The Devil's Excrement

I tried to write about this the other day, a friend sends this to make sure I don’t miss the idea:

According to this report,

Venezuela
purchased $300 MM of the $572 MM in bonds placed by the Argentine Govt.
last week. As you report, the debt was placed at an extremely low
interest rate for Argentina, 8.75%, which was arguably 1 full point
lower than comparable Argentina debt which you can purchase in the
marketplace. In other words, Venezuela not only has lent money to
Argentina once again (it has effectively done so in the past by
purchasing outstanding debt) but this time does it under conditions
highly unfavorable for Venezuela, and very favorable for the Argentine
Govt. The conditions were so preposterous that only Banco Nacion and
other local banks were the buyers. It is incredible to me how the
Venezuelan people don’t make a big deal out of this. Who is getting
rich behind the scenes? I don’t know. But if Venezuela wants to invest
in other countries’ debt (they are also rumored to be the buyers of
$300 MM of Ecuador debt to be issued soon, a country that is on the
verge of economic co! llapse), they should at least do so at market
rates, and not with heavy subsidies, don’t you think?

Dear Mr. Chavez:

I have been opposing you for some years now. I confess that I have been
a critical ghost blogger writing essays against you and your government.
Until yesterday I truly believed that that was my mission, but that is
no longer the case.

You may wonder what happened. Well, a few days ago, the BBC prepared a
program to invite you to answer some questions that the public sent for
you . I was
one of those Internet geeks that sent tough questions that were never
chosen and I was quite mad reading the praises from people around the
world that think that know you better. Then I saw your BBC interview and
it totally changed my perception of who Hugo Chavez really is. I have
been wrong and the thousands of non-Venezuelans that wrote to the BBC
praising you and your acts have been right.

You were wonderful, Mr. Chavez. The President of Venezuela in
international prime time! You were the essence of the discreet, elegant
man, all smiles, well prepared, knowing what you were going to say and
what to answer. Telling the people of the world exactly what they wanted
to hear, the way they wanted to hear it. A real diplomat. A gentleman.
Nothing to do with the vulgar character that appears on Sundays on Alo
President to trash his foes in front of the camera, abusing his power.
But I now know, my dear president, that that character is only for local
Venezuelan consumption. The real Chavez is the one I saw on the BBC.

Your answers were absolutely charming. You stand for justice and
democracy. You do not pass any laws restricting the press or those that
criticize you. You do not persecute those that dissent with you and, in
particular, there is no blacklisting in Venezuela. Those are stories
invented by your enemies.

Now I am in total agreement with your views, Mr. Chavez. That BBC
interview made me see the light. You are a victim. You have been the one
persecuted by that oligarchy opposition of yours. They are really
working hard, helped of course by the CIA, to perpetuate a false image
of Hugo Chavez.

Even on the Internet, those despicable and persistent bloggers dedicate
their lives to portray you in a bad light. I confess that I was one of
them, Mr. Chavez, I acknowledge my past faults. But I have seen the
truth. I repent. From now on, I will cherish every word you say and, as
a token of my appreciation and my admiration I am volunteering to run
your 2006 campaign, Mr. Chavez.

Yes, you read it right, your 2006 Campaign…

No, not the 2006 campaign for the Presidency of Venezuela!

You wouldn’t want that, would you?

Why Venezuela? Mr. Chavez, Venezuela is already too small for you!

You are bound to bigger, larger horizons. You are destined to be the
Liberator of Latin America, just like Bolivar, or even better, the
unifier of the Americas, or even better, the world, or even better, the
Liberator of Human kind. The great leader of the 21^st century!

So, Mr. Chavez. Since there is no such a job yet. You have to start with
something that will give you more international visibility….

No, not the President of Venezuela again… Forget that job….that is a
good job while oil prices are high, but if they go down the people of
the world will not pay as much attention to you and you will get in
trouble again in Venezuela. No, Mr. Chavez, you need a more permanent
visible and secure position that will allow you to jump into higher and
more important endeavors….

I have been thinking of running your campaign to be the Secretary
General of the United Nations.

You see, Mr. Chavez, Kofi Annan will finish his term on December 31^st
2006. The timing is perfect for you.

I know, I know, the people of Venezuela will ask you to run again, to
stay in power…but, Mr. Chavez, you have already made so many sacrifices
for them. They will understand, they will gladly let you pass your turn
as president so that the rest of the world enjoys your charms, your
diligence and your intelligence.

Venezuelans are generous people and they will be so proud when they see
you as the leader of the world.

Besides, once you are Secretary-General you will have more opportunities
to directly fight against the US while spreading peace around you. I am
sure that that panel in Norway will finally see the light themselves and
will end up begging you to please accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

So please, Mr. President, allow me to be involved in this important step
in the development of human kind.

