The Devil's Excrement

I have to take exception with the statements today by CNE
President Jorge Rodriguez when he said that the
CNE Board had backtracked on his earlier decision and in the elections to the
National Assembly 34% of all votes would be “audited”, a term which
has become a euphemism in Venezuela for manually counted. And then Rodriguez
added: “Nowhere in the world with automated voting is one third of the
vote audited”:

And I take exception to it for a number of reasons:

–First of all, that nowhere in the world includes Venezuela, where that
percentage has never been “audited” since Mr. Rodriguez has been
involved with the electoral process. In fact, during the recall referendum of
2004, 1% of the votes were supposed to be audited at the end of the voting day and they were not counted.
Anywhere else in the world Electoral Authorities would have been fired or resigned for not
doing their job and failing to follow the procedures that they put in place.

–In that same voting process, which was highly suspect, full of irregularities
and created a lot of suspicions, the cynical Mr. Rodriguez could have
dissipated all of the tensions and doubts by opening all of the ballot boxes or
even one-third of them, but he refused, counting instead only 1% of a
“new” set of boxes chosen with a very peculiar pseudorandomness by the CNE itself.

–But at the end of the day, what matters is what Venezuelan law says. And
Venezuelan Electoral Law is very clear on that matter: All votes are
supposed to be counted manually, which has not been done in any of the
elections presided by Mr. Rodriguez as a member of the Electoral Board or its
Presidency. And apparently the law will not be followed once again.

–But it helps very little to count and audit if the act is not public as
stated by law and all sectors can watch over it. Sorry to be so full of legalities Mr. Rodriguez, but
Venezuelan law says that the act of manually counting the votes is open to
the public, something which did not happen in the 2004 referendum, the 2004
regional elections and the 2005 regional elections, where the military took it
upon itself to bar the entrance of the public in most polling stations
across the country.
Will we be allowed in this tiem around? Who guarantees it? And please
don’t say you do, because you did not fulfill your promises before.

Thus, Mr. Rodriguez has no moral authority whatsoever to say he is doing
anything well or right or better than anyone, because he has never either
followed the law or fulfilled the agreements or regulations that his own Board
approved. In fact, with his cynical arrogance he has always been a factor
against transparency and shown a level of partisanship which is uncalled for
and unethical for someone in his position.

So please, don’t give us a global refrenece to something which you have
yet to do, which two weeks ago you had denied the possibility of doing
because “1% of the ballots was sufficient”. You have yet to hand over
the electoral registry with the addresses of all voters, you have
shifted districts at will and accepted the “morochas” all to the
benefit of Chavez and his MVR party.

But I understand that international pressure is being felt by you and
your organization. The only question is where and how will you try to cheat us
this time around?

Yesterday I talked about the Refco bankruptcy having an effect in
Venezuela, today I got the bankruptcy filing where the creditors above
US$10 million are listed and these are the ones from Venezuelan:

Banco Hipotecario Inv. Turisticas (Federal)       US$ 85.8 million
Banesco                                                           
US$ 39.5 million
Inversiones Concambi           
              
            US$ 12.9 milllion
Miura Financial Services        
              
            US$ 12.1 million
Total
Bank                                                     
  US$ 10.7 million

remarkably the list has not appeared anywhere in the Venezuelan media, self-censorship?

Will the Refco downfall have a strong impact in Venezuela’s financial system?

Rumors say it will be bigger than anyone thinks! Refco would leverage
Venezuelan Government bonds as if they were Treasuries to local banks
and brokers. Moreover, Refco was quite “creative” in selling products
locally to banks and brokers.

Stay tuned… you heard it here first, even if Descifrado has suggested a link here, here, here or here.

–NGO says Venezuela occupies
position #130 out of 159 countries in terms of corruption ranked from
least to worst. Venezuela was above only two Latin American countries.

–Tyromaniac reports that “Lost: Everybody Hates Hugo” is the top video download at Apple’s iTunes store. And there is no iTunes store in Venezuela! Another triumph for Apple and Steve Jobs!

