The
revolution is truly amazing. They have no morals and no ethics. They name as
“Head of Government Contract , a new position supposedly to control corruption
none other than Eliecer Otaiza, the former Head of Disip, Ince, Land Institute
and whatever other positions he has had. This is the same guy who as he was
appointed to each f his positions, went out and spent Government money to
build himself a gym adjacent to his office. The same guy who signed memos
requesting food and beverages out of Ince funds to give to Chavistas marchers. The
same one
that said Venezuelans should be armed!. The same guy who killed a lady
that was riding with him in a police motorcycle at a time that he held no
Government position, the evidence was changed and eventually he was charged,
but magically the charges were dropped and he was named to a nw Government
position.
But he is
now the corruption Czar. What a big joke! But let’s hear what he had to say
during his testimony in the National Assembly. You don’t even have to remember
that Chavez has been in power seven plus years, I will make sure to remind you:
“In the last seven years many people have
become very rich and made very lucrative deals, wearing the red beret of the
Bolivarians”
No!!! For
the shame of it. Who would have thought it? After all the denials, now we learn
that many people have become rich wearing red berets, but he did not mention
one of them. He must know who they are, no? But he keeps blabbing about:
“Some are extreme right, I call them “Machete
International”, some are military and others are crooked comrades who go around
making huge deals in the name of the revolution”
In one
swipe, he confesses there is a corrupt and
rightwing MVR branch, corrupt military and crooked comrades. This guy is worth
his weight in platinum, titanium or gold. That is exactly what you have been
reading in this blog for a long time. But now I have the good housekeeping seal
of approval from corruption and corrupt himself Czar Otaiza. Now, as you read the following remember that
Chavez has been in power all of seven plus years:
“I have been commissioned by the President to
initiate the hunt for the Chavista “nouveau
rich” and declare the war against corruption.”
About
time! Seven years and now you are initiating
the war. This from the colonel whose main gripe was supposedly the level of corruption
in Venezuela
during the IVth. Republic, but he has allowed it to reach unprecedented levels
during his mandate. But Otaiza seems to know more:
“There is a group of people who have become millionaires
in this revolutionary process, they have their little companies and now they are
also interested in controlling the anti-monopoly ill too”
Wait! Hold
it there! Read this carefully and remember it has been seven revolutionary years!
There is a group, and they are millionaires,
but if they are interested in the anti-monopoly bill, they can’t have “little
companies”, that I not precisely the realm of “anti-monopoly”. But there is
also an intriguing feature: Given that there are no opposition figures in the
Nationals Assembly, this suggests that these millionaires are ready to
influence half of the revolutionary Assembly? All 81 of them? Oh! The pretty
revolution never ceases to amaze me! Whatever happened to things like ideals,
principles and ethics? Did the revolution ever have them?
But let’s
look at the evolution of things under the revolution:
—95% of
all contracts since Chavez took over have been done by direct assignment rather
than open bidding, down from 13% in 1998. Yes, 13%! The IVth. Was not as
corrupt as they claim, no?
—According
to Otaiza, in 2005, 100% of the municipalities, half the Ministries and two thirds
of the Governorships violated the law. Nice record!
—Same
source: Of 337 municipalities only six provided information within three months
as established by law.
—Mercal:
Two state managers have been fired for corruption, none charged. This includes one fired for stealing ten Tons of
meat. I guess the revolutionaries are also hungry.
—Caaez (Barinas
sugar plant): As you have read it here, the Assembly said there was corruption
for US$ 2 million; but little has been built despite US$ 200 million being
spent. Well, last week, the Vice-President of the Comptrolling Committee of the
National Assembly said that corruption in Caaez is likely to be above Bs. 140
billion (US$ 65 million). Finally the numbers begin to make some sense.
—The
fund for agricultural development gave Bs. 44 billion (US$ 20.4 million) to
four coops that don’t exist in the Zaraza region.
—In the
same region, that same fund has given credits to plant 51 thousand hectares. The
problem? Zaraza only has 31 thousand
hectares of arable land. The magic of the revolution, land multiplies!
But we are
not supposed to worry. Today the “moral” Council removed a Supreme Court
Justice (Chavista at that!) because of corruption. This Council includes the
Comptroller Clodosvaldo Russian, in charge of stopping corruption since 2000. I
wonder what he has to say about Otaiza’s statements, because so far he has
found very few corrupt people in the last five years. In fact, he keeps denying
they exist!
But as Chavez
said today: “It is the corrupt in Caracas
that stop everything”
Where does
he live? Where has he lived in the last seven years? You guessed it: Caracas, right in the midst of the largest corruption run in the country’s history