I have already opened a site to initiate the campaign. And, if you
agree, I promise that I will try to convince my fellow opposition
bloggers to see the light as well and put all their energy into this new
important challenge. So we will all be one, current dissident and
chavista bloggers, Venezuelans and non-Venezuelans, finally reunited to
work as one for the enterprise of our lives:

Hugo Chavez for the UN!

Yours truly,
Jorge Arena
Repentant Ghost Blogger.

New link from Norway
as I am away from Caracas and could not see the celebration of the
Supreme Court’s decision in which the Peopls’ Ombudsman and Attorney
General danced in celebration in the Chavista shindig. So much for
“independent” powers in the “pretty” revolution:

So the dream is over. In a 6-1 vote the TSJ refused the injuction
(Amparo) against the electoral trick of the “Morochas” by which a
majority party
gets more than its share of the vote. You can read the news here:

El Nacional

and here:

Globovision

This means that Chavez’s party will be able to use the trick to get more
than its share of the seats in the December 4
National Assembly elections and end up with an absolute majority in
Congress. This will allow Chavez to change the
Constitution as he wishes..

Those that were dreaming that the totally Chavez dominated TSJ would
rule against the Twins were…just dreaming.

Something funny happened two posts ago and I can’t figure out how to
fix it. I can post now, but can’t delete or correct posts somehow now.

XXIst. Century Socialism? By Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual

XXIst. Century Socialism? Up to now what we have about that is pure BS, gas, empty words, a diversion operation to deviate attention from the really pertinent themes.  Because it is the other ones that are on the board, having to do with the institutional collapse that is being produced with the help of the impulse that is born at the Miraflores Palace.

Authoritarism, autocratism, militarism, centralism, statism and corruption are the defining characteristics of the regime. They are not the only ones, but they are sufficient for a more pertinent and substantial discussion. The authoritarian exercise of power, skipping the Constitution and the laws, even when it is unnecessary in order to achieve its purposes, everything depending on the discretional will of the Supreme, has significantly deepened. The concentration of powers in the fist of the President reaches autocratic levels.

The Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor, the People’s Ombudsman and the Electoral Board operate, in everything that has to do with the political interest of the regime, as transmission belts to Chavez’ s desires.

The mechanisms of mutual control and equilibrium of powers have been nullified. The Executive is on the fringes of all true controls by the rest of all the political powers.

Militarism has turned into the dominant feature of the regimen. Since the approval of the Organic Bill of the Armed Forces, these- whose Commander in Chief is now an active military officer, with that rank puposedly created for Chavez himself-acquires the condition of agent of the Government. For all practical purposes this is a Government of the Armed Forces.

The Republic has been recentralized again. The aversion of the Supreme to any form of institutional autonomy and to the territorial and political decentralization have been taken away progressively and with ever increasing speed, from the Central Bank to the Governorships and municipalities, of the attributions that had been transferred and recognized to them.

The State, which turns itself more obese with time, more costly and more inefficient, doubling its bureaucracy, creating countless new institutions and public companies, is invading all fields of society. From the economy to culture, the State has acquired an increasing leading role. From peasants reduced now to the condition of tenants of the Government, established in lands that are not and will never be their property, even to the blackmail style in which cultural subsidies are handled to fit and regiment politically and ideologically the cultural world, passing though the incremental confusion between party, state and Government, the statization of the whole of social life appears in the horizon.

The cherry on this sinister cocktail is the horrendous expansion of administrative corruption. Corruption, of course, did not arrive with Chavez but the impunity that protects it today is an exclusively Chavista creation.  

Never had it been as easy and with so much impunity to steal public funds. Particularly when the crooks have the power of fire guns.

XX!st Century Socialism? Please!

Authoritarism, autocratism, militarism, centralism, statism and the corruption of all times.

And in the news that went unnoticed about Chavez and his friends:

—Friends will become enemies:
Venezuela is always telling other countries to respect the country’s
sovereingty, so I wonder what those same countries will think of this
message today by the Venezuelan Minister of Integration and Commerce:

“The relations between Venezuela and those countries that sign the free trade agreement with the US will need “adjustments””

Jeez, Mr. Marquez who used to be such a nice measured man, dissapeared for
six years and now resurfaces as a Minister in the Chavez administartion
talking almost like The Godfather.

—Some friends leave, while some enemies stay:
The New Tribes are still here, apparently the decree or decision to
kick them out has not even been implemented, but it turns out the Mormons are leaving
“due to a matter of security which is slightly complicated”. The
Mormons apparentlly left already, according to the US Ambassador (no
press relearse from Minci on this matter) while the New Tribes “some of
which are CIA” according to the Vice-President, have yet to leave.
Moreover, the great “intelligence” that Chavez received about the New
Tribes failed to mention to him that lots of members of the New Tribes
are actually Venezuelan citizens and thus can not be kicked out of the
country!

