The Devil's Excrement

Good articles today in the paper by people who know what they are talking about:

-Luis Pedro España in El Universal speaks about his perceptions about the poor. España is a Professor from the Catholic University in Caracas who ahs devoted his whole life to study the problem of poverty. He is a co-author of a recent book called “Detras de la Pobreza” (Behind poverty) about what Venezuelans think and how they act about poverty. He actually brings up something I discussed a few days ago in the comments, how half the budgets of Universities goes to pension payments. He argues that the early and easy pension is a benefit, since Universities pay so little they have to give you benefits like that. I just don’t buy that, it simply makes no sense to me.

España thinks that the days of social peace in venezuela are finite, making the analogy with the iron country in which people used to say “They fake that they are paying us, we fake that we are working” España thinks in a populist regime it is not the poor that make money. He thinks that it is those that are not productive who have the most to lose from a modern country.

-Heinz Sonntag in El Nacional (by subscription). The former Director of CENDES lucidly speaks about what has happened and may happen in the future. He thinks that a victory by the Chavismo in the regional elections will simply bring out more the contradictions between the different groups of that movement. He says Chavez has woken up the conscience of the poor, but has done nothing for them. He says Chavez is not a leftist unless being messianic and militaristic is being a leftist. He suggests that the European left likes Chavez because he is anti-American, without understanding that he is not leftists.

-Domingo Maza Zavala in El Universal is quite tough on the Government. From asking for accountability on the fund spent on the “Misiones”, to saying there is little coordination on economic matters, the Central Bank Director and “father” of modern and leftists economics is quite blunt as usual. From calling the Central bank’s policy “too risky”, to saying that using the bank’s earnings from foreign exchange is dangerous, to pensions and the lack of investments, Maza Zavala is a must read for those interested in Venezuelan economic affairs.

It was only eight months ago that he CNE Directors invented the concept of “reasonable doubt” in reference to the same calligraphy signatures in the petition to request a recall referendum against Hugo Chavez’ Mandate. Reasonable doubt for some 1.4 million signatures gathered in plain daylight in a process organized and coordinated by the CNE itself. Reasonable doubt for signatures that were gathered under the careful watch of international observers, all of which saw how attendants wrote down the data for each person, as instructed in the regulations, and then the person signed and stamped his/her fingerprint.

Despite this, the CNE stuck to its reasonable doubt argument and thus began a long path for the opposition to prove the veracity of those signatures in the so called “Reparo” process. In the middle, we saw every manipulation possible, when the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court ruled the signatures valid; the Constitutional Hall actually said that it could not rule on it making everyone wonder what it was good for if it could not rule on Electoral matters. The President of the Electoral Hall was not only retired because of his decision, but the immoral members of the so called “Moral Powers” asked that he be tried for objecting to the reasonable doubt charges and ruling all of the signatures valid. The opposition was forced to go through the long process and more than 700,000 people did show up to say they had signed, in some sense proving the absurdity of the charges of reasonable doubt.

The opposition and even CNE Director Sobella Mejias are now attempting to make the same charges with respect to the Electoral Registry, except that they have a much stronger case. To begin with, there is the matter of the Electoral Law that simply sates that the Electoral registry can only be changed up to ninety days before an election. This alone would imply that an election could take place until early December.

But then there is the very reasonable doubt about the registry itself. Opposition Mayors have identified thousands of registered voters with no address or unknown within their municipality, taking the case from reasonable doubt to absolute certainty. The best known and “controlled” case is the municipality of Chacao in the East of Caracas, where over 22 thousand votes have no known address and are simply not in any records of a municipality that provides free medical care to its inhabitants as long as you are registered with it. Thus, this 22 thousand “phantoms” who the CNE must be poor do not even register to obtain medical care.

I had heard on TV interviews with the Mayor of Mara in Zulia State, but had not seen his case printed anywhere, but the numbers are simply staggering. In 2000, Mara had 57,031 registered voters. It now has 78,698 an increase of 21,556 (37.99%). Of these 16,114 do not have an address and 3,825 were recently given the Venezuelan nationality. The Mayor has found that many of those registered in his district actually live in the other side of the border in Colombia. Since the CNE has done nothing about these irregularities, what he is doing is to simply go and campaign in Colombia!

