The Devil's Excrement

When you think you have heard it all, the Minister of Science and Technology announces that having Venezuela shift to the GMT-4.5 time zone to the GMT-4.0 time zone is a matter of “justice” to all Venezuelans. In this way, Venezuela will use a time zone that goes right through the middle of the country, rather than the current one to its East. According to Dr. Navarro this will provide Venezuelans, whether they live on the East or West of the country with the most enjoyment of daylight, which scientific studies show has an important effect on health. Moreover said Navarro, this will allow for a more rational use of time. Ugh?

Jeez, where do I begin on this? To begin with, who had so little time on his/her hands to think of this? In any case, how does changing the time zone affect how many hours of daylight someone enjoys or not? I thought in my oppositional ignorance that at 10 degrees above the equator it does not matter whether I am in Guiria on the East of Venezuela or in the Guajira on the West, if I am at 10 degrees the number of hours of daylight are the same? No? Am I missing something?

In any case, those studies look more at the effect in places where the difference between summer and winter daylight hours may change by 3 hours, while in Venezuela daylight hours change from almost nothing in the South to one hour and eight minutes when you are 10 degrees North of the Equator. Have any of these studies been made at this latitude? Does it matter given our school habits and hours?

Is the effort and cost warranted? Is the disruption in software, synchronization and reprogramming worth it? Is the time spent on it worth it? How about our banking hours versus those in other countries? Or Stock Market hours since our almost irrelevant exchange opens at the same time as the NYSE whether summer or winter?

But more importantly: Is this type of social “justice” a priority in Venezuela. Isn’t this somewhat of a luxury? Can’t the Ministry of Science spend the money used for this in solving other more pressing problems involving more relevant “justice”?

Can it be that the Government simply wants to disrupt the scheduling of Direct TV and cable programs so they start on the half hour breaking the customary “on the hour” programming as suggested by a reader?

In any case, it looks like this harebrained project will go into effect on September 17th. With it, Venezuela will become the fifth country in the world which is not in a time zone which is an integer relative to the Greenwich time zone. The others? Myanmar, Iran, India and Afghanistan.

I guess it will be easier for those flying Conviasa from Caracas to Teheran to keep tabs of the time difference without those odious half hours being involved.

Till then, talk to you wherever you are an hour later than it used to be. Or is it an hour earlier? I guess I will have to sit down and figure it out. It’s a matter of “justice”…

Happy times are here again…

happy times are here again as your favorite ghost blogger and successful tomato grower is back while Miguel is globetrotting. I must tell you though, that I am deeply hurt to know that other ghosts have been hired behind my back.

Hopefully, you all will write a letter of complaint to Miguel for allowing the access to less distinguished ghosts. We can also plot (this is only between you and me) a takeover of the blog, but for that we will need the help of the CIA and Direct TV. So please send me their telephone number so that we start preparing.

The talk of the town last week was the speech of the students at the National Assembly. I was planning to make a special post about it, but Daniel put together a spectacular post with all the details. Long, but absolutely worth reading to understand what went on. (see http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/2007/06/chavez-takes-personal-role-in-venezuela.html)

I agree with Daniel: Chavez kept almost 6 hours of total news blackout on Thursday to compensate for 10 minutes of the student’s speech.

After that, I am planning to propose Chavez as the spokeperson of Vodka Absolut with the slogan:

Absolut abuse of Power.

The other interesting news is that Alo Presidente is back to make life easier for distinguished ghosts. The latest announcement was quite special: Chavez asked those that register to the PSUV to get rid of the posessions they did not need. He said, for instance, that if you had two refrigerators, you should put one in the Plaza Bolivar…so the President has plans of transforming the Plaza Bolivar in a Home Depot.
(see http://www.eluniversal.com/2007/06/11/pol_art_chavez-exige-compart_316106A.shtml)

He underlined that the members of the new PSUV party should not live in luxury and should show that they are “real socialists”. I could not agree more. I would even suggest to Chavez to pass an internal PSUV law so that no PSUV member has a dollar account outside Venezuela….

