The Devil's Excrement

From today’s El Nacional by reporter Luis Garcia Mora, it speaks for itself

A Totalitarian Scheme

Let’s not fool ourselves, dear readers.

As a well known friend and medical doctor says, when he refers to the
regime and the current moment, anyone that thinks that this is going
to stabilize and its going to produce results is wrong.

None of this is permanent.

It has been six years and the country is living a subsistence crisis,
where one can feel the continuous collapse of populist management. You
can feel it, you can touch it: the waste is beyond belief and each
Bolivar is now worth only a cent. And this in the middle of the
highest oil windfall ever. You only need to see the streets, the
cities, to appreciate the national disaster.

The missions, the Bolivarian units, attempts on the fly and through
the grassroots to redefine a new social structure in the popular
sectors where the economic asphyxia is explosive. Neither his
Government nor his party work for Chavez and the human resources and
the technicians of the Armed Forces have reached their limit of
utilization for social politics, which implies there is a fight to
establish a new relationship between the poor and the Government.

For the Venezuelan without means, there is an abyss between the
whirlpool of billions and the galloping corruption that is now
manifesting itself without even blushing, in the highest spheres of
power. And all of the their myths to get out of their hole have
exploded, which is why trapped between the orthodox path, to be honest
and work hard, and the path of crime, rip offs, illegalities, jewels,
shoes and fancy watches, there is no other option, but to join the
Government and the missions to survive. And that is where Chávez is
launching his last bet.

The machinery of Government does not work.

And once again, it is facing a phase of accelerated decomposition.

This has been a characteristic of his Government, which every once in
while goes into a phase of self-destruction. Because of its waste,
because of its ineptitude.

A state that has been going like this for six years.

Spain (to give an example) tripled its GDP in twenty years and is
living in a state of bonanza, while here what we have is cities
submerged in garbage and crime. In only two months Valencia and
Carabobo appear as if the locust had gone by.

As another doctor friend says, in six years what we are going to have
is an autolyitic crisis. That is, destruction: “A bunch of guys say
that they are rebuilding the country and saving Venezuela and what
they are doing is deepening all of its imperfections and destroying
it. And not only in the physical sense, also in the moral one. How is
it possible, my dear reader, that Anderson (the killed Prosecutor) has
gone from having his funeral in the national mausoleum to being a
crook? Where are the moral reserves? And none of Chavez’ supporters
dares to say anything.

They never end up showing the slightest capacity for self-criticism
and recomposition in front of a public opinion which just observes it
all with perplexity.

Because the conclusion you have to reach is that with this vision of a
society, success is simply not possible.

As someone says, Chávez is surrounded by a Cyclopic pressure within
the structures of the regime, which he can’t get out of, “unless he
can correct that, but if he does he will be overthrown. It is
(corruption) all over the place. Horizontally and vertically”

“And in a reality where the Bolivar does not yield much, it will
explode, because you can’t give charity to the whole country”

A collective idea has been created that we are living a folly.

The Chavista folly. Which has lasted six long years. Seemingly
infinite ones. Where each new plan is crazier than the next.

An improbable world where Ramon Martinez (Governor of Sucre) created
an airline three years ago and nobody knows where it is. The same way
nobody knows where the Trans-Antillean airline that Chávez created
with his former presidential plane is. Lots of broken projects. Where
are the vertical chicken coops? So much inconclusive and unfinished
junk. How about those entrepreneurs with the projects to make tiles?
And the river boats to connect to the Meta River? A fortune thrown
overboard. Where are the much promised harvests? The modernization of
the penitentiary system? The humanization of jails? The schools and
home for the street kids?

But above all this, the crazy birth of a new state that simultaneously
is a single party and a segregationist apartheid of the other half of
the country, which does not agree with Chávez and his six years and
his totalitarian experimentation.

A sort of fascism (or fascism). Which is escaping through the seams.
And that is asking for new political-institutional experiments, to
execute in a more effective way the acceleration, conscious and
programmed, of a totalitarian process on society and the state.

A totalitarian spirit.

Which has been expressed in all of its nakedness, first, with the
defamation case against Tulio Álvarez and Ybeyise Pacheco, which
reveals in a very transparent fashion in one single action the
criminalization of dissidence and of freedom of expression.

