(Very appropriate to this post, given Chavez’ mouth:”The revolution is carried in the heart, not in the mouth to live off it! Che Guevara)
As I travel, I can’t help but find it hilarious how Chavez talks too much and his Vice-President denies less than a couple of hours later what he said. I mean, these guys still think nobody is watching them as they try to pull this silly doublespeak. I don’t think even hardcore Chavistas don’t see through this farce.
Because Chavez clearly said that he would take the hotels and the empty buildings of the rich, who would not go to Higuerote or Rio Chico right now. Even worse, Chavez gave the wrong diagnose. He claimed that the rich live in the upper parts and the poor in the lower parts because the rich could afford it. Nothing close the truth. Most of this coastal towns have been inhabited for long before the “rich” tourists came. And the locals always preferred to be in the low areas near the water, where their main livelihood, fishing, was. Thus as usual, Chavez is twisting the truth to fit his distorted ideas. In fact, in many of these coastal areas the farms were in the upper part and the workers still lived in the lowe lying areas where the towns have always been.
But no sooner had Hugo said this, that people started going towards Higuerote to defend their property and the Vice-President Elias Jaua, came out and denied that Chavez had said anything of the sort.Said the VP:
“We want to stop speculations…President Chavez did not order that apartments or houses be occupied”
No, Elias, he did not say that he said:
“We are going totake over the abandoned buildings of the rich, we are going to take them over”. Because, said Chavez, while those affected by the floods are in “smelly and dirty water, the buildings of the “rich” are in the best areas, where there is not even a puddle”
And to make sure nobody misunderstands what he meant by “abandoned”, he had said right before that statement: “Right now, I am sure the rich, because they see the “people” flooded” are not going to come here, they are going to go to Europe, or they are going to go to Miami, who knows where they are going to spend Christmas”
So, this was just another chapter of the Chavez and Jaua show, Jaua cleaning up the mess behind the brilliant ideas of the President. That’s all he really does in the end, clean up after the mess left by the big boss.
The floods began one month ago and today, the Chavez Government seems as unprepared to deal with them as the first day.
The Devil's Excrement 
December 8, 2010 at 6:15 am
What these guys offer in reality is the All Time’s Ultimate in Opression.
They have to be masters of dissembling and denying. Like many other before them, had they told the truth of what they were about, they would have not lasted the year out.
It’s not like that, one day you wake up and find that you cannot move without “travel papers” in your own country or that you need permission to get out.
December 7, 2010 at 11:00 pm
As long as there bolivars to be taken from someone’s savings the socialist leaches will continue to suck the life out of Venezuela.
This is the way it has been with every attempt at forced economics everywhere. When North Korea went communist the wealth of the whole dwindled, while the non-communist South Korea has the fastest internet on the planet and 20 times the GDP. 75 years ago they were the same people, with the same resources, and the same wealth.
December 7, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I’m torn on the issue of housing damnificados in private housing. On the one hand, it is reminiscent of British measures during the Blitz, when large country estates were impounded to house bombed out refugees and returned after hostilities. However, the British would’ve probably done that without being told to by their government and even if they were forced to, the Crown would have compensated them. On the other hand, being obligated to hand over your house and expecting the socialist govt to actually reimburse you for the damages that will surely result is simply ludicrous. The govt basically was caught with its pants down. After essentially propping Nicaragua, Bolivia, Manuel Zelaya and other countries, there’s no money to be had, so the burden which should be borne by the govt is instead placed on private citizens simply because they happen to have spare rooms. Why does Venezuela continue to put this guy in Miraflores?
December 7, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Well since socialism always seemed to cause decades of droughts for the Soviet Union and now Zimbabwe, I guess you can go ahead and say capitalism causes rain.
haha
December 7, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Off topic.
If you read Spanish a must read today is the VenPiramides column on the financial health of PDVSA.
http://venepiramides.blogspot.com/
December 7, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Just saw this in the news-
“At the Ireland’s boom’s zenith in 2007, 93,000 new homes were thrown up in a single year in a country of 4.5 million people.”
That would be like Venezuela, with a population of over 22 million, building over 400,000 homes in a year. Chavez has built at most 12,000 homes in one year. Tell me again how 21st Century socialismo is going to help Venezuela.
December 7, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Island,
Agree 100%!
December 7, 2010 at 10:34 am
No hay nada mas peligroso que un ignorante con iniciativa, and if you add absolute power… you have Chavez
Also, Jaua is one of the most radical robolucionarios that the government has, so its telling that he has to “correct” his boss.
December 7, 2010 at 10:25 am
“He is going to ruin this country in order to eliminate the middle class.
It’s now too late to stop the process & today’s Venezuelans don’t have the balls to do anything about it anyway.”
Island 100% agree.
December 7, 2010 at 6:58 am
the video of this article, is in pudreval:
http://www.pudreval.com/2010/12/chavez-en-higuerote-habla-de-tomar.html
December 7, 2010 at 6:04 am
Before Jaua there was JVR who did the same thing – every Monday after Alo Presidente he would “correct” what el bobo had said the previous day. Nothing new.
The real Chavez has appeared. He is going to ruin this country in order to eliminate the middle class.
It’s now too late to stop the process & today’s Venezuelans don’t have the balls to do anything about it anyway.
December 7, 2010 at 5:18 am
I have friends who have been going to Higuerote to help people since the floods started. They own property/businesses there, and would certainly fall under ‘escualidos’ by Hugo’s definition.
Am I the only one who finds it a bit sad that so many more are willing to risk the flooded highway to Barlovento only when their vacation apartments are threatened? As unprepared as the government is,I can’t help but think Chavez will once again seize this opportunity to sow more discord among Venezuelans…
December 7, 2010 at 5:15 am
No, they abandoned that premise. The new premise is that the rains were caused by the US, specifically the HAARP program.
December 6, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I guess they aren’t still claiming drought is causing the blackouts?
lol
December 6, 2010 at 10:54 pm
240 tanks of gas
8 cases of Coca Cola
60 arepas
two bottles of Scotch
December 6, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Exactly what can you buy with 1,223 bolivars?