The Devil's Excrement

It is with an almost sense of frustartion or despair that I watch and read the news these days in Venezuela. There is a sense of total disarray on the part of the Government, the rule of law seems to be more irrelevant every day, and the lack of scruples on the part of Government officials from Hugo Chavez down is such, that they can deny saying something that was said days ago with a straight face. It is not a matter of what to write about, it is a matter of having so much to write about, but at the same time it is the same junk day after day: lies, corruption, inefficiency, lack of honesty and decency have now become such a way of life that the headlines on their own are a source of outrage.

The last two days have been particularly dense in content, dense in outrage, dense in despair. Can all of this be happening? Can people care so little? Is this any way to run a country? Is this any way to treat a country? These are questions that I ask myself daily as events continue to unfold that never cease to outrage and amaze me. Each of the following could be an article on their own, but why bother? There is no need to explain, detail or or extend myself on any of these, they all speak for themselves:

-In his testimony on the Barinas corruption case in front of Congress yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture said that “he held up the case…due to political circumstances…but once the results of the regional elections were known, he made Chavez and his father know what had happened”. I mean, I knew that in this Government politics takes priority over corruption, but to confess it like that should be enough for public outrage to force this man to resign simply out of sheer decency. Is he stupid or what?

-In the same case, the level of corruption was simply outrageous, proving that our military are by now experts on such matters. I related in the previous post how the military itself was supposed to execute the construction of the sugar plant but instead hired other companies to do it. Well, the details are obscene; they hired other companies owned by other military or family members to do the job. These companies in turn used soldiers as laborers, but they created a phantom payroll to rip off the money. Additionally, they paid for work never performed, paid for the use of machinery never rented or used and paid companies a bribe to hide all this. As if this were not enough, the land where the plant is being built, was covered with oak trees, which the soldiers cleared and the military officers sold on their own for personal profit. This is organized crime, racketeering, mafia-like behavior by the Venezuelan military on which the shoulders of which this revolution sadly “rests”.

-Meanwhile, Chavez is asking the Venezuelan Central Bank for an additional US$ 4 billion for Fonden, while Government officials tell foreign analysts that Fonden will likely only invest US$ 2.5 billion in 2006 due to lack of “capacity” (Do they mean due to incapacity?) and will likely have US$ 13 billion in it by the end of the year. A country with disintegrating infrastructure, unemployment, insufficient health facilities and a deficit of two million housing units has the luxury of putting US$ 13 billion into the President’s discretionary piggy bank. Long live the revolution! (And the headlines alone, below left and right say it all, even pro-Government Ultimas Noticias reports in the sub-headline on the right that two “parts” of the Sucre highway collapsed in yet another failure of the country’s infrastructure.

-And the large headline is just as bad. General Baduel claims the Nation is threatened, he claims it is from the oustide, I think it’s from the inside, he and his lot are our enemies. These guys are spending 4.5% of GDP in buying military toys and useless guns that will likely only be used to kill other Venezuelans. Yes. Gral. Baduel, we agree on this, except our reasons are different. You can’t have a fourth generation war with second generation brains!

-Meanwhile, reading the silly statistics I like to read, I find a press release by Cadivi in the paper saying that the number one country receiving dollars from the foreign exchange control office for personal aid, which is a small allotment each Venezuelan may send to their family members abroad every month, is Colombia and the number two country is…Ecuador? Nope. The US? Nope. Dominican Republic? Nope…It is none other than China!!! Yes, the huge Chinese population of Venezuela (??) sends so much money to support their relatives that they sent the second largest total abroad of any country. (Almost 200,000 Venezuelans live in South Florida alone). Of course, nobody but me seems surprised by this, but I certainly smell a rat there.

-While US$ 13 billion are saved in Chavez’ piggy bank, the Minister of Habitat with his newfangled fancy name, finds it incredible that the private sector is complaining that the Government will fund only 30,000 housing units in 2006, which he considers a “very high investment”. Small minds, small goals.

-And speaking of the development fund Fonden, it received US$ 6 billion from foreign reserves according to a special bill passed by the Chavista Assembly last year which said that Fonden could spend the money only in foreign currency for projects. Now Fonden uses the money to buy Argentinean sovereign bonds, which it then turns around and sells to local banks in exchange for Bolivars! Seems to me the law has been violated. But nobody says anything least of all the Comptroller who said yesterday that nobody was untouchable, he probably meant nobody in the opposition was untouchable. The other headline, below right, is quite specific, 6 billion Bs. in pensions for the elderly dissapeared, but does the Comptroler even know about it? Those guys are truly untouchable!