In other news, the students kept their creative protests every day. Yesterday there was a special protest for the USB autonomy. Unfortunately, I cannot post pictures, but some good ones can be found here (http://acryforhelp.cjb.net)

Reporting from Cyberspace,
Jorge Arena
Distinguished and Favorite Ghost.

_____________________________________________

Soft coups and a new civil rights movement in Venezuela by Brunilde Sansò.

Like it or not, the Venezuelan society wanted real change when they elected Hugo Chávez in 1998. The idea was not to elect a putchist military man. What people wanted was more justice, including social justice, more security, less corruption and a better goverment.
They wanted to get rid of the traditional parties that were blamed for the pitiful state of the country and wanted a country that is incredibly rich in natural resources and human talent to be able to finally reach its full potential.

They were fooled.

On the other hand, those, like myself, that opposed Chávez from day one, knew that a military putchist is a military putchist. We knew from the begining that his was a quest for absolute and indefinite power, like all the other caudillos we had before in our history.

Unfortunately, we were right.

Under the pretense of carrying out a Revolution, Chávez has been dismantling the few institutions that Venezuela had left. He was not just responsible for the coup of 1992, he systematically took over every major institution. In fact, one could say, that Venezuela has indeed been under a constant coup d’ état since 1998.

How was that possible? It was possible, of course, because Venezuelan institutions were weak to start with. They were institutions dominated by partisan rethoric and personal interests. As a matter of fact, the weaker the institution, the easiest it was for Chávez to take over.

It was also possible because of the extreme poverty and injustice that existed in Venezuela. When one does not have the bare essentials to be able to live decently, notions such as institutionality or independence of powers and even democracy become totally irrelevant. So Chávez worked on two fronts: he attacked and took over the Venezuelan institutions while given the poor the idea that he was doing it for them. On the other hand, he started an unprecedented campaign of hate and divisionism in the Venezuelan society. Elements such as social position and race, that in a permeable and mixed society like ours were practically irrelevant, were put upfront in the political agenda and were dangerously equated with political ideology.

After almost nine years of Chavismo, the only independent institutions that remain in the country are the Universities.

Venezuelan Universities have traditionally been free, strong and autonomous. They are a social and ideological melting pot and, like in most countries,they are the origin of free thinking and individual freedoms.

It is not by chance, then, that this new civil rights movement starts as a University movement. And it is not by chance either that the next putchist attack of Hugo Chávez will be against the Universities.

Now, how is this movement different from the protests that took place in 2002 and 2003 and that, eventually, led to the 2004 Referendum?
It is different because, at that time, the reaction of the people was “anything but Chávez”. People were aware that they had made a mistake electing Hugo Chávez and their inmediate objective was to get rid of him. They almost succeeded. In fact, if it had not been for the mistakes of those that led the opposition at the time, Hugo Chávez would not be in power today. Instead, and thanks to the absence of an organized and intelligent opposition, Hugo Chávez consolidated his power.

A few weeks ago, however, with the closing of a popular Television station, Chávez went one step too far.To understand why one has to know the history of the Venezuelan people. One must remember that the idea of independence against the mighty Spanish Empire started in Venezuela. Venezuelans are not submissive people that accept easily authoritarian rules. In fact, our history is full of caudillos precisely because nobody wanted to accept the rule of another.

With the closing of RCTV Chávez, for the first time, was confronted with the will of the large majority of the people, including those that liked him. Thus, he sent the signal that he might take away other things from them.

That is why the barrios did not go down “to defend the Revolution” when the protest against the closing started.Quite the opposite, pot banging could be heard even in the poorest neighborhoods and some declared chavistas were seen participating in marches against the closing of RCTV. The protests against the measure led the goverment to his usual twisting of civil rights but, this time, Chavista divisive rethoric of rich versus poor, oligarchs and the empire did not ring any bells in the Venezuelan spirit. On the contrary, that twisting woke up a formidable adversary: university students.

So what started as a protest against a very unpopular measure ended up being a student revolt for civil rights. Now, the difference with the classical opposition movement is that the students are not fighting to remove Chávez from power, they are fighting to be able to live in Venezuela as free citizens. They are fighting for fundamental human rights that yes, exist in the Constitution, but have long been forgotten by the regime.

