The Devil's Excrement

At a seminar last week, which I was unable to attend, an economist presented some general graphs about the Venezuelan economy in 2005 and 2006. I got the presentation and reviewing it ,was surprised by a header which said that the price of one Venezuelan “Basic Food Basket” was at an all time high in US dollars. This seemed counterintuitive to me, because this should only happen at times of overvaluation of the currency, which is not the case at this time. I then decided to plot in the same graph the minimum salary (in red, scale on the left) in those same years and compare it to the average price for the Venezuelan food basket (in blue, right scale), both in US dollars. This has the advantage of being a fair comparison, as both are numbers generated by the Government and if anything the food basket is underestiamted, since the Government uses only Mercal prices to calculate it. Moreover, below classes C, people who have a job make only minimum salary

The graph is amazing. What it says is that while the minimum salary has yet to recover to the level of the year 2000, in the meantime the price of the food basket (which I think is for one person in this case, but was not defined in the presentation) has gone up by 150%. This is truly perverse, as it implies the purchasing power of those that have a salary has done terribly in the last five years.

Economists in Venezuela are mostly againt the dollarization of the economy, but when I see a graph like the one above, being an amateur economist, I can’t help but disagree. The argument against dollarization is that growth becomes harder to achieve. Well, the argument for dollarization is that people would not get screwed by irresponsible Government policies, like in the last five years (and in 1989 and 1995) when devaluations decimated the purchasing power of the common people without any compensation. If the economy were dollarized, salaries would retain their purchasing power and the availability of imported goods, which are determined in US$ by inflation abroad and not in Venezuela, would keep prices in check. Only politicians benefit from a devaluation in the end.

Not being an economist, I still find the huge increase in the price of the food basket above quite surprising. I knew that inflation in food was much higher bthan the CPI quoted by the Central Bank, but had no idea it was so bad. It also shows how ineffective price controls are as it is precisely foodstuffs which are controlled since 2003. It would seem to me that the graph says that there is too much money going after few goods which is the result of the lack of production locally, which dropped in the last few years. Any alternate explanations would be welcome.

Kudos to Chavista Deputy Earle Herrera, for having principles and the guts to state the obvious and defend the media right to publish the files on the case of the Danilo Anderson assasination. While other Chavista reporters have been wishy washy at best, Herrera, who is a Professor of Journalism sticks to his principles:

“the protection of the case files, procedural confidentiality, all of that corresponds to the offices in charge of administering Justice. If I had access to any of those documents as a journalist, I would publish them”

I guess he is now suspect as a loyal member of Chavez’ MVR which elected him to the National Assembly.

I really could care less if Cindy Sheehan is fighting the war or is agaisnt Bush, but it seems naive, disingenous and silly to come to Venezuela to speak against “militarism” at the World Social Forum, in a country run by an autocratic former military officer, coup plotter, who has over half his Government run by former or active military officers ( also see here, here and here) and is spending billions in weapons, while claiming to be fighting poverty. I mean, who does she think she is kissing?

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.

If there was ever a scene that stunned me and shamed me, was to see today the tape of the opening of the Supreme Court sessions for the Judicial year 2006 which took place two days ago. President Chavez was in attendance, the President of the Supreme Court gave a speech in which he spoke of Justice and independence. The Hall was packed with Justices and the employees of the Court. Then the session ended and the Justices in their solemn robes proceeded to show why this revolution is absolutely grotesque and immoral and why everything that was expressed during the session is as fake and empty as the revolution itself

The Justices got up and started in a chorus to sing the Chavista chant “Uh Ah Chavez no se va” (Uh Ah Chavez is not leaving)

The picture of the exact moment when this happened is shown above. I have never been so ashamed, stunned, amazed in my life. That the men who are in charge of administering Justice in my country could stoop so low, could be so servile to the man, to the so called revolution, that they could be so afraid, so scared that they would suck up to him by putting on such a unethical display of emotions is simply disgraceful. They should all resign effective immediately after that shameful show of disrespect to Justice and to all Venezuelans.

(P.S. You can read about it in Tal Cual or Noticiero Digital)

Caracas has some hidden places that make it an interesting and cosmopolitan city. One of them is the “Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas Sofía Imber”
(MACCSI) that has a remarkable collection of modern art that can be
compared to that of larger and richer cities around the world.

The newcomer is pleasantly surprised to find such an incredible congregation of excellent pieces in an artistic oasis in the middle of Caracas. The Museum was an object of pride among Venezuelans and represented what Venezuelans were able to achieve when they left politics aside and followed only a criteria of excellence and knowledge.

When such an achievement happens in an unlikely society, it is very often because someone was behind it. That someone in this case is Sofia Imber, a well known journalist and art patron that put all her soul and positive stubbornness into creating and maintaining a first class International Museum.

Sofía Imber was the Museum director for many years, and during the tenure of many governments. Four years ago, however, she was kicked out of the Museum by the Chavista government. At that time, she learned she had been fired on TV.

Two days ago we learned that the MACCSI will lose its “SI”: the government has decided to remove the name of the founder, Sofía Imber, from the official name of the Museum.

Why? Why four years after removing Sofia Imber from her post does the government decide to remove her name? Wouldn’t have been more natural to remove it four years ago? Why now? What has Sofia been doing that insulted the government so much?

Well, Sofia has been signing a letter and, in Chavez’s Venezuela, signing your name has become a risky event.

Sofia, who also happens to be jewish, signed the letter repudiating Chavez’s recent anti-semitic remarks.

