The Devil's Excrement

Yesterday, Chavismo brought all the cynical hoopla that characterize it, to declare the 17th. anniversary of the “Caracazo”,  Human Rights Day. This was simply grandstanding, as noted so well by the article below by Katy in Caracas Chronicles, which I reproduce in its entirety below, becuase of its importance. I will just complement it a little.

But this cynical attitude goes beyond what Katy says. Only 23 days ago the Government celebrated another military massacre, Chavez’ original coup attempts which also had a tragic end of too many dead and too any injured. Where are those responsible for those deaths? Nobody was punished for them.

And the same can be said for those that died on April 11th. 2002, when our current President activated the so called “Plan Avila” a military repressive plan to control the civilian population. Fortunately, the Generals in charge refused to do it, saving many lives. But that day there were 24 deaths and over one hundred injured and those that were taped shooting that march from Puente El Llaguno, all pro-Government, were found innocent and not a single person was found guilty of those deaths. The infamous “truth commission” in the National Assembly was killed by the current Government, so that we may never find the truth, or those responsible for those deaths.

Similarly, exactly three years ago yesterday, coincidentally the same day as the “Caracazo”, the repressive action of this Government led to many deaths, while a peaceful march trying to deliver a document to the Heads of State meeting in Caracas was met with extraordinary repression, which was simply uncalled for. Just recall Elinor Montes, who holding a Venezuelan flag approached a soldier asking why they were being so repressive to a peaceful march. Imagine her surprise when the soldier wrestled her to the ground, injuring her.

And I will never forget the feeling of impotency and despair I felt, when I first saw the pictures of how Jose Vilas was shot by the National Guard that same day. He was cowardly shot on the back with a military rifle, which was running after the dispersing crowd of a peaceful demonstration. I did not know Vilas personally, but I knew who he was. He was my wife’s co-worker and I know too many people that knew him well. His murder was never even investigated, which simply proves the cynical attitude behind even declaring the anniversary of El Caracazo as human rights day.

El Caracazo: The unseen military cover-up by Katy in Caracas Chronicles

Katy says: Yesterday was the anniversary of El Caracazo,
a day that no Venezuelan can ever forget. On February 27th, 1989,
thousands of poor people poured into the streets to protest a hike in
the prices of gas and public transportation. As the crowds grew larger,
people began looting, and pretty soon Venezuela’s major cities were
undergoing massive riots.

The rioting continued and grew worse
through the night and onto the next day, when newly-inaugurated,
democratically-elected President Carlos Andrés Pérez suspended
constitutional guarantees and installed a curfew. What happened in the
aftermath left a permanent stain on the country’s soul.

To
enforce the government’s curfew, the Venezuelan military began killing
people randomly in a desperate attempt to restore order in the country.
Estimates say that more than 1,000 Venezuelans were killed during those
days, most of them poor, many of them in their homes, while many more
are missing. Numerous bodies were found in mass graves, while some were
never recovered.

Yesterday we had a commemoration of sorts, with
the government holding an official ceremony while at the same time
vowing to end impunity. For all the grandstanding, though, the
government’s record in bringing those responsible to justice is dismal.
The inescapable fact is that after eighteen years, not a single one of
the people who murdered innocent civilians is in jail. More than a few
of them have ended up, instead, in cush revolutionary jobs.

He
has been in power for 8 of the eighteen years since el Caracazo. He has
controlled the courts for plenty long enough to put the people
responsible in jail and to implement measures to ensure abuses like
this never happen again. Voices from inside and outside Venezuela,
including respected human rights campaigner and victims’ defender
Liliana Ortega, have blasted the current administration for not doing enough to bring justice to victims’ families.

Other
criticism has come from an unlikely source: People’s Ombudsman – and
staunch Chávez supporter – Germán Mundaraín. Mr. Mundaraín came out with a report
yesterday blasting the Prosecutor General’s Office for not doing enough
to bring about justice, only to be strongly rebuffed by Prosecutor
General and former chavista Vice-President, Isaías Rodríguez. It was a
rare instance of public disagreement between two men who have always
worked in tandem to defend the government at all costs.