The students’ fight is for equality in front of the law, non-discrimination, freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom of circulation, freedom of protest, freedom of ideology. Basic human rights that the citizens of democratic countries around the world take for granted, but that are restricted in Chavista Venezuela.

Chávez has been taken aback by the protests and, in his numerous “cadenas” he has accused the students to prepare a “soft coup” organized by “the Empire” .

I personally do not think that “the Empire” is behind what went on in Venezuela these last weeks but I do not totally disagree with Chávez that this is leading to a “soft coup”. Except that I do not think of one, but many “soft coups” and that my definition of a “soft coup” is different than his. In fact, in the same way he gave coup after coup after coup to all the democratic institutions, the civil society wants to recuperate its rights and freedoms and for that, it is necessary to rebuild independent institutions and create a state with check and balances and separation of powers. A “soft coup” then would not be to remove him from power, but to make him respect the Constitutional rights and freedoms of all the Venezuelan people, regardless of their ideology. In a sense, everytime we gain back institutionality, we make the goverment respect the state of law and we regain civil rights for all the Venezuelan people, there will be a reversal of the coups that Hugo Chávez has been giving since 1998. Those are the real “soft coups” of the civil rights movement initiated by the students.

Using mathematical terminology, Chávez should not be talking about “soft coups”, but about “inverse coups”.

An inverse coup is already about to happen: after this week, it will not be that easy for Chávez to carry out the tailor made Constitutional changes that would lead to a socialist state and eternal reelection, which was indeed his last coup d’ état. So he can very well say that the students are perpetrating a “soft coup” against his inmediate plans for absolute power.

To me, in the last weeks we have witnessed the dawn of a civil rights movement that can bring two things: a hardening of Chávez’s posture and a more repressive goverment to impose the changes he wants, or the softening of his current autocratic grip and a progressive regain of civil rights and democratic awareness.

In both cases, this will eventually lead to his dismissal and to a more democratically mature Venezuelan society.

It will not happen overnight. But it will happen.

Power without limits, front-page editorial in El Nacional

In the last few minutes of this night in May and with all of the musical notes of the “Gloria al Bravo Pueblo” of the National Anthem, Radio Caracas Television goes off the air. The TV station that for more than fifty years was one of the windows through which we peeked at our country and the world, will have been silenced. Tonight a fundamental stage in the history of our country’s communications will end.

A decision by the Executive branch determined the closure of RCTV, with the argument that “the concession had expired”. Behind the legal excuse, different factors are present. Beyond the rhetoric, it happens to be an eminently political decision with fatal future implications. Those capable of disagreeing or preserving their independence will have their concessions under threat and no new ones will be given to those that do not march at the rhythm of official ideology.

The measure shows a landmark without precedents in our country: the end of pluralism, on the one hand, and on the other, the growing monopoly of the information exercised by the audiovisual media in the hands of the State. That is what the shutting down of RCTV means. According to the Constitution, Venezuela should be a State with a rule of law, which “promotes the preeminence of human rights, ethics and political pluralism”. Today that is no longer the case.

And this absolutely scary and huge hole opened up last week in the downtown area of Caracas, in the El Manicomio area near the Avila mountain. Scary no? I certainly would not like ti be living anywhere close to it!

I have a few posts backed up, I will release them over the next two days. Here is the first on poverty by the person that I believe understands the subject best in this country.

The Poverty
of his head (Really a pun on the fact that the Minister of Finance’s name is
Head in Spanish) by Luís Pedro España

Let’s
clarify at once that the title has nothing to do with what some believe to be a
type of poverty. We want to refer to what was the intervention of Rodrigo
Cabezas, Minister of Finance, at the annual meeting of the IDB in Guatemala on
March 20^th… There, the Minister of Finance pointed out that
poverty was reduced in three years from 80.1% to 39.4% and established a goal
of “zero” poverty for 2021.

