The Devil's Excrement

Just when I was feeling better about the upcoming election, the Carter Center shows up and makes a proposal to the Electoral Board to participate in the observation on Dec. 3d.

I wonder which Carter Center will show up, the one that thinks electronic voting is wonderful, like in Venezuela, or a danger, as in Florida.

On Sunday, the ad above appeared in daily Ultimas Noticias, as part of a full page ad of PDVSA “news”.

This is a
complete translation of the ad:

CITGO
ratified its announcement not to renew the contract with 7-eleven

At the beginning
of the year, CITGO, a PDVSA affiliate decided not to renew its contract for
supplying gasoline to the retail chain 7-eleven, which ended at the end of
September. This decision was announced in July.

The
contract with the referenced chain did not adapt itself to CITGO’s strategy of
placing liking the sale of gasoline with the production of its refineries,
after the sale of its stake in the Lyondell refinery located in Houston, United
States of America.

CITGO,
located in Houston,
is a refining, transportation and marketing company of fuels. Lubricants,
petrochemical products, refined waxes, asphalt and other industrial derivatives.

(Under the
CITGO sign it says: “US Company 7-eleven denied participation in the boycott
against CITGO)

Yes, it actually says that CITGO broke with 7-eleven, not the other way around.

Let’s look
at the facts:

—On July
11^th. CITGO announced that
it would no longer provide gasoline to 1,800 gas stations, saying that it will
cease supplying stations in 10 states and stop supplying some stations in 4
additional states. The reason is simple: CITGO could no longer produce
sufficient gasoline to provide all 15,100 stations in its networks and was
cutting these for geographical reasons. Curiously, this press release has now
been removed form the CITGO “on
line pressroom” (I have captured the image just in case it is manipulated
again).

—Last
week, 7-eleven announced that it would drop the CITGO gasoline name at 2,100
stations and switch them to its own branded fuel. But the two networks do not
overlap: CITGO dropped in July the stations that were
geographically related to the Lyondell refinery, a total of 1,800 stations,
while 7-eleven is dropping 2,100. Moreover, the 1,800 dropped in July were NOT all part
of the 7-eleven network. Moreover, CITGO
was very clear in July that there would be no more cuts.
In fact, the name 7-eleven was never mentioned in July. 7-eleven was part until
last week 5,300 of the more than 13,000 CITGO gas stations. The additional 2,100 stations cut are the ones
whose contract expired last week, you can be sure that next year, when the contract
expires for the remaining 3,300 of the 7-eleven chain, they will also be
dropped. This contradicts the earlier statement by CITGO that it plan no more
cuts.

—On the
boycott, the 7-eleven press release was quite political but clearly did not
call for a boycott of CITGO, since it still has 3,300 stations under the CITGO
brand which is (was?) a very good brand. The boycott is being proposed at a grassroots
levell, it has its own blog, website and website and has a life of its own. And then there is the
proposal to remove the CITGO sign in Kenmore Square, Boston,
which was declared a landmark a few years ago. Clearly, 7-eleven could not join
these movements, but
it did say in its press release :

“Certainly
Chavez’s position and statements over the past year or so didn’t tempt us to
stay with Citgo”

Or:

“Regardless
of politics, we sympathize with many Americans’ concern over derogatory
comments about our country and its leadership recently made by Venezuela’s
president,

What is
clear is that while gas is fungible, CITGO’s rash decisions may cost it its
whole network, where the CITGO brand is well established and it has a value
that may have been thrown overboard with these decisions.

Thus, the solution is
the ad above, try to hide the truth, the facts, distort reality and make
Venezuelans believe that this was the Government’s plan all along. That 7-eleven did not make this decision but CITGO, PDVSA or the autocrat himself did it. these are all lies, simply lies. In the end
it is Venezuela
and Venezuelans that lose with this, just so that the stupid revolution can have its way. But what is worse is that they try to cover up, like they do everyday, their infinite inefficiency and immense incapacity.

Goebbels
would have been very proud of them.