Why
would a government that has made the memory of February 27th so central
a part of its ideological memory fail so badly to bring those
responsible to justice? The reason is that this is a military government, and the main perpetrator of the abuses during those days was the military.

President
Chávez was a Lieutenant Coronel in the Venezuelan army when he tried to
overthrow Pérez in February of 1992. Yet Chávez did not act alone that
day: some of the officers who took part in or sympathized with the coup
are now in the President’s Cabinet, including the Interior, Defense and
Telecommunications Ministers (Secretaries) and the head of the national
tax-collecting office SENIAT. Even more are in positions of power in
official chavista bureaucracy. They are now ambassadors,
under-secretaries, superintendents, governors, mayors and even judges.

If
all these people were active in 1992, they were also active in 1989.
The fact that they remained in the military between 89 and 92 makes
them immediate suspects in the 89 massacre, since they obviously did
not disobey orders to shoot indiscriminately. And while certainly not
all of them participated, it’s safe to bet that some of them did, and
they probably either hold positions of power or are connected to
someone who does.

Take, for instance, the case of Crisanto
Maderos. Maderos was murdered during those tragic days, a crime for
which three military officers were charged: Col. Pedro Colmenares, Col.
Jesus Francisco Blanco Berroterán and Maj. Carlos Miguel Yánez
Figueredo. All three were active officers in 1992.

The trial
ended in an acquittal, with the judge arguing that the crime had
prescribed. Last July, the Chávez-appointed Supreme Tribunal upheld the
acquittal. This acquittal was unrelated to a lack of forensic evidence;
these guys got off on a technicality: a new low for chavista justice.

It turns out that Colmenares used to be
Venezuela’s military attaché in its Embassy in Washington. Colmenares
has also represented the Chávez administration in the Interamerican
Defense Board, and for a time was part of Chávez’s personal security.
Furthermore, Blanco Berroterán’s brother has recently been appointed
to a government post within the military justice system, having
previously worked as one of the directors of the Palo Verde military
jail, from which imprisoned union leader Carlos Ortega
famously escaped several months ago. Yánez Figueredo, still in active
service, is known for being part of the graduating class that controversially named Fidel Castro as its godfather. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the real reason these guys got out.

So
while we all remember the terrible days of 1989 with sadness and thirst
for justice, let’s keep one thing straight: the impunity surrounding el
Caracazo is not due to government foot dragging or to the usual delays
of a sclerotic court system. It’s the outcome of a carefully
orchestrated cover-up.

(In Spanish here)

Imagine you could walk into a bank and go to window #1 and hand over a check for 24 million Bolivars (about US$ 11,100 dollar at the official exchange rate) and know that you can come back in eight days and go to window #2 and you will get back at least Bs. 29.4 million Bolivars (about 13,600 dollars at the official rate of exchange) for a hefty 18% minimum return in one week?

This is what the Minister of Finance and Hugo Chavez call “investing” in the upcoming Bono del Sur #2, where if you request a $10,000 unit you pay Bs. 24 million like in the example, and assuming those “small” investors get 90% of their request, they can then proceed to sell the half which is composed of an Argentinian bond in US$ at 95% of its face value and sell that in the parallel market at Bs. 4,000. They can then sell the Bolivar part of the bond, the so called TICC, and take a slight 7% loss on what they paid and they also get the $1,000 they were not assigned back at the official rate.

These approximate numbers are likely to get even better, since the value of the TICC is likely to be higher and most likely if you ask for $10,000 you will get the whole bond, but those are just small details.

Thus, Venezuelans that can come up with the money, are in a frenzy these days so they can place their orders before tomorrow afternoon and enjoy the largess of the revolutionary Government to those that have money.

In fact, it can even be better. If you can find financing, offered by dozens of financial institutions,, you can even get 90% financing for eight days with only a 10% down payment and your return is actually in triple digits!!!

Isn’t that nice!!!

You see, in 2004 the Government decided to sell dollar denominated bonds in exchange for Bolivars as a way of sterilizing the excess liquidity in the monetary system. And it worked. Typically bonds would be sold such that the “implicit” value at which you were purchasing dollars would be Bs. 100 below the parallel exchange rate, which was in the range of Bs. 2,600-2,700, a 4 to 5% difference. and there were risks too, a couple of times so many dollars flooded the market that the parallel rate went down Bs. 100 and people lost money. And they knew this was possible. So there was some risk involved, that is related to calling it investing.

