The hats are all new, some don’t even know how to hold their guns, but these peasant militias are another sign that Venezuela is well in its road backwards into the XIXth. Century
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 
April 14, 2010 at 11:58 am
[…] we had the rally in El Calvario with the “Peasant Militias”. The militias attended in brand new uniforms and Cogollo […]
February 23, 2010 at 11:50 am
The Cuban doctors would jump ship until Citgo has no more assets they can get their hands on, or do you think Chavez would pay a US court for this?
February 23, 2010 at 11:07 am
If these doctors were treated inhumanely and deserve to get paid from PDVSA, then what about the rest of the 11 million Cubans on the island?Have they not been treated inhumanely? Where are they going to get their millions from, after they dry up CITGO to pay for the seven doctors?
February 23, 2010 at 8:42 am
“all Cubans sent overseas to many, many countries are all slaves?”
Address Venezuela, please. Bringing in other countries only muddies the issue, though I have no doubt that was your intent.
“Perhaps one could say the same about US military personnel sent to Iraq?”
Or perhaps not. They sign up knowing the possibilities, and their services are never bartered for a set quantity of oil. Blackwater? More muddying, especially as they don’t work directly for the government.
The differences between your examples and the Cubans are fundamentally two things. One, the Cubans were sent in direct exchange, via barter, for a commodity, by a government (i.e., a not-for-profit entity, not a private company). (And even if you are right, the share of the income they receive speaks volumes about labor-management relations in that career!) Second, and more important, the folks in Iraq can leave, or never go. Oh, there are consequences, but they know what they are and can make the choice by weighing the alternatives. Many of the Cubans simply have no choice. I’d sure love to hear the story from those in the court case for how they got out of Venezuela. Or think about all the Cuban athletes who defect, and how difficult it is for them to escape. Soldiers in Iraq do not escape. Shouldn’t take much insight to realize that it takes a very meaningful difference for that word to apply.
“I remember the opposition saying that the Cuban doctors were much better paid than Venezuelan doctors”
As someone said around here (hmmm, who was that?) has said, “Please give a link to these sources so that we can all be correctly informed. Thank you.” 🙂
“It certainly will not help the opposition get back into power”
And there it is – who is in power is more important to you than human rights. Whoever is surprised, please raise your hand. Anyone?
February 23, 2010 at 5:37 am
No herrings here, Arturo, red or otherwise.
“This court case will not go anywhere since it could set a precedent whioch would be very uncomfortable for many governments to face.”
A couple of years ago, Cuba was accused of the same tricks in the “leasing” of personnel to a shipyard in Curacao. Infrahuman conditions, wage sequestration, threats against family members in Cuba and other “progressive” labor policies landed the Cuban company that ran the show (company, government, when talking of Cuba es la misma vaina) in court, where they promptly lost a case that accused them of the same thing, slavery.
Asi que por ahi no te metas, porque nunca le vas a llegar al mingo, Arturo.
Are you suggesting that Cuban “doctors” are mercenaries in a war zone? I think you let your slip show here. You just re-confirmed what we all know, we are being invaded.
What is certain is that more and more, the rate at which Venezuela is being used as a placed from which escape from the gulag is increasing. Hence the guarding and restriction of movement of the slave.
February 22, 2010 at 7:48 pm
The USA does not permit family members to travel with the soldiers overseas here so the soldiers will be sure to return home. Otherwise, of course, they would be defecting to Cuba.
February 22, 2010 at 5:06 pm
[…] Peasant Militias in the “peaceful” revolution of Hugo Chavez […]
February 22, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Do Venezuelans owe these Cubans because Chavez decided to barter them? How many Cubans (thousands?) are now going to cash their millions claiming to be treated like “slaves”?
February 22, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Moctavio wrote: “Venezuela paid Cuba a fixed amount per doctor, but the Doctor only received a fraction of that.”
In this scanario, which is standard for bass-ackwards communist and socialist regimes, you basically have a pimp – prostitute dynamic, where the pimp (the socialist state) skims off most of the proffit from the prostitute (the doctor, in this case).
The fundamantal falsehood with socialism is that it rtraqnscends the profit motive. In actual fact, socialism says that the iidividual has no right or a limited to profit from the “pueblo,” while at the same time, pimping the pueblo – or our oil respurces – by whatever means possible to squeeze a Bolivare out of them. Because the Cuban doctors are paid a ludicrous rate ($200 a month – is this actually true??), and are given no option but rather are assigned to the Ven. bario, thjey qualify as indentured laborers- i.e., slaves.