(Thanks XX for the CITGO inside info)

Lies By Luis Pedro España N in
El Nacional.

Normally
during an electoral campaign many lies are said. Normally, it is those that
have to defend an administration that resort to them. Either because they are
the candidate of the Government or directly because you postulate yourself for
reelection, a bad Government can only defend itself using lies and manipulations.

A few days
ago, and as part of the presidential campaign of the current Government I
received a document from the “Miranda Command of Professionals and Technicians”
dated September 16^th. a list of “achievements” where the dreams of aerospace
and satellite bases, with dated ideas of XX1st century socialism are mixed with
the dressing of numbers from the “Misiones” and some data on the macroeconomic
successes.

The six
page document contains 80 items that could be replied to at the rhythm of the
Hector Lavoe song “Mentira” (Lie). But for the purpose of this article I will only
mention the socioeconomic data presented in which, to protect my own health (laws
which control opinion are in force), I do not reject the possibility that it
may be a maneuver of the opposition, since if that is all the defense that the
Government can argue for its record, maybe it should tell the Miranda Command
(possible) author of the report that popular saying “please do not try to help
me, mate”

Let’s
start with the fallacies. The document says that general and extreme poverty
have been reduced to the levels that official spokesmen have now accustomed us
to. Without entering into the details again on the matter of measurement and
the different ways in which they reduce reality until they transform it, this
“achievement” is the result of the oil boom of the last three years, which does
not at all seem sustainable and has little to do with an increase of the
productive capacity of the national economy. In Venezuela, one thing is income and
another employment, and on the matter of employment and productivity this Government
has been a failure.

The other half truth has to do with literacy. In our country, like in
many others in Latin America, illiteracy is
the result of the delay in the massive educational exclusion of the first half
of the XXth. Century. That is why illiteracy is concentrated in older people,
mostly women and mostly in rural areas. Between 1990 and 2001 illiteracy
(before Mision Robinson) was cut in half from 11% to 6%. The great reducer of
the illiteracy rate was the mortality rate and that has continued to operate
from 2001 until today. Thus, it is quite probable that the reduction in the
rate of illiteracy and its proximity to zero can be blamed more on the natural
death of our elderly than to alphabetization achievements.

Continuing on educational matters (and now come the lies) the document
says that registration in elementary school education increased and that the
dropout rate went down. The truth is that, according to official numbers, the
number of students registered in primary schools has gone down in absolute
terms. For the school year 2000-2001 there were 666,205 students in first grade,
595,178 and 582,277 in second and third; from 2004-2005, the number registered was
47,498 fewer kids in first grade and 11,785 between second and third. The same thing happens with pre-school education. Even when the
number of six year olds continues to increase, the preschool registration
numbers continue to go down. From 431,578 registered in 2000 we have now gone
to 393,483 in 2005.

The dropout rate has increased from 3.3% in 2000 to 4.2% in
2004 and the huge drop out rate in seventh grade remains intact. This makes Venezuela
occupy one of the last places in the world in terms of educational coverage for
the middle school levels.

On the other hand the educational missions not only do not solve the problems
of school exclusion, as demonstrated by the Government’s numbers, but on top of
that they are insufficient to take care of the previous exclusion. Less than
900,000 young people are currently registered in that third rate high school
program which they call Ribas and their university inclusion has
now become of new source of frustration.

On economic matters it is pointed out as an
achievement that we now have the highest inflation rate in Latin America, that the
economic growth of the last three quarters will be sustainable if they continue
attacking private property and investment, that unemployment of 10% is at the
expense of the immense and unproductive informal economy and that the lack of
trust that provokes capital flight has only been stopped thanks to the tourniquet
that has been applied to foreign Exchange transactions.  

Last year,
the General Prosecutor accused five people
of being behind the assassination of prosecutor Danilo Anderson: Banker Nelson
Mezerhane, journalist Patricia Poleo, a retired General from Plaza Altamira, a
reporter of Cuban origin named Romani and surprisingly, an active General Jaime
Escalante in charge of the military regional command called CORE I and
reportedly very close to Chavez.

