The Devil's Excrement

-Last year the Venezuelan Government spent US$ 6.01 billion in military weapons and the military.

-Last year the Venezuelan Government claims to have spent US$ 16 billion on social programs ( We don’t know, US$ 6 billion were supposed to come from Fonden, but Fonden spent most of its funds on infrastructure projects and we really don’t know how much anyway)

-Last year the gasoline subsidy was between US$ 12 and 13 billion, a subsidy mostly to the rich who own cars. (Add to it US$ 2.2 billion in car parts imported to make cars at the official rate of exchange)

-The whim of nationalizing CANTV, EDC and taking 60% of all of the heavy crude projects will cost US$ 14.2 billion.

-48% of all Barrio Adentro modules are closed.

-Mercal has not imported food in two months.

Hugo Chavez justified his 1992 on the basis of eight or nine reasons called the “Chavez Doctrine”, not all of which I remember, but here are seven of them.

-There was too much poverty

After the oil windfall of the last few years, poverty is at the same level as when Hugo Cahvze became President.

-Carlos Andres Perez (CAP) was giving money and oil away to foreign countries.

Ditto Hugo Chavez.

-CAP traveled too much.

Nobody can beat Hugo

-The Government was corrupt.

Never have we seen the current levels of corruption under Chavez.

-CAP was the lackey of a foeign power (The US of A)

Substitute Cuba

-That the Government was yielding territory to a foreign power (Colombia)

Chavez has stopped claiming the Guyana and today’s paper says that Government wants him to drop that claim all together.

-There was no electoral way out

The election was two years away, CAP was impeached. There seems to be no way out today as Chavze asks for his indefinite reelection.

-The secret budget was being used to aid foreign politicians.

Oh well!

Apply the Chavez Doctrine today and what do you get?

Alberto Barrera, the recent winner of the Herralde literary prize, was coauthor of the book “Hugo Chavez without uniform“. In the course of researching it, he came across the fact that Chavez brought the soldiers under his command to Caracas without telling them anything about a coup attempt. Here is what he wrote today in El Nacional:

One of the most evident signs of concentration of power on a person is the yearning to turn his personal path into official history. Power also needs to invent a new memory. Transforming the past is also the task of any revolution.

I write this due because of this Sunday February 4th. It has already been said that the President hs the power to turn this day into an official holiday, on the patriotic calendar. Let it be decreed as such. Nevertheless, my memory can still remember the crude pain of that day: The soldiers the coup plotters brought to Caracas did not know why they were coming. They were no revolutionaries riding Granma trying to get to the island. They were young men that innocently followed the order of a superior. They came under a pretense.

That is to me the most important sign of that day. What, since that day, this revolution lacks. Epic and ethics.

Here is the list of decrees that were to be issued had the coup been sucesfull, according to Alberto Garrido’s book with the the man put in charge of writing them:

-Decree of detention and execution of important political and private sector leaders
-Dissolution of Congress
-Dissolution of Legislative Assemblies
-Dissolution of Supreme Court and Judicial System
-Suspension of all Privatizations
-Exchange Controls
-Expropriation of all guns

With the same cynical attitude they have towards everything else, Chavismo will celebrate today the 16th. year anniversary of the bloody coup attempt
led by Hugo Chavez, Francisco Arias Cardenas, Yoel Acosta Chirinos and
Jesus Urdaneta. On that fateful day these men led a bunch of troops
they commanded to stage a coup, without the soldiers knowing where they
were going and what the intention was. By the end of the day over 50
people, military and civilians, were dead, and 100 more were wounded.
The only military officer of the four who was unsuccessful in his
military goal was Chavez, who nevertheless was the one to show up
publicly as he was the last one to surrender, from the Military Museum
where he had spent most of the night holed up, never attacking his
military target, the Miraflores Presidential Palace.

Chavez
and his buddies were pardoned and nobody served a sentence for either
the killings or for the attempt against Venezuelan democracy and its
institutions. Chavez was the only one of the four leaders who refused
to join the democratic process, going around the country calling for
the people to revolt. In late 1997, he was convinced by Luis Miquilena,
who no longer supports him, that he could win via the ballot box and
jumped into the race.