But starting with the first Bono del Sur, the gap has widened. And quite a lot. Today, the parallel rate stands at Bs. 4,000 to the US$ and in the example I gave above, the implicit rate of buying the dollars via the bond is about Bs. 2,700 per US$. Thus the gap has widened to 32-33%, making the play a no brainer. But, given the absence of much risk, you can’t call this an investment, it is more of a giveaway.

Moreover, the more people participate, and they have learned to have their siblings parents, cousins et al fill out the forms to multiply the profits, the more the Government has to give to these small investors, and I should say rich people for Venezuelan standards, and less to companies, which drive the parallel market. Thus, there is little risk of the parallel rate dropping. About the biggest risk is some bad news coming out of Argentina, which will lower the price of 95% for the Argentinian Boden 15, which is part of the revolutionary Bono del Sur 2 Combo.

Thus everyone is looking to put in their request and get their Bs. 5 million to buy that nice plasma TV you always wanted, a PC or another tangible asset that will not lose money in time.

Many will simply keep the dollars, bought at the cheap, in their accounts in the US or wherever. But there is one thing you can be sure of: Almost nobody will keep the Bolivar denominated bond, even if linked to the official exchange rate. It’s coupon is 5%, which means that if people pay 105 for it, it yields in Bolivars less than 5%, when inflation is running at 20%. And you can be sure nobody, absolutely nobody will keep the Argentinean part of the deal. They will sell it to the hedgies.

I guess we could call this “Mision free money for the rich”

You gotta love the silly revolution and their concept of “investment”

Denounce the hoarders by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual

Speaking about inflation, shortages and the measures announced by The Government, we heard Minister of Finance Cabezas refer to the responsibility of “previous Governments” in all of this. Has Cabezas perceived that the “previous Government” happens to be that of Chávez? If you can point someone as being responsible of the tribulations that we are living today, is to I, the Supreme, whose acts, were, on top of that, all validated by Cabezas himself from parliament

For eight full years, Chavez and his underlings have devoted themselves to sow the winds of these economic gales.

But in the same way as his colleagues before him, I, the Supreme is looking for dust in somebody else’s eyes, instead of looking at the beam him own eye has inside. Not for one moment do these Government officials consider their own faults. Faithful to their conspiratory vision of life and history, repeating the old adage of previous governments-as impotent and wrong as those of today- they have pointed to the scapegoat, that mysterious “bad guy”, with a mask over his face, who they call “speculator”

Inflation is then, blamed on small corner store owners. The only thing that this could produce as a result of this massive propaganda campaign-a Goebbelian feature for which this Government does have the copyrights to-is that some of those cheated could think of looting the small corner stores in the barrios or beyond.

The lack of effective anti-inflationary action is not casual. The reason is purely political. On the one hand, the Government is prisoner of its own fiscal excesses. It has been spending in such an exorbitant mode and acquiring and pledging such compromising obligations, that it cannot stop. Even worse, many of those expenditures that will have to be repeated each year are under the risk that medium term, the income to cover them will not be sufficient.

One of the roots of inflation is fiscal irresponsibility. The reason is purely political. The reduction of the VAT, just as an example, may lower prices but not inflation. It is not a paradox. Inflation is not the simple increase in prices, but the rhythm and speed at which it goes up. Inflation will continue to go up because for the Government a fiscally responsible policy is not part of its arsenal.

On the other hand, the exchange controls and the indefinite extension of the foreign exchange anchor, which also have a considerable inflationary potential, will also not be subjected to review because its persistence is also political. They exist because I, the Supreme uses them as a mechanism for political control. As long as Chávez is president we will have permanent exchange controls –even if they are not necessary-with its consequential and inevitable parallel market (and the corruption that the whole structure segregates) and with prices of consumption goods strongly determined by the not controlled exchange rate—black or gray, as you may like it.

All of this has a boring air of having seen it before. It is the repeat of the first CAP Government, it is Lusinchi part II.

