The Devil's Excrement

So, while there was no Alo Presidente
because the autocrat had a cold, Chavez had the time to call up a
program sponsored by his political party PSUV on the official TV
channel VTV to blast the church and once again suggest that the media
has invented a campaign to make it look as if there are shortages of
foodstuffs in the country.

Demonstrating the
despicable style that has characterized him, Chavez criticized former
Cardinal Castillo Lara, showing his disrespect towards an honorable
Venezuelan even in death. The Government failed to even note the passing
of this distinguished Venezuelan who held the highest positions in the
Vatican hierarchy. But instead of praising this, Chavez recalled “how
wrong” the Cardinal had been in his latter years.

And
then he went on onto the “mediatic campaign” to make it appear as if
there are food shortages in the country. But let’s review the evidence:

—Datanalisis
polls supermarkets and markets and find that many products are not even
available in half of them. The most absent? Milk, present in only 25%
of them.

—The Government holds a Megamercal,
a huge market where you can get controlled products and people show up
at six in the morning to see if they can get some milk. According to
pro-Government newspaper Ultimas Noticias (by subscription) people were
complaining that they show up at 6 AM and have to stand in line until
noon, because there are lines both outside and inside the market. At
the end, when you finally get to the head of the line you can buy a
limited amount of stuff: one kilo of milk, 2 kilos of sugar and two
chickens.

—And speaking of “mediatic
campaigns”, the Minister of Feeding, Rafael Oropeza, reiterated that
there is plenty of milk (!!!), despite the “worldwide seasonal
shortage” of the product. I guess my poll the other day about the
availability of milk where the readers are must have been in a
different “season”.
 \u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Meanwhile, my sources report that despite his cold, Chavez went to Cuba again today, probably to get some advise from Castro on what material to use in making the new Che Guevara monument to replace the one shattered by bullets in Pico El Aguila. Meanwhile, the National Assembly approves some more of the articles proposed y Chavez, some of the ones sneaked in three weeks ago and why not, some new ones, because form is certainly more\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>important than substance in the robolution.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>And speaking of substance, the subway was on strike this afternoon which has not been reported by the media in this country with total free press, as \u003ca href\u003d\”http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid\u003d68543\” target\u003d\”_blank\” onclick\u003d\”return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\”\>a transportation strike is set to start at midnight\u003c/a\> and university students \u003ca href\u003d\”http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid\u003d68593\” target\u003d\”_blank\” onclick\u003d\”return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\”\>warn\u003c/a\> that they will not be stopped from either joining the main protest in Caracas tomorrow or reaching the National Assembly or else, \u003ca href\u003d\”http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid\u003d68453&clave\u003da%3A1%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A11%3A%22estudiantes%22%3B%7D\” target\u003d\”_blank\” onclick\u003d\”return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\”\>as pro-Chavez students say\u003c/a\> they will “wait for them at the Assembly”. \u003c/div\>\u003c/div\>”,0]
);

//–>

Meanwhile,
my sources report that despite his cold, Chavez went to Cuba again
today, probably to get some advise from Castro on what material to use
in making the new Che Guevara monument to replace the one shattered by
bullets in Pico El Aguila. Meanwhile, the National Assembly approves
some more of the articles proposed y Chavez, some of the ones sneaked
in three weeks ago and why not, some new ones, because form is
certainly more important than substance in the robolution.

And
speaking of substance, the subway was on strike this afternoon which
has not been reported by the media in this country with total free
press, as a transportation strike is set to start at midnight and university students warn
that they will not be stopped from either joining the main protest in
Caracas tomorrow or reaching the National Assembly or else, as pro-Chavez students say they will “wait for them at the Assembly”.