-And the Prosecutor General speedily says categorically that he will continue the prosecution of Sumate for receiving US$ 31,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy, but has not prosecuted any of the pro-Chavez groups, including Deputies, who regularly have received funds from the NED, but all of this happens on the same day that the anti-corruption Court in Spain is holding an audience to determine the jail term for the Directors of Spanish Bank BBVA who illegally gave US$ 1.5 million to the campaign of Hugo Chávez and his candidates to the Constituent Assembly in 1998 and 2000. Somehow, the smaller Sumate case, which did report the donation, is more important than the bigger Chavez case, which never reported the campaign contribution, as well as the fact that it was illegal. But the Prosecutor General cares little about Justice and a lot about political revenge and persecution.

-And yes, as expected the superior Court ruled that censorship of the media, be it TV, radio or press is allowed, when it refused to consider an injunction against the gag order by the Judge in the Anderson case, because the media was simply showing what a mockery of Justice the whole Anderson trial and its witnesses were. Make my day!

Indeed, we live in a corrupt autocracy. But we have known that all along.

Happy Valentine’s Day, in a Scroogy sort of way!

About a
month ago, I
reported how a local newspaper wrote about a corruption case in a sugar
plant in Chavez’ Barinas state where all of the money was gone and nothing had
been built. That day a “startled” and “outraged” Hugo Chavez said “If I
could shoot somebody this will be the case”. Well, Chavez acted that day
like this was news to him, acted outraged, but it turns out he was simply
acting, lying if you wish, or in the words of Elaine in the famous mango
episode of Seinfeld: “fake, fake, fake”.

You see, as
reported in today’s El Nacional, while Chavez made everyone believe that he
had learned about the case that day, it turns out that he found out about it
almost a year and a half earlier. On November 1^st. 2004, Minister
Antonio Albarran told the President about the case and promised to give him the
supporting material later, which was done the next day. In fact, ten days later
on November 10^th. 2004, Chavez’ own father, who is the Governor of
Barinas state, sent his son copies of the whole file corruption about this
corruption case. The whole affair was discovered when a local newspaper started
to wonder in October 2004 why the project was going so slow, which led some
peasants to protest to no avail.

This was
no ordinary project. Not only was the sugar plant located in Chavez’ birthplace,
but it was one of his pet projects. You see, the sugar plant was supposed to be
a sort of pilot project of some of Chavez’ dreams: it would combine Cuban
advisers with the execution of the 62^nd. Regiment of Engineers. The
President himself had asked that all of the construction be done by the
military.

As it
turns out the project became more of a pilot project for corruption and
diversion of funds. First, the military officers in charge of the project
decided to use private contractors to build the plant. Second, some of the companies
that were hired belonged to other military officials, while others where
phantom companies, they did not even exist. Finally, with the excuse that the
workers could not be paid with checks because there are only two banks in the
town, a Mayor involved in the project would take large amounts of cash in his
car, ostensibly to pay the workers.

In the
end, the plant was not built, it was supposed to be finished in 2004 and as I
reported two days ago, the National Assembly approved last week an additional
US$ 100 million for the project.

An investigation
was opened by a both civilian and military prosecutors on the case. The
military officers in charge are still active, but have no assigned
responsibilities. They have not been discharged because, guess who, Hugo Chavez
himself does not want them discharged. The National Assembly will start its own
investigation tomorrow, despite the fact that the case had been brought to its
attention long ago. Who is in charge? Deputy Pedro Carreño, a former military
officer himself. Carreño said this week that there was an order to have the
suspects jailed. However, this was issued a year ago and does not include
General Gomez Parra, who was in charge of the 62^nd. Regiment of
Engineers. According to the investigative police, the order to capture the
suspects was “lost on the way”. Way to go!. A total
of 17 people are being investigated

Meanwhile,
Chavez once again announces that the sugar plant will be ready by late this
year, only three years late, as the Venezuelan military, the cornerstone of
the revolution, proves, once again, not only how incompetent they are, but how
they continue to be the most corrupt group in Venezuelan society. Except that for
the last seven years they have enjoyed protection from the very top. That’s why
they call it the robolucion.

(Condensed from ZETA 2/10/2006, trial session on 2/07/2006)

-Judge hears the name of defense lawyer of Luis Palacios and orders him to leave the room (Lawyer had recused him)
-Judge opens session and says the trial is beginning, says nothing about three recusations against him.
-Defense lawyer asks to speak and insists, judge also has him removed from room.
-Accused are left without defense lawyers at this stage, obviously illegal.
-Alejandro Plaz’ father, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, gets up says this is a nazi trial, he is also kicked out.
-Juan Martin Echevarria Sr., father of one of the defense lawyers kicked out, addresses the prosecutor, arguing the trial can’t start under this conditions.
-Judge ignores argumens, refuses to consider recusations, trial begins.
-Prosecutor asks that the accused be tried in prison.
-Judge goes to the bathroom upon his return  (who did he go and consult?) says that trial will resume next Tuesday.
-One of the international observers said as he was going out: “If someone told me this happened, I would not believe it”

Above left: No explanation necessary. Right:”I sent all those democratic regulations to el cipote (mispelled) long time ago.”

