The Devil's Excrement

Today, Tal Cual Editor Teodoro Petkoff was called to testify as a witness in the case the Government is carrying against those that participated in the events of April 2002, According to Petkoff, who was visibly upset, the questions asked of him violate his Constitutional right to protect his sources as a reporter. Petkoff said he was asked about the meeting he had with Pedro Carmona in Fuerte Tiuna on April 11^th., Petkoff says this :” violates the Constitutional text…the Prosecutor can not pretend that any reporter reveal his/her source, least of all force him to do it..”

Petkoff added that the statements made by the Attorney General/Prosecutor on the issue against reporter Patricia Poleo, are incorrect: “When he says that a crime has been committed when you have those documents and you reveal them, it is not true, article 78 in this case of the anticorruption law, the only thing it says is that anyone that alters, breaks, retains a public document is committing a crime, but this is not the case because here we have a person that received photocopies…even reporter Ernesto Villegas (a Government reporter) showed the Attorney General one of those documents sitting on front of him”

Rodriguez keeps insisting in this point, arguing that it violates other Constitutional precepts, but he seems to have failed to understand that the Constitution in Article 28 is talking about Government property, that is documents that belong to the Government and are extracted, which is not the case.

Poleo herself today held a press conference in which she accused the Attorney General of intervening “to prevent the truth from being told”, saying that Rodriguez has “asked the Detectives that they erase testimony, throw away some of the interrogations and interviews they have made so that the scandal that finally erupted could be covered up”

Poleo also questioned how fast the prosecutor in her case has acted, but has failed to act in the case of the murder of Maritza Ron by Chavez; supporters in Plaza Altamira on August 16^th. The people, who were detained in that case thanks to very public pictures of them shooting Mrs. Ron, have yet to be even charged for the murder. Poleo also talked about the interview Rodriguez had with Ernesto Villegas in which the Attorney General himself said that it was the person that was turning over the documents the only that was committing the crime. Poleo reiterated she will not reveal her sources.

Today, Tal Cual Editor Teodoro Petkoff was called to testify as a witness in the case the Government is carrying against those that participated in the events of April 2002, According to Petkoff, who was visibly upset, the questions asked of him violate his Constitutional right to protect his sources as a reporter. Petkoff said he was asked about the meeting he had with Pedro Carmona in Fuerte Tiuna on April 11^th., Petkoff says this :” violates the Constitutional text…the Prosecutor can not pretend that any reporter reveal his/her source, least of all force him to do it..”

Petkoff added that the statements made by the Attorney General/Prosecutor on the issue against reporter Patricia Poleo, are incorrect: “When he says that a crime has been committed when you have those documents and you reveal them, it is not true, article 78 in this case of the anticorruption law, the only thing it says is that anyone that alters, breaks, retains a public document is committing a crime, but this is not the case because here we have a person that received photocopies…even reporter Ernesto Villegas (a Government reporter) showed the Attorney General one of those documents sitting on front of him”

Rodriguez keeps insisting in this point, arguing that it violates other Constitutional precepts, but he seems to have failed to understand that the Constitution in Article 28 is talking about Government property, that is documents that belong to the Government and are extracted, which is not the case.

Poleo herself today held a press conference in which she accused the Attorney General of intervening “to prevent the truth from being told”, saying that Rodriguez has “asked the Detectives that they erase testimony, throw away some of the interrogations and interviews they have made so that the scandal that finally erupted could be covered up”

Poleo also questioned how fast the prosecutor in her case has acted, but has failed to act in the case of the murder of Maritza Ron by Chavez; supporters in Plaza Altamira on August 16^th. The people, who were detained in that case thanks to very public pictures of them shooting Mrs. Ron, have yet to be even charged for the murder. Poleo also talked about the interview Rodriguez had with Ernesto Villegas in which the Attorney General himself said that it was the person that was turning over the documents the only that was committing the crime. Poleo reiterated she will not reveal her sources.

The housing problem is the type of problem that I thought this blog would be about when I started it, so I thought I would expand on what has been said in the comments after my post about the real problem of Venezuela was that it is 90% urban, and see if we can get a positive discussion going.

The number of families involved in agriculture is estimated to be around 500,000 families, contrast that with close to 4 million urban families. There is a shortage of around 1.7 million housing units for both segments. Now, let’s define this, when I say 1.7 million housing units is the number of people that do not have their own home, even if their current home is simply a shack (rancho), it does not mean a “good” home.

Independent of the fact that this Government is the one that has built the lowest number of housing units in any five year period of the last 46 years, the truth is that no Government in that period has made a systematic attack on the problem. By systematic I mean that there is not one single solution for the problem. The problem has to be attacked by strata. I don’t know too much about the study group that had an integrated housing project for the country, but I have heard some of the ideas. Without quoting anyone in particular, I understand it went something like this:

1)      Spend Government resources at the lower level of the population by having a public housing problem to build housing for those at the  poverty level. This would be a direct subsidy to those that don’t even have enough to eat or barely get by.

2)      At the next level, use the structure of municipalities to subsidize the improvement of housing in barrios. Give people living in the barrios title to their property and help them in improving their home and the infrastructure surrounding them.

