The Devil's Excrement

Continuing
in its attempt to intimidate and block the opposition just prior to the
upcoming elections for the National Assembly, a Judge decided tonight to
charge four of the Directors of Sumate for conspiracy against the Government.
The charge comes form receiving funds from the National Endowment for Democracy
for electoral education. Sumate has been a thorn in the Government’s shoe as it
activities allowed the opposition to gather the signatures to be able to call
for the recall of Hugo Chavez. Sumate has unveiled all of the problems with the
electoral process in Venezuela
and its leaders have been
going around the world presenting this document (in English here) about
the State of Democracy in Venezuela. In
contrast to the Government that uses State funds for party activities without accountability, Sumate
has provided all of its financial information on the web, including contracts with funding
agencies, as well as its
financials.

This is simply another fascist act by the Government: find a way to criminalize
the opposition activities in order to stop them and intimidate them. The
Prosecutor handling the case is Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who has taken over
most of the responsibilities that Danilo Anderson used to have of handling
political cases. Meanwhile, all accusations against the Government, including
murders, abuse of power and corruption are simply shelved or
“decided” by a Judiciary that is totally controlled by the Government.

Did I forget to say some people claim this is still a democracy?

There is no question that this Government has no shame. It is no longer
a matter of whether you are pro-Chavez or not, you simply have to be
unconditional. Judge Maria Mercedes Prado, was handling the case of the
bombings of the Colombian and Spanish Embassies in February 2004.
According to the Government the case was “solved”, it was “clear cut”.
Despite this time went by and no evidence of any worth was presented to
the judge. Even President Chavez got involved in the case in his Sunday
variety show “Alo Presidente”, saying “we have the video that shows who
did it”. But the pro-Chavez judge disagreed. To her, there was little
evidence to charge anyone in the case. Thus, she told te Government
that she was going to rule on the case, saying there was no evidence to
convict any of the suspects.

Big mistake! Judge Prado was fired last week, precisely for not being
willing to rule as the Government and the Prosecutor’s office wanted.
She was mad, she was trying to hold a press conference
today to denounce in the press briefing room of the papalce of Justice
when Judge Belkis Cedeño ordered the electricity to be shut off and the
National Guard to expel the Judge from the Hall of Justice. In so doing
the guards assaulted reporters,
attempted to take their cameras away and kicked them out of the
building. As of today, the press room of the Hall Justice will be
eliminated and reporters will not be allowed in the Hall at al from now
on.

Oh yes, they claim this a democracy! Justice and freedom of speech are
non-existence as the ochlocracy controls everything and has no clue
about what democratic values are. 

I saw this table in a report from J.P. Morgan and I just had to post
it, judge for yourself the list which is separated into two groups: Oil
exporting countries and oil importing countries.Except for a couple of
exceptions, there seems to be an inverse relationshop between the
economic health of each country and the price of a gallon of gas