Those are the democratic credential of
Hugo Chavez. The same man that spent last year more money on military
equipment than in most social programs. The same man that has manipulated and
cheated on elections. The same man that refuses to even talk to people
that support him, asking for unlimited enabling powers. The same man
that rules only for his supporters and not for all Venezuelans. The man
that destroyed checks and balances and the rule of law in this country.
That despite his claim to love the people has done little to improve
their lot despite the price of oil jumping six fold in his eight-year
tenure. The same man that massacred a peaceful march on April 11 2002,
an act that was planned by him in the presence of the many and for
which his own military hogh command asked him to resign. The same man
that issued a law to muzzle the media. The same man that has sworn to
close a TV station in May without a legal reason for it. The same man
that allows the most rampant corruption the country has ever seen. The
same man that wants the Constitution changed so he can be in power
indefinitely. The same man that allowed a fascist database to be
compiled with those that signed a petition against him, which is used
to discriminate, fire and persecute ordinary Venezuelans.

That
same man will celebrate today; He will even allow his buddies to
illegally wear military uniforms, in celebration of the only thing they
believe in: militarism and force. They will call that bloody day, a day
of glory and celebrate the only real coup and rebellion the country has
seen in the last 16 years, while daily calling any action by the
opposition, destabilizing, coup plotting and the like.

Yes,
this Autocrat/Dictator will celebrate today a shameful act for which he
should be in jail, with the same lack of scruples with which he and his
comrades act every day.

Claiming to be compassionate, while he destroys everyone and everything that stands on his way.

Claiming to believe in dissent, while forcing all Government workers to attend today’s celebration.

Claiming to believe in the law and the Constitution, while bypassing and violating it daily.

Claiming to be democrats, while each and every one of their acts, like the one today, proves exactly the opposite.

Claiming to believe in democracy, which they only use for their profit and personal power or gain.

And they plan to celebrate it all!

Last Sunday Hugo Chavez complained about the shrimp-farming project for which the Government had given one billion Bolivars (US$ 465,000 at the official rate of exchange) to the Mayor of Tucupita, the capital of Delta Amacuro state. Much like CAEEZ, the sugar plant in which US$ 200 million was wasted, the more we hear about this project the crazier it sounds. It reflects all of the problems of believing the state can do it all, which is even worse now that there are no checks and balances, if Chavez had not brought it up, nobody would know about it. There are hundreds of cases like this, we just don’t know about them, they are part of a style of managing, which can’t deserve any other name but “Macondo Project Managing” in honor of that fantasy place that Garcia Marquez created.

One has to wonder, what the Mayor of a city is doing building and accounting for all the steps in the construction of a shrimp farm, rather than providing services for the people of his municipality, one of the poorest and least developed of the country. But such is the folly of Chavez’ Bolivarian revolution, the belief that a state that can barely provide even the most basic services and infrastructure to its citizens, can simultaneously become manager, executor and developer of projects and companies, suing Government funds.

Yes, we could call it Macondo, but in the 1970’s it was called Corporacion Venezolana de Fomento (CVF), which in the late 80’s dissolved and scrapped over one thousand Government owned companies, all state funded and managed, and of which only a few were even self-supporting.

As we have said before “Been there, done that” and “the more things change the more they stay the same” except now they call it a revolution.

Below another account from El Nacional, about the shrimp project which speaks for itself. Note the ambitious project, the small size of the funds an how they are almost gone and very little has been accomplished:

In Tucupita the shrimp-farming project seems like a ghost project. Some inhabitants of that municipality of the state of Delta Amacuro have no idea that there is a processor of crustaceans that is being built. Others have the impression that they have heard something about the topic, but they have more doubts than certainties, about an emblematic project under execution.

The truth is that the existence of a shrimp farming facility in this area gained notoriety last Sunday, when President Hugo Chávez, in his Sunday program, protested by the supposed paralyzation of the project and complained to the Governor of that state “my good friend Ylitza Santaella”

In fact, while the inhabitants of Tucupita have a vague idea about it, the Mayor is doing all he can to account for the advances of the project. The completion of the project was supposed to be in March of this year and everything indicates that it will not be ready.

The General Director of City Hall in Tucupita, Freddy Rodriguez makes it clear that is not a specter, it is a project under construction, he states firmly: “ many factors have influenced in the delays in completing it, there is still time because the completion of the shrimp farm is scheduled for March of this year and we have not stopped working.”

Rodriguez mentions the statements given by the Mayor of Tucupita, Edgar Dominguez a week ago, in local radio stations, in which he listed the reasons for the delays.