What is remarkable is that this is not longer the case of possible violations of the law, but these are definitely and certain violations of the law, which states that you have to provide your address in order to vote. Actually, the reason for requiring an address is simple: It is done in part to protect the candidates also, so that voters do not try to vote in other municipalities where they don’t live for political reasons!

For CNE Director Mejias, there is certainly reasonable doubt and lack of transparency in the Electoral Registry, more so, when she is a member of the Committee (She presides it!) that is supposed to oversee the Registry and she says there has been no meeting in the last month and the Registry is just as it was before challenges to it were brought forward. Not even the involuntary migrations have been processed.

Thus, any hope of any action on this certainty of irregularities is now in the hands of the Constitutional Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Sumate and Primero Justicia are basing their hopes on such a possibility. But it is hard to believe that a Court that acted in such partisan fashion in the Reparos could actually stop this election in order to defend the law. This is simply part of the process and who cares about what the law says. Even worse, despite verbal agreements between the opposition and CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez on audits and the transmission of data after counting the votes on October 31^st., the electoral material distributed nationwide this week says exactly the opposite of what was agreed.

Clearly, the certainty of fraud is in the air, everything is all set for next Sunday; I have no hope that the Court will say much. I have no hope that all of the fraudulent tactics of the recall vote will not be repeated next Sunday. Agreements will be broken, laws will be violated, and results will be fixed. Long live the revolution!

For all of these reasons, the blogger has decided to go away on October 31^st. I will report a little bit, but it certainly will not be the hands on reporting of August 15^th. I just can’t go through this farce again.

It was only eight months ago that he CNE Directors invented the concept of “reasonable doubt” in reference to the same calligraphy signatures in the petition to request a recall referendum against Hugo Chavez’ Mandate. Reasonable doubt for some 1.4 million signatures gathered in plain daylight in a process organized and coordinated by the CNE itself. Reasonable doubt for signatures that were gathered under the careful watch of international observers, all of which saw how attendants wrote down the data for each person, as instructed in the regulations, and then the person signed and stamped his/her fingerprint.

Despite this, the CNE stuck to its reasonable doubt argument and thus began a long path for the opposition to prove the veracity of those signatures in the so called “Reparo” process. In the middle, we saw every manipulation possible, when the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court ruled the signatures valid; the Constitutional Hall actually said that it could not rule on it making everyone wonder what it was good for if it could not rule on Electoral matters. The President of the Electoral Hall was not only retired because of his decision, but the immoral members of the so called “Moral Powers” asked that he be tried for objecting to the reasonable doubt charges and ruling all of the signatures valid. The opposition was forced to go through the long process and more than 700,000 people did show up to say they had signed, in some sense proving the absurdity of the charges of reasonable doubt.

The opposition and even CNE Director Sobella Mejias are now attempting to make the same charges with respect to the Electoral Registry, except that they have a much stronger case. To begin with, there is the matter of the Electoral Law that simply sates that the Electoral registry can only be changed up to ninety days before an election. This alone would imply that an election could take place until early December.

But then there is the very reasonable doubt about the registry itself. Opposition Mayors have identified thousands of registered voters with no address or unknown within their municipality, taking the case from reasonable doubt to absolute certainty. The best known and “controlled” case is the municipality of Chacao in the East of Caracas, where over 22 thousand votes have no known address and are simply not in any records of a municipality that provides free medical care to its inhabitants as long as you are registered with it. Thus, this 22 thousand “phantoms” who the CNE must be poor do not even register to obtain medical care.

I had heard on TV interviews with the Mayor of Mara in Zulia State, but had not seen his case printed anywhere, but the numbers are simply staggering. In 2000, Mara had 57,031 registered voters. It now has 78,698 an increase of 21,556 (37.99%). Of these 16,114 do not have an address and 3,825 were recently given the Venezuelan nationality. The Mayor has found that many of those registered in his district actually live in the other side of the border in Colombia. Since the CNE has done nothing about these irregularities, what he is doing is to simply go and campaign in Colombia!

What is remarkable is that this is not longer the case of possible violations of the law, but these are definitely and certain violations of the law, which states that you have to provide your address in order to vote. Actually, the reason for requiring an address is simple: It is done in part to protect the candidates also, so that voters do not try to vote in other municipalities where they don’t live for political reasons!