If Arturo wants to defend the above as the noble face of socialism, I have a few relatives up in the states that will send Arturo a plane ticket, and he cn go work at an undisclosed job for makie it $400 dollars a month, doing social charity work, and he can report back to us how noble it all feels.
We hear all kinds of guff aabout the Cuban invasion cha cha cha but it sounds to me like they hardly have it suave.
Juancho
February 22, 2010 at 2:53 pm
By this “theory” all Cubans sent overseas to many, many countries are all slaves? This is more than ridiculous. Perhaps one could say the same about US military personnel sent to Iraq? Many would not choose to go and be in harms way.
I would also guess that Blackwater mercenaries do not receive all the funds per capita which the Blackwater organization receives? They will receive a fraction just as Cuban personnel do..
I remember the opposition saying that the Cuban doctors were much better paid than Venezuelan doctors working in Barrio Adentro. So is that still the case or have the Cubans always been “slaves” when sent abroad, for example to Angola during the 1980’s or the dozens of countries where Cuban doctors still work. You’re going to have many countries accused of slavery on this basis.
This court case will not go anywhere since it could set a precedent whioch would be very uncomfortable for many governments to face.
Look at the big picture. If you want to argue that the Cubans in Venezuela are slaves then could not the same be said about US and European military personnel sent to otehr countries when they would prefer to stay on a base in Germany for example?
This whole spiel about the Cubans is another red herring which, as usual, will go nowhere.
It certainly will not help the opposition get back into power in Venezuela.
February 22, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Arturo, you’re still, as canuck noted, avoiding the subject. The issue is not whether or not the handful of folks in the U.S. will get a favorably decision or sizeable judgment, but whether or not the thousands of Cubans are truly slaves, given that many are resident against their will in Venezuela, and all of them were bartered for oil. The lawsuit is relevant in this conversation not for its relative merits in the court, but because some of those Cubans who escaped have called their situation slavery.
But like I said, I didn’t expect any more of you than to dodge. It’s easy to look the other way when you like the slave-masters, isn’t it?
February 22, 2010 at 2:10 pm
And again Arturo skillfully avoids the subject at hand – the slavery of the Cubans in Venezuela
February 22, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Of course this trial is in the Empire’s courts.
Do you think that for 1 minute that this case would be allowed in a Venezuelan or Cuban court. LOL!
There is no way that the guilty parties, the Cuban & Venezuelan governments, can deny that this is taking place.
How can Chavez rail for 11 years over the mistreatment of the pueblo by the oligarchs & then do this to Cuban citizens. This is something the oppo groups need to start publicizing.
February 22, 2010 at 2:03 pm
I doubt if this accusation will be admissible in the US. Such accusations have to be heard by national courts first of all and then taken to a higher instance – such as the Human Rights Convention in the OAS. Thus yet another media play by El Universal.
Roberto is right in the first part of his comment.
February 22, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Guys, c’mon give Arturito a break!
We are all aware that the trial will take place in the Empire’s courts, and we all know what the sentence is going to be.
You know Arturo, this may be your chance to get hitched on that bandwagon! Get some money, travel, etc. You can always claim you were tied to the keyboard or something.
February 22, 2010 at 1:44 pm
To solve this the Cuban government should deny their citizenship.
February 22, 2010 at 11:51 am
Nice find, Canuck: “el convenio de los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela constituye una flagrante confabulación comparable al comercio de esclavos en la América colonial”.
See, Arturo? It isn’t just our opinion. But go right ahead and keep denying, and dodging. We wouldn’t expect any more of you.
February 22, 2010 at 10:57 am
OT:
It had to happen. Arturo, explain this one away.
“Siete médicos cubanos demandan a Cuba y Venezuela por “esclavitud moderna””
7 Cuban doctors sue Cuba & Venezuela for “Modern Slavery”
http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/02/22/pol_ava_siete-medicos-cubano_22A3468577.shtml
February 22, 2010 at 10:53 am
“UnChristiana Amanpour’s job seems to be to report whatever tyrant/dictator being covered wants to hear.”
I thought the Salem witches trial had ended in the USA.
And Amanpour does not defend the US interests or what? Geez…
She is not my flavour, but I don’t think she’s a portparole for dictators.
I like freedom of speech. Do you want a media outlet that only lets
people speak who agree with you?
February 22, 2010 at 10:50 am
OT:
A couple of threads ago I mentioned that I suspected that rationing of electricity was no longer necessary in Margarita.