So, after six failed appeals, the Sixth Appeals Court voids all of the decisions in the case where Sumate is being accused of conspiracy. The reason? That the judge was not using a jury in the case, a decision he made himself in violation of the law. The law says in a case like this the judge has to use at least two jurors and only with the authorization of a higher Court can the trial proceed without jurors. The other six Courts knew the law was being violated but did nothing, for some reason this one did. Now, before you get excited about it, all this really means is that the whole thing is reset and the trial starts again as if the two previous procedures had never taken place..

Then, a couple of hours later the Prosecutor calls the Sumate Board on a new case against them, in which they will also be charged as they are being called to testify as an accused party.. What is it this time around? They are being accused of electoral crimes for abrogating on themslves the representation of the people when they collected the petition in 2003 before there were regulations. Thus, they are basically being investigated because they supposedly had no right to gather or submit signatures requesting a recall referendum. It will be interesting, if I recall correctly, the Supreme Court bypassed the Electoral Hall of that Court on a case related to the referendum once arguing that a referendum was not an “electoral” process. I guess gathering the signatures is even more remote than that, but they simply don’t care. The Court can reverse itslef if it suits them.

But the beats go on in the Venezuelan Justice system, as Tal Cual reports that the case files against that newspaper, in which the paper is being prosecuted twice for the same crime, have not been made available to the lawyers of the paper in violation of the law. What else is new?

Sumate under fire Editorial in El Nacional

The official persecution of the directors of the civil ONG Sumate is
reaching its end.

They are accused of conspiring “to alter the Republican order”, as if
they had tried to implant a monarchy in Venezuela, no more, no less. As
if armed with machine guns, rockets, tanks and bombers, they had placed
in danger the soundness and continuity of the supposed Bolivarian
revolution.

The Government demonstrates with this that is it is not prepared to
accept the smallest discrepancies, not the least dissidence, or the most
discreet request that the 2006 elections be presided by a National
Electoral Council (CNE) that can be trusted. That is what Sumate always
asked for, interpreting the large majority of Venezuelans, nothing
different, even, to what has been requested by international
organizations such as the OAS. Nothing different from the observations
made by the hemispheric organization in its report about the elections
of December 4th.

There are a few ways to read the trial against Sumate. One of them is
the intransigence and the intolerance of the regime. Another one, the
wish of taking advantage of the punishment against the directors so that
everybody learns the lesson and the requests for more transparent and
fair conditions for all citizens cease.

That people shut up out of fear.

The Electoral year projects itself as a year of persecutions and
threats, while the officialist train moves at high speed towards December
3d. As dangerous conspirators, the Prosecutor asked the 7th. Court that
Maria Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz be tried separately, since
others accused, Luis Enrique Palacios and Ricardo Esteves, are being
accused of “complicity”. But, on top of that, as conspirators of great
danger, they should be tried behind bars. No wonder the defense lawyers
warn that at the next hearing both Machado as well as Plaz could be
jailed.

The defense has denounced a number of irregularities along the process.
The accused were not allowed to speak.

The representative from the Prosecutor’s office reiterated the request
that they be tried in prison, despite the decision by the Supreme Court
that forbids it. Thus, not even these formalitities are taken into
consideration.

When lawyer Juan Martin Echeverria jr. insisted on speaking, the judge
ordered the constables to remove him from the room. If one wants to have
an idea how the trial is being carried out, this detail is sufficient.
You can guess what the outcome will be.

As stated above, Machado and Plaz are being accused of the crime of
conspiracy to “destroy the form of republican politics that the nation
has been given” Among the crimes they have been charged with is
receiving money from the organization National Endowment for Democracy
of the United States. Palacios and Estevez face the same process for the
same crime, but as accomplices.

The Prosecutor Ortega Diaz requested the maximum penalty for the crime of
conspiracy, 16 years.

This rigor has no precedent in a country where military conspirators
(like our President) were judged only by military judges, never suffered
sentences of that magnitude and always ended being benefited from
measures of pardon. Even in bloody occasions (like February 4th. 1992)
in which the uprisings left hundreds of dead. Now that the coup plotters
from the Saman de Guere are in power, they see with horror the specter
of subversion. They see conspirators even in organizations like Sumate.
But the civilians never threatened anyone.

