The Devil's Excrement

I took this story right out of Descifrado, its author, Juan Carlos Zapata, usually has very good information, thus I can not confirm it, but I trust the source. The story is so amazing that I thought it was worth translating. What I fail to understand is why in a country with thousands of unemployed competent engineers, the Government ahs to use a Cuban company for this. The answer may be that they don’t trust anyone. 

The great investment made by the Government in updating the technical equipment, transmission and repeaters of Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV), during the months of February and March, may be ready to be wasted. The Cuban technicians from the Cosmotel company, which handled the purchase of the telecom equipment, did not get it right with the choice of equipment that was acquired in Spain and the US. There are 37 repeaters of RNV’s signal that are distributed across the country and do not work properly.

“The Cuban geniuses ordered the purchase of equipment that only works 100% of its capacity in cold and temperate climate and temperatures. In Zulia and the East the equipment stop working all the time because heat affects them. The only state where they have worked is Merida for obvious reasons (it’s cooler there!). As an alternate solution, Cosmotel proposed the purchase of air conditioning equipment so that the investment is not lost. Only because of the air conditioning it is two hundred thousand dollars more than what ahs been spent, said to Descifrado a Venezuelan engineer who had warned of the inconvenience of the offer by Cosmotel.

This technical crisis generated a severe reprimand to the officials in charge of contracting Cosmotel. High Government officials ordered the Director of RN Helena Salcedo and her technical team, an urgent trip to Cuba to attempt to solve the problem and activate the warranty of the equipment which includes the replacement of those that are damaged in a period that does not exceed a year from the time of installation. Salcedo will return at the end of this week. 

I took this story right out of Descifrado, its author, Juan Carlos Zapata, usually has very good information, thus I can not confirm it, but I trust the source. The story is so amazing that I thought it was worth translating. What I fail to understand is why in a country with thousands of unemployed competent engineers, the Government ahs to use a Cuban company for this. The answer may be that they don’t trust anyone. 

The great investment made by the Government in updating the technical equipment, transmission and repeaters of Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV), during the months of February and March, may be ready to be wasted. The Cuban technicians from the Cosmotel company, which handled the purchase of the telecom equipment, did not get it right with the choice of equipment that was acquired in Spain and the US. There are 37 repeaters of RNV’s signal that are distributed across the country and do not work properly.

“The Cuban geniuses ordered the purchase of equipment that only works 100% of its capacity in cold and temperate climate and temperatures. In Zulia and the East the equipment stop working all the time because heat affects them. The only state where they have worked is Merida for obvious reasons (it’s cooler there!). As an alternate solution, Cosmotel proposed the purchase of air conditioning equipment so that the investment is not lost. Only because of the air conditioning it is two hundred thousand dollars more than what ahs been spent, said to Descifrado a Venezuelan engineer who had warned of the inconvenience of the offer by Cosmotel.

This technical crisis generated a severe reprimand to the officials in charge of contracting Cosmotel. High Government officials ordered the Director of RN Helena Salcedo and her technical team, an urgent trip to Cuba to attempt to solve the problem and activate the warranty of the equipment which includes the replacement of those that are damaged in a period that does not exceed a year from the time of installation. Salcedo will return at the end of this week. 

According to today’s Tal Cual, The Venezuelan body in charge of culture CONAC approved 30 million bolivars (about $7,000 at the official rate of exchange) to web page aporrea to execute a project called “Program for the stimulus of radio phonic productions”. Aporrea has no projects of this nature, which was quickly explained away by someone at CONAC saying according to Tal Cual: “The name of the project was used to encompass alternative community media, among them, web pages”.

 Such progressive people!

Curious, how in a country where nobody is ever convicted for defamation, one of the three harshest critics of the Government, reporter Ibeyise Pacheco is found guilty of defamation against a Colonel and given nine months in prison. She will appeal.

If the same criteria were applied to the President, he would also be found guilty, as every weekend he makes accusations against his enemies which are never proven.

No sooner had the CNE (yesterday) approved the possibility of having the opposition have information centers near the locations where the people would go to ratify their signatures next weekend that the almost invisible Director of the CNE Oscar Battaglini informed the press that they will not be allowed. According to him, the Armed Forces has “confidential intelligence” that these centers could be the source of conflicts and confrontations.

The Coordinadora Democrática criticized the decision saying “They have begun to change the rules of the game” but they said they will carry out the project with 260,000 volunteers that will help people know whether they have to ratify their signature or not and where they have to do it.