Afterwards, in the announcement by the new President of the Supreme
Court, Omar Mora, that he is going to act aggressively and without
losing any time to remove from the Judiciary all of those judges
“coupsters” that are anti-Chavez. A warning that connects directly
with the suspension by Luis Velázquez Alvaray, President of the
Judiciary Commission, of the three judges which revoked the
prohibition from leaving the country against 27 people charge with
civil rebellion for their part in the events of April 11th (2002),
backing Carmona.

But, above all considerations, the accusation against Patricia Poleo
by the Attorney General/Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez for the supposed
crime of obtaining and publishing confidential documents from a
judicial file.

For informing.

And that is very grave.

Because Prosecutor Rodriguez has said that ” it is not the same to
handle the confidentiality of sources of information that handling
documents that sustain that information” and that means simply that if
this nonsense is successful, investigative reporting is not only
finished here but also the exercise of pure reporting.

The right to be informed my friends.

Because the question that arises is why did the Prosecutor give that
jump that cuts down a freedom which is considered by contemporary
political thinking as one of the fundamental pillars of a pluralistic
society?

First, because there’s no democracy. Or it will die instantly the
moment that this arbitrariness is completed, this abuse, this madness.

And after it, because Rodriguez tries to escape from the truth about
Anderson. Of the extortion network that it is said had rotted his
institution. Of a dead hero of the revolution, who had amassed a
sudden fortune in which he kept, in his home alone, 1.5 billion
bolivars and six hundred thousand dollars.

Of a scandal Chavez has been unable to escape from, even threatening
to freeze relations with Colombia, nor provoking the first economic
and military power of the world.

Of a scandal that on top of that, sinks its deepest roots in the
social decomposition of the regime itself.

Because with the accusation against Patricia, Tulio, Ibeyise, Uson and
the signators of the decree, and taking into account the control the
Government has over the institutions, with the fiscal and judiciary
monopoly, what is expressing itself, dear reader, is how far the
regime is willing to go. What it is ready to do or transgress, in
order to impose its hegemony.

It could be all that is imaginable. With a clear message, to the rest
of Venezuelans, that the best thing anyone can do is not to fight with
him, not to confront him. Or what is the same, a final and definite
turn of the screws (and defining one) in this scheme of tightening and
loosening, and in which each time it loosens up, it leaves you tighter
than before, thus allowing you to live with the minimum oxygen
possible, so that you understand that the cost of fighting with him is
jail. Or bringing you to trial.

A totalitarian scheme.

From today’s El Nacional by reporter Luis Garcia Mora, it speaks for itself

A Totalitarian Scheme

Let’s not fool ourselves, dear readers.

As a well known friend and medical doctor says, when he refers to the
regime and the current moment, anyone that thinks that this is going
to stabilize and its going to produce results is wrong.

None of this is permanent.

It has been six years and the country is living a subsistence crisis,
where one can feel the continuous collapse of populist management. You
can feel it, you can touch it: the waste is beyond belief and each
Bolivar is now worth only a cent. And this in the middle of the
highest oil windfall ever. You only need to see the streets, the
cities, to appreciate the national disaster.

The missions, the Bolivarian units, attempts on the fly and through
the grassroots to redefine a new social structure in the popular
sectors where the economic asphyxia is explosive. Neither his
Government nor his party work for Chavez and the human resources and
the technicians of the Armed Forces have reached their limit of
utilization for social politics, which implies there is a fight to
establish a new relationship between the poor and the Government.

For the Venezuelan without means, there is an abyss between the
whirlpool of billions and the galloping corruption that is now
manifesting itself without even blushing, in the highest spheres of
power. And all of the their myths to get out of their hole have
exploded, which is why trapped between the orthodox path, to be honest
and work hard, and the path of crime, rip offs, illegalities, jewels,
shoes and fancy watches, there is no other option, but to join the
Government and the missions to survive. And that is where Chávez is
launching his last bet.

The machinery of Government does not work.

And once again, it is facing a phase of accelerated decomposition.

This has been a characteristic of his Government, which every once in
while goes into a phase of self-destruction. Because of its waste,
because of its ineptitude.

A state that has been going like this for six years.

Spain (to give an example) tripled its GDP in twenty years and is
living in a state of bonanza, while here what we have is cities
submerged in garbage and crime. In only two months Valencia and
Carabobo appear as if the locust had gone by.