These
numbers correspond to those calculated by the National Institute for Statistics
(INE). According to the last published numbers (1^st. semester 2006)
poverty was at 44.5%. Those presented by Cabezas at IDB, are supposed to refer
to preliminary numbers for the second semester of last year. Thus, for Cabezas’
count, during 2006 the rhythm of reduction of poverty in Venezuela was
almost 5 percentage points (a reduction in one semester of 250,000 poor homes!)
thus the Minister was being overly cautious with his estimates of “zero”
poverty in 14 years. At this “rhytm of winners” Dr. Cabezas, your goal should
be reached in 2011.

If
the estimates of poverty of the Minister of Finance were true, and not simply
an instrument for propaganda, then, simply, the problems of Venezuela would be
over in very little time, which would leave the Government, sociologists and
philanthropists without any other occupation than that of exporting the
Bolivarian revolution to planetary dimensions.

The
statistics of INE, those used by the Minister are not false, it is only that
the Government uses them in a false way. The point is not whether less than 40%
of the Venezuelan homes have 1.2 US$ per person per day to eat, or if they have
US$ 2.5 per day for the rest of their needs. Obviously not, because on top of
that it is not enough, one thing is the norm to interpret reality, the other to
make reality the norm. Understand, with Bs 4,000 per day, you don’t eat and
another Bs. 4,000 are not enough to live on. The reality of poverty is much
more complex that the poverty line and reducing it to this statistical
indicator, no matter how true, is a lie, is a fallacy.

The
truth is that today more than half of Venezuelans, more or less the same as ten
years ago, 57% to be exact, are dragging a deficit of capacity to forge
themselves a dignified lifestyle. With an average income of Bs. 800.000 per
month a month, there is no way for the families to compensate their immense
deficit in education, health, housing and transportation. No matter how much
family income has increased, that is not sufficient to live without stopping
being poor. If the Government tackled the problem of poverty in that maner, it
is probable that it will disappear, but only in its head.

It must be nostalgia time or something like that, last night I talked about art, my first career goal, tonight it is about science, my second. Saturn always held a special fascination in my mind, those rings were always tantalizing. These pictures from the Cassini spacecraft of Saturn are truly unbelievable, we have never been that close, even if we are still quite far. The rings, Pandora, Hyperion and Titan are simply incredible. I guess you could call it supernatural art.

–The Vice-President: “There are no shortages of foodstuffs”

Has anyone seen black beans anywhere?

—The Minister of Interior and Justice: “We will investigate hoarding of foodstuffs”

But there are no shortages.

–The Vice-President: “We will impose th Dictatorship of Democracy”

Huhh?

—The Minister of Defense: “We will be blunt with the hoarders”

But I thought there were no shoratges…

Lt. Cl. Hugo Chavez was sworn in today as the President of Venezuela for the next six years and maybe for life, as he invoked Jesus Christ “The greatest socialist in history” and a Castroait “Homeland, socialism or death”.

But in some sense, Chavez stole his own thunder with his own improvised announcements of the previous days, which shook up markets as far away as Russia and China, but in the end only affect Venezuela.

Chavez took again some pot shots at OAS Secretary Insulza, clearly delimiting the ability of any foreigner to criticize the revolution. Add to that Venezuelan conspirators that criticize his Government, all of which should be investigated according to a resolution by the National Assembly as well as Chavistas who even dare say they will not join the unique party and the autocrat defined his limited sets of friends o the revolution.

The church was also attacked, with Chavez asking how come that institution does not respect him, as he  (??) respects him, as he took a shot at Cardinal Urosa, his own preference for Cardinal a year ago and then he managed to send the Bishop of Coro to Hell, but, in his modesty, he admitted that the Bishop will await for him there.

But the rest was mostly ant-climatic. Not once did Chavez ask for dialogue or reconciliation with the opposition in Venezuela. Not once, did he announce anything that was very specific using instead silly phrases like “socialism provides stability” and “the end to all differences”, calling to an end to outrageous salaries in Government, criticizing those that make ten million Bs. a month (about US$ 5,000) per month, a development that has taken place during his tenure as President. Apparently nobody has told Chavez that Ministers make 20 million a month ($10,000), CNE Directors 25 million  (12,000) and National Assembly Deputies make Bs. 15 million ($7,500) a month. All of them also receive bonuses and perks, which easily increase their yearly pay by at least 40%. Chavez thus called for a pay scale, something that he did away with when he got to power. But he made it sound like this was a perversion of the IVth. Republic, rather than the lack of checks and balances and corruption under his own incompetent management or lack thereof.