Clearly, the order not to allow the information centers came from above as the Government becomes increasingly nervous that the opposition will get the required signatures despite the large number of tricks that have been used. The Government is simply terrified of the logistics prepared by the opposition to maximize the number of validated signatures.

The latest tricks besides not allowing these centers are: i) People are not only being told that they will be fired if they don’t withdraw their signature, but they are being told they have to find four more people to ratify their signature. ii) The CNE continues to show advertising that asks people to go and withdraw their signature, an act which is only legal if someone else signed for you.

It also makes you wonder if the quality of the military intelligence is as good as that which has been used to investigate the paramilitary force captured two weeks ago. Despite numerous detentions and raids, the Government has not been able to find any evidence against any opposition members. We all still wonder how 100 Colombian men managed to go from the border to Caracas without being detected. To make the matter even more hilarious, this unarmed force of under twenty one rural workers is being accused of destabilizing the Government and threatening Chavez’ life. With intelligence like that, this country is simply doomed.

No sooner had the CNE (yesterday) approved the possibility of having the opposition have information centers near the locations where the people would go to ratify their signatures next weekend that the almost invisible Director of the CNE Oscar Battaglini informed the press that they will not be allowed. According to him, the Armed Forces has “confidential intelligence” that these centers could be the source of conflicts and confrontations.

The Coordinadora Democrática criticized the decision saying “They have begun to change the rules of the game” but they said they will carry out the project with 260,000 volunteers that will help people know whether they have to ratify their signature or not and where they have to do it.

Clearly, the order not to allow the information centers came from above as the Government becomes increasingly nervous that the opposition will get the required signatures despite the large number of tricks that have been used. The Government is simply terrified of the logistics prepared by the opposition to maximize the number of validated signatures.

The latest tricks besides not allowing these centers are: i) People are not only being told that they will be fired if they don’t withdraw their signature, but they are being told they have to find four more people to ratify their signature. ii) The CNE continues to show advertising that asks people to go and withdraw their signature, an act which is only legal if someone else signed for you.

It also makes you wonder if the quality of the military intelligence is as good as that which has been used to investigate the paramilitary force captured two weeks ago. Despite numerous detentions and raids, the Government has not been able to find any evidence against any opposition members. We all still wonder how 100 Colombian men managed to go from the border to Caracas without being detected. To make the matter even more hilarious, this unarmed force of under twenty one rural workers is being accused of destabilizing the Government and threatening Chavez’ life. With intelligence like that, this country is simply doomed.

The Governor of Zulia state Manuel Rosales did not mince any words today in responding to President Chavez’s charges that he was attempting to overthrow and kill him.

Rosales called Chavez “irresponsible and ridiculous” and challenged Chavez to allow the people to vote on his performance so that we may know the true opinion of Venezuelans.

Rosales said that Chavez behaves like a coward refusing to allow an electoral process that is valid and “hide behind the pants of the military”. “It is the attitude of a coward, most military men are honest people, he should stop hiding behind their pants, if he has courage hw would allow people to give their opinion, allow people to go to a democratic process.

He also denied that he leads a process calling for oil rich Zulia state to be separated from Venezuela. “No matter how much in favor of regionalism I am, we have never proposed that, but that does not mean that we are going to give up our rights to decentralization, we do not give away anything to Cuba”. Rosales suggested that Chavez should use the resources spent on his personal security on protecting the people and the borders.

Rosales said “We are going to get rid of Chávez, we are going to get rid of him with votes, because he does not deserve to be where he is, he has offended the majesty of being President of Venezuela”. He also criticized Chávez for promising a dam for Zulia state, saying this is the same promise Chavze made five years ago.

Rosales closed by saying that he did not want coups, paramilitary, guerrilla, he wants peace, freedom and elections, suggesting Chavze is the one that leads coups against the law and the Constitution in Venezuela.

Separately, a local newsman suggested Chavze stop using the word “magnicidio” when referring to attempts to kill him. The newsman said that Chavez was so full of himself that now he uses the term daily. He said that by now any attempt on Chavez’s life would be a “minicidio”, due to the President’s loss of status for most Venezuelans.  Way to go!

Grammatphyllums are spectacular orchid plants that come from Asia, places like Java, Borneo, New Guinea and the Phillipines. I have about eight at home, three are in flower right now. On top you can see two of these magnificent plants, one with a spike six feet long and the other one with six spikes 5 feet long each. In my orchids section you can see more details and descriptions.

