The Devil's Excrement

Have to tip my hat to Human Rights Watch giving them very strong praise for their latest letter to the Chavez administration. 2003 has definitely been a dramatic change for the human rights institution after what I thought was a very poor performance in 2002 with regards to Venezuela.

HRW wrote a very tough letter on July 1st. to Hugo Chávez, which was summarily dismissed by the Vice-President as showing ignorance for what is happening in Venezuela. Today’s letter, adressed to the Vice-President,  is very good saying among other jewels:

“First of all I have to convey my deception that you have not addressed any of the important matters included in my letter to President Chávez. HRW is very concerned about the negative effects to freedom of speech that the approval of the law of social responsibility in TV and radio may have. We are also concerned about the investigations being carried out about the content of the programming of four TV stations and the persistent practice of violent attacks against reporters.”

“It is a pity that you have chosen to attack me personally, rather than respond to the merits of the matters addressed in my letter.”

“The only interest of HRW in this matter is to protect freedom of speech in Venezuela. As a matter of fact, your suggestion that “some unnamed mechanism” operated over me to adopt a critical position is irresponsible.”

“My criticisms to the bill…..are inspired on the same principles that have motivated the criticism by the special envoy for freedom of speech of the OAS and the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights.”

“Your statement that the criticism of the bill expressed by HRW are an intromission “on matters that are the strict competence of Venezuelan institutions”, is an inexcusable error. The universal character of the human rights regulations implies that we all have the legitimate right nationally and internationally to denounce the human rights violations that may take place anywhere in the world. ……..In this sense Venezuela not a special case that requires “special treament due to being atypical”.

“We have also insisted constantly that the partiality of the media does not justify under any circumstance any of the repressive measures contemplated in the bill for radio and TV nor the sanctions that are being contemplated against the tour TV networks mentioned previously.”

“Our recommendation that the Government withdraw the bill has been criticized because we are not recognizing the autonomy of the legislative power. We are conscious of the division of powers …We are simple limiting ourselves to point out that the bill was written by a Government office CONATEL, presented to the Assembly by Deputies of the Government’s party and promoted incessantly by President Chavez himself, as well as the members of his Cabinet.

I can only say: Bravo HRW, well said!

The Minister of Energy and Mines Rafael Ramirez demonstrated that he does not recognize the law, when today he called for the PDVSA workers to be kicked out of the oil camps, which no Court has ordered, as well as saying that it would be “unfair” to pay the fired workers severance pay, as the law mandates. Severance pay is such an integral part of labor laws (for good or bad, it is simply that way) that the law says you can not seize severance pay legally in any way. Moreover, workers have not been paid their savings in voluntary pension plans, which are also theirs. The Minsiter wants to argue that these workers did damage to the country and thus should not get their money. This includes 18,000 fired workers, including secretaries. Legally you would have to prove that each individual did damage and that the value of the damage is higher than their savings, their severance could not be touched.

Now, what appears to me to be shortsighted is that any upcoming Government could deny Minister Ramirez his severance and his pension, because it will be very easy to prove that HE has done damage to PDVSA and that such damage is more than what is owed him, that he is an incompetent and a liar and that he has violated repeatedly the rights of the company’s workers. To think that these guys claim to be running a compassionate revolution. What a farse!

I like people that keep track of items in the news. That is one nice thing about blogs; you can keep track of everything. Sometimes I wish I kept better track of things, like in today’s  timeline by Tal Cual about the multiple statements by the bumbling Minister of Energy and Mines and PDVSA’s President on whether PDVSA will hand in its financial statements. After saying all during June that they would do it on time, here is what has happened (from Tal Cual):

June 27^th. : Ali Rodriguez (President of PDVSA) says that they are awaiting the financials from January and February to close the books and they have asked the SEC for a fifteen day extension

June 29^th. : The President of PDVSA says that even though they could ask for a second extension, they expect to submit the statements on time (extension expired today)

June 30^th. : PDVSA Finance hands in its financials in form 6K (should have been 20K) and requests an extension

July 1^st. Minister of Energy and Mines Ramirez says that PDVSA handed in its financials, not true it was PDVSA Finance its affiliate.

July 14^th. Ramirez announces that the books have been closed and will be audited in 15 days and the results presented to the shareholders and then to the SEC.

 (Now, to those that don’t know this, it usually takes two to three months to audit the financials of a company, so Ramirez has no clue about what he is talking about and PDVSA will simply not be able to hand them in for at least a couple of months. This is the “new” PDVSA. Moreover, what if the auditors question some things in the financials?)

I like people that keep track of items in the news. That is one nice thing about blogs; you can keep track of everything. Sometimes I wish I kept better track of things, like in today’s  timeline by Tal Cual about the multiple statements by the bumbling Minister of Energy and Mines and PDVSA’s President on whether PDVSA will hand in its financial statements. After saying all during June that they would do it on time, here is what has happened (from Tal Cual):

June 27^th. : Ali Rodriguez (President of PDVSA) says that they are awaiting the financials from January and February to close the books and they have asked the SEC for a fifteen day extension

June 29^th. : The President of PDVSA says that even though they could ask for a second extension, they expect to submit the statements on time (extension expired today)

June 30^th. : PDVSA Finance hands in its financials in form 6K (should have been 20K) and requests an extension

July 1^st. Minister of Energy and Mines Ramirez says that PDVSA handed in its financials, not true it was PDVSA Finance its affiliate.

July 14^th. Ramirez announces that the books have been closed and will be audited in 15 days and the results presented to the shareholders and then to the SEC.