3)      At the next level up, subsidize the down payment, but people would have to pay monthly payments according to their purchasing power.

4)      Finally, at the highest level, the middle class, create for them financial instruments that will make it feasible for people to finance their home, by drawing savings reviving the old mortgage bonds.

Unfortunately, the only level that has been attacked by this government has been 4) using the new debtor bill, which I do not think is reasonable, because it is simply a subsidy to the middle class, which is not precisely where subsidies should be focused. There has been a little activity on 2), but that is it, practically nothing on 1) and 3).

Minister Chacon: “It is totally false that Colombian guerillas live and roam around” Venezuela.

Does the name Rodrigo Granda ring a bell? What about these accusations by an active member of the Armed Forces involved in the Granda kidnapping?

Deputy Iris Varela: “A member of the guerrilla is not a criminal, nor a terrorist, it’s a fighter”

Combine with what Chacon said above and what they are trying to say is there are no Colombian fighters in Venezuela. Are they talking about boxing?

Minister Chacon: “There is nothing that links Danilo Anderson to an extortion ring.

Hundreds of thousands dollars in cash, fancy cars, fancy clothes and jet skis. Yeah, there is clearly nothing.

Hugo Chavez: “The incident with Colombia is over…Colombia has to rectify.”

Oh! Wasn’t that exactly how it all got started?

Attorney General Rodriguez: “We will be implacable with those that filter information.”

Yeap! They are easier to find than murderers, assassins and corrupt Government officials, they publish their stuff under their own name.

Minister Chacon: “It is totally false that Colombian guerillas live and roam around” Venezuela.

Does the name Rodrigo Granda ring a bell? What about these accusations by an active member of the Armed Forces involved in the Granda kidnapping?

Deputy Iris Varela: “A member of the guerrilla is not a criminal, nor a terrorist, it’s a fighter”

Combine with what Chacon said above and what they are trying to say is there are no Colombian fighters in Venezuela. Are they talking about boxing?

Minister Chacon: “There is nothing that links Danilo Anderson to an extortion ring.

Hundreds of thousands dollars in cash, fancy cars, fancy clothes and jet skis. Yeah, there is clearly nothing.

Hugo Chavez: “The incident with Colombia is over…Colombia has to rectify.”

Oh! Wasn’t that exactly how it all got started?

Attorney General Rodriguez: “We will be implacable with those that filter information.”

Yeap! They are easier to find than murderers, assassins and corrupt Government officials, they publish their stuff under their own name.

In today’s Editorial Teodoro Petkoff makes a point that I thought of writing about when I read the same interview on Sunday, but never got around to it because of lack of time:

In the last few days (Sunday) we read an interview with one of the five Vice-Ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Relations , Delsy Rodriguez, a new civil servant (sister of the CNE Director) and as such as noisy as an old car or a new Deputy. Deissy discovered that the cushy job that she was given is an “empty shell, a sort of notary public through which the Venezuelan Government give faith of handing over its sovereignty”. If the Ministry is what she describes her allusion to the Fourth republic is insolent.

In six years of the revolution there has been a Parade through that office Jose Vicente Rangel, Colonel Luis Alfonso Davila, Roy Chaderton and Jesus Perez. General Arevalo Mendez was the Vice-Minister of all of them. If Delsy is right, then it is the “pretty revolution” the one that has to pay for it. The same way the Identification office has to pay. Six years later, they can’t continue cutting us with that wooden knife of the “previous Government. There have been quiet a few Directors that have gone through that office that are “revolutionaries” and now there is one called Cabeza who should have the same end as his homonymous that was in Centro Simon Bolivar and where he left “like a Champagne cork” and not precisely to reward his execution in that office. The Mision Identidada” through which millions of Venezuelans and foreigners were giving identity cards (including Granda) is a parallel system to the Identification office, because that office was not able to execute that operation with the speed that was required. For its electoral and political objectives the Government turns efficient because the Cubans give a hand. But the administrative routine of the “revolutionaries” drowns in a glass of water, skid in the mud of their incapacity and they only show any expedience when they are going to get paid or “ho much do I get for that?” We would be happy if only the identification office would works as badly as it did in the fourth Republic.

In today’s Editorial Teodoro Petkoff makes a point that I thought of writing about when I read the same interview on Sunday, but never got around to it because of lack of time:

In the last few days (Sunday) we read an interview with one of the five Vice-Ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Relations , Delsy Rodriguez, a new civil servant (sister of the CNE Director) and as such as noisy as an old car or a new Deputy. Deissy discovered that the cushy job that she was given is an “empty shell, a sort of notary public through which the Venezuelan Government give faith of handing over its sovereignty”. If the Ministry is what she describes her allusion to the Fourth republic is insolent.