“Initially the project was for blue langoustines, restructuring it to change it to fresh water shrimp took a couple of months”

He explained that the approved budget, of 1.9 millardos of bolivars (close to U$ 1 million) was deposited in Banco Industrial de Venezuela, which does not have a branch in Tucupita, when the Mayor expected that it would be deposited in Banfoandes, whose branch was ready to be inaugurated there. “It was three months later when the Mayor was told that the money was at the Industrial bank. Those ups and downs have carried with it the partial execution of the funds handed over”

The shrimp-farming project is divided in two stages; the first one is the construction of the processing plant with 24 artificial lagoons and the second the breeding of the product. The 1.9 billon bolivars were only for the first stage. The Mayor of Tucupita has said that so far he has invested 1.2 billion Bolivars in the infrastructure for the stocking center and in the acquisition of the refrigeration equipment and other machines for the selection and processing. “According to the expenses we could say that we have completed more than 50% of the project”

For the construction of the production center, which will comprise 24 artificial lagoons, which will be located in 100 Hectares of land in an agricultural area near Tucupita, we have 700 million Bolivars in the bank. But other factors have had an influence, adds Rodriguez: “ The Mayor has said clearly that we have had problems obtaining the permits from the Ministry of the Environment and add to that, that part of the land was invaded and we had to negotiate, without mentioning the rains at the end of 2006. All of this has delayed the completion of the project”

Dominguez is in Caracas to meet with representatives of the Executive branch. On Wednesday he handed over a report on the case to the Comptroller and he will ask for an extension until the completion of the project.

A characteristic billboard of the Bolivarian Government says: “New cooperative Orinoco Najoro Project”. This is what identifies the construction of the shrimp-processing farm

On the billboard they offer “shrimp and agricultural products from the Orinoco delta for Venezuela and the world”, but it does not say who is in charge of the project.

Within the limits where what will become the processing plant is located, there is an old and deteriorated house, which as explained by Jairo Pinto, one of the workers, will be for the offices. On one side there is a metallic structure of approximately 30 meters by 15 meters, according to Pinto’s calculations, who counted with his steps the dimensions of the place. “The coolers will be here, this space is for deposits” and thus he continued the visit while he ended each phrase with “supposedly”

Pinto started working for the project six months ago. “At that time the metallic structure of the building was already in place and only the floor was missing” the worker remembers.

The Secretary General of City Hall mentions that there are delays in the shrimp project, but it all has an explanation.

You have t take into account the mishap we have had in finishing the project, that is why we will request more time. Today the eyes are all on the shrimp farm of Tucupita, but in Delta Amacuro State there are five projects that were begun, all have been stopped without finishing them”, he concludes.

Two days ago the Deputies of the National Assembly simply gave up their jobs and their own mandate in order to enable Hugo Chavez to rule by decree for an unheard of period of 18 months in areas that not even the Deputies knew about in detail the day they voted on it. It was indeed a sad day for democracy and freedom in Venezuela.

There is no justification for this. Neither for Chavez to rule by decree, when his party has absolute control of the National Assembly, nor for him to get an Enabling Law like the one he has received. Enabling Bills have traditionally been given to Presidents so that they can initiate their Presidential terms with some degree of flexibility to impose their views on where the country should go in quick fashion and allow them to give priority to the main areas they want to impact strongly. Hugo Chavez has not only been in power for eight years, but he already has total control of the political system, so that the Enabling Bill seems largely unnecessary, least of all for such a long period of time.

Moreover, never in the country’s history was an Enabling Bill approved without specifying the Laws that were covered by it. What was approved this week gives Chavez too much power to change things at will and is in clear violation of the 2000 Constitution, as the new Laws will be approved without any consultation with anyone. Only the President and those at the top will know what will be in them and only the Organic Bills will have go to the Supreme Court, to be checked for Constitutional consistency.

One has to question what are Hugo Chavez’s intentions with these maneuvers. Throughout the discussions in the Assembly, a text of the Bill was discussed and approved which was not the one that was eventually approved in Plaza Bolivar on Wednesday. The whole affair was so secretive that the Deputies of the Assembly actually approved the Enabling Bill on Tuesday, without even having the text for it or knowing what would be in it. The text is an expanded version of the Hidden Enabling Bill published here, which shows that this is an autocratic Government, which does not discuss anything with anyone. But some fools still think this is a democracy.