-The Prosecutor indicted a
former Vice-Minister of Finance for the “missing” US$ 1.5 billion from
the Macroeconomic Stabilization Fund. Curiously they did not indict his
boss who took the blame for it at the time. Of course, he is the
current Minister of Finance! It helps to be in high places sometimes.

Chavez hugs, cavorts with and embraces bloody Dicator and murderer
Mugabe in Rome. Chávez praised Mugabe’s policies, saying the African
leader had been “demonized” and that Venezuela was enacting similar
reforms to undo “the unfair structures of colonialism.”. This picture
and Chavez words are extremely offensive to me and represent the
opposite of everything I believe in.. I guess it takes one to know one.
Very obscene.

(You can also listen to Mugabe here in vcrisis. And the topic has been posted (almost said embraced but throught of the pictures) by Quico, Edgar, Larry, babalu, I guess I was not the only one offended by it)

Have a question for Hugo? Something you always wanted to ask him?
Something you were always curious about? Well, here is your chance
courtesy of the BBC and Hugo’s expensive imagemakers:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4350254.stm

Please, don’t be shy about it and ask away! This is your chance, show the BBC, Venezuela and the world you care!

Last Wednesday
during the celebration of Columbus Day, now known in Venezuela
as “The day of indigenous Resistance”, President Chavez said he was
expelling the New Tribes (Nuevas Tribus) out of Venezuela, accusing the Evangelical group of having ties to the CIA. It
was another chapter in a long and turbulent history of love/hate between Venezuela and
the group.

It is
indeed a complicated relation. The Government dislikes the group because they
are mostly foreign, they are well funded and they roam around in areas where at the
end of the day, the Government has a weak presence and little control of. The Catholic Church
dislikes them simply because they represent well organized competition in the
effort to convince and convert these indigenous people to their respective
religions. Indeed, the New Tribe Mission has the ability to pick its spots in
contrast with the Catholic Church that wants to be everywhere. It is indeed
hard to compete with a group that even has its own aviation divisionin
recognition of the difficulties of working in isolated areas. Finally,
anthropologists
have loathed the divisions that the Nuevas Tribus have created among
each tribe, as they divide them into believers and non-believers,
giving rise to a new form
of segregation in these tribes as well as a change in tradition and
history
that affected the identity of these groups.

The fight
thus is not new. As far back as the 70’s the Indian tribe known as yekuanas,
tried to get the Nuevas Tribus out of Venezuela. I remember this because
I knew anthropologist Nelly Arvelo, deeply involved in this fight at that time.
(I imagine that she still is). This was a scandal that became daily news in the
local papers as the Nuevas Tribus affected also the larger tribe the Yanomamis.
But nothing came of it. If I remember correctly, there was an investigation and
Congress recommended that the Nuevas Tribus lose their permit as a religious
group. I don’t believe
this was ever done.

Then at
some point in the early 80’s, the Catholic Church asked President Luis Herrera
that he kick the Nuevas Tribus out of the area south of the Orinoco.
Nothing happened and the request was made again around 1990. Reportedly, the
Catholic Church had asked Chavez to kick the Nuevas Tribus recently and it is
being said that this was part of the negotiation to have Chavez veto the Vatican from
naming Monsignor Porras as the new Archbishop of Caracas.

In the mid-nineties
there was also a scandal when the then Administrator for the indigenous zones
of Guyana,
gave a group from the Nuevas Tribus permission to build a small airport in
tribal land. This cost the man his job, as well as the jobs of the two missioners
who had asked for the permit.

Then came
Chavez’ expelling the Nuevas Tribus saying they were linked to imperialist
forces (I guess all American are in his mind). What is curious is that no
President before Chavez actually tried to get the evangelist vote as much as
Chavez. Evangelical groups, mostly form the US, are extremely active both in
remote areas as well, and mostly, in urban areas. Chavez in his enthusiasm and
verbosity went as far as saying on his Sunday program that he was an evangelist
which took everyone, including the Catholic Church, by surprise. But that was
the last time we heard that from him, apparently that took more votes away from
him that it gained.

