the illegal campaign contribution by Banco Bilbao y Viscaya to Hugo Chavez’ presidential campaign. That contribution was not only illegal, but was never reported by Chavez’ MVR, despite this, the Attorney General never pressed charges. (By the way, NED gave over US$ 1 million in contributions in Venezuela to 15 projects in 2003 alone, how come Sumate is the only one under investigation)

The Directors of Sumate held a press conference to inform the public that they have been asked to go to the Attorney General’s office to testify as “accused” in the case of the contribution by the National Endowment for Democracy from the US to their cause. NED contributed $53,400 to Sumate’s efforts. Curiously, the same Attorney General never found any cause for concern with the illegal campaign contribution by Banco Bilbao y Viscaya to Hugo Chavez’ presidential campaign. That contribution was not only illegal, but was never reported by Chavez’ MVR, despite this, the Attorney General never pressed charges. (By the way, NED gave over US$ 1 million in contributions in Venezuela to 15 projects in 2003 alone, how come Sumate is the only one under investigation)

The Directors of Sumate held a press conference to inform the public that they have been asked to go to the Attorney General’s office to testify as “accused” in the case of the contribution by the National Endowment for Democracy from the US to their cause. NED contributed $53,400 to Sumate’s efforts. Curiously, the same Attorney General never found any cause for concern with the illegal campaign contribution by Banco Bilbao y Viscaya to Hugo Chavez’ presidential campaign. That contribution was not only illegal, but was never reported by Chavez’ MVR, despite this, the Attorney General never pressed charges. (By the way, NED gave over US$ 1 million in contributions in Venezuela to 15 projects in 2003 alone, how come Sumate is the only one under investigation)

All of a sudden and as if by magic, the Directors of the CNE, the same ones that on Saturday were saying that the OAS and Carter Center representatives had not retracted, said today that all “edges were smoothed out” and after informal communications the international missions had reiterated their respect for their CNE to make decisions.

This time around, not everyone was informed that the two sides had smoked the peace pipe as PPT Deputy Albornoz, made statements shortly afterwards that the representatives of the two international organizations should be replaced. Albornoz accused the OAS and the Carter Center of taking sides and being politicized.

But what can you expect of a Government whose Foreign Minister says that his own Government may have exaggerated the role of the paramilitary force captured last week, only to be contradicted by Chavez himself a few hours later, when the President said that they were planning to bomb the Presidential palace.

Continuing with the contradictions, tonight the Vice-President said that Generals Gonzales Gonzales and Uson are sought in relation to the paramilitary cases. Gonzales Gonzales was on of the Generals from Altamira Square, but Uson, who was Chavez’ Minister of Finance, has always distanced himself from the anti-Chavez movement. However, after the Vice-President said this, the military prosecutor refused to confirm that this was true.

Meanwhile the Government held a large rally yesterday against terrorism at which Chávez called for all citizens to become soldiers to defend the country. The concept was severely criticized by all opposition parties, rejecting the concept of having Venezuela become a country of militiamen.