That’s what happens when autocrats make uninformed decisions ignoring the laws.

—Making new friends:Despite denials that this will take place, Chavez actually met with a real live modern socialist with a track record today.
I always wonder why Chavez gets along so famously with foreign
socialists and hates the local ones so much that he never even talks to
them.

And how about those guys at the Ministry of Communications? In the
interest of nationalism and sovereingty they sent around this e-mail
yestrerday to some reporters inviting them to a press conference by
none other than the Cuban Ambassador! I guess by now it has become the
Venezuelan/Cuban Ministry of Information.

Aren’t they nice! Note that not only did they provide the invitations,
but at the bottom you can see that you can even RSVP at the Ministry
itself! I guess the Cuban Embassy is too busy shipping our oil to Cuba,
supervising the 20,000 Cuban medical Doctors so they don’t escape and
spying on us to bother with these little details. Thus, they call their
inferior colleagues to do their dirty work for them. BTW, the press
conference was mostly to blast the President of some country up north whose name is Jorge or something like that.

Here is the text of the invitation:

Estimados Colegas

A continuación les enviamos convocatoria emitida por la Embajada de Cuba en Venezuela.

CONVOCATORIA

A LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN VENEZOLANOS Y A LOS CORRESPONSALES DE
AGENCIAS DE NOTICIAS INTERNACIONALES ACREDITADAS EN VENEZUELA:

LA OFICINA DE PRENSA DE LA EMBAJADA DE LA REPÚBLICA DE CUBA EN LA
REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA TIENE EL PLACER DE INVITARLOS A
PARTICIPAR EN LA CONFERENCIA DE PRENSA QUE OFRECERÁ EL EMBAJADOR,
GERMÁN SÁNCHEZ OTERO, SOBRE EL INHUMANO BLOQUEO QUE POR MAS DE CUATRO
DÉCADAS HAN APLICADO CONTRA NUESTRO PAÍS LAS DIFERENTES
ADMINISTRACIONES DE ESTADOS UNIDOS.

FECHA
: MARTES 25
DE OCTUBRE DE 2005

LUGAR : LOBBY DEL HOTEL ANAUCO HILTON

HORA : 10:00 AM

NOTA: Por favor confirmar asistencia a mcamacho@mci.gov.ve

Ministerio de Comunicación e Información

Dirección de Medios Internacionales

Scene #1: Sunday in Alo Presidente none other than President Hugo Chavez
announced
proudly that conversations were very advanced to reach an agreement with Agropecuaria
Agroflora, the Corporation that holds the Vestey Holdings in Venezuela.
According to Chavez Agroflora would hand
over part of the more than 300 thousand hectares of farmland the company
owns. In fact, Chavez said that there was a meeting to define what those areas
were.

Next day, my friend Alek Boyd looked into the matter in London and found out
that no agreement has been reached and in fact few conversations have taken
place. Moreover, today Vestey said that they are still fighting in the Courts
to defend their rights, but have reached no agreement on the matter (Tal Cual page 12).

Scene #2: The former President of the National Assembly said
that if the Supreme Court bans the so called “Morochas” or
“twins” by which Chavez’ party MVR will get more positions for the
Assembly by registering a fake political party and field candidates by name for
one and by slate for the other one, then, they will field candidates on their
own recognizance rather than any political party and ordering their supporters
to vote for them.

I see, he is saying: “If we are not allowed to cheat one way, we will find
another way of bypassing the law and the Constitution and take advantage of our
majority as well as our funding”. Walks, like one, looks like one…

Scene # 3: Last night Hugo Chávez himself went haywire, saying
that he was considering re-nationalizing
steel company Sidor if they did
not do what he wanted. Sidor was privatized in the 90’s after decades
of
losses and sold to a consortium of Argentinian, Mexican and Venezuelan
companies. Basically, Sidor exports part of its steel production but
Chavez wants
them to sell mostly in Venezuela
even if prices are lower. Chavez left no doubt about his intentions: “I am
tired of talking, if we don’t reach an agreement within a week, we will issue a
decree”

Tonight the President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce said
as he left a meeting with Chavez: “The Executive guarantees respect
for private property”. Hello? Who did he meet with? Did he read the papers today? Can he trusts these guys? Is this guy stupid?

You can read more scenes here
or here,
where Chavez told a reporter in response to a question about Tascon’s list:
“That’s totally false. Those who say that are the very people who were
trying to demonize my government. We have a fully democratic country.”

Oh yeah! I made up everything I put
here, but wait! Didn’t Chavez himself tell Tascon to put away the list?
Didn’t Chavez himself authorize
Tascon to get the list of those that signed against him?

So much for demonizing, we all know where the professional liars and cheaters
are…and let’s not talk about the fascists!