As another doctor friend says, in six years what we are going to have
is an autolyitic crisis. That is, destruction: “A bunch of guys say
that they are rebuilding the country and saving Venezuela and what
they are doing is deepening all of its imperfections and destroying
it. And not only in the physical sense, also in the moral one. How is
it possible, my dear reader, that Anderson (the killed Prosecutor) has
gone from having his funeral in the national mausoleum to being a
crook? Where are the moral reserves? And none of Chavez’ supporters
dares to say anything.

They never end up showing the slightest capacity for self-criticism
and recomposition in front of a public opinion which just observes it
all with perplexity.

Because the conclusion you have to reach is that with this vision of a
society, success is simply not possible.

As someone says, Chávez is surrounded by a Cyclopic pressure within
the structures of the regime, which he can’t get out of, “unless he
can correct that, but if he does he will be overthrown. It is
(corruption) all over the place. Horizontally and vertically”

“And in a reality where the Bolivar does not yield much, it will
explode, because you can’t give charity to the whole country”

A collective idea has been created that we are living a folly.

The Chavista folly. Which has lasted six long years. Seemingly
infinite ones. Where each new plan is crazier than the next.

An improbable world where Ramon Martinez (Governor of Sucre) created
an airline three years ago and nobody knows where it is. The same way
nobody knows where the Trans-Antillean airline that Chávez created
with his former presidential plane is. Lots of broken projects. Where
are the vertical chicken coops? So much inconclusive and unfinished
junk. How about those entrepreneurs with the projects to make tiles?
And the river boats to connect to the Meta River? A fortune thrown
overboard. Where are the much promised harvests? The modernization of
the penitentiary system? The humanization of jails? The schools and
home for the street kids?

But above all this, the crazy birth of a new state that simultaneously
is a single party and a segregationist apartheid of the other half of
the country, which does not agree with Chávez and his six years and
his totalitarian experimentation.

A sort of fascism (or fascism). Which is escaping through the seams.
And that is asking for new political-institutional experiments, to
execute in a more effective way the acceleration, conscious and
programmed, of a totalitarian process on society and the state.

A totalitarian spirit.

Which has been expressed in all of its nakedness, first, with the
defamation case against Tulio Álvarez and Ybeyise Pacheco, which
reveals in a very transparent fashion in one single action the
criminalization of dissidence and of freedom of expression.

Afterwards, in the announcement by the new President of the Supreme
Court, Omar Mora, that he is going to act aggressively and without
losing any time to remove from the Judiciary all of those judges
“coupsters” that are anti-Chavez. A warning that connects directly
with the suspension by Luis Velázquez Alvaray, President of the
Judiciary Commission, of the three judges which revoked the
prohibition from leaving the country against 27 people charge with
civil rebellion for their part in the events of April 11th (2002),
backing Carmona.

But, above all considerations, the accusation against Patricia Poleo
by the Attorney General/Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez for the supposed
crime of obtaining and publishing confidential documents from a
judicial file.

For informing.

And that is very grave.

Because Prosecutor Rodriguez has said that ” it is not the same to
handle the confidentiality of sources of information that handling
documents that sustain that information” and that means simply that if
this nonsense is successful, investigative reporting is not only
finished here but also the exercise of pure reporting.

The right to be informed my friends.

Because the question that arises is why did the Prosecutor give that
jump that cuts down a freedom which is considered by contemporary
political thinking as one of the fundamental pillars of a pluralistic
society?

First, because there’s no democracy. Or it will die instantly the
moment that this arbitrariness is completed, this abuse, this madness.

And after it, because Rodriguez tries to escape from the truth about
Anderson. Of the extortion network that it is said had rotted his
institution. Of a dead hero of the revolution, who had amassed a
sudden fortune in which he kept, in his home alone, 1.5 billion
bolivars and six hundred thousand dollars.

Of a scandal Chavez has been unable to escape from, even threatening
to freeze relations with Colombia, nor provoking the first economic
and military power of the world.

Of a scandal that on top of that, sinks its deepest roots in the
social decomposition of the regime itself.

Because with the accusation against Patricia, Tulio, Ibeyise, Uson and
the signators of the decree, and taking into account the control the
Government has over the institutions, with the fiscal and judiciary
monopoly, what is expressing itself, dear reader, is how far the
regime is willing to go. What it is ready to do or transgress, in
order to impose its hegemony.

It could be all that is imaginable. With a clear message, to the rest
of Venezuelans, that the best thing anyone can do is not to fight with
him, not to confront him. Or what is the same, a final and definite
turn of the screws (and defining one) in this scheme of tightening and
loosening, and in which each time it loosens up, it leaves you tighter
than before, thus allowing you to live with the minimum oxygen
possible, so that you understand that the cost of fighting with him is
jail. Or bringing you to trial.