Watch the fascist autocrat at Daniel’s blog live!

Can it be any clearer than that?

In the short span of a week, the ugly head of censorship and disregard
for the basic right of freedom of expression guaranteed by the
Venezuelan Constitution, surfaced in Venezuela, this time in two cases
covered by this blog before. First, Teodoro Petkoff’s newspaper Tal
Cual was found guilty of violating the privacy of the President’s
daughter and fined (Posts here, here and here
on this case). Then, physicist Claudio Mendoza was punished by the
Board of Directors of the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research
(IVIC) for daring to express his opinions (posts here, here and here on that topic) and refusing to back down or apologize for what was considered as “a disrespectful article” by the authorities.

But
in both cases, what we are seeing, once again, is simply an attitude
ingrained in Chavez’ Government, that they are the holders of the truth
and anyone who dares step over the line will be punished sufficiently
to induce fears in others, thus limiting freedom of expression in a
very broad way. Either you are with them, or you are punished, they
know the truth and you have to adapt to it, as easy as that.

The
case against Petkoff is quite emblematic, because in a sense, he has
been very outspoken against the Chavez Government and the quirks and
faults of the revolution. And Petkoff is unlikely to back down from the
position he has defended, because he probably still thinks that he is
somehow still untouchable, until the day he ceases to be. But the
signal to less powerful media outlets, who will not receive the attention that
Petkoff’s Tal Cual received, is very clear: Either you stay within the
bounds of what the autocracy wants or else! That message had already
sent to the broadcast media, some, like Venevision and Televen, decided
to confine and limit themselves and are thus protected, other like
RCTV, continued their fight and outspokenness and they will be punished
in May by having their license revoked. Even worse, while Chávez today claimed private property would be respected,
the Minister of Communications has clearly said that unless an
agreement is reached to buy RCTV’s equipment, it will be expropriated.
What a strange concept this Bolivarian private property is, I guess it applies to their property, but not that of their enemies.

So, it is
now time to go directly against the print media, now that the broadcast
media is under control. And the Tal Cual case clearly shows it. The
judge simply responded to a public request by Hugo Chavez. Ironically,
it was Chavez himself who violated his daughter’s privacy by telling a
nationwide TV audience how she had advised him on changing the
country’s coat of arms. This led to a humorous and very non-intrusive
piece by Laureano Marquez, which, if anything, treated Chávez’ daughter
with a certain level of endearment. This led to a fine against Tal Cual
and Marquez by a judge’s decision, which is so confusing an
unprofessional, that the Prosecutor is asking for clarification of what
it implies.

Claudio Mendoza’s case is closer than many think to
that of Tal Cual. Claudio’s opinion article in El Nacional was a
serious description of what it takes to build a nuclear bomb, but much
like Laureano’s it also used wit to point out the total disregard for
experts’ opinion that this Government has. I have covered the case
extensively, but essentially Mendoza was asked to “prove” what he was
saying and threatened with being fired, even if in the end he was only
removed from his position as Head of the Computational Physics
Laboratory at IVIC.

One could argue that holding such a position
should be a decision of the authorities of that institution and thus
Mendoza’s removal is a non-event. That is far from being the case.
First of all, being Head of a Laboratory has always been considered an
academic position and thus not subject to political or
administrative changes. But the suggestion that this was a
non-political or “normal” decision simply unravels, when the Director
of IVIC said in an interview in El Nacional
that the “punishment was soft”. Thus, it is clear that Mendoza was
“punished” for his personal opinions about the country’s disregard for
“experts” in all fields, as well as its possible nuclear intentions. This is simply censorship and there is no way to hide. Remarkably, they don’t even try!

The
first question is why was the punishment, in the end,  so “soft”? I believe
the answer lies in the fact that a large group of researchers from
IVIC, led in Claudio’s own words to Adriana Villanueva in today’s El Nacional by
“the scientific women who are braver than most”, signed a petition
questioning the investigation of Claudio’s article by IVIC’s Board and his firing would
have led to an even larger confrontation within that Institution. However, the impact of
censorship was felt even in this petition, when many refused to sign it
so as not to get into trouble. Indeed, it is not easy when you are
academically insecure, to sign a petition against the body that decides
your promotions, your tenure, your budget and who you may hire or not to work with
you.