And he went over the threat of nationalization of Monday again, simply saying that he would revert all privatizations, but without being specific. He did add that he would nationalize asphalt activities and natural gas projects, which is sort of funny, in the ironic sense of the word, for a Government that as recently as a year ago was holding auctions for these ventures.

In the end it was much like his Sunday program Alo Presidente, except it was a weekday and there was no singing or poetry. He spoke for over three hours, saying little concrete, except that he will propose his indefinite reelection, also not a new concept. He questioned the size of municipalities, suggesting community councils (??) may be more effective. He called the commercial code “capitalist” without being specific and promised that the enabling Bill will be proposed this weekend.

Thus, even those that voted for Chavez a month ago still have no clue about what they voted for, except that the autocrat himself will decide it all. The National Assembly will be silenced for a year, with salary and perks, and much like in the 2000 Enabling Bill, a week before its deadline and at an ungodly hour and without any consultation with anyone, the Government will present the Bills that will define the so called XXIst. Century Socialism, which more and more sounds like Venezuela in the 60’s, without the rule of law or checks and balances and led by a militaristic and dictatorial autocrat.

And French newspaper Le Monde rehashes a lot of what you read here regularly about the moral decay and disapearance of ethics in Venezuela, under the title : In Venezuela Long Live corruption! This reporter certainly was not fooled by the official stance on the matter of corruption. Good job!

Au Venezuela, Viva la corrupcion! by Paulo Paranagua in le Monde

Before checking out, the guests appear in the reception of the Hotel Caracas Hilton, headquarters of the supporters of president Hugo Chavez. The employee, Sergio, counts the wad of bills, so thick, that he can barely grasp them with his hand. The guests have just paid their bills in cash.

In Venezuela there is a lot of money that circulates that way, liquid. Numerous beneficiaries of the social programs of president Chávez receive subsidies in fresh money. After all, since the price of the barrel of oil rose, is it not the custom of the Chief of State to travel abroad with his valises full of petrodollars?

In Caracas, the informal economy provides precarious occupations that allow half of the active population to escape unemployment. Since four years ago Mr. Chávez has multiplied parallel budgets that combine a good part of the income of the public company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and of the reserves of the Central Bank.

Thus, FONDEN, The National Development Fund, “is a not identified financial object, an OFNI (play on the word for UFO in Spanish), a great piggy bank whose destiny depends exclusively on the President of the Republic and the Minister of Finance”, stresses a diplomat based in Caracas. And as the national budget rises to 60 billion dollars, Fonden and other similar funds have 22 billion dollars, confirms the Minister of Finance, Nelson Merentes. “Fonden does not have well-known rules nor an obligation to publish its income and expenses, emphasizes economist Fernando Vivancos. It awakens suspicions of corruption”. This opinion is shared by those that favor of Chávez. “An organization like Fonden stimulates corruption”, recognizes Eleazar Diaz Rangel, director of the newspaper Ultimas Noticias, whose editorials endorse the president of the Republic.

From the arrival of Chávez to power, official statistics and public accounts are in a mist, whereas corruption indicators have exploded. “Venezuela is among the most corrupt countries of Latin America, at the level of Paraguay, Nicaragua or Panama, reminds us Mercedes de Freitas, director of the nongovernmental organization International Transparency. Moreover, the barometer of corruption of International Transparency locates at the top in the regional ranking, just after Haiti”.