For CNE Director Mejias, there is certainly reasonable doubt and lack of transparency in the Electoral Registry, more so, when she is a member of the Committee (She presides it!) that is supposed to oversee the Registry and she says there has been no meeting in the last month and the Registry is just as it was before challenges to it were brought forward. Not even the involuntary migrations have been processed.

Thus, any hope of any action on this certainty of irregularities is now in the hands of the Constitutional Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Sumate and Primero Justicia are basing their hopes on such a possibility. But it is hard to believe that a Court that acted in such partisan fashion in the Reparos could actually stop this election in order to defend the law. This is simply part of the process and who cares about what the law says. Even worse, despite verbal agreements between the opposition and CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez on audits and the transmission of data after counting the votes on October 31^st., the electoral material distributed nationwide this week says exactly the opposite of what was agreed.

Clearly, the certainty of fraud is in the air, everything is all set for next Sunday; I have no hope that the Court will say much. I have no hope that all of the fraudulent tactics of the recall vote will not be repeated next Sunday. Agreements will be broken, laws will be violated, and results will be fixed. Long live the revolution!

For all of these reasons, the blogger has decided to go away on October 31^st. I will report a little bit, but it certainly will not be the hands on reporting of August 15^th. I just can’t go through this farce again.

It was only eight months ago that he CNE Directors invented the concept of “reasonable doubt” in reference to the same calligraphy signatures in the petition to request a recall referendum against Hugo Chavez’ Mandate. Reasonable doubt for some 1.4 million signatures gathered in plain daylight in a process organized and coordinated by the CNE itself. Reasonable doubt for signatures that were gathered under the careful watch of international observers, all of which saw how attendants wrote down the data for each person, as instructed in the regulations, and then the person signed and stamped his/her fingerprint.

Despite this, the CNE stuck to its reasonable doubt argument and thus began a long path for the opposition to prove the veracity of those signatures in the so called “Reparo” process. In the middle, we saw every manipulation possible, when the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court ruled the signatures valid; the Constitutional Hall actually said that it could not rule on it making everyone wonder what it was good for if it could not rule on Electoral matters. The President of the Electoral Hall was not only retired because of his decision, but the immoral members of the so called “Moral Powers” asked that he be tried for objecting to the reasonable doubt charges and ruling all of the signatures valid. The opposition was forced to go through the long process and more than 700,000 people did show up to say they had signed, in some sense proving the absurdity of the charges of reasonable doubt.

The opposition and even CNE Director Sobella Mejias are now attempting to make the same charges with respect to the Electoral Registry, except that they have a much stronger case. To begin with, there is the matter of the Electoral Law that simply sates that the Electoral registry can only be changed up to ninety days before an election. This alone would imply that an election could take place until early December.

But then there is the very reasonable doubt about the registry itself. Opposition Mayors have identified thousands of registered voters with no address or unknown within their municipality, taking the case from reasonable doubt to absolute certainty. The best known and “controlled” case is the municipality of Chacao in the East of Caracas, where over 22 thousand votes have no known address and are simply not in any records of a municipality that provides free medical care to its inhabitants as long as you are registered with it. Thus, this 22 thousand “phantoms” who the CNE must be poor do not even register to obtain medical care.

I had heard on TV interviews with the Mayor of Mara in Zulia State, but had not seen his case printed anywhere, but the numbers are simply staggering. In 2000, Mara had 57,031 registered voters. It now has 78,698 an increase of 21,556 (37.99%). Of these 16,114 do not have an address and 3,825 were recently given the Venezuelan nationality. The Mayor has found that many of those registered in his district actually live in the other side of the border in Colombia. Since the CNE has done nothing about these irregularities, what he is doing is to simply go and campaign in Colombia!

What is remarkable is that this is not longer the case of possible violations of the law, but these are definitely and certain violations of the law, which states that you have to provide your address in order to vote. Actually, the reason for requiring an address is simple: It is done in part to protect the candidates also, so that voters do not try to vote in other municipalities where they don’t live for political reasons!