But there was likely a second reason for the restraint in
the punishment. Venezuela has many distinguished scientists who are
well respected beyond its borders and many of them contacted
Associations and Journals abroad and, had Claudio been fired, there would have
been significant international repercussions that at least for now, the
Board of IVIC was not willing to face.

But the attitude is
there. Claudio was supposed to be “disrespectful” against his own
institution, which was curiously never mentioned in the text of his opinion piece
and much like the case of Chavez’ daughter, it was Chavez himself who
stated publicly in 2005 that Venezuela had a right to explore the use of nuclear
energy, signing cooperation agreements with Iran, who is not precisely
on the side of only peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

But it is not a
matter of disrespect as the interview with IVIC’s Director reveals. He
clearly shows his ignorance or disregard for the freedoms granted by
the 2000 Bolivarian Constitution, which unequivocally says in its Art.
57 that “all people have the right to express freely their thoughts,
their ideas or opinions in a loud voice, in writing or any other form
of expression and make use for it of any communication or broadcasting
media, without the possibility of establishing censorship”. But, in the
opinion of the Director of IVIC, handpicked by Chavez despite losing
the election to that position:

“Nobody can give an opinion
freely without having responsibility for the opinion. Freedom of speech
has limits, so do researchers…We thought he would back down, but he did
not do it. That was the drop that overflowed the glass and we did not
dissimulate it”

There you have it, as clear as water, a fascist
statement in black and white and at its best, going as far as stating
that they did not even try to fake it. Can it be any clearer than that?

The
whole thing is so ridiculous, that the IVIC Director in his own
opinion, incurs in the same “disrespect”, but this time against the
Foreign Policy of the Government he serves with such servility. He
clearly says:

“He can not say that the country is on its way to
manufacture nuclear weapons. If that is said by a physicist from a
scientific institution it is something serious and one cannot be deaf or
mute. He (Claudio) placed Venezuela together with Iran and North Korea, something that would question the country internationally”

Say
what? This statement would seem as disrespectful to Venezuela’s leader
and his foreign policy as Mendoza’s article was to IVIC. Iran and North
Korea, more the former than the latter, are considered to be good
friends of Venezuela and the autocrat and at a time that Iran is not complying with
international nuclear regulations, Venezuela and Hugo Chavez have
signed agreements with Iran on nuclear cooperation. Chavez has hosted
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at least three times in the last
two years, so that suggesting that Mendoza’s naming of Venezuela in the
same context as Iran, is as much of a “disrespectful” opinion on the
part of IVIC’s Director towards his almighty boss, as Mendoza’s charge
that Chavez interest in nuclear energy goes beyond peaceful uses is
disrespectful towards his scientific institution..

And this is
in the end the question: Why is it that Chavez revives the nuclear
question? Has he been advised that this is a priority? Or is it simply
a repeat of the Venezuelan military’s fascination with nuclear matters?
It is always the military that have wanted to promote nuclear research
and development in Venezuela. That’s how it started in the 50’s and it is
periodically revived. But the scientists have never been big promoters
of it, unless it led to some funding for esoteric use of nuclear technology. But like a boomerang, the topic is revisited periodically
whenever some military officer who thinks he knows what he is talking
about, brings it up again. And much like all members of the nuclear
club or those that aspire to be part of it, at the beginning, only
peaceful uses are mentioned or suggested as the words “sovereignty” and
“self-determination” are also thrown into the discussion.

But
the truth is that there is no valid reason today to make Nuclear
Physics or its uses a priority in Venezuela and it certainly collides
with the broad outlines of that absurd contraption called “Mision
Ciencia”. But in the back of the minds of ignorant military officers, a
nuclear weapon is the ultimate power trip, a toy to beat and replace all military toys, a sublime ego booster, a possible geopolitical catapult for the all-mighty leader.

And that in itself simply proves that Mendoza was absolutely right in what he said.

It is all part of this crazy militaristic folly called the Bolivarian revolution and that, my friends, is simply my opinion.

Because the revolution loves the people:

Venezuela spending on arms soars to world’s top ranks (NYT)