A totalitarian scheme.

Sometimes writing this blog is quite hard. Not hard because ideas do not come, the muse not providing the necessary inspiration, but exactly the opposite. The ability of this Government to top itself never ceases to amaze me and the readers of this blog. You have to wonder by what mechanism, by what labyrinthic and tortuous path, many of the people who are part of the Chavez administration arrived at their logic, their ideas and worst of all, their total lack of comprehension of what ethics and compassion are all about.

But in a larger sense, you have to worry about how easy it has been for Chavez to assemble and continuously reassemble this band of incompetent and  improvised “know it alls”, who feel that because once they took a three day seminar on a topic, they are ready to assume the highest post in that field in the country. And soon after assuming the position, they hold a press conference and with a straight face they pontificate about something they know little about, knowing that they are either lying through their teeth or are simply improvising, inventing as their tongue moves and the neurons try to catch up with the movement of that muscle.

It all becomes very bizarre and confusing, as I sit here trying to explain the unexplainable, transmit something which may seem more like a chapter of the Twilight Zone than people trying to run a country, even under a revolution.

The worst part is that they get away with it, as if there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, ready to step up to the plate if called. Much like Chavez wanting to go to Shea Stadium; pitch to Sammy Sosa, simply because he once wanted to be a ballplayer.

Unfortunately, he also wanted to be President and he got there, surrounded by thousands who once dreamt of bering driven around by a chauffer, holding a big Government position because they know they are good at something, even if they were last in their class, never graduated, never held a steady job, were bad at their professions or have never dealt with the job at hand.

Thus, we see former military officers who never rose very high in rank, become heads of intelligence, after a brief apprenticeship as a stripper, later to become head of the national training Institute and now President of the land Institute, What’s next? Who knows? Any position is game,. Being Head of PDVSA or Minister of Finance require little preparation or understanding of the subject. After all, there have been eight of them in six years.  Managing a 40,000 worker corporation is such an easy job that it is combined with Ministries. Finding a wise, balanced and honest judge is so easy that the Supreme Court is expanded from a rather large 20 Justices to 32 overnight. People with no background in Finance are named to run banks, the Ministry of Finance or implement complex exchange control systems. There is no limit, let’s start a space program to defend our sovereignty. But say it with a staright and convincing face.

When I was in science I used to jokingly say that Venezuela was a country of amateurs. I was amazed at people who called themselves scientists, but seldom published anything. I remember laughing at one of them who told me that he did not understand why he should publish regularly, what if he did not have anything important to say? But at least he had the training and once in a great while he did have something to say, even if it was not that important. I also used to laugh at planners who would attempt to explain to me how the scientific process works. But at least they had read books about it !

Nothing like that happens in the revolution. We are now a country of revolutionary amateurs, where the word revolutionary gives them license to imagine and create beyond reason or measure, how they think things should work. Don’t have money: Devalue. Need more money: Sell something. Science is good: let’s buy computers. We don’t produce enough: Expropriate land. We don’t produce enough: Import Food and sell it at cost.  Don’t like a legal decision by a judge: Remove him. Don’t like to be criticized: Jail those that do it. Don’t have an airline: Create one. Don’t like elections: Cheat in them.

The amateur revolution is so absurd that one can blog daily about bizarre statements, plans, contradictions. It is so naïve that Chavez can say for the eleventh time that he will reduce unemployment and people applaud. That every forty days the Government announces that in another forty days it will announce a solution to a problem, only to announce another announcement afterwards, forgetting about the original one.

And on days like today, there is so much absurdity that it is hard to know even where to start. Should I just stop repeating myself? Should I simply report the stupidest thing said each day? Or the most bizarre? Or the most absurd? Or the most imaginative? Or the most inconsistent one? Or the most cynical? Or the most illegal? Or the most unethical? Or the most dangerous one?

Let’s try a single statement for one second to see if it fits any of these categories as a simple (or very complex!) example: The Attorney General issued a press release this week that said:

“With the objective of providing continuity to a series of removals and reassignments within the Public Ministry, actions which are oriented to propel an institution with more integrity and honesty”

The way I read these statements is: We have a bunch of crooks and unethical prosecutors in the Ministry, thus we are getting rid and reassigning a lot of them and this does not end here, there is more to come.

