The Devil's Excrement

Just a note to explain that I had not understood quite well the implications of the case against Tulio Alvarez. It turns put that when Alvarez went to the Supreme Court to request that William Lara’s immunity be removed, he was not acting on his own behalf. Instead, he had been hired by the workers of the National Assembly who claim Bs. 2 billion in their funds had disappeared from the contributions the Assembly makes to their savings plan, when Lara was President. Only Bs. 300 million has been recovered by the savings plan.

Thus, the case represents an intimidation to all lawyers against taking on a case against any Government officials. Another milestone in revolutionary justice!

I would like to welcome a new blog Reason over Might written by a South African, who lives in Germany and is married to a Venezuelan. How is that for an unusual combination? One may think unbiased, except for the wife. In any case, John is spending Christmas in Venezuela, eating hallacas and seeing the Bolivarian revolution first hand. Hope he enjoys his vacation and leaves most of the blogging for his return to Germany. Enjoy! Any blog that uses a Sting quote for its byline:

“Without the voice of reason, every faith is its own curse”

It’s allright in my book.

Even before the Government named the new members of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, the effects of the new totalitarian Chavista justice of the country are being felt.

A couple of years ago, lawyer Tulio Alvarez, the same one that investigated the fraud of the August referendum, went to the Supreme Court to ask that the Court removed the Parliamentary immunity that the former President of the Court enjoyed, in order to try him for corruption and misappropriation of funds while in that position.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court did not accept Alvarez’ petition and then Lara sued Alvarez for defamation. Today, a Court ordered that Alvarez can not leave the country, until he is tried. He could spend 30 months in jail.

Lara claims that Alvarez “attempted to murder him morally” (hah!). Of course, the money is still missing, nobody is investigating and the accuser is now the accused. This is called revolutionary justice in this sad revolution.

Will anyone dare denounce anything against a Government official with the new loaded and revolutionary Supreme Court? You be the judge (pun intended). It is called a license to steal, all courtesy of the robolution.

A new poll was released today done by the firm Kissinger/McLarty in association with Zogby. A summary can be found here and what I think is the whole poll can be found here. A friend and reader sent me this morning all of the results of the poll.

My first conclusion is that Venezuelans are not very happy with the current leadership on either side disliking both the Government and the opposition. 55% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of President Chavez, but 56% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of opposition leaders. Thus, you might say Venezuela is still looking and searching for a good leader.

Even worse, 53% of all Venezuelans think Chavez won in the recall vote thanks to fraud, while only 37% think he won fair and square. Similarly, 57% of those polled think the country is moving in the wrong direction. Even worse, Venezuela feel the country is quite unstable with 53% thinking the current political situation is either unstable or very unstable, with 49% thinking that things are going to get worse in the next 12 months economically. Adding to this, a huge 58% of those responding said they were concerned about their ability for keeping their job in the next twelve months.

What I found remarkable from the poll, is the globalized image that Venezuelans have of their economy and their dislike for all things Cuban, in contrast with Hugo Chávez. 90% of Venezuelans think that it is better if international companies invest here. 83% think the Government should do more to attract foreign investment. 63% think Venezuela is losing an opportunity in not joining ALCA. 95% think that property rights should be respected. 92% that the country’s international debt should be paid. 92% think the Venezuelan economy should be more open to foreign investment. But in contradiction with these free trade thinking, 44% think the Government should nationalize companies to advance the revolution.

Cuba and all things Cuban do badly in the poll. 92 % of those polled said Venezuela should not be like Cuba, with that country having a very favorable opinion in only 13% of Venezuelans, versus 49% for the United States and 51% for American companies. In contrast, only 5% had an unfavorable view of the US while 54% had an unfavorable opinion of Cuba.

57% of Venezuelans think that Chavze does not represent the interests of the majority and 61% agree or somewhat agree with the statement that he will never step down from power.

Thus, Venezuela appears to be a country looking for leadership and a majority of Venezuelans appear to be against many of the precepts of Chavez’ revolution, but doubt he will leave. They feel the country is fairly unstable and so is their job. They dislike Cuba, are for free trade and somewhat pro-American. So, you may ask, why did they vote for Chavez? Maybe they didn’t!

