The Devil's Excrement

I will become like the new Venezuelan media for one day and will only report a bunch of good news that I have heard recently, to insure the Government does not pressure me or apply the new media bill (The “muzzle” bill) to my blogging concession:

–The best news of the day is that Chavez will no longer hold his Sunday radio program due to a new strategy and new image to deepen the revolution. It will be missed; we will no longer be able to listen to the illustrious leader rant for five or six hours every Sunday. We do hope he will make up for it somehow.

–And then there is the announcement by Vice-President Rangel that in 40 days the Government will unveil a plan to fight poverty. This is really good news that almost 2,190 days to the day after assuming power for the first time, Chavez will unveil a plan to fight poverty. Let us hope it is not like any of the six employment plans that have been announced in the last five years.

–Then, there is the resignation of one of the most ineffective Ministers of Chavez’ Cabinet, Roger Capella. Capella was the Minister of Health and was forced to resign after the nurses of Chavez’ favorite program Barrio Adentro went on strike because they have not been paid since July. Capella, who has been the subject of extensive discussions in this blog because of his non-qualification to be Minister of Health, was unfairly treated. After all, all he was doing is treating these new programs the same way that the whole health care system is treated, salaries are not paid, there is no money for drugs and supplies and equipment is never fixed. The news is good if Chavez can find someone better for the job, which should not be too hard. By the way, the nurses are still on strike. 

I will become like the new Venezuelan media for one day and will only report a bunch of good news that I have heard recently, to insure the Government does not pressure me or apply the new media bill (The “muzzle” bill) to my blogging concession:

–The best news of the day is that Chavez will no longer hold his Sunday radio program due to a new strategy and new image to deepen the revolution. It will be missed; we will no longer be able to listen to the illustrious leader rant for five or six hours every Sunday. We do hope he will make up for it somehow.

–And then there is the announcement by Vice-President Rangel that in 40 days the Government will unveil a plan to fight poverty. This is really good news that almost 2,190 days to the day after assuming power for the first time, Chavez will unveil a plan to fight poverty. Let us hope it is not like any of the six employment plans that have been announced in the last five years.

–Then, there is the resignation of one of the most ineffective Ministers of Chavez’ Cabinet, Roger Capella. Capella was the Minister of Health and was forced to resign after the nurses of Chavez’ favorite program Barrio Adentro went on strike because they have not been paid since July. Capella, who has been the subject of extensive discussions in this blog because of his non-qualification to be Minister of Health, was unfairly treated. After all, all he was doing is treating these new programs the same way that the whole health care system is treated, salaries are not paid, there is no money for drugs and supplies and equipment is never fixed. The news is good if Chavez can find someone better for the job, which should not be too hard. By the way, the nurses are still on strike. 

For the second time in one week the President of the Supreme Court has said that there are no untouchables in Venezuela. He first said it in reference to the persecution of the Sumate leaders and reiterated it again on Thursday in reference to reporter Napoleon Bravo who on live radio compared the Supreme Court to a brothel. I wrote a few days ago that it was rather curious that all of the cases that are being handled with efficiency are against opposition members, but the same does not happen with cases against Government members such as those accused of corruption, clear violation of rights of other or of the law. I was going to write again about this, but this Editorial by Tal Cual Editor Teodoro Petkoff expresses some of my feelings very clearly:

Iván Rincón, President of the Supreme Court has declared that in Venezuela there are no “untouchables” referring to the possibility that any person, no matter his or her rank, can be brought to justice if it commits a crime. Healthy and good. In application of this doctrine, then, the Supreme Court has accused of defamation reporter Napoleón Bravo, because, a little over two months ago, he had supposedly compared the highest court to a brothel. Now the whole country awaits the next step by the integral Justice Rincón, true incarnation of public justice and civil courage, which should be to accuse of defamation citizen Hugo Chávez Frías who affirmed in certain occasion that the Justices that absolved the military officers of April 11^th. “Had no morals” and that they “had screwed up” using the word shit to express it. Moreover, as if this was not enough, he accused them of being professional negotiators that are “always getting drunk in the bars of Caracas”. On top of that, he ordered his followers to launch an assault on the Supreme Court. Next to this Napoleon could pass for Hans Christian Andersen. But I am sure that Ivan Rincon, Cabrerita (another Justice of the Constitutional Hall) and the other leaders of Justice that work at the Supreme Court will have no qualm to charge the President.

Here, it was said by the wise maracucho jurists, nobody is untouchable. We can only hope that it does not take place on April Fool’s day.

A group of well known international politicians and academics has sent a letter to President Chávez expressing their concern over the persecution of civic groups calling it a danger to democracy.  The letter expresses its concern that these groups are being persecuted for attempting to exercise their rights and specifically mentions Sumate as part of it:

“We are aware of the situation affecting the representatives of Sumate, a civil organization that promotes and defends the political rights of Venezuelan citizens, who are being subject to a judicial process for receiving international financing for executing a program of citizen education to let them know the mechanisms of political and citizen participation”.