In fact,
the whole act on Wednesday was complicated for our illustrious President as all
of the members of the tribes that managed to get to the microphone, politely
thanked Chavze for extending the range of their tribal land, but told him that they
needed more important things like food, water and electricity. Reportedly Chavez
was upset that so many people were allowed to reach the microphone to voice the
same concern and in some sense, minimize the “happening” of the day, which Chavez
was giving away the land to the Tribe.

Remarkably,
I have been able to find few people willing to defend the Nuevas Tribus other
than other evangelical groups, some
indigenous groups themselves and my friend Alex. The
truth is that no matter what their motives may be, and I have no clue if they
do go or not beyond their religious indoctrination, the Nuevas Tribus have a
constant and important presence in the Amazon and other areas of Venezuela. There,
they help, aid, provide medical care, food and even emergency transport to the
sick. Yes, they want to convert them to their religion, but the reality is that
the Nuevas Tribus are there because of the neglect of Governments, past and
present. Because of the extreme poverty, malnutrition and lack of basic infrastructure
in those areas. Because politicians only visit or care for those areas when an
election is coming up.

I have no clue as to whether the Nuevas Tribus
are loved, hated or neutral to the local indigenous population, but like one of
the quoted in the Associated
Press article: “The indigenous Venezuelans need to be heard, not to be
spoken for,”

In
addition, the methodology is wrong. In a country with freedom of religion
guaranteed by the Constitution, it is not a matter for the Executive Branch to
decide on a matter like that. Least of all is it a
matter for the Governor of Amazonas State to issue a decree kicking a group
out of his state as if he owned all of the land. (For not talking about how
much he sucked up to Chavez with this action). In the end, it is a matter for
the Courts. Obviously, the Government can kick out foreigners out of Venezuela, but
the Nuevas Tribus have been here for decades and I am sure that by kicking out
the gringos, they are denting into their activities but not stopping them. Today,
the Evangelical Council which groups all evangelical groups said that they would
ask the Supreme Court for an injunction on the case. They bring up the fact
that similar accusations have been made before, but in the end, I am sure they
it is their instinct of self-preservation that leads them to vocally go out an
aid a group that in the end competes with them.

In fact, that is what the Government should have
done to begin with, If it had any reason and proof of why these groups should
be expelled from the country, it should have asked the Prosecutor’s office to
request a Court, whether the Supreme one or not, to decide on the matter, not
in the usual autocratic fashion that ignores the rights of the Nuevas Tribus,
which they have, the indigenous groups and of all Venezuelans to know and understand
what is going on in our own country. Instead, they used the autocratic way which
Chavez has gotten us costumed to.

–In an
effort to make the electoral process more transparent and show the world that
Venezuela is a wonderful democracy, CNE President Jorge Rodriguez announced
today that in response to the opposition’s request that 47% of all votes be
counted manually, the CNE had decided to count as many as 1%. Thank you! Thank you!

–Prosecutor
Danilo Anderson was killed eleven months ago and within a week Prosecutor/Attorney
General Isaias Rodriguez said the crime had been “essentially solved”. Today
we learn that Anderson
was killed by “crime multinationals” who received help from the CIA. Moreover,
the targets were President Hugo Chavez and Rodriguez himself, but Anderson turned out to be
an “easier” target. I see, the CIA and this “crime multinational” ran into
trouble and decided to kill someone like the 457^th person in
hierarchy in the Venezuelan Government because it was “easier”. Very clear. I am sure there was soemone that would have been easier to get rid off.

–The Head
of the National Institute for Statistics said
today that Venezuela
had advanced in fighting poverty during the last six years according to the new
way poverty is being measured. The “old way” yielded an increase in poverty
of 10% of the population under Chavez, but with the new measure there are
improvements. He then proceeded to note that poverty in Venezuela is
“different” because 96% of the population has electricity and 76% have
refrigerators, which does not happen in other countries. He failed to note that
this Government has built no new electric infrastructure in the last seven
years and that the number of households with a refrigerator remains unchanged. I
guess he was praising the IVth. The accomplishments of the IVth. Republic.