For CNE Director Mejias, there is certainly reasonable doubt and lack of transparency in the Electoral Registry, more so, when she is a member of the Committee (She presides it!) that is supposed to oversee the Registry and she says there has been no meeting in the last month and the Registry is just as it was before challenges to it were brought forward. Not even the involuntary migrations have been processed.

Thus, any hope of any action on this certainty of irregularities is now in the hands of the Constitutional Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Sumate and Primero Justicia are basing their hopes on such a possibility. But it is hard to believe that a Court that acted in such partisan fashion in the Reparos could actually stop this election in order to defend the law. This is simply part of the process and who cares about what the law says. Even worse, despite verbal agreements between the opposition and CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez on audits and the transmission of data after counting the votes on October 31^st., the electoral material distributed nationwide this week says exactly the opposite of what was agreed.

Clearly, the certainty of fraud is in the air, everything is all set for next Sunday; I have no hope that the Court will say much. I have no hope that all of the fraudulent tactics of the recall vote will not be repeated next Sunday. Agreements will be broken, laws will be violated, and results will be fixed. Long live the revolution!

For all of these reasons, the blogger has decided to go away on October 31^st. I will report a little bit, but it certainly will not be the hands on reporting of August 15^th. I just can’t go through this farce again.

CNE President Carrasquero

This is not about politics. This is a story about a judicial system and a society so rotten and so putrid that something like the Linda Loaiza case can occur. It is impunity within impunity. A decision so absurd and corrupt that even those that preside over a system that promotes impunity are flabbergasted by it. It is victory of money over fairness, money over human decency, money over a monstrosity, in short, money over the most basic moral and ethical principles of a human being.

The story is simple and complicated. Three years ago, Linda Loaiza was found in Luis Carrera’s apartment. They fond her chained to a chair. She had been there for many months. She was found mutilated. She had been abused and raped. She had been hit so often that her ears were deformed, her eyesight ruined. Since she was liberated, she has undergone many medical treatments, both internal and external.

Her captor Luis Carrera was immediately jailed, but the case dragged on and on for the last three years. Fifty nine judges inhibited themselves from the case; thirty times her audience was suspended. Mr. Carrera’s father was implicated in the case, but never charged. It got to be so ridiculous and contrived that Ms. Loaiza started a hunger strike in front of the Venezuelan Supreme Court asking for justice. She finally thought she was going to get it when the head of the Supreme Court promise the case would finally be decided upon.

And it was. Like most recent mysterious judicial decisions in Venezuela it was announced by the judge past midnight. But the decision was a true shocker. The judge said there was no “proof” as if Ms. Loaiza’s battered body was not sufficient evidence that a crime had been committed. It also made everyone wonder if there was no evidence, how come 59 judges had avoided the case like the plague if it was so simple? 

What makes it even worse was that the judge (a woman!), accepted Mr. Carrera’s words as more important than all of the other evidence in the case. Mr. Carrera argued that the injuries were caused by someone else, but this phantom criminal has yet to be identified and no suspect exists or has been mentioned by anyone.

There are other edges to the case. The defense argued for a lower sentence on Carrera using a shameful portion of the penal code that reduces sentences in cases involving prostitution, an inheritance from those eras of full machismo and discrimination against women, some of which unfortunately linger on in Venezuelan society. 

While all sectors of society are scandalized at the grotesque sentence, from the opposition, to the Prosecutors, even the People’s Ombudsman has been heard from, the wiser question is why? Why did this judge let Mr. Carrera go? Why did she use such simplistic arguments in her sentence? Why did she place so much weight on Carrera’s statements and so little on the evidence? Did Carrera’s father get to her with money? Wasn’t she worried about the impact of her decision?

The truth is that judge Cadiz’s decision smells so dirty that it makes you wonder how much she had to be paid, for her to dare go through with it anyway. She knew she would and will get the full weight of the revolution on her case. She will be fired and lose her jib, so she must have received sufficiently to obviate the punishments ahead in such a public and widely known case.

And that is the wide implication for Venezuelan society of the Linda Loaiza case. A judicial system so corrupt and promiscuous that there is not even fear of the authorities that have used it to their advantage day after day. Impunity at such high levels that no amount of political pressure or the simple fairness of the case can push the judge into doing what is right. It is evidence of the ethical and moral decay of a corrupted judicial system where decisions are beyond the moral or political, in the end it is money that rules. There is a price for every decision, as long as it is commensurate with the danger the judge may be in.