Now, there have been no announcements of unethical things going on and the Attorney General’s office, an unethical prosecutor without integrity should be prosecuted and jailed, no? So, if you haven’t announced anything abnormal and what you do is the opposite with your daily defense of your office and their people, would you release this statement? Am I nuts, or is this as absurd as it sounds?

This statement actually qualifies for at least seven of the nine categories I proposed, so it seems very impractical to try make my blog so simple. Thus, I think I will continue covering the amateur revolution the way I have, even if it means dozens of daily pieces on the thousand twists, turns and faces of the amateur revolution, even if it sounds like something right out of the twilight zone. If it sounds too bizarre, humm in your head the music from that program!

Sometimes writing this blog is quite hard. Not hard because ideas do not come, the muse not providing the necessary inspiration, but exactly the opposite. The ability of this Government to top itself never ceases to amaze me and the readers of this blog. You have to wonder by what mechanism, by what labyrinthic and tortuous path, many of the people who are part of the Chavez administration arrived at their logic, their ideas and worst of all, their total lack of comprehension of what ethics and compassion are all about.

But in a larger sense, you have to worry about how easy it has been for Chavez to assemble and continuously reassemble this band of incompetent and  improvised “know it alls”, who feel that because once they took a three day seminar on a topic, they are ready to assume the highest post in that field in the country. And soon after assuming the position, they hold a press conference and with a straight face they pontificate about something they know little about, knowing that they are either lying through their teeth or are simply improvising, inventing as their tongue moves and the neurons try to catch up with the movement of that muscle.

It all becomes very bizarre and confusing, as I sit here trying to explain the unexplainable, transmit something which may seem more like a chapter of the Twilight Zone than people trying to run a country, even under a revolution.

The worst part is that they get away with it, as if there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, ready to step up to the plate if called. Much like Chavez wanting to go to Shea Stadium; pitch to Sammy Sosa, simply because he once wanted to be a ballplayer.

Unfortunately, he also wanted to be President and he got there, surrounded by thousands who once dreamt of bering driven around by a chauffer, holding a big Government position because they know they are good at something, even if they were last in their class, never graduated, never held a steady job, were bad at their professions or have never dealt with the job at hand.

Thus, we see former military officers who never rose very high in rank, become heads of intelligence, after a brief apprenticeship as a stripper, later to become head of the national training Institute and now President of the land Institute, What’s next? Who knows? Any position is game,. Being Head of PDVSA or Minister of Finance require little preparation or understanding of the subject. After all, there have been eight of them in six years.  Managing a 40,000 worker corporation is such an easy job that it is combined with Ministries. Finding a wise, balanced and honest judge is so easy that the Supreme Court is expanded from a rather large 20 Justices to 32 overnight. People with no background in Finance are named to run banks, the Ministry of Finance or implement complex exchange control systems. There is no limit, let’s start a space program to defend our sovereignty. But say it with a staright and convincing face.

When I was in science I used to jokingly say that Venezuela was a country of amateurs. I was amazed at people who called themselves scientists, but seldom published anything. I remember laughing at one of them who told me that he did not understand why he should publish regularly, what if he did not have anything important to say? But at least he had the training and once in a great while he did have something to say, even if it was not that important. I also used to laugh at planners who would attempt to explain to me how the scientific process works. But at least they had read books about it !

Nothing like that happens in the revolution. We are now a country of revolutionary amateurs, where the word revolutionary gives them license to imagine and create beyond reason or measure, how they think things should work. Don’t have money: Devalue. Need more money: Sell something. Science is good: let’s buy computers. We don’t produce enough: Expropriate land. We don’t produce enough: Import Food and sell it at cost.  Don’t like a legal decision by a judge: Remove him. Don’t like to be criticized: Jail those that do it. Don’t have an airline: Create one. Don’t like elections: Cheat in them.

The amateur revolution is so absurd that one can blog daily about bizarre statements, plans, contradictions. It is so naïve that Chavez can say for the eleventh time that he will reduce unemployment and people applaud. That every forty days the Government announces that in another forty days it will announce a solution to a problem, only to announce another announcement afterwards, forgetting about the original one.

And on days like today, there is so much absurdity that it is hard to know even where to start. Should I just stop repeating myself? Should I simply report the stupidest thing said each day? Or the most bizarre? Or the most absurd? Or the most imaginative? Or the most inconsistent one? Or the most cynical? Or the most illegal? Or the most unethical? Or the most dangerous one?