“To try and punish non-Government organizations for receiving financing directed towards strengthening democracy is a violation of the Interamerican democratic Charter and of the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies. We should remind you that the Venezuelan Government signed for years ago the Warsaw Declaration together with more than one hundred countries”

“As democrats of the world, we plead to you to intervene to reconsider both the judicial process against the leaders of Sumate as well as the legislative project to reform the penal code that aims to make it a crime to receive international democratic aid.”

The letter, which was also sent to the President of the Supreme Court, was signed, among others by Vaclav Havel, Madeleine Albright, Bernard Aronson, Theodore Sorensen and Sen. John McCain. While the effort is certainly appreciated, like other international efforts it will likely have little effect on what is happening with these cases.

A group of well known international politicians and academics has sent a letter to President Chávez expressing their concern over the persecution of civic groups calling it a danger to democracy.  The letter expresses its concern that these groups are being persecuted for attempting to exercise their rights and specifically mentions Sumate as part of it:

“We are aware of the situation affecting the representatives of Sumate, a civil organization that promotes and defends the political rights of Venezuelan citizens, who are being subject to a judicial process for receiving international financing for executing a program of citizen education to let them know the mechanisms of political and citizen participation”.

“To try and punish non-Government organizations for receiving financing directed towards strengthening democracy is a violation of the Interamerican democratic Charter and of the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies. We should remind you that the Venezuelan Government signed for years ago the Warsaw Declaration together with more than one hundred countries”

“As democrats of the world, we plead to you to intervene to reconsider both the judicial process against the leaders of Sumate as well as the legislative project to reform the penal code that aims to make it a crime to receive international democratic aid.”

The letter, which was also sent to the President of the Supreme Court, was signed, among others by Vaclav Havel, Madeleine Albright, Bernard Aronson, Theodore Sorensen and Sen. John McCain. While the effort is certainly appreciated, like other international efforts it will likely have little effect on what is happening with these cases.

Two Deputies of the National Assembly have once again submitted an Amnesty Bill that was already submitted in 2002 to provide Amnesty to all political cases, including Sumate, those that signed the Carmona degree and any other case of political nature.  Those making the proposal say this will prove whether the government has or not intentions to carry out a meaningful dialogue with the opposition. They point out that all of those involved with the two 1992 coup attempts received a similar amnesty that helped the mood of the country.

While I was initially skeptical that this bill had a chance of being passed, since it simply does not fit the confrontational style of Hugo Chavez, Descifrado in its section by subscription suggests that the Vice-President is behind the idea as a way of achieving some level of harmony for the time being.

I am still skeptical since now that the Chavez administration controls everything, it needs some issue to maintain the constant level of confrontation it has sustained for the last five years. Of course, it would be a great attemp at a “new” beginning for the country if amnesty was decreed and it could last and would have to include a resolution of 18,000 PDVSA workers the firings of which have not been finalized and have not been given their day in Labor Courts in almost two years. One can only wish…

–Proving that Government’s are the same everywhere, the Chavez administration published yesterday the official increase in the price meat, rice, cheese, sugar, black beans, coffee and corn flour. This had been rumored since the regional elections were over, but was emphatically denied by the Minister of Industry and Commerce five days ago. Nothing new here, this is typical behavior of any Government in the last forty years, save the tough measures for when elections are over.

The increases are somewhat strange in that rice was increases 13.6% on average, corn flower 13.7%, first class meats 5.1%, second class meats 26% and third class meats 64.8%. White cheese went up 19%, black beans 31.9% and sugar by 4.8%

The Government regulated basic food staples in early 2003 and periodically adjusts some of them. Unfortunately, price controls have this problem in that politics becomes involved in the decisions and when increases are allowed they have to be large in order to compensate distortions and shortages. This should push November’s inflation and the year end CPI to levels above what was expected and unfortunately it hurts the poor the most.

Corn flour is used in a variety of local dishes that are part of the basic diet of Venezuelans, including arepas, empanadas and hallacas, for those that have not been in Venezuela.

–Lots of fuzz over nothing on the issue of removing three zeroes from Venezuela’s currency. The Superintendent of Banks announced the measure which somehow created paranoia that it somehow involved some form of trick on the part of the Government. It did not make the Government look very good that the Central Bank denied this was even being considered while other Government agencies were talking about the new bills being ready for the measure.

–The CANTV purchase of Digitel continued to be in the news as investors were disappointed by the lower dividend since the company has to spend some of its cash on purchasing Digitel, punishing the stock (buy!). The price to be paid is US$ 450 million, including debt, for 1.2 million subscribers, which means CANTV will have to use only around US$ 250 of its cash in the purchase. This shows the company wants to grow and is looking forward into the future.

The company has yet to say much about whether one of the two technologies CDMA (Movilnet) or GSM (Digitel) will be discarded. If you think of this as a growth strategy it makes a lot of sense as CANTV acquires 1.2 million new wireless subscribers who spend and average of US$ 14 per subscriber a month for US$ 375 per line. However, technical issues remain unclear.