All of
these people were jailed on the basis of the testimony of a single man, the so
called �super
witness� Giovanny Vazquez, who claimed that he had been at a meeting with
all of them where the assassination was planned. Vazquez was soon discredited
as a witness when it was learned he was not a psychiatrist like he claimed, he
was an expert forger, had been a paramilitary and was actually in jail when the
Panama
meeting had supposedly taken place. For months, the Prosecutor General would not
admit any of this until a couple of months ago he admitted
Vazquez had �deceived him�.

Immediately,
the lawyers of Poleo, who is in the US and Mezerhane who was freed on his own
recognizance in December asked that the case against them be dropped, but the
prosecutor General has refused to so far, saying he has other evidence that
confirms Vazquez� testimony. This week, Mezerhane�s lawyers denounced that some
of the files in the case had been forged, prompting an investigation. But the charges
against all five accused remain in effect.

Now, as we
say in Spanish, you can be either with God or the Devil, but not with both. Of
Vazquez� testimony has been confirmed then the five people charged were
involved, if it is not then all five should be exonerated. But what I find
amazing is that this week, on Hugo
Chavez� personal orders, General Escalante was reinstated in his position,
even as the Prosecutor General continues to accuse him of being involved with
the assassination of Anderson.

President
Chavez is not only making a mockery of Justice and the Rules of Law in Venezuela, but
openly laughing and mocking those that he has put in charge of that same judicial
system.

They all had a single party by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual

The only two political offers of the candidate of continuity which are
truly new are those of his “unique party of the revolution” and his indefinite reelection.
The rest is a broken record of eight years of failure. More of the same. In the
case of the “unique party” one has to beware. It would seem to be an idea aimed
to regroup the archipelago that surrounds the continuity candidate in a single
block and, supposedly, unite it. In the “revolutionary” nest of cockroaches the
proposal has awakened mistrust, fears and suspicions. Not only in the little
ones, but even-or specially in- Chavez’ MVR, because it is thought, not without
a reason, that the whole purpose is to liquidate diversity, not to accept small
differences, internally among the supporters of the candidate of continuity,
who from now on, he thinks, he could subject his co militants to an iron
discipline, making them obey the only voice of command: his. “Commander in
Chief, tell us what to do!” this is what they expect to hear from now on. But
if among his supporters the idea is seeing with reserve, the rest of
Venezuelans have even more reasons to be concerned. The dynamics of “unique
parties” have led, in very well known historical cases, from the suppression of
debate internally within the party to the suppression of political debate at a
national scale. Once the unique organization is created, the next step was to
declare him interpreter and custodian of the interests of the Nation and deny
the right of existence to other political forces with the argument that, by
definition, they would be representatives of the “enemy”, which for our case
will be Yankee imperialism. From the “unique party of the revolution” we would
go to the “unique party of the country”, that is, to a single party in the
country. Much like it was in the former Soviet Union.
In Nazi Germany, in fascist Italy,
in Franco’s Spain and…in
Fidel’s Cuba.
Speculation? History is there and those that say, that those who do not learn
from history are condemned to repeat it, are absolutely correct.

Market forces can be very powerful indeed. As acknowledged by
president Chávez a few nights ago in an interview, his Government has
been using trial and error, looking for solutions to problems in the
last eight years and while errors and mistakes have been made, he
thinks that his Government now has the “bull by the horns”. Or so he
thinks.

The problem is that the Government seems to ignore market forces and
creates distortions on top of distortions, which ignore the basic
principles of economics and how human beings react to opportunities.
When the Government created its supermarket network Mercal, it was
supposed to be a way of delivering cheaper goods to the poor. Mercal
could obviously sell goods cheaper than anyone. It paid no custom duty,
it received all of the currency it wanted at the official rate of
exchange, it was handled by military at all levels so it only had to
pay labor for a reduced non-military workforce. Finally, it was not for
profit and thus would pay no taxes.