The Government continued raiding homes and farms lookin for evidence that would link opposition figures to the paramilitary group detained two weks ago. So far, it has come up empty in all instances. What is bothersome about it is that many of these raids are being carried out illegally, such as the one in the home of retired General Gonzalez Gonzalez or the detention of General Uson. In both cases there were flagrant violations of the law such as the fact that no prosecutor was present in the raid on the General’s home and General’s Uson detention ocurred without his lawyer being present and his lawyers have had no access to him. A third raid in Caracas apparently followed procedure. While I don’t know whether or not these people are involved in these affairs, the way in which they were being carried out bodes badly for all of us.

Meanwhile, the ratification process against Deputies from both sides has gone very slowly with very little attendance so far. While the OAS representative said this was not as expected, the truth is that it is next week’s recall that matters to people. I do hope we have recall votes against both pro-Government and opposition Deputies as this would be healthy for our democratic system.

Finally, in another example of bad faith on the part of the CNE, the “institutional” advertising calling people to go and ratify their signature, talked about people withdrawing their signature which is not in the spirit or the norms of the process, but what else is new?

By popular request, here is a translation of Laureano Marquez’ funny Editorial in Tal Cual today, entitled “Chavez ends royal wedding”

Madrid (EFE/TIO RICO).- Venezuelan President, Don Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, blocked this morning the celebration of the wedding, which had been scheduled for months, between Prince Felipe and Doña Letizia Ortiz, causing a grave diplomatic incident between the Spanish Crown and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This pathetic incident was the last one in a long chain of mishaps caused by the Venezuelan leader, who after saying he would not attend, decided at the last minute to attend the nuptial event. This decision forced a delay in the wedding to allow President Chavez to arrive at the Almudena.

There he was, breaking all of the norms of protocol with a sort of red cassock and, on his head, a beret of the same color. King Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía did not hide their discomfort when the Venezuelan President entered, but with the discretion that characterizes them, they ignored the event. The situation turned a little tenser when Chavez, who was carrying a stuffed iguana (a sort of Venezuelan lizard) as a wedding President, with a red bow tied around the head of the dead animal, approached the bride, braking all protocol and handed it to her. The immediate intervention of the Royal Guard blocked the President from kissing the future princess, and he was led to a plastic chair placed at the last minute to sit him near the other Latin-American Presidents. Despite this, he shamed the bride by saying in a loud voice “Letizia, tonight you are going to get it” (Venezuelan expression which means you are going to screw). Once in his place, Chavez continued to interrupt the wedding when he greeted, with screams of “My brother, how is your vaina going?” (Venezuelan expression which means what’s up buddy) to the Presidents of Brazil and Argentina.

The moment of biggest tension took place just at the moment when the Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco, pronounced the well-know liturgical formula at weddings where those present are asked if any of them oppose the act, indicating that they should “speak up now or be silent forever”. At that instant, the Venezuelan President, as if driven by a spring coil, jumped out of his seat and with two jumps was at the high altar, taking the microphone away from Monsignor Rouco. While the latter was stupefied, the Venezuelan President said: “I oppose it” and began a long winded speech in which he exposed the reasons to block the royal wedding. Among many other things, President Chávez said that what the world was watching there was “another example of the most rancid world oligarchs which oppress people and make nations poorer”. He also said that that with all of the money being spent on the wedding he could have launched three Robinson plans in Venezuela” (Note: Plans to have people graduate from high school). The tensest moment occurred when alluding directly to the King; he accused him of having something to do with the Colombian paramilitary force caught in Caracas, which was detected about two weeks ago. He called Don Juan Carlos a “paraking”.

Immediately, he threatened with declaring war with Spain and warned that nation that 200 years ago Bolivar defeated a Borbón and “I would have no difficulty in defeating another one”

Lastly, he declared that the wedding had no validity because the wedding certificate of the civil ceremony celebrated a few days earlier in Madrid was of the same calligraphy or “plana”, not authentic and that Felipe and Letizia (he treated them with such familiarity) should go to the Constitutional Court of Spain to demonstrate that those signatures were effectively theirs.

By direct instructions of King Juan Carlos, the Royal Guard took the President outside of the Almudena. The King approached the Archbishop of Madrid to talk to him briefly and they agreed to postpone the wedding for the next day, while, from the door to the basilica, one could hear the deranged screams of the President challenging the King saying: “Juan Carlos, here I am waiting for you, come out to see if you are arrecho (tough guy in Venezuela)”. He stayed there screaming until the Guardia Civil took him directly to the airport.