(I stay in Venezuela because I am an optimist)
So, Chavez will not be going to Cuba, just in case Colombia attacks. Funny thing is that I have yet to hear Colombia mobilizing anything to the border, in contrast to “you know who” who mobilized and is ready to cut off oil supplies to the US if Colombia attacks.
And funny man Rafael Ramirez tells us from Havana, that he will follow orders.
Well, two questions: One, could he say he would not follow orders and stay in his job? Two: What the hell is he doing in Havana?
Seriously, with so many problems here, why is Ramirez in Cuba? PDVSA’s oil production is going down, food shows up rotten everywhere, there are National Assembly elections in September and everyone wants to get rid of him, and he spends the weekend in Cuba?
And pardon me Rafael, but you know a lot about producing less oil, a suprise would be that you are ready to increase production, not lower it, you do that routinely.
And in a not so routine action, after intervening the trout farm in Merida, the Government took a gigantic step and regulated the price of octopus at Bs. 15 per kilo. that’s Bs. 6.8 per kilo, which nobody knows how much it is in foreign currency, because octopus is not on the accountant’s list, so its hard to tell whether you should divide by Bs. 2.6, Bs. 4.3, Bs. 5.3 (SITME) or the mystery price nobody wants to talk about. Paul the octopus who predicted Spain would win the world soccer cup was not worried, he has no way of figuring out if this endangers him or not.
But really, how much octopus do people eat in the LLanos? Go figure. I guess if you want to control inflation you have to go all the way down to micromanage octopus prices. Funny, I would have thought squid was more important. It’s tastier…
But it is not clear who sets priorities.
Take the TSJ (Supreme Court) for example. Despite Art. 28th. of the Constitution which says you should have access to all information of relevance, the Supreme Court , says: “On, no, but not our salaries” and even if you don’t want to know our salaries, you have to say why you want the information and how you plan to use it. Imagine something like this:
“I want PDVAL to give me data about imports and all invoices, so that I can prove so and so is corrupt and paid so and so commissions to so and so, denounce him in front of the Comproller and make him go to jail”
Sure guys, wait for lines to form filling out the forms. By the way, is it true Supreme Court Judges make four times Chavez’ salary?I don’t want to know, just wondering.
And in another weird episode of this Bolibanarian democracy, the Peoples’ Ombudsman threatened those (The people!) that denounce false things with jail. The case was that of some neighbors that denounced that the water in the Pao-Caniche dam in Carabobo was not adequate. Her office went and checked and found it fine, which then it meant that that whole thing was politically motivated.
I wonder what she thinks about Chavez saying that Colombia may invade us? This is the third or fourth time Chavez has said this was going to happen. When does it become false? Don’t people get edgy when Chavez says this? What’s the difference? After all, Chavez has privileged information, but it takes a certain level of expertise to know if water quality is good or not.
Oh, well. Just wondering. This revolution is really very confusing.
Ask Paul the octopus if you don’t believe me!
The Devil's Excrement 
July 26, 2010 at 7:15 pm
For an unprepared Venezuelan Army, one thousand soldiers is indeed a mobilization:
http://www.eluniversal.com/2010/07/26/pol_ava_refuerzan-vigilancia_26A4251811.shtml
JAU: The pictures are supposed to impact you as much as the words, that’s the idea.
July 26, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Miguel,
What a creepy photo of the guerrilla bastard saying “yo me quedo en vzla porque yo soy optimista” which is probably the nicest song out of venezuela in a long time
Creepy creepy
July 26, 2010 at 5:34 pm
OT:
Our friend and wonderful film maker, Oliver Stone, reached new levels of stupidity.
Oliver Stone: ‘Jewish-Dominated Media’ Prevents Hitler from Being Portrayed ‘in Context’
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/alana-goodman/2010/07/25/oliver-stone-jewish-dominated-media-prevents-hitler-being-portrayed-c
Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times today, claiming that America’s focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the “Jewish domination of the media.”
The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the “powerful lobby” of Jews in America.
July 26, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Roy, you are wrong, these guys drink 18 year old scotch. Remember that drinking Polar is for scualidus apatridas. They love Venezuela and accordingly drink scotch.