“Corruption has reached levels without precedents”, points former- – parliamentary Felipe Mujica, leader of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS, Social Democrat) that supported Chávez for his first election in 1988. “The generalization of mixing business and politics and the enrichment of government officials has generated a new elite of chavistas, notes Mujica. Corruption comes from the way Chávez governs. The execution of the budget and the Administration are no longer subject to controls. He has discretion on the use of PDVSA resources that have turned it into a black box. The reserves of the Central bank arbitrarily were put at a ceiling of 30 billion dollars; the excess, between 7 and 10 billion dollars is at the disposition of the president of the Republic”. Public spending beats records. “The laws of the market are determined by the presidency of the Republic, says with irony Argenis Martinez, vice-president of the newspaper El Nacional, emblematic of the Venezuelan press. Here, all the fortunes have their origin on oil income. The new rich people are buying sumptuous residences in Country Club. The import of cars such as BMW’s and other luxury products have gone through the roof”.

This did not start now. “Corruption was endemic before Chávez”, recognizes Social Democrat Teodoro Petkoff, ex- – guerrilla and ex- – minister, and at the moment director of the afternoon opposition paper Tal Cual. “Venezuela is Petro State – the same way as Nigeria or Saudi Arabia. But Chávez has doubled the number of ministries, which often are superposed, while at the same time multiplying the budget, outside all control. The budget of the social programs is opaque and its use is to create political allegiances”.

Corruption touches all the areas and levels of the State and all the sectors of the society. To obtain a passport costs 600,000 bolivars (240 euros). The commissions and payment-under-the-table, that the Venezuelans pudically call “surcharge”, have increased by 30%. A percentage confirmed by industrialists and which the president of their supervisory organization, Fedecamaras, Jose Luis Betancourt, “cannot deny”. “The absence of independence in the justice system and impunity, constitute a fertile land for the increase of the corruption”.

“Corruption is not a congenital characteristic to Venezuelans”, alleges Mercedes de Freitas, in charge of Transparency International in Caracas. “The problem is the weakness of the institutions. We have cooperated in the matter of prevention, with the municipalities of all political tendencies, but beyond that level the doors close. Barely 15% of public contracts are officially registered. Of them, 95% are granted without bidding, under the pretext of urgency. The possibilities of fraud and corruption are multiplied”.

The consequences directly affect oil giant PDVSA. For the first time after the oil nationalization in 1976, the public company does not publish its monthly, quarterly and annual results nor their bulletins. The minister of Energy, Rafael Ramirez, a frenetic chavista, accumulates in addition, the title of PDVSA president, which has lost, consequently, all autonomy.

According to the Central Bank, the money transferences that PDVSA declares to have made to it in 2004 and 2005, really do not correspond with what it really received. The difference reaches several billions of dollars. In Caracas, they talk about this with another modest term: “evaporation”. On the other hand, PDVSA resorts frequently, for the export of its oil, to intermediaries, who receive fabulous commissions. The absence of precision about the destiny of the exports allows cheating with the cost of the transportation of the oil. An ex- director of PDVSA, Luis Pacheco, calls all this “a party with dim lights and with quiet music”.

The Exchange control is a sort of financial manipulation. “With an official dollar at 2,150 bolivars, while one exchanges in the black market at 3,400 bolivars, it is impossible to avoid corruption”, assures Pedro Palma, ex- – president of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce. “The temptation is irresistible and gives rise to great fortunes”.

On the side of the government the answers vary. “Corruption continues to exist”, admits Minister of Finance, Merentes, that invokes the parliamentary control and the comptroller (auditor of the State). “Corruption goes back to Columbus”, responds Vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel, the main collaborator of Chávez. And he swears: “Corruption more was never reduced than it is today”.

Rangel denies the percentage of which we spoke, of 95% of contracts without bidding or 30% of surcharge. He perceives it as “fireworks by the opposition”, who would be themselves, involved in enrichment crimes. “Like the presidential candidate of the opposition, Manuel Rosales, governor of the Zulia State, a former teacher, has he also become rich? ”, Rangel asks. “Why don’t people speak of corruption of the private sector? There is much of hypocrisy in the irresponsible charges by the press”.

Chávez’ government always has maintained tense relations with the media. According to the Penal Code, “to affect the reputation of the government officials”, could cause three years of prison. In March of the 2006, journalist Ibeyise Pach
eco was condemned to nine months of prison for the supposed defamation of a colonel. In contrast, they are all still awaiting a sentence for corruption since Chavez had himself elected under the promise of battling that curse