Sumate has acted openly, has accounted for its income and expenses. To
say that the meetings of Sumate did not have as their objective
electoral training of the citizens but a subversive end, that of
overthrowing the Bolivarian regime, is a valid argument only for idiots.
One would have to give the Sumate Board an award for those
“conspirators” that respect the law: they would be an exception in the
history of Venezuela.

And it is this almighty regime, where the military predominates, the
most armed, the one that has had the largest resources, the one that
feels threatened. It is like one of those tales of Antonio Arraiz where
tio Conejo (Uncle Rabbit) makes tio Tigre (Uncle Tiger) run.
Unfortunately the question can not be one for being festive, because
what is in danger is the freedom of some citizens worthy of esteem that
have believed in the perfectibility of our institutions and have
advocated for that. You can not condemn them with coarse lies.

Let’s defend now justice and let us all reject this absurd trial.

Dear British Reporters and Citizens of the Commonwealth:

You may be here trying to find the meaning of the word “cipote” where our esteemed President sent your Prime Minister today. In the heat of the moment I translated the word “cipote” as hell. This was an oversimplification on my part. The truth is that the word “cipote” means “carajo”, which is not exactly hell. The purpose of this note is to guide you into understanding where exactly Hugo Chavez wants your Prime Minsiter to go and whether this represents a threat to him or your country.

The word hell carries some religious connotations. It is the place where your soul goes to for eternal punishment when you leave this world. “Cipote” and “Carajo” carry no such connotation. First of all, it has nothing to with with religion or any organized group, it simply represents a very personal position on the part of the person sending you there. It is not eternal either, someone can be very upset and send you there, but regret it later and bring you back.

“El Cipote” and its relative “el carajo” represent something more temporary, a mysterious sort of place, which must not be very nice and is so far away that you want to send anyone you really dislike there. According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish language to send you to “el carajo” means to reject you with scorn, with disdain, with insolence. So it is not nice of the sender to wish you there.

Both words “carajo” and “cipote” are old, but in some sense they are very modern. You see, while it is done with disdain, in the end it is a “virtual” wish that is never carried out. It is nasty, it is a snub, a slight, but it is all done figuratively speaking anyway. In fact, look at us Venezuelans. Hugo Chavez has sent us, over half of the Venezuelan population to “el carajo” and “el cipote” at one time or another during the last seven years. But we are all mostly still here, wondering who will be next. In fact it is amazing how many of his own supporters he has sent our way, but we really don’t want some of them. In fact, we don’t like everyone in El Cipote, ex-Chavistas or opposition, but it is virtual anyway.

Today on the other hand, we are proud of having someone of the intelligence and eloquence of Mr. Blair joining us in el cipote. We are sure it will improve this virtual neighborhood and we are honored by his company.

Finally, maybe looking up what cipote and carajo mean, will teach you something about Venezuela and you may realize that we are not in el cipote after all, although our leader may appear to make it so.

With warm regards

The Devil from el cipote

I wonder what Tony Blair is talking about:

Blair encourages Venezuela and Cuba to abide by democratic principles

How will the Government react?:

-He should talk to Evo.
-He should not talk to Mr. Danger.
-He should not get involved in our national affairs.
-He should worry about democracy in his country.
-We don’t care what he thinks.
-He should stop financing the drawing of cartoons that are offensive.
-Tony who?
-We are going to break relations with Great Britain.
-I have proof that Blair is being paid by Mr. Danger.
-We will all stop drinking Scotch in protest.
-He is a puppy of Mr. Danger.
–If you start trouble with me, I will prickle you.
-Remember The Malvinas, we could invade them again!
-All of the above

(Wow! That did not take long, puppy, imperialist, irresponsible, go to hell…)

So, on the
same day that Teodoro Petkoff received
a second notification of a
process being opened against him and his newspaper (same case, two processes!),
the Prosecutor General asked for up to 16 years of jail for the leaders of
Sumate Maria Corina Machado and Alejandro Plaz, for the crime of receiving
$30,000 for electoral education from a foreign source, in this case the bipartisan
US Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy.

Curiously,
Chavez and his cronies were found innocent of violating any laws in the case of
the proven donation of US$ 1.5 million by Spanish bank BBVA to Chavez’
Presidential campaign. And in another case of Bolivarian justice, the
Government plans to build a monument to honor the infamous shooters of Puente
El LLaguno, who, of course, were declared innocent.

I guess
these judges when they drink in private sing in harmony with the President of
the Supreme Court “Uh Ah Chavez no se va”. Some (In)Justice!