This entry was posted on January 20, 2010 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Venezuela.
Street Crime in Venezuela
January 20, 2010
The Devil's Excrement
Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.
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The Devil's Excrement 
October 3, 2012 at 7:45 am
[…] The following article by Javier Corrales is cross-posted from the LACEA blog. (Image from “The Devil’s Excrement” blog.) […]
January 23, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Bill Simpson,
In both Spanish and English the sovereign country sharing Venezuela’s westernmost border is called (and spelled) “Colombia”, not “Columbia”. I believe you’re confused with Washington DC (District of Columbia).
January 23, 2010 at 8:32 am
Oh the irony! In the same week that Chavez complains of US military occupation of Haiti, El Universal post photos of Venezuela military occupation of supermarket Exito!
http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/01/22/en_ing_esp_venezuelan-socialism_22A3319291.shtml
January 23, 2010 at 1:12 am
True but sometimes delusion of competency can make you do stupid things.
I doubt it will happen, but if it did, it would not surprise me.
January 22, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I don’t think either of them are in any real position to wage war against each other, to tell you the truth.
January 22, 2010 at 5:54 pm
nosebleeds in La Paz? IT’S NOT THE COCAINE
January 22, 2010 at 10:36 am
KL @simpson refers top to the tendency of strongmen using a conflict to keep themselves popular, Argentina and the Falklands. Chavez keeps on threatening neighbours, it is not out of the realm of the possible to imagine Chavez using this strategy.
January 22, 2010 at 10:35 am
KA,
You say :
@ Bill Simpson of Slidell USA: wtf are you talking about? I never thought I would say this but you have smoked yourself retarded.
Maybe,
Yet we well know that when commenters make the argument personal- by definition they have lost the argument
January 22, 2010 at 12:22 am
This el retardo presidente of yours he is a maniac no?
January 21, 2010 at 10:25 pm
@ Bill Simpson of Slidell USA: wtf are you talking about? I never thought I would say this but you have smoked yourself retarded.
January 21, 2010 at 10:05 pm
If he ever foolishly decides to try to expand his empire, as strongmen sometimes do, and attack Columbia with those Russian (and Iranian?)weapons he is buying, stay away from airports, rail yards, bridges, large factories, powerplants, dams, military bases, refineries, port facilities, and steel mills. They tend to attract bombs. Since Columbia has nearly twice the population of Venezuela, an excellent army, and a big Northern friend, I don’t think he, or his generals, would be that crazy. But drug use could change that.
He might think Brazil will send a few million of their young men to die in the jungle to help him fight the evil yankees. I just hope my supply of Brazilian orange juice doesn’t get cut off! I would dry up because I can’t stockpile it. I’m going to have to test out how it tastes after freezing.
January 21, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Well read sure, i reads but does not comprehend, a bit like Otto in a fish called Wanda 🙂
January 21, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Gweh, someone I knew at the university in Venezuela saw my email in an alumni list once and wrote to me. She turned out to be a “believer in the process”. Although I did not want to talk to her about it, she brought it up and one of the things she said, to my greatest shock, was “and he is well-read”.
I thought: if she, who is a graduate, thinks like that, we are doomed.
The bloke said once mankind was 20 to 25 centuries old (it is in Youtube).
He did the usual bachillerato de ciencias. Someone who did bachillerato de ciencias should have had several years of biology (evolution etc), universal history, art history, Venezuelan history (including Indian migrations) and several other subjects where he should have learnt about it.
This just tells us more about the average Venezuelan’s education level.
The one-eyed man leading the blind.
January 21, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Did he make a profit?
January 21, 2010 at 6:50 pm
GWEH – that’s some good shit, I like that.
January 21, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Chavez’s bio is a fucking joke. Take wikipedia… what bullshit. This guy is made out to be well read and studied… give me a fucking break. The idiot is a semi-illiterate “habla paja” who taught me at the military academy therefore I know. Chavez has the gift of gab but studied and learned he is/was not. His only management experience in life prior to becoming president was running the military concession store selling cigarettes, toothpaste and toilet paper!
January 21, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Even better, GWEH, it was published in a Seattle paper. Go figure!
January 21, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Regarding the weight, he gains and drops it… he lost around 40lbs one time in a matter of 2-3 months. I don’t know how but doubt he did it the old fashioned hard way of diet and exercise. I think he was chemically enhanced.
January 21, 2010 at 6:21 pm
yes Chavez is a leftie pitcher and that’s why he got into officers school despite failing his entrance exam. The academy needed a pitcher for their baseball team!
Regarding the cartoon, it really tells me something when a gringo editorial cartoonist gets it like this guy does… the word is out!
January 21, 2010 at 6:20 pm
A march in Caracas? How is it we learn of this in blog comments and not a campaign or any other media? Google venezuela news and all you get is socialist supermarkets, bank failures, and the fight against the real value of the bolivar fuerte. Nothing about marches. Check el universal in english- nothing about a march. Wow.
January 21, 2010 at 2:51 pm
As much as the middle class has lost.
January 21, 2010 at 2:12 pm
The cartoon is wrong.
Chavez is a leftie (southpaw)
January 21, 2010 at 1:40 pm
There’s a march? MOCK HIM. Encourage him. Belittle him, but do it sarcastically. Make sure that he knows that you are mocking him. Risky? You bet. But you (the oppo) need to stir the pot while it’s hot.
Yes, that will result in overflows – I believe that’s called ‘collateral damage’. However, if you don’t stir it, eventually it all gets burned. Choose your pain, but choose wisely.
January 21, 2010 at 12:05 pm
He’s gained some weight however lately it’s the marks on the right side of his face that are really noticeable. Probably from lack of sleep.
Hi paranoia is well documented & with the country collapsing around him his fear level must be at an all time high.
I have a lot of nervous feelings about the march on Saturday. On the one hand I hope it is the largest in Venezuelan history but on the other I worry about how he’s going to react to a massive show of opposition solidarity.
January 21, 2010 at 11:06 am
How much weight did Chavez gain since he became a president?
January 21, 2010 at 9:39 am
This has been happening for 11 years, perhaps they should redraw it with the “middle class” being much much smaller?
January 21, 2010 at 7:46 am
It is not just the future of the middle class that he wants…he wants everyones.