This was confirmed today by Sol de Margarita where it was announced that 4% of Margarita’s power generation is being sent to estado Sucre & we will continue with rationing even though there is sufficient generation to supply all our needs.
http://www.elsoldemargarita.com.ve/Noticias.aspx?NoticiaId=53275&SeccionId=1
It just pisses me off to sit for 2 hours in the dark when it’s totally unnecessary all because of the total incompetence of this government
February 22, 2010 at 8:39 am
If you look at the photos closely on the noticias24 site, you’ll find that none of the rifles are loaded, the magazines are missing. Guess the government didn’t trust these folks to have loaded weapons around chavez. My guess is they handed these out just for the photo op and the guns were then returned to the armory.
February 22, 2010 at 6:48 am
Arturo, you forgot to respond:
http://devilsexcrement.com/2010/02/17/new-york-times-the-rise-and-fall-of-venezuelas-financial-bolibourgeois-elite/#comment-5548
February 22, 2010 at 2:50 am
UnChristiana Amanpour’s job seems to be to report whatever tyrant/dictator being covered wants to hear.
February 22, 2010 at 12:17 am
And now the electric shortage is caused by opposition sabotage according to Hugo http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_energy_crisis who next Martians? Just admit it… You and your cronies spent the money for new power generation elsewhere!
February 21, 2010 at 11:35 pm
remember “amimal farm” by george orwell,,,,, the sheep bleat ” four legs good,,,, two legs bad” until the pigs start walking on two legs,,,,
February 21, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Arturo: Isn’t that you in the top picture fourth from the top, fifth from the left?
February 21, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Mega, the ambassador has his hands in the oil till. Most oil deals with the gringos involve him. The resent deal with Chevron involved him.
February 21, 2010 at 5:35 pm
this is right up there with North Korean PR imagery… most of those people in no shape or condition to manage heavy old rifles in combat. Who’s the enemy?
February 21, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Anyone interested in seeing all of the militia photos, go to
http://noticias24.com/
You have to wonder just what he’s paying these folks. I refuse to believe that the majority of these people would fire on another citizen.
February 21, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Its a great strategy, keep them dumb, make sure they dont learn anything, keep them servile and dependent, keep themChavistas forever
February 21, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I did not forget anything
and remember:
Inflation is a monetary phenomenon
February 21, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Kudos to Leopoldo Lopez in Amanpour’s CNN program for being so elocuent in briefly describing current situation in Venezuela
February 21, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Venecuba?
What happened to “el honor es nuestra divisa”? (“honor is our ideal”, the military moto before Chavez). It was then changed to “patria socialismo o muerte”, but in reality, their “divisa” (“ideal”, but could also be translated literally as “currency”) is lots of $$$ being paid to keep their mouth shut and not say anything about cuban # 3 in chain of command Ramiro Valdez being put right above all venezuelan military.
February 21, 2010 at 2:08 pm
El esbirro Bernardo Alvarez saying right now in Christiana Amanpour’s CNN special that Venezuela “is doing quite well”. They really have balls to come on tv and issue opinions like that. Of course, his main job is to be 100% in-line with the regime and even more important, advertise the regime in a good light abroad as much as possible.
February 21, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Arturo,
Those blokes should be learning how to solve an equation, set up an electric circuit, understand anatomy, promote ecology, do some accounting, whatever. No, the shitty misiones are not doing that.
No wonder Hugo took Venezuela out of independent evaluation programmes on primary and secondary education…he prefers to announce people are moving forward than prove it.
They are just Hugo’s pawns, his Majesty’s Pretorial Guard. Grow up, man.
Roger,
Excellent video and so sad! I will snatch it in a couple of days and put it in my blog with some comments if it is fine. It is important as many people as possible find out about it.
I have been there, I have seen how things have deteriorated
all the time. It hurts.
February 21, 2010 at 1:14 pm
What you forgot to mention is that Chávez said yesterday that the militias form part of the FANB.
February 21, 2010 at 12:14 pm
there is no overview picture doubt there many people there just the usual show. Speaking of poison in the Orinoco and such here is a good report on gold mining there http://www.vbs.tv/watch/vbs-news/el-dorado
February 21, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Gibson, when the oil money runs out the country will rediscover farming, manufacturing, ranching and tourism. Sadly it’ll be years until that happens, there’s so damn much poison in the Orincco…..
February 21, 2010 at 11:31 am
VENECUBA, One nation (The ECONOMIST 11 Feb 2010)
http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15501911
SAD 😦
February 21, 2010 at 10:41 am
what a nation of silly silly people….when the oil money runs out and they cant buy food from other countries watch them turn on each other then