Regulatory issues are also a big problem as not only is one of the three wireless concessions removed, but the Digitel concession was issued to make attractive for telecom investors to provide rural telecom service sin those areas where CANTV had no coverage (Mostly towns under 5,000 inhabitants). Thus, it would seem strange to have CANTV buy the rural provider now. There are two Government agencies that have to approve the purchase, the telecom regulator, CONATEL and the anti-monopoly office Procompetencia.

There continue to be rumors that this only one part of other transactions, including sales to foreign groups as well as rumors that it is tied to a transaction with the recently created Government Telecom company CVG telecom.

The Silvino Bustillos mystery deepened even more today after it was reported yesterday by his lawyer that he was alive and in Valencia. In fact, Bustillos reportedly talked to his wife and told her that he was in hiding after been followed on the day of the regional elections. He supposedly told her that he would reappear and explain why he had to go into hiding.

However, Bustillos has yet to make an appearance today and explain exactly what happened, while the Minister of the Interior and Justice suggests that he simply went partying for two weeks. We will only know when Bustillos shows up which no one knows when it will happen. His wife says he has made no further contact since yesyerday.

The case is certainly very strange and if Bustillo’s family did not really know where he was, eh is certainly extremely irresponsible. Two things make the case quiet mysterious: First of all, Bustillos’ lawyer and wife originally indicated the names and rank of those that were following Bustillos on the day of the regional elections and the Minister of defense acknowledged that they were assigned to follow Bustillos for his suspicious behavior. Second, the reporter and newspaper that broke the case and claim to have sources are not precisely considered to be anywhere near the ideology of Bustillo’s Bloque Democractico, a right wing group that the opposition has always been far from and from which it broke completely  from two years ago.

The reporter from weekly La Razon, Manuel Isidro Molina, took responsibility for the case, saying that he had acted in good faith and responsibility in the case, defending the source which he claimed was from within the military.

For now, everyone awaits the reappearance of Lt. Bustillos to see what his explanation for this charade is and whether he took the media and public opinion as fools or there was something real to this strange story.

One comes back to reality and arrives with a positive attitude of trying to ignore the news, but then…

–First I hear about the case of Silvino Bustillos, a former Justice of the Martial Court and retired from the military. Bustillos was part of a group called Bloque Democratico” which ahs had a fairly radical opposition to Chávez with military and right wing tones that I simply do not like. But the case is growing. Reportedly Bustillos was kidnapped by the military intelligence on the day of the regional elections. Even Stratfor talks about the case. And the Minister of Defense rather than dismissing the charges says that they have to be investigated. I can still be a little skeptical until I learn that a person I know, who is also a member of Bloque Democratico, was kidnapped that same day, beaten and threatened. She was held for four and a half hours and is in bad shape. Apparently there were more than these two cases.

–Then I learn that ex-Mayor Alfredo Pena, is being accused right and left. First for his involvement in the April 11 events and now for corruption. So much that the slow Venezuelan Justice has already banned him from leaving the country and two more members of his staff are also being accused. I then hear the President of the Supreme Court say that nobody is immune to prosecution, least of all Sumate and a Justice is recused by the prosecutor in the same case. Well, clearly all pro-Chavez people are immune, dozens of opposition people are being prosecuted and accused and the Chavistas appear to be ethical angels who never do wrong. Funny those that have handled billions of dollars have done it in immaculate fashion, but a $30,000 donation is a state priority. Former Governor Mendoza is also the target of investigations.

–A lot of attention is devoted to removing three zeroes from the currency, as if it had some sort of magical implication. If it did, why not remove four zeroes? At least the virtual effects will last longer.

–The stories of the regional vote are interesting, but I will not bore the readers with them. In the end, the counting of the ballots was once again a charade. In Carabobo state 67% of the ballots boxes that were counted had significant discrepancies with the electronic tally. But it did not matter; electronic beats audit and let’s move on.

–Meanwhile Chavez was in Brazil Dominican Republic and spent nine hours talking to alter ego and supreme hero Fidel Castro. He seems to visit Fidel more than his father. I wonder if both talk at the same time in these meetings. Here is a picture of Chavez in Copacabana. I wonder who does his wardrobe these days.

–Fortunately there is always humor as in this picture of a  t-shirt with the “Indepndent Republic of Zulia”. For years the map of Venezuela has been drawn with the British Guyana dashed and the label:”Zone under claim”. Well, the new t-shirts have the map with Zulia state, where the opposition Governor won, as Venezuela and the rest of the country as the “Zone under claim”. At least it relaxes you a bit. But it does not last long.

Before the Chavez Government states its position on the CANTV purchase of Digitel, let me state mine, to make sure some of the fanatics don’t accuse me of always taking an anti-Chavez position.Very simply, I would not allow the transaction as proposed. In a country with 9 million cell phones, more than one in every three Venezuelans has a cell phone, it can not be good for the consumer to eliminate one competitor. This is what Government’s are for, to regulate the economy, not to participate in it. They should stop it. The only solution I see is for CANTV to sell Movilnet. If CANTV sells its residential telephony to the Government as a way to allow the transaction, I would also disagree with it. Competition is good, as simple as that.