A new poll was released today done by the firm Kissinger/McLarty in association with Zogby. A summary can be found here and what I think is the whole poll can be found here. A friend and reader sent me this morning all of the results of the poll.

My first conclusion is that Venezuelans are not very happy with the current leadership on either side disliking both the Government and the opposition. 55% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of President Chavez, but 56% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of opposition leaders. Thus, you might say Venezuela is still looking and searching for a good leader.

Even worse, 53% of all Venezuelans think Chavez won in the recall vote thanks to fraud, while only 37% think he won fair and square. Similarly, 57% of those polled think the country is moving in the wrong direction. Even worse, Venezuela feel the country is quite unstable with 53% thinking the current political situation is either unstable or very unstable, with 49% thinking that things are going to get worse in the next 12 months economically. Adding to this, a huge 58% of those responding said they were concerned about their ability for keeping their job in the next twelve months.

What I found remarkable from the poll, is the globalized image that Venezuelans have of their economy and their dislike for all things Cuban, in contrast with Hugo Chávez. 90% of Venezuelans think that it is better if international companies invest here. 83% think the Government should do more to attract foreign investment. 63% think Venezuela is losing an opportunity in not joining ALCA. 95% think that property rights should be respected. 92% that the country’s international debt should be paid. 92% think the Venezuelan economy should be more open to foreign investment. But in contradiction with these free trade thinking, 44% think the Government should nationalize companies to advance the revolution.

Cuba and all things Cuban do badly in the poll. 92 % of those polled said Venezuela should not be like Cuba, with that country having a very favorable opinion in only 13% of Venezuelans, versus 49% for the United States and 51% for American companies. In contrast, only 5% had an unfavorable view of the US while 54% had an unfavorable opinion of Cuba.

57% of Venezuelans think that Chavze does not represent the interests of the majority and 61% agree or somewhat agree with the statement that he will never step down from power.

Thus, Venezuela appears to be a country looking for leadership and a majority of Venezuelans appear to be against many of the precepts of Chavez’ revolution, but doubt he will leave. They feel the country is fairly unstable and so is their job. They dislike Cuba, are for free trade and somewhat pro-American. So, you may ask, why did they vote for Chavez? Maybe they didn’t!

A new poll was released today done by the firm Kissinger/McLarty in association with Zogby. A summary can be found here and what I think is the whole poll can be found here. A friend and reader sent me this morning all of the results of the poll.

My first conclusion is that Venezuelans are not very happy with the current leadership on either side disliking both the Government and the opposition. 55% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of President Chavez, but 56% of Venezuelans have an unfavorable opinion of opposition leaders. Thus, you might say Venezuela is still looking and searching for a good leader.

Even worse, 53% of all Venezuelans think Chavez won in the recall vote thanks to fraud, while only 37% think he won fair and square. Similarly, 57% of those polled think the country is moving in the wrong direction. Even worse, Venezuela feel the country is quite unstable with 53% thinking the current political situation is either unstable or very unstable, with 49% thinking that things are going to get worse in the next 12 months economically. Adding to this, a huge 58% of those responding said they were concerned about their ability for keeping their job in the next twelve months.

What I found remarkable from the poll, is the globalized image that Venezuelans have of their economy and their dislike for all things Cuban, in contrast with Hugo Chávez. 90% of Venezuelans think that it is better if international companies invest here. 83% think the Government should do more to attract foreign investment. 63% think Venezuela is losing an opportunity in not joining ALCA. 95% think that property rights should be respected. 92% that the country’s international debt should be paid. 92% think the Venezuelan economy should be more open to foreign investment. But in contradiction with these free trade thinking, 44% think the Government should nationalize companies to advance the revolution.

Cuba and all things Cuban do badly in the poll. 92 % of those polled said Venezuela should not be like Cuba, with that country having a very favorable opinion in only 13% of Venezuelans, versus 49% for the United States and 51% for American companies. In contrast, only 5% had an unfavorable view of the US while 54% had an unfavorable opinion of Cuba.

57% of Venezuelans think that Chavze does not represent the interests of the majority and 61% agree or somewhat agree with the statement that he will never step down from power.

Thus, Venezuela appears to be a country looking for leadership and a majority of Venezuelans appear to be against many of the precepts of Chavez’ revolution, but doubt he will leave. They feel the country is fairly unstable and so is their job. They dislike Cuba, are for free trade and somewhat pro-American. So, you may ask, why did they vote for Chavez? Maybe they didn’t!

