The Devil's Excrement

It has been a long and dissapointing day. There are protests in many cities of the country and they seem to be increasing at this time.

The President of the Electoral Board (CNE) came on TV sometime around noon and said that the Carter Center had decided to leave the country because of the attitude of CNE Director Sobella Mejias. Accusing Ms. Mejias of being partisan, and saying that he is not (!), Carrasquero called for her removal from the CNE. It sounded strange to me that the Carter Center would say soemthing so undiplomatic, even if true. Minutes later, Jennifer McCoy and Francisco Diez from the Carter Center, held a press Conference to clear up the “confusion” and said that they were not leaving the country that Ms. McCoy was leaving in her regular trips since there was no process to “facilitate” since there were no negotiations going on. Minutes later the President of the CNE came down again and visibly upset said that Francisco Diez from the Carter Center had not told the truth and that he had indeed told him that.

Ms. Mejias essentially said that she was not going to negotiate the process for confirmation or ratification of the signatures. Ms. Mejias said that the CNE was changing the rules and she would only accept that the law be respected. (see next post)

Reportedly, the OAS agrees with the opposition’s position to not accept the process, while the Carter Center thinks the opposition should go to this process, even if it is not what the law says. The opposition has been cautious about refusing to go to a confirmation or ratifiation process, saying nothing about it.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Defense was on TV saying that the protests were restricted to areas where people lived “comfortably”, but no more than hour later the Mayor of the Libertador District which encompasses the West of Caracas, said there were eleven focuses of violence in his municipality, which is mostly inhabitated but those who don’t enjoy a “comfortable” standard of living to exprss it in the Minister’s terms.

Many streets in Caracas are closed. I am going to try to get to work right now. In the worst case, I will walk, it is not that far away. Francisco has a good article in Caracas Chronicles as to how we got here and where we are. Straight to the point. Hopefully, the CNE Directors will consider a LEGAL mechanism tonight for checking the signatures. When statistical sampling is called “unfair” by the Vice-President you know this is just tricks and cheating. Those that defend what is going on in the comments below have never seen their basic rights as threatened as ours are today. The repression last Friday was uncalled for. So was the military deployment all weekend. the attacks on motorcycles agaisnt protesters are extremely offensive and repressive and the use of tear gas is agaisnt the Constitution.

Chavez got to power promising respect for human rights, among one thousand unfullfilled promises. Riots and demonstrations in Caracas in the ten years before Chavez got to power were met with a water truck. Incredible to think about it. Two years ago in Quebec at the Summit of the Americas, Chavez said that they should have let some demonstrators forward, to talk to them, see what their protest is about. On Friday, he did xcatly the opposite against his own people. That is what Hugo Chavez is all about, empty words. He only cares about the survival of Hugo Chavez. In the same summit he refused to sign the final document because it talked about representative democracy and not participatory democracy. Millions of Venezuelans are asking for that, now he is blind, we are outlaws. We know who the oulaws are and where they are.

Things seemed to have quieted down some here, so it must be time to turn in. Enrique Mendoza said the opposition will keep the pressure so that the signatures are not discarded on technicalities. Tomorrow promises to be another long and stressful day. I suspect I may have troubles even getting to work in the morning. Hopefully, by the evening the country will be set back in the path of legality, respect for all and democracy. It might be naive, but I can always be an optimist and hope for the best. I can’t post from work, remote updates take too long and I don’t know why. Unless I am trapped at home, the only communication will be through the comments on this post.

A friend reports that in La Candelaria, only blocks away from the Presidential palace, people are coming down from the buildings, burning tires and carboard taken from Chavez’ billboards.  The civil desobedience is not nationwide yet, but it is spreading.

A friend reports that in La Candelaria, only blocks away from the Presidential palace, people are coming down from the buildings, burning tires and carboard taken from Chavez’ billboards.  The civil desobedience is not nationwide yet, but it is spreading.

Jennifer McCoy from The Carter center and Fernando Jaramillo from the OAS come on TV to “back” the decision by the CNE not to announce the final results of the petition process tonight and allow for people to give their input on the way to have people ratify their signature. Something is definitely up!

Reuters headline as sent by a good friend: ” 

The CNE just made a very strange announcement that “to allow the different parties interested in the recall referenda and the mechanisms established this morning for people to correct whether their signature is good or not. the announcemnet of the different referenda as well as waiting for those interested to make comments, will be postponed until tomorrow”.

Negotiations taking place?

Things are changing very fast. Repression is taking place in too many places right now. As Hugo Chavez was giving a nationwide speech that TV stations are forced to broadcast, the National Guard attacked the people in Altamira using the new, dangerous and very repressive technique of having Guards riding in motorcycles shooting tear gas canisters (see picture next post up).

Chavez’ speech had a different tone. While it is the people of Venezuela asking for respect for their rights and defending their signatures, Hugo Chavez began attacking the US and George Bush, challenging him to see who would last longer in power and threatening to cut off oil supplies to that country. He even said that if the US took over Venezuelan property, he would nationalize American property in Venezuela.

Right now, the National Guard is repressing in the East of Caracas, Maracaibo, San Antonio, right outside of Caracas and the west of Caracas. Now political police is all over the place with assault rifles in El Paraiso, in the west and in Horizonte in the east of Caracas. Meanwhile in Barquisimeto, Deputy Alfredo Ramos has been jailed, despite having immunity according to the Constitution. Other, lower level political activists of various parties have been jailed.

As I write 7:18 PM, it seems as if more people are going out despite it being more dangerous. Right now, I see political police officials with assault weapons in front of the Baruta municipality building. Their faces are covered.

Very scary…but I am going out tonight anyway.

Things are changing very fast. Repression is taking place in too many places right now. As Hugo Chavez was giving a nationwide speech that TV stations are forced to broadcast, the National Guard attacked the people in Altamira using the new, dangerous and very repressive technique of having Guards riding in motorcycles shooting tear gas canisters (see picture next post up).

Chavez’ speech had a different tone. While it is the people of Venezuela asking for respect for their rights and defending their signatures, Hugo Chavez began attacking the US and George Bush, challenging him to see who would last longer in power and threatening to cut off oil supplies to that country. He even said that if the US took over Venezuelan property, he would nationalize American property in Venezuela.

Right now, the National Guard is repressing in the East of Caracas, Maracaibo, San Antonio, right outside of Caracas and the west of Caracas. Now political police is all over the place with assault rifles in El Paraiso, in the west and in Horizonte in the east of Caracas. Meanwhile in Barquisimeto, Deputy Alfredo Ramos has been jailed, despite having immunity according to the Constitution. Other, lower level political activists of various parties have been jailed.

As I write 7:18 PM, it seems as if more people are going out despite it being more dangerous. Right now, I see political police officials with assault weapons in front of the Baruta municipality building. Their faces are covered.

Very scary…but I am going out tonight anyway.