For the revolution it creates a big problem. It has manipulated and controlled decisions in such a rampant way that the whole system is out of control. Money flows around decisions if politics is absent. Politics rules decisions and allows impunity. In fact, political decisions give judges protection from the revolution. But the whole thing has gotten carried away that it is running under control and telling us something very ugly about the system that is supposed to protect the citizens and guarantee their rights. In the case of Linda Loaiza, she has been abused twice, once by her captor and tormentor and now by this parody of justice, called the Venezuelan judicial system.

It also has much wider impications to society as a whole. The lack of morals and ethics extends to much more than the judicial system by a society used to impunity to such an extent that there is little fear of getting caught and even less of being punished.

This is not about politics. This is a story about a judicial system and a society so rotten and so putrid that something like the Linda Loaiza case can occur. It is impunity within impunity. A decision so absurd and corrupt that even those that preside over a system that promotes impunity are flabbergasted by it. It is victory of money over fairness, money over human decency, money over a monstrosity, in short, money over the most basic moral and ethical principles of a human being.

The story is simple and complicated. Three years ago, Linda Loaiza was found in Luis Carrera’s apartment. They fond her chained to a chair. She had been there for many months. She was found mutilated. She had been abused and raped. She had been hit so often that her ears were deformed, her eyesight ruined. Since she was liberated, she has undergone many medical treatments, both internal and external.

Her captor Luis Carrera was immediately jailed, but the case dragged on and on for the last three years. Fifty nine judges inhibited themselves from the case; thirty times her audience was suspended. Mr. Carrera’s father was implicated in the case, but never charged. It got to be so ridiculous and contrived that Ms. Loaiza started a hunger strike in front of the Venezuelan Supreme Court asking for justice. She finally thought she was going to get it when the head of the Supreme Court promise the case would finally be decided upon.

And it was. Like most recent mysterious judicial decisions in Venezuela it was announced by the judge past midnight. But the decision was a true shocker. The judge said there was no “proof” as if Ms. Loaiza’s battered body was not sufficient evidence that a crime had been committed. It also made everyone wonder if there was no evidence, how come 59 judges had avoided the case like the plague if it was so simple? 

What makes it even worse was that the judge (a woman!), accepted Mr. Carrera’s words as more important than all of the other evidence in the case. Mr. Carrera argued that the injuries were caused by someone else, but this phantom criminal has yet to be identified and no suspect exists or has been mentioned by anyone.

There are other edges to the case. The defense argued for a lower sentence on Carrera using a shameful portion of the penal code that reduces sentences in cases involving prostitution, an inheritance from those eras of full machismo and discrimination against women, some of which unfortunately linger on in Venezuelan society. 

While all sectors of society are scandalized at the grotesque sentence, from the opposition, to the Prosecutors, even the People’s Ombudsman has been heard from, the wiser question is why? Why did this judge let Mr. Carrera go? Why did she use such simplistic arguments in her sentence? Why did she place so much weight on Carrera’s statements and so little on the evidence? Did Carrera’s father get to her with money? Wasn’t she worried about the impact of her decision?

The truth is that judge Cadiz’s decision smells so dirty that it makes you wonder how much she had to be paid, for her to dare go through with it anyway. She knew she would and will get the full weight of the revolution on her case. She will be fired and lose her jib, so she must have received sufficiently to obviate the punishments ahead in such a public and widely known case.

And that is the wide implication for Venezuelan society of the Linda Loaiza case. A judicial system so corrupt and promiscuous that there is not even fear of the authorities that have used it to their advantage day after day. Impunity at such high levels that no amount of political pressure or the simple fairness of the case can push the judge into doing what is right. It is evidence of the ethical and moral decay of a corrupted judicial system where decisions are beyond the moral or political, in the end it is money that rules. There is a price for every decision, as long as it is commensurate with the danger the judge may be in.

For the revolution it creates a big problem. It has manipulated and controlled decisions in such a rampant way that the whole system is out of control. Money flows around decisions if politics is absent. Politics rules decisions and allows impunity. In fact, political decisions give judges protection from the revolution. But the whole thing has gotten carried away that it is running under control and telling us something very ugly about the system that is supposed to protect the citizens and guarantee their rights. In the case of Linda Loaiza, she has been abused twice, once by her captor and tormentor and now by this parody of justice, called the Venezuelan judicial system.