Congratulations to Daniel for winning with his blog the category “Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American blog”. Well deserved. Daniel has worked very at hard at excelling at what he does and communicating or attempting to communicate (it’s not easy!) what happens is our country and the robolucion. I love that Daniel has won, not only for him (I know Daniel personally, but will not tell the DISIP who he is), but also because it means at least some part of the message of the tragedy that Venezuela is going thru is getting across. This is the whole purpose of what we are doing and will continue to do as long as we are allowed. I felt like a Chavista on Aug. 15^th. voting for Daniel so many times! Toast to Daniel, his victory and his effort!

To round up Daniel’s great day, an article in national Review entitled “Hugo’s Ambitions” not only links to him, but called it: “a terrific blog that exemplifies how a blog can provide critical but overlooked news and intelligent, informed analysis”

Val Prieto’s blog, which I read regularly came in a strong second in the category also well deserved. Val was gracious enough to post this which actually promoted Daniel’s blog once, and Babalu four times. Pretty selfless in any competition. The picture he used was priceless.

It will be really neat if a couple of years from now, Venezuelan blogs are out of the radar. One can only dream, no?

Congratulations to Daniel for winning with his blog the category “Best Latino, Caribbean, or South American blog”. Well deserved. Daniel has worked very at hard at excelling at what he does and communicating or attempting to communicate (it’s not easy!) what happens is our country and the robolucion. I love that Daniel has won, not only for him (I know Daniel personally, but will not tell the DISIP who he is), but also because it means at least some part of the message of the tragedy that Venezuela is going thru is getting across. This is the whole purpose of what we are doing and will continue to do as long as we are allowed. I felt like a Chavista on Aug. 15^th. voting for Daniel so many times! Toast to Daniel, his victory and his effort!

To round up Daniel’s great day, an article in national Review entitled “Hugo’s Ambitions” not only links to him, but called it: “a terrific blog that exemplifies how a blog can provide critical but overlooked news and intelligent, informed analysis”

Val Prieto’s blog, which I read regularly came in a strong second in the category also well deserved. Val was gracious enough to post this which actually promoted Daniel’s blog once, and Babalu four times. Pretty selfless in any competition. The picture he used was priceless.

It will be really neat if a couple of years from now, Venezuelan blogs are out of the radar. One can only dream, no?

It is indeed a very sad day for justice in Venezuela. Ending decades of democracy in selecting Supreme Court members, the Chavez controlled National Assembly elected by simple majority the new members of that Court, which guarantee the total control of its decision by the pro-Chavze majority. This was done using a perverse interpretation of the law, since Justices had always been selected by a two thirds majority.

To make the process even less democratic, the opposition only found out who the lucky few were at the session in which they were elected by the pro-Chavez majority. In fact, the Head of the selection committee, Deputy Pedro Carreño had said this weekend that not one of the new members of the new Supreme Court had even a trace of being opposition. Of course, he said little about qualifications and now the Venezuelan Supreme Court counts as its members the President of the CNE Francisco Carrasquero. A vindictive man, who corrupted the law and regulations when he presided the CNE, violating even the regulations approved by his own decisions. Or Luis Velasquez Alvaray, the National Assembly Deputy that if anything has demonstrated his ignorance of the law. .

The Head of the credentials committed Pedro Carreño is himself quite a character. Three years ago he held a press conference to “show” the confidential information he had received that Fujimori’s right hand man Vladimiro Montesinos could not be in Venezuela as he had died in Peru. Montesinos was found alive in Venezuela some months later. But he saved his best performance for a later date, when he accused the CIA of spying on all Venezuelans via the Direct TV cable boxes sold in Venezuela. He will be appointed Vice-president of the National Assembly in January.

To complete the perversity, the new members of the Court are additional members who are being named to take advantage of the fact that the 2000 Constitution “forgot” to limit the number of Justices in the Court. Thus its expansion results from the use, once again, of an additional legal subterfuge to increase the number of Justices.

The remarkable thing is that the current Court was appointed by the post-Constituent Assembly “Congresillo” which was composed only by pro-Chavez members, who tried to select the people with the required qualifications and experience to be members of the Court. No such pretense was kept this time around.