The Bill defines such broad areas that almost any initiative, however absurd, could be approved within it, with absolutely no checks and balances. This is the anti-democracy, have an elected body yield legislative power to a man elected by the people, who never told the people that he would either do this or what would be included in it. In fact, we don’t know yet and might not know what the plan is until 18 months from now, when the final Bills are all decreed.

Think about it. A President is elected under the banner of XXIst. Century Socialism, that even Hugo Chavez claims is still an undefined concept. He then asks an elected body of 163 National Assembly Deputies, that they give up all their power to allow him to legislate in very broad areas of the social, political and economic structure of the country and allow him to do so, without telling them why, how or what he plans to include in it. Even worse, without the possibility of anyone at any stage questioning or debating it, except for the case of Organic Bills, which the Supreme Court will have to approve for Constitutional consistency. (But Chavez will in any case change the Constitution during the period!).

Let’s look at just two articles to give you an idea of the level of absolute dictatorial power to legislate given to the President and how much damage the lack of discussions on these Bills could have for the country for years to come:

—In the financial and tax sector, the Enabling Bill gives Chavez power to legislate on:

“Regulations that will deepen or adapt the financial system, both public or private to the (unknown!) Constitutional principles and as a consequence, modernize the regulatory framework in the monetary, banking, insurance and tax sectors”

Think about what this does NOT apply to. Chavez can change the Central Bank Law, the Banking Laws, the Insurance Laws and the Tax laws and we have heard the announcement that he plans to completly overhaul the commercial code, which regulates all commercial transactions. Of course, we have not heard why he wants to do it; just that it is “old” and has not been changed in a while. We do know that he wants to eliminate the independence of the Central Bank, which given how dependent it has been in the last few years, makes you wonder if they will simply disappear international reserves altogether or eliminate the only economic statistics which can still largely be trusted.

The financial sky is the limit…

–In the area of territorial organization Chavez will be able to legislate on:

“To issue regulations that will establish a new distribution and occupation of sub national spaces, in order to establish a new regionalization of the country to optimize the action of the State and which regulate the creation of establishments of communities in the national territory, which stimulate endogenous development.”

What this means is that Chavez will reorder how the country is run and organized at the State and municipal level in anyway he wants and can redraw, yes redraw the States, municipalities and its borders, locations an the like. Think about the fact that this means he can now make Zulia state, where he is not as popular, as small as he wants by biting chunks of the state off at will and adding them to other states. Similarly he can redraw every electoral district in the country to guarantee that his party will not lose his “hegemony”, using one of Chavez’ favorite words, in elections to come. We have heard little about this proposal, except that Chavez thinks we should do away with Governors and Mayors, allowing local communal councils to make all decisions. This means removing all possible sources of political power which may give rise to alternative political ideas and leaders.

Of course, Chavez never mentioned any of this during his campaign and the details are still quite fuzzy, but we are led to believe that the voters knew this and cast the ballot so that Chavez could do all this, even if today they still have no clue what it will mean or how to evaluate it. Even worse, in classic dictatorial style, this will not be discussed, argued about, defended or justified, we will wake up one morning and will be participated the how, who, where and when of all of it. And none of it will be subject to change improvement, complaint or modification. The Autocrat/Dictator would have ruled and some fools will stay claim Venezuela is a democracy because there was an election in December.

In eighteen months, Venezuela will be whatever goes through Hugo Chavez’ mind (or Fidel’s!) in the upcoming months. This bodes badly for the country as he will invent, improvise and create a monster, which will likely destroy this country much in the way it has been damaged both economically and politically for the last eight years.

It was indeed a dark day for Venezuela when the Enabling Bill was approved nd the Deputies that allowed this should never be forgiven for it. And those that still claim this is a democracy should simply be ashamed of themselves.

(Version en español aqui)

When I first heard that inflation for January was “only” 2%, which annualized would become 30%, I was very suspicious as it was not very consistent with my personal experience in the last four weeks. But then I read that the category “Food and Beverages” had an increase of 4% (60% annualized!, 29.2% since May 2006 and 31.1% in the last 12 months) and it seemed consistent. Remember this is “official” inflation which includes items like sugar, black beans and powdered milk which can’t be found anywhere at regulated prices. Recall that the 20+% inflation in this category last year was blamed by the previous Minister of Finance on “seasonal” shortages of onions and tomatoes.