It also has much wider impications to society as a whole. The lack of morals and ethics extends to much more than the judicial system by a society used to impunity to such an extent that there is little fear of getting caught and even less of being punished.

“Icons of the Revolution” as the Chavista blames the IVth. Republic for the recent destruction.  The next day, Rayma expressed a very similar idea with her “Postcards from Caracas”

When CNE President Carrasquero spoke yesterday on TV, I could only wonder how mediocre people like him get to such positions and whether they truly believe they are fooling anyone. For Carrasquero to accuse CNE Director Mejias of being “partial” has to be one of the most laughable and ridiculous accusations you could ever hear. Yes, Mejias has never hidden her sympathies for the opposition, but you could never accuse her of voting with a bias position in favor of the opposition. But you can accuse Carrasquero of doing it.

In fact Carrasquero, who was supposed to be the impartial vote in the CNE, always voted with a 3-2 majority in split decision and not once, did he vote with the two pro-opposition Directors in any decision. Moreover, Carrasquero not only voted in every single instance to create huge obstacles for the petition to have a recall against Hugo Chavez’ mandate, but as President of the CNE barred the two opposition Directors from going into the totalization room the fateful night of the recall vote.

In fact, Carrasquero has been part of some of the sorriest moments I have ever seen, such as arguing that resigning CNE Director was doing it for reasons “different” than the ones he argued publicly, while calling himself his friend, which Zamora immediately denied, reiterating his original reasons. The same happened yesterday when asked the Venezuelan Supreme Court to investigate Director Mejias. But all Mejias did was to point out in detail all of the violations of the law by the other pro-Chávez Jorge Rodríguez, regulations in law in hand to prove her point.

The amazing thing is that it is Carrasquero who is the lawyer, the former law Professor, Dean of the Law school who used to preach about upholding the law, but who now finds his former students burning his law books in protest over his behavior.

It was law Professor Carrasquero who allowed party-hack Jorge Rodriguez to become the true and visible head of the CNE. Who allowed Rodriguez to sign voting machines and fingerprint contracts violating Venezuelan laws. Who as President of the CNE never replied to the CD’s request to hold an audit on August 18^th. in which 50 boxes would be chosen by the CD, despite a law in Venezuelan known as “La LOPA” who punishes the lack pf response for such requests and imposes very precise limits on how long a Government official has to respond. It was Carrasquero who allowed the Electoral registry to be open days before the recall vote, violating Venezuela’s law that says no election can be held until 90 days after the Registry has been closed. And he is doing it again. The man who swore to uphold the law is now attempting to hold an election only six weeks after the registry was still open.

Never has Carrasquero looked worse than yesterday trying to minimize an accusation by the opposition that he clearly never even understood. When Chacao Mayor explained today that the work the opposition had done involved going to check where these 1.8 million new voters were and finding I his own municipality over 22 thousand people who nobody knows where they live, even if they have an address, or the 145 people in a Falcon municipality who all live in the same address where nobody knows them. In closing, Lopez asked Carrasquero where was the reasonable doubt used in the petition drive and note that they had made their presentation of how thousands of Colombians had been nationalized without proof that they even have ever lived in Venezuela. Lopez reminded Carrasquero: “ it is not only us that make this accusation, but we ratify the one made by Colombian Foreign Minister Barco”. So much for the sovereignty and nationalist pride of the revolution!

It makes you wonder how men like Carrasquero can live with themselves. The same man who Chavez removed as Head of Rafael Urdaneta University in his Sunday radio program as Carrasquero listened and found out about it. How do such mediocre men, leave their dignity aside to serve someone else who may tomorrow laugh at them, dispense with them and remove them without a word.

These are the small-brained, mediocre men who think that holding a politically appointed position is a goal in itself. The ones that think that the regime will live forever. That they will be remembered, except if they ever are, it will be for their weaknesses and vindictive behavior. A clone for the Peoples’ Ombudsman. A twin for the Attorney General. Another dispensable soldier of the revolution, useful as long as he is willing to leave his dignity aside to lie and violate the rights of others, in the name of the revolution.