If anyone had any doubts that Diosdado Cabello is the de facto successor, the recent water wars between Chavismo and the Governor of Monagas state, José Gregorio Briceño, whose nickname is “The Cat”. You see, the central Government and PDVSA have tried their utmost at covering up their incompetence in handling the big oil spill into a Monagas river. You see that river is the one that provides the city of Maturin with water and the citizens have put up with no water since the Feb. 4th. oil spill, a true disaster for Chavez’ PSUV on an electoral year.
Thus, the central Government has been pushing for the water to be turned on, but Briceño has refused to allow water to be pumped, because it believes that it is still highly contaminated. But Briceño’s true sin, was to suggest that this is just an attempt to get rid of him as Governor and that heir apparent Cabello is behind the whole thing. And no sooner that you could say Godgiven, Briceño was kicked out by Diosdado and Chavez said from Cuba he agreed with the idea.
Briceño was never true rojo-rojito. He was more of an independent, but so popular, that Chavismo knew that they would lose the Governorship if they did not ask him to be the candidate for PSUV, instead of his party which is colorfully called “Mi Gato”.
But Chavismo is worried about leaders jumping ship at this delicate juncture and could not tolerate dissent.
By now, even the Minister of the Environment, who had treated Briceño well, has joined the attack, suggesting that either Briceño turns on the water or the central Government will expropriate the Monagas water system. The mode continues to be one of denial, nothing much happened, it’s all fake, and just another opposition plot to make the Government look bad.
You have to give it to the opposition, imagine how hard it must have been to paint the kids dark in the picture above to manipulate the news.
Politically, all that matters to Chavismo is the Presidential election in October. While “El Gato” was important before, they can get rid of him and send the signal that dissent will not be allowed. And if express dissent, Diosdado, the heir apparent, will deal with you.
These cat and water fights are getting very interesting…
The Devil's Excrement 
March 16, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Maturin is the place that alot of the oil that makes the money that feeds the corrupt petrostate comes from. Also it is the key support center for Cerro Negro and the heavy oil project there. These folks have been getting screwed since Chavez took over. I remember them bitching about shit in the streets from the clogged sewer lines. Then roads falling apart. Chavez has never returned One Centavo to the state to compensate for the wear and tear on the roads destroyed by heavy trucking never mind enviromental issues. What gets me is why the Monagas people still support Chavez where as the people in PTO. Ordaz have been on the brink of revolt almost from the start. For me they are both great people and not like those on the coast. We will see.
March 16, 2012 at 8:34 pm
The fat man is back in Venezuela. Visiting from Cuba.
March 16, 2012 at 12:20 pm
http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2012/03/15/alberto-franceschi-la-apuesta-de-diosdado/
I hope you find this interesting. I did.
And, this one.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/14/2693960/irans-stealth-financial-partners.html
By the way- has Mr. Capriles mentioned dropping out of ALBA?
March 15, 2012 at 8:49 pm
They just want to expropriate everything. Isn’t there any Constitutional safeguards in Venezuela any more?
Yes, I jest.
March 15, 2012 at 10:07 pm
You can not use Constitutional and safeguards in the same sentence, it is forbidden.
March 16, 2012 at 9:51 am
Not forbidden – but an oxymoron. The Constitution doesn’t exist to safeguard anything. Chavez, and chavistas, may cite it to protect their position, but not even then is it truly what is providing any sort of safeguard. There is a higher authority. Really, there are many that are higher than the Constitution (yet one above all, of course).
March 15, 2012 at 1:29 pm
“If anyone had any doubts that Diosdado Cabello is the de facto successor, .. ‘
Yes, maybe,….perhaps. History teaches us, however, that most authoritarian figures choose a member of the family as successor. Cabello is most definetely, …not. I would suggest that a desginated successor to Chavez will most likely be chosen ‘prior’ to the radiation treatments Hugo will undergo beginning next week. Were it to be Cabello, you can bet that Adan will be watching him closely, the real power behind the throne. Furthermore, it is without doubt that Hugo Chavez will definetely not have the same physical appearance after the radiation treatments. His robust cheeks will be gone. The weight will drop from his bones. He will look emaciated. There will be no steroids to give him an energetic appearance. It will be a game changer. The time to choose a successor should be made before this new shocking image, not after. Next week should be fascinating….
March 15, 2012 at 2:34 pm
agree on the game changer, next week. should reveal plenty, plenty.
March 15, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Mi personal feeling is that Adan has an order of magnitude less charisma than Diosdado, is pro-Cuba and has never been nice to the military, thus he is not an option.
March 15, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Pro-Cuban is now a liability?
Do tell, at length.. I want to read this.
🙂
March 15, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I reply to myself only because a possible change in the Vz-Cuba connection (less cash) might have a huge effect of US-Cuba relations.
And yes, I hope it does.
March 15, 2012 at 12:51 pm
OT: Its time to remind El Pueblo about El Presidente y su familia.
Can this and the dozens like it be distributed in the next few months?
March 15, 2012 at 12:32 pm
This will hurt Chavez deeply.
If nothing else it shows his complete lack of concern for the “pueblo”.
Power is all that matters.
Diosdado has no hope of ever winning an election.
You have to go a long way to find a more unlikable person.
On a side note HCR is attacking today this very issue with some very strong comments.
Some of them are here:
http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=222329
“El candidato presidencial aseguró que el Gobierno Nacional no pudo con el tema del agua. “No pudieron, no han podido, pero cuando usted no puede ¿qué hacer? llama a alguien para que ayude, a quien sea. Prefieren que el problema siga antes de llamar a alguien para resolver el problema”, cuestionó Capriles.”
En referencia a la suspensión del gobernador de Monagas, José Gregorio Briceño de las filas del Psuv, aseguró que “no está esperando que boten a alguien para ir a recogerlo” e indicó que para algunos es “más importante la militante partidista que el país”
March 16, 2012 at 11:25 am
“Diosdado has no hope of ever winning an election.”
You are assuming that there will be an election. If a clear winner emerges from the Bolivarian inter-mural we are seeing, I see no reason for them not to simply dispense with the democratic fig-leaf of elections.
March 16, 2012 at 12:03 pm
I think you are right, Roy. If Chavez cannot continue, the opportunity to
delay or cancel until later the election may be presented.
That would place a sort of “iterim goverment” in power for a few months
that would try to carry on chavismo. After a few months, Cabello may pull
an auto coup of sorts and sieze power..
So many rumors are flying around-example-that gold is being smuggled to
Cuba (and China)…Looks like if worst comes to past for Chavez-much or all of his family will be leaving Venezuela…
March 16, 2012 at 3:09 pm
As soon as that gold left the foreign reserve storage facilities, you just had to know it was lost forever to Venezuela…
March 15, 2012 at 11:07 am
Henry Ibsen wrote “An Enemy of the People” in 1882.
The actor playing the character of Dr. Thomas Stockmann is “The cat Briceño”..
Nobody took a look at that play at the PSUV.
¿How can you pump contaminated water?
Besides the moral and health issues from the point of view of pubic opinion and getting votes it is really something incredible that they are managing the issue this way.
I think that is a very very gross mistake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Enemy_of_the_People
March 16, 2012 at 9:55 am
I was not familiar with that play. The parallels are numerous, and rather disturbing when we see life imitate art, through sheer ignorance. Not just ignorance of Ibsen’s work, of course, but of simply how to handle this disaster, or better yet, prevent it in the first place.
March 15, 2012 at 10:31 am
The Monagas oil spill gives new meaning to “Ahora el petróleo es nuestro.” Literalmente, ¡Hasta en la sopa!