Later, the Government established price controls for certain
foodstuffs and they applied to a large fraction of the products sold by
Mercal. As inflation drove prices up, the Government allowed controlled
prices to increase only slowly or not at all, creating a huge
discrepancy between controlled prices and free market prices. Thus, the
Government had to start subsidizing many of these products in order to
keep prices down. For many products, it was or is impossible for local
producers to even compete with Mercal subsidized prices. This has
basically become a trap; foodstuff prices are up 19.9% since May so
that in the face of the election, the Government does not want to
approve any increase of controlled prices and has to spend more money
on subsidizing these products.

But market forces have now intervened in the form of the huge work
force of street vendors, estimated to be 300,000 in Caracas alone. They
simply go to Mercal, buy as much as they are allowed to and go and sell
the products in the streets at market prices, thus creating what we can
call “Street Vendor Arbitrage”. The differences are huge and so are the
profits of the street vendors. A kilo of powdered milk, for example,
that sells at Mercal for Bs. 4,700 (US$2.18 at the official rate of
exchange) goes for Bs. 15,000 (US$ 6.97) from the street vendors, wheat
flower, Bs. 1000 at Mercal goes for Bs. 2,500 in the streets, sugar Bs.
740 at Mercal, Bs. 3,000 in the streets and so on. Of course, you can’t
always find all the products at either Mercal or informal markets, with
sugar, milk and some vegetables being in short supply regularly.

The Government’s solution to this problem is typical: Next week a
decree will be issued prohibiting the sale of Mercal products by anyone
but Mercal vendors and the National Guard will receive instructions to
begin inspecting street vendors and allowing the guards to confiscate
the goods from anyone trying to sell Mercal products. Of course, all
this will just give more work to the National Guard, which in turn is
likely to charge a fee not to bother street vendors directly from the
vendors or the street vendors will create an early warning
communications system that will allow them to run or hide their
products anytime the National Guards comes nearby.

What’s next? Undercover cops to supervise the corruption of the National Guard? Who will supervise them?

All of a sudden we have a new and gentler Chavez, improved and ready to admit errors, because now he has the bull by the “horns” and wants to continue “trying solutions” rather than relying on experts. He gets a rabbit out of the hat saying 70% of the people think things have improved.Of course, in the end, he can’t help it and says those that oppose him are the candidates of imperialism. Maybe they are the candidate of knowledge, expertise and not simple trial and error, even if he think he is like Edison trying to innovate on social and economic matters. That analogy alone shows he has no clue.

Why the milder Chavez?.Can he be worried? He seems to admit the polls are something like Chavez 45%, Rosales/Rausseo 35%, even if he says his vote intention is above 60%. I guess he did not pay complete attention to the explanation they gave him, but there sure was one.

–Minister
of Interior and Justice Chacon hold
a press conference in Barquisimeto where he tells the “people” not believe
any “new” mermaid songs from anyone (Rosales obviously) offering to solve the
crime problem, that this needs long term plans, they did not do it on 50 years
and “ we will show the country…”

Well, is
this blah, blah, blah or what? To begin with 8 of the 50 years he talks about are Chavez’ own, during
which crime has tripled, so I don’t think Chacon or Chavez and his
administration has much to “show” or deserves another chance to show anything. Rosales
at least could say that he has only been Governor for five years and his state
occupies one of the last five places in the country in terms of the crime rate.

–And speaking
of crime, an Italian woman on her honey moon is
killed at the archipelago of “los Roques” one of the most spectacular tourist
locations in the country. Her husband is severely injured as they were violently
assaulted inside of the bed and breakfast where they were staying. The National
Guard decides not to allow any flights or boats in and out of the islands until
they find the culprits.

If this crime
is like most crimes in the country, which never get solved, some of these
tourists may be eligible to vote in the 2012 Presidential election. What happens
to tourists scheduled to leave? Those scheduled to arrive? How could the criminals
feel so safe to attack in such a small and isolated place? All of this and the tourism
fair starts this weekend at the grounds of the  La Carlota airport of Caracas.