As this ghost blogger reported, the letter, signed by hundreds of well known personalities, professors and intellectuals, enraged the government so much that they did not lost any time in writing an offensive attack against all that had signed in the official MCI page. The government states, among other things, that the letter is a product of a Bush campaign, that the signatories are intellectually dishonest and that they are lying to delegitimize the government of Venezuela and “justify a military intervention in the country”.

The readers can judge by themselves if any of those statements are present in the letter that was published and that I include here:

So today in Tal Cual there is an interview with Sofia Imber where she says that she was not surprised of the government move, that she had been expecting that to happen. To the question of why now, she answered that it was because she just signed the protest letter against Chavez anti-semitic remarks.

I can see that Sofia and I had the same interpretation of the events and so has PAM-CHITO from Notitarde:

To finish this ghost blogging piece, I will leave you with today’s caricature of Pedro Leon Zapata, who is another Venezuelan institution and happens to be the last signatory of the letter:

It says:

“The Museum, for the time being (*), does not have a name, but we have an alternate route (**). To Tattoo a number in its arm! ”

Jorge Arena

Distinguished Ghost Blogger

http://www.arenaspace.blogspot.com

http://chavezfortheun.blogspot.com

(*) Reference to the famous “Por ahora” used by lieutenant colonel Chavez when he appeared on TV after the failed coup of February 4, 1992.

(**) Reference to the lack of an alternative route for the viaduct that links Caracas with its port and airport and failed a few weeks ago due to neglect.

Laughing at CENSORSHIP: Left: Chavista on the left: Think about it, what future could this country have if we allo everybody to go around telling the truth. Cartoon on the right: A caricature of Dicttaor Marcos Perez Jimenez: I never liked to be at war with the media nor violate their right to inform, that is why I eliminated them.

This simply goes to show how Chavez is simply full of gas:

“Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez says the pipeline is a central part of his
efforts to reduce dependence on the United States and its pressure for
free market policies known as the Washington Consensus.

It’s “the beginning of the South American consensus,” Chavez has said. “This pipeline is vital for us.”

Roberto Smeraldi of the Friends of the Earth-Brazil said the short timetable seemed unworkable.

“A
government like Brazil’s can’t do similar studies for projects covering
(310 miles) after 10 years of discussion, and now they are going to
manage in-depth studies for a (5,000-mile) project in six months?” he
said.

The
Venezuelan leader estimated the pipeline would cost $20 billion to $25
billion, but Smeraldi said strict adherence to Brazil’s tough
environmental laws would double the cost.

Analysts
also questioned the economic wisdom of the plan, especially after
Brazil’s government-run oil company announced it would invest $18
billion to develop the country’s natural gas fields.

“Both
Brazil and Argentina have gas fields large enough to cover their own
domestic demands. I don’t see why they would like to undertake this
hugely costly project, with money they don’t have, not to mention
environment costs,” said Norman Gall, executive director of the Fernand
Braudel Institute of World Economy.”

I had to
translate and post this great quote from the Editorial in today’s Tal Cual from none other than now Vice-President
Jose Vicente Rangel, the Chief cynic of the Chavez administration. The same man
who spent his life as a reporter criticizing corruption and any attempt,
however small, to violate the right of free speech and now is completely silent
on both and has cozied up with the same military he used to blast and call the
most corrupt sector of Venezuelan society.

This was
what he said about censorship in another era, seemingly long ago, when he was
far from the power he never achieved via the ballot box, but that he is so
close to now. This is the same cynic who in April 12th. 2002 said he would go
back quietly to being a reporter. Definitely a very pitiful figure of this fake
revolution. The same man that was twice the Presidential candidate of the
Venezuelan left, the defender of the democracy, of human rights, of freedom of
speech. Today on the side of the same censorship he once blasted:

Veracity of
information

The topic is
on the table.

It is broached
systematically by the Government in a way that has to be qualified as suspicious.
Why? Because Governments whenever they treat the question of information and
when it has to do with freedom of speech, do it in an interested way. With
purposes that are not quite clear. They proclaim, constantly, that freedom of
speech is being respected, but in practice there are omissions, suspicious
pressures and manipulations of various sorts. When is it the Executive branch
that affects freedom of information? When is it the Judicial branch? When are
there connections between one and the other and when are the hostile tendencies
towards freedom of speech intertwined?

José Vicente
Rangel on July 27 th. 1997 in El Universal.

–One of
the police officials accused of the forced disappearances in Guarico state is
now a Deputy of the National Assembly and will join the Human Rights Committee
of that legislative body.

–It is
unfair to say Hugo Chavez spends money only abroad; he just approved US$ 46
million in funds to overhaul and arm the country’s submarines, which will
clearly benefit the ___________ population. (Fill in your choice)

–Funding
for maintenance of the viaduct disappeared from the national budget in 1999, Chavez’
first year in office, according to Sunday’s El Nacional.

–Unemployment
went down 2.1% to 8.9% last year, thanks to two miracles: First, not a single
Venezuelan started looking for a job for the first time in his/her life in
2005, down from some 400,000 new job seekers per year in the previous years.
Second, 228 thousand Venezuelans gave up looking for a job. Do I foresee zero
unemployment in Venezuela
in a few years?

–In the
upcoming Caribbean Baseball Series, Venezuelan teams will be discriminated
against as foreign teams will be able to advertise alcoholic drinks but the
local team will not, according to the decree published in January 6^th.
2006 in the Official Gazette. Whatever happened to Art. 21 of the Chavez-promoted
Constitution?

–While
Venezuelan banks continue to make money hand over fist, the largest state-owned
bank, Banco Industrial de Venezuela, lost BS. 12.6 billion in the second half
of 2005. Don’t worry, its Board is taking appropriate measures to reverse this,
it will open a branch in Bolivia
in the next quarter.