–And
speaking of improvements in the quality of life, between 1985-1995 there were
two cases of yellow fever and one death in Venezuela. There were 15 cases and
4 deaths in 1998. Well, today
the Vice-Minister of Health talked about a “small” breakout of yellow fever
with 43 suspected cases and two possible deaths. He talked about three
“focuses” of yellow fever in the country in the South of Lake Maracaibo, South
of Tachira and Cojedes and Guayana, saying it is “normal” for the illness to
have breakouts in the second half of the year. Of course the breakout is in
Portuguesa state. There have been seven deaths so far this year in Venezuela, five
in states not mentioned by the ignorant Vice-Minister as being “natural”
locations for the once eradicated illness in our country. Another victory for
ignorance and incompetence.

–Finally,
there was Hugo himself (can’t find link) denying that he was a tyrant as he is
being accused. He said this was absolutely false, as false as the charge that Fidel
Castro is a tyrant. I see, he really gets it!

Act 1) Eleven days before the August 7^th.
Regional elections, an injunction
was requested of the Supreme Court asking that the so
called “Twins” or “morochas” be banned. The Court
failed to grant the injunction before the elections and a few days ago, the
Court “rejected” the request on the basis that if there had been a
violation of rights, the damage would be “irreparable”. Remarkably,
two and half months had to go by for the Court to decide on the injunction.
According to Article 27^th. of the Venezuelan
Constitution, the request for an injunction based on the Constitutional
protection of your rights: “will be handled with preferential treatment
over any other matter”. Interestingly enough, the Court took that long to
only not grant the injunction, without ruling on the important matter: whether
the use of the “morochas” violates or not the Constitution, despite
its relevance for the upcoming elections for Deputies of the National Assembly.

Act 2) The Head of the CNE Jorge
Rodriguez states
(or threatens?) out of the blue, that if the “twins” or
“morochas” are banned by the Supreme Court, there will be no
elections in December. A number of things are interesting about this statement:


— First, this is the first time Rodriguez makes such an assertion despite the
fact that there have been roughly a dozen requests of injunctions on the matter
brought to the Venezuelan Supreme Court.

— Second, last spring and summer, Rodriguez admitted as Head of the CNE, the
registration of candidates of phantom political party UVE, used by Chavez’ MVR
to set up their “morochas” in the regional elections, before
that party had been even recognized, which only happened one week
before the regional elections were to take place. What would have happened if
that party had not been recognized? Would the elections have been cancelled of
the “illegal” candidates simply would not have been able to participate?

— Third, Rodriguez said in
an interview that he had no legal way of banning the morochas, despite the
fact that Article 293 of the Venezuelan Constitution says that the Electoral
Power has as its function: “to resolve the doubts and voids
that arise” Isn’t that extremely clear? It is the job to resolve precisely
on those issues like the morochas that violate the rights of people which are
supposed to be guaranteed proportional representation by the Constitution.

Act 3) Two days later the Venezuelan
Supreme Court admits
the request for an injunction against the morochas, curiously choosing
one of the many requested. Why
that one? Is it because with one elections will be delayed and not with the
other as suggested?
Did the Court give the CNE President advanced notice of admitting the case and
that is why he made the warning about canceling the election? How did the CNE
Director know that it would be precisely the AD case that would be admitted?

Act 4) Precisely the day after the
injunction is admitted, the CNE Director today says
that he is totally certain that the elections will take place on Dec. 4^th.
as established. Doesn’t this contradict his own earlier statement? Does he know
something we don’t know?
Why all this? Is the Court seriously considering stopping the
morochas, or is this simply a parody to make us believe there is still some
Justice in Venezuela?
Or are the Justices concerned that with the morochas Chavez will have too much
power as he will be able to modify the Constitution at will? How come the Head
of the CNE appears to have inside information? Why didn’t the Supreme Court
admit all injunctions requested since they all basically are requesting the same?
Couldn’t the CNE simply say that the parties that were registered as
“twins” or “morochas” will be taken as the same party and
the upcoming elections could proceed just as planned?

What do you think?