Only fools can believe that this is not another step by a totalitarian-minded Government to control everything in the country. Only fools can believe that this is the result of a democratic process or that freedom for the people is the goal of those that planned this. No fair-minded person would have twisted the law and perverted the democratic process, the way it has been perverted by the pro-Chavez majority of the National Assembly in this case. This is fascism at its best; in order to impose a pseudo-legality backed by spurious decisions by the Chavez controlled Constitutional Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. Venezuelans who believe in democracy no longer will have a fair chance from today on. Venezuelans who are pro-Chavez will one day regret giving him so much power. Decisions will be made strictly on Chavez’ orders and whims. Judges will be selected exclusively on the basis of their allegiance to the totalitarian wishes and misguided dreams of Hugo Chavez Frías. It is indeed a very sad day, the end of any possibility of Justice for all in Venezuela.

This is today’s Editorial by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual, it extends the Bermudez case to some real state deals done by the Ministry of Finance and suggests some of the same manipulations and improper handling of the bond issues that I have often mentioned in this blog:

A very fat swindle by Teodoro Petkoff

Jesus Bermudez, called “Fat (Gordo) Bermudez”, former Vice-Minister of Finance with Tobias Nóbrega, has been detained in Miami and is going to be subject to a trial for a number of violations of the law, among them, attempting to introduce as contraband forty thousand dollars in cash into the US. But things are not as simple as Jose Vicente (the VP) attempted to make it look, when he denied that the plane in which the “Gordo” traveled belonged to CVG. Let’s see.

In order to be free on bail, one hundred thousand dollars were paid in a flash. Who paid? Someone called Leonardo LLaneza. Let’s pull that thread. Who is Leonardo Llaneza? The brother and partner of Ramon Llaneza in various companies in Miami. And who is Ramon Llaneza? The representative of Yavonca Oficina Tecnica. This company was the one that sold the Ministry of Finance the “Bilbao” building, acquired to become the headquarters of the School of Administration and Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance. Tal Cual (in its editions on July 19^th. and 28^th. of this year) commented in its editorial about this operation in which Yavonca which had acquired the building for 1,928 million Bolívars (About one million dollars at the official exchange rate), and eleven days later, sold it to the Ministry of Finance for a cool 3,878 million Bolívars (about two million dollars at the official exchange rate). A modest overprice of 1,950 million Bolívars. Previously, Nóbrega’s Ministry had acquired the Citibank building, paying more than nine million dollars to a real state company that a week before had purchased it from Citibank for 4.5 million dollars. Before the Bilbao swindle, Yavonca, that is, Llaneza, had also attempted to sell another building called “Gloria” to the Ministry. The modus operandi was the same as Bilbao, but the operation did not pan out. However, who was the owner of “Gloria”? The Aguilera family, of which another very good friend of Nóbrega is part of, Ali Aguilera. The numbers begin to tie with each other: Llaneza, Bermudez, Aguilera.

All of them belong to Nobrega’s close circle. The National Assembly began an investigation about these buildings, the results of which nobody knows anything about. It can not be coincidental that in the web page of aporrea.org, from which those that pretend to be the naïve part of the regimen operate, wrote the following suspicious paragraph: “Nobrega’s departure may be connected to the decision by “Gordo” Bermudez to travel to Miami with that amount in cash. There has been no official statement by the Government” What were the dollars for? For “little” Christmas gifts, said Bermudez. “Aporrea” suggests something else.

The management of the country’s foreign debt has raised many eyebrows. There was not a single bond issue that did not raise suspicions. The last one that coincided with Nobrega’s removal, made the alarms ring among investors because the assignments were made with a handpicked bias. The amazing statement by the Minister about the date of the devaluation had its logical effect, it made the “black” exchange rate go up, with which all those that had bonds, handpicked by the Ministry, may have received a juicy Christmas present. Did the Minister’s statements have something to do with this? Why was Nóbrega exactly fired for? Venezuela does not change. Crimes without criminals continue to exist. There are never trials, nobody pays. Everything is resolved by dark firings that leave the thief, if he is one, with the loot and if he is not, it leaves him marked forever. The “revolution” is more of the same…

Note added: More about Bermudez and his business partners here.