Let’s try a single statement for one second to see if it fits any of these categories as a simple (or very complex!) example: The Attorney General issued a press release this week that said:

“With the objective of providing continuity to a series of removals and reassignments within the Public Ministry, actions which are oriented to propel an institution with more integrity and honesty”

The way I read these statements is: We have a bunch of crooks and unethical prosecutors in the Ministry, thus we are getting rid and reassigning a lot of them and this does not end here, there is more to come.

Now, there have been no announcements of unethical things going on and the Attorney General’s office, an unethical prosecutor without integrity should be prosecuted and jailed, no? So, if you haven’t announced anything abnormal and what you do is the opposite with your daily defense of your office and their people, would you release this statement? Am I nuts, or is this as absurd as it sounds?

This statement actually qualifies for at least seven of the nine categories I proposed, so it seems very impractical to try make my blog so simple. Thus, I think I will continue covering the amateur revolution the way I have, even if it means dozens of daily pieces on the thousand twists, turns and faces of the amateur revolution, even if it sounds like something right out of the twilight zone. If it sounds too bizarre, humm in your head the music from that program!

Our final entrant #13: The Chavelangelo picture (Thanks Ed)

Our final entrant #13: The Chavelangelo picture (Thanks Ed)

Today, Val Prieto’s Babalu blog got written up in the Miami Herald and is getting tons of visitors, some of which have not been too friendly. Later val posted this picture, which I understand is from Porto Alegre where Chavez has been for the last few days. I blow it up on the right the image on the shirt to leave no doubt that it is that icon of the revolution and hero of the “trasnochados” Che Guevara, who at least was quite gutsy and principled. Now, the image below evokes so many thoughts in my mind that I better just shut up given the new Muzzle Law and ask you, the public, whether this is the top picture, or any of the ones below. If Chavez was trying to prove he is against the FARC, terrorism or guerrilla movements, this picture is not very delicate or diplomatic to say the least. So, which is your favorite and what would be your caption?:

Top: Number 1

Numbers two, three and four

Numbers five, six and seven

Number eight, nine, ten

Number eleven and twelve

New contributions to the contest welcome

It was a small opposition march. Between the threat of violence, the lack of permits, people being disouraged and the fact that not a single political party got involved, only  a small group by the standard of the past four years went to the march. Curiously it felt like the first march on January 23d. 2001, exactly four years ago.

While it was tense, there was no violence, at least until the point I left. It was erie, wealking down Avenida Francisco de Miranda with the Chavistas lining the sidewalks jeering at us. The pro-Chavez march had all of the resources of the state, buses, printed posters (some absurd, see below), official cars helping out and brand new t-shirts for everyone.

To me the story from within my march, was the Chavistas on the sides as the pictures below attest.

The Government wants to make a hero out of Rodrigo Granda, Chavistas had hundrreds of well designed and printed posters like the one on the top left which says: “Rodrigo Granda the Venezuelan people make you a citizen”. The second poster on the right has Granda’s picture on it. Top middle Chavistas line the sidewalk to jeer at us. Top right, in the backgroung Chavistas, in the foreground oposition marchers.

Bottom left. another Chavista group jeers at us. Middle: Opposition lady sits on the back of a truck singing the national anthem. Bottom right: Truck with signs saying they belong to the urban guerilla Tupamaro group, waits on the sidelines for the opposition march to end. Note that these guys cover their faces even when they go to the pro-Chavez marches.

The brilliant President of the Land Institute (INTI) proposed today that the Minsitry of Defense allow people in the military reserve to be armed with guns in order to ”protect rural workers and avoid the occurrence of any abuse or incident” due to the decrees issued by the Government.

As far as I understand the only “incidents” so far have been between pro-Chavez groups arguing who will keep the intervened lands. But maybe Mr. Otaiza thinks that the problems of the country can be solved by having a shootout between sides. This must be the most idiotic ides I have heard yet, but it shows the screwed up militaristic frame of mind of  Mr. Otaiza and some of his followers. The solution to incidents can not be to arm thousands of reservists all over these areas.

Top Left: Cattletonia Why Not                                             Cattleya Walkeriana Pendentive, plant has five flowers

Comparetta Falcata on the left, with another look from the side on the right, showing the elongated spur on its back.

I had not posted pictures in while. Many reasons for this, few flowers, Xmas, a horrendous cold, my dog died. But I am back! Look for regular updates.