July 26, 2010 at 11:29 am
As near as I have been able to tell, an order to “Mamimum Alert” means that the unit commanders send a couple of privates to the bodegón to stock up on beer and ice.
July 26, 2010 at 10:02 am
On the positive side, Chavez is finally started to regulate arms sales.
July 26, 2010 at 9:52 am
Well I for one am glad that octopus prices are now regulated.
Now I will be able to afford my favorite arepa: Pulpo con Caraota Negra!
Oh, wait, can’t find caraotas or Harina Pan in the stores……..
July 26, 2010 at 9:49 am
I don’t have to choose. He is both a liar and an irresponsible. Besides, he doesn’t have cojones.
July 26, 2010 at 9:37 am
If Chavez don’t go to Cuba because he is afraid of attack from Colombia, but not move troops or even don’t raise an alert, He is an irresponsible. Or a liar. You choose.
July 26, 2010 at 9:09 am
Miguel, you said that Chavez “mobilized”? No, except the crowd in the stadium. Not a word to the soldiers in the barracks, no trucks on the highways? He didn’t even say he would move troops around, just cut off oil. Reminds me of this useless bunch:
http://www.butiamaliberal.com/2009/02/nyu-kimmel-occupation-ends.html
July 26, 2010 at 8:55 am
What was Ramirez doing in Cuba? Pues obedeciendo cual foca, what else!!
July 26, 2010 at 8:13 am
I agree 100% with Gringo, The importance of this blog is to kept a history and interpretation of the sad Chavez’s era, and more important, for the time previous to Chavez. After all, Chavez is the instrument created by Venezuelans and politics before him (Caldera), was created also by the devils excrement. The history of Venezuela should be different without oil.
Another topics,
As some theorist physics participate in this blog I will propose a calculation.
How much is the CCM of Chavez? (Crazy Critical Mass). I am waiting if he reaches or has some limit.
July 26, 2010 at 3:25 am
Miguel,
There is a very interesting article in Spiegel about Cuba
(in German, one can use Google language tools to get a bit of it:
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,706783,00.html#ref=top
)
Coffee production fell 90% (they don’t say since when)
Vice-director of CEEC (Centro de Estudios de Economía Cubana or something like that) says the government is desperately looking for funds with China, Russia and Venezuela.
They mentioned some relatively recent “temporary” confiscations of foreign companies (Delatrade, for instance, working with medicine) as one of the reasons why foreign companies are weary.
Cuba has a debt of 20 billion dollars, which is a lot considering what it produces.
Today, according to OFFICIAL numbers, productivity is at 48% of what it was in 1989.
They had the worst year for sugar production due to weather conditions.
The article says that Cubans are now hoping for European help just because of the liberation of the 52 prisoners.
I would hope Europe forces Cuba to make radical changes, to allow open, fair, multi-party elections. Either that or no money.
In this sense: the PDVSA man is in Cuba to negotiate more help for Cubans.
July 26, 2010 at 2:51 am
For all the years I have been reading about Thugo, it never ceases to amaze me that practically every day there are new absurdities. Can you top this? Well, yes. Wait a day or two. Wait a week. Or, it may be topped today.
Miguel’s blog and others will serve as resources when the time comes to chronicle this sad era.
July 25, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Chavez could be in power in ten years, or not.
July 25, 2010 at 11:27 pm
On this blog or many others, there are no discussions on a post Chavez, and the future of Venezuela. So I’d like to put in my two cents worth. Post Chavez, Colombia is the second power after Brazil, with access to the Pacific an the Atlantic, Colombia can take advantage of the continued growth of China, and the other Tiger economies, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, become, satellites of Colombia, she finally becomes the Grand Colombia.
All thanks to Hugo Chavez, the only question is how long will it take?
I give it ten years, I could be off by a few years but Colombia is growing at 4% with this worlds bad economy, when growth picks up, it could clime to 8% Oil production is expected to be one Million barrels a day next year (thanks to EX-PDVSA employees) courtesy of Chavez, Colombia has sourced most of its Venezuelan exports to China and Ecuador,(thereby diversifying and strengthening its export prowess) and Venezuela’s market will be waiting for them when Chavez goes.