In six years of the revolution there has been a Parade through that office Jose Vicente Rangel, Colonel Luis Alfonso Davila, Roy Chaderton and Jesus Perez. General Arevalo Mendez was the Vice-Minister of all of them. If Delsy is right, then it is the “pretty revolution” the one that has to pay for it. The same way the Identification office has to pay. Six years later, they can’t continue cutting us with that wooden knife of the “previous Government. There have been quiet a few Directors that have gone through that office that are “revolutionaries” and now there is one called Cabeza who should have the same end as his homonymous that was in Centro Simon Bolivar and where he left “like a Champagne cork” and not precisely to reward his execution in that office. The Mision Identidada” through which millions of Venezuelans and foreigners were giving identity cards (including Granda) is a parallel system to the Identification office, because that office was not able to execute that operation with the speed that was required. For its electoral and political objectives the Government turns efficient because the Cubans give a hand. But the administrative routine of the “revolutionaries” drowns in a glass of water, skid in the mud of their incapacity and they only show any expedience when they are going to get paid or “ho much do I get for that?” We would be happy if only the identification office would works as badly as it did in the fourth Republic.

The ability of Venezuelan Government officials to keep a straight face when they know they are being absolutely cynical is simply remarkable and each day they stretch it beyond any point of decency. Case in point are the statements today by Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez in reference to the case of reporter Patricia Poleo.

Here is the man who is in charge of enforcing the law in Venezuela, of prosecuting those that violate the law, who has focused all of his energies in screwing the opposition, ignoring in the case of newspaper reporters more than 300 orders of protection by the Human Rights Commission of the OAS, keeping a straight face and saying that the actions that his office is executing against reporter Poleo in no way have anything to do with harassing “the responsible exercise of reporting for those that do it adjusted to legality”.

As you may recall Poleo’s home was raided last Friday as a prosecutor was trying to figure out who her sources were for the Danilo Anderson case. Anderson, the assassinated prosecutor, was treated as a hero when he died, as the opposition was blamed for the murder. However, in time, it has been revealed that Anderson had absurd large amounts of cash at home and even may have been involved in blackmailing some of the same people he was prosecuting. Most of this information has been exposed by Poleo, who clearly has sources from within the police or the prosecutor’s office that has allowed her to keep exposing the truth behind the case.

Venezuela’s law protects reporters from revealing their sources much like they do in many countries. Poleo is being accused of “manipulating in illegal and improper fashion confidential documentation about the investigations”. Thus, they are going after the reporter using the corruption law, accusing her of “possessing” reserved documents. It turns out that in the raid of her home, they did not even find any original document but photocopies provided by Poleo’s sources. In fact, as detailed by Poleo today in her daily column, all of the photocopies they “found” have been published by her in her newspaper. All of this, according to cynical Rodriguez, has not allowed his office to “present any conclusions” about the case.

Well, Rodriguez’ office only appears to reach any conclusions in trumped up charge against opposition figures and the Anderson case is simply another one in a long string of murders that remain unresolved until today. Except for the murders in Altamira square where we are supposed to believe that a single man, with no weapons experience, managed to kill three people and injure 27 with a single handgun, there are more than one hundred politically motivated murders in the last three years in which the Prosecutor’s office ahs reached no conclusion. From the two dozen people killed on April 11^th. , to the bombs at the Colombian and Spanish Embassies, to the murders of Alberto Aumitre, Jose Vilas, Evangelina Carrizo, the Fort Mara soldiers and Maritza Ron, not a single case has been solved by the Prosecutor’s office.  In contrast General Uson is in jail for giving an opinion about what happen in Fort Mara and more than 400 people are slowly being charge for breathing the Miraflores air on April 12^th. 2002. Of course, nothing is being done about the person that told Venezuela and the world that fateful day that Chavez had resigned. You see, he claimed to have become a Chavista after his famous “The President was asked to resign, which he accepted”.

The Anderson case has revealed that the once heroic and celebrated prosecutor, that one day martyr of the revolution, may have turned out to be more of a representative of that cesspool of corruption and unethical behavior that this Government has become. The assassinated prosecutor has been accused of having hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash at home, led a life not compatible with his salary, had armored cars, motorcycles jet skis and had spent more than his yearly salary just on clothes.

Moreover, as revealed by Poleo, those that were killed the next day as they were “being followed” by the police, had nothing to do with Anderson’s murder, but were killed in their rush to find someone responsible for the murder of Anderson. On top of that, the Prosecutors office is being accused of attempting to disappear some of the evidence, “lose” some of the transcripts of statements made by witnesses. What the Prosecutor is really trying to do is to find the leak, intimidate those giving Poleo information, so that the case can be covered up. The real truth is that the charges of extortion by Anderson‘s friend Carlos Herrera have been supported by all of the statements of those that were close to Anderson, despite all efforts by the Prosecutor’s office to lead the investigation elsewhere.

Such is the man in charge of upholding the law in Venezuela. The one that fails to prosecute Chavez for receiving illegal campaign funds. That was present at a meeting April 8^th. 2002 in which the Government discussed how to stop with weapons the opposition if they tried to march towards the Presidential Palace on the 11^th. The same one that is supposed to be impartial, who defends the Government but not the people, who keeps a straight face while violating everything his position stands for, who has twisted legal logic to unheard of levels to achieve revenge against the enemies of the regime and who has betrayed the oath of office he took when he accepted the position.