–And how
about those funny guys
at 7-11 dropping 2,100 gas stations from the CITGO network because they did
not like what Chavez said at the UN? The spokeswoman for the company said “Regardless
of politics, we sympathize with many Americans’ concern over derogatory
comments about our country and its leadership recently made by Venezuela’s
president Hugo Chavez,”

Jeez, does
Chavez understand these are market forces at work? The problem is that PDVSA
dropped 1,800 stations in July already and it appears as if these are 2,100 new ones, since they
are defined as their “independent” network. Imagine that, having a  7-11 in your
tank! I thought the hot dogs were quite good actually. Let’ see, we are no
longer friends with the US, Peru, Mexico,
Chile
and now 7-11. Whose next, India?
Get in line, please!

Although I
may have found it too coincidental that the Prosecutor’s office brought charges
against a former officer of the investigative police on
Monday for a massacre that took place twenty years ago, maybe I should consider
it a coincidence with important symbolic consequences and Minister of Defense Baduell
should consider the implications of that case to his personal future. Maybe not
today, or next week, or in the next ten years, but his irresponsible actions
may come back to haunt him one day and may even lead to his imprisonment.

Today’s
press conference by Baduell was as confusing as it was long. You the news are
as confusing as the bits and pieces I caught of the press conference. I thought
I had heard that there were 18 military officers involved of which 8 were in
prison, while Globovision seems
to indicate that there are 34 involved in the two massacres. However, Unionradio
says that the eight in jail have nothing to do with La Paragua, while Globovision
says they are all related to that case.

It’s sort
of strange why lately all high ranking military, the best of the best that get
three stars and have been promoted to Minister are so hard to understand. Remember
Lucas Rincon, the man that said “We asked for his resignation, which he accepted”
saying the clearest words he ever said that fateful night of April 11^th.
2002 or former General and Minister of Defense Garcia Carneiro, who should have
always had an interpreter for us to understand what he said. Baduell is
similar, convoluted, barely opens his mouth as he speaks. Why is this? Is it
that Chavez picks them so that he will have no competition or reflects a new
style in Venezuela’s
now more incompetent military?

In any
case, Baduell seemed to say, in my opinion, that there are 34 members of the
military being investigated for the two cases, of which eight are in detention
and this part of a military operation that began on Thursday. This seems to be
consistent with what I heard and some
of the versions in the media.

What
Baduell has not answered iany of this:

–Why was
the National Guard kicked out of Bolivar state and replaced with the Army, isn’t
that a contradiction in terms of their functionality and roles? Was it the gold
or some more “strategic” reason?

–If
Baduell was not the liar at his press conference in Bolivar state, when he said
“The miners had an armed confrontation with the Army”, who was?

–Who told
Baduell that the helicopters never touched the ground?

–Who told
Baduell that the military personnel never shot from the air?

–Who told
Baduell there were only four dead?

–Who did
not tell Baduell that some of the dead had been shot on the back of their neck?

–Who gave
the Governor of Bolivar State, retired General Francisco Rangel his version? Was
it Baduell?

This all sounds
like a cover up, the more they speak on it, the more confusing, contradictory
and convoluted it gets.  

I think that Baduells’ political ambitions may have died this week, it may have indeed been symbolic that the old massacre was rveived this week.  Fortunately,
under the new Constitution, human rights cases never prescribe.  

Did you
know that Gral. Raul Baduell?

I will not
forget it!

Don’t forget to read in vcrisis the translation of the article The revolution in fallacies by Marino Gonzalez. Gonzalez who is a medical doctor with a Ph.D. in Public Health, blasts the Government’s health policies and uses statistics to do it, but none shocked me more than:

“According to the Government itself, the Barrio Adentro mission should
take care of 60% of the population. This implies taking care of at
least 300,000 pregnant women a year to insure adequate prenatal control
and birth without complications. In the three years of Barrio Adentro
only 2,500 births have been taken care of.”

Imagine that, while our hospitals are falling apart. What a ripoff these guys are!