 (Now, to those that don’t know this, it usually takes two to three months to audit the financials of a company, so Ramirez has no clue about what he is talking about and PDVSA will simply not be able to hand them in for at least a couple of months. This is the “new” PDVSA. Moreover, what if the auditors question some things in the financials?)

In a little noticed decision, the Venezuelan Supreme Court voided a section of the Land Bill which allowed  infamous “burping” General Acosta Carles to take over a soda and beer distribuitor last January. The Court said that Judges may not use this Bill in emergencies to take property away from people. The suit was presented by the Polar beer company and in a rare case, the Court decided on the substance of the issue even though it was a request for an injunction.  

While I have been expecting that the Chavistas will use any trick in the book to stop the recall referendum, I have been somewhat surprised by their second salvo in this battle. (The first being not agreeing on the composition of Electral Board (CNE)). As suggested by MVR Deputy Maduro last week and confirmed today, the strategy is going to be simply that they will refuse to accept that the Supreme Court pick the CNE as established by law. According to Deputy Maduro, for the TSJ to name the CNE would be an intromission of one power in another. The threat is that they would not recognize the new authorities and the MVR Deputies would “take to the streets”, whatever that means, in order to show that they do not recognize the Supreme Court on this matter. Umm, are we going to from Chavez is the law, to MVR is the law?

Showcase 1. Extending a decree that dates as far back as a year ago, the Venezuelan Government decreed once again a firing freeze in the country’s labor markets for an additional six months. This means that anyone that makes less than a certain amount can not be fired. In practice there are a number of ways around this decree that does little to improve the economy. In fact, some companies do not want to hire new workers as they are afraid the freeze will continue to be extended. Another demonstration that these people have no clue as to how economics works. Maybe they should decree full employment!

Showcase 2. On the same day that the Federation of Construction companies annouced a 67% drop in construction, the Minsiter of Planning suggested in Chavez’ Sunday nationwide address that the coming boom in construction will create a shortage of cement. Just for reference construction GDP during Chavez’ administration has been as follows: 1999: -16.5%, 2000: -2.7%, 2001: +13.5%, 2002:-17.8% 2003: (First Quarter): -64%. As an example, when Cemex Venezuela can not sell all of its production locally, it goes abroad, so its plants don’t stop. According to Cemex’ annual report only last year, local cement demand dropped by 21% to 23%, this suggests over half of its capacity is being exported. If I remember numbers correctly, this implies the comapny must be exporting over 60% of its production. Thus, the “boom” that Mr. Giordani is projecting would require an increase of at least 100% in construction for shortages in cement to occur. Dream on!

It is amazing how bad the coverage has been of the protests in both Iran and Hong Kong in conventional media. In one case, people are asking for more democracy, in the other people are defending what they have. Remarkable how little the world cares. In fact, to follow it well you have to read blogs where the coverage is excellent and complete. You can read about both at GlennReynolds.com and follow the links. Doing exactly this, I found an open letter to the Iranian people which contains a paragraph which applies to my country and reflects one of my biggest concerns about Venezuela in a future without Chavez:

Here is the key to making a stable democracy: the losers have to know that they will be safe. Those on the losing side of a liberal revolution or on the losing side of a democratic election have to understand in advance that they will not be killed. They must know their views will be respected. They must believe in their bones that their rights will be protected by the victorious majority.

That will indeed be the key to success if and when we get rid of Chavez. We have to have a Government that includes all people, that it does not exclude anyone. This will be the only way to make a true democracy for all Venezuelans. The future can not be about revenge or making the chavistas feel as threatened as we do today, it has to be about the laws and the Courts deciding who committed crimes and the Government making life better for everyone. It has to be about the Attorney General and the people’s Ombudsman doing their jobs of defending the rights of everyone. Otherwise, our future and our democracy will be as compromised then as they are today.

It is amazing how bad the coverage has been of the protests in both Iran and Hong Kong in conventional media. In one case, people are asking for more democracy, in the other people are defending what they have. Remarkable how little the world cares. In fact, to follow it well you have to read blogs where the coverage is excellent and complete. You can read about both at GlennReynolds.com and follow the links. Doing exactly this, I found an open letter to the Iranian people which contains a paragraph which applies to my country and reflects one of my biggest concerns about Venezuela in a future without Chavez:

Here is the key to making a stable democracy: the losers have to know that they will be safe. Those on the losing side of a liberal revolution or on the losing side of a democratic election have to understand in advance that they will not be killed. They must know their views will be respected. They must believe in their bones that their rights will be protected by the victorious majority.

That will indeed be the key to success if and when we get rid of Chavez. We have to have a Government that includes all people, that it does not exclude anyone. This will be the only way to make a true democracy for all Venezuelans. The future can not be about revenge or making the chavistas feel as threatened as we do today, it has to be about the laws and the Courts deciding who committed crimes and the Government making life better for everyone. It has to be about the Attorney General and the people’s Ombudsman doing their jobs of defending the rights of everyone. Otherwise, our future and our democracy will be as compromised then as they are today.

General Francisco Uson was Chavez’ Minister of Finance on April 11th., he resigned that same night while Chavez was meeting with his Cabinet at the Miraflores Palace. Uson never joined the dissenting military and has been low profile since then. Today he gives an interview in El Nacional (subscription only). I found the answer to this question quite relevant to the question of who was responsible for the massacre that day:

Q: You resigned on April 11th. which was surely seeing by Chavistas as treason. But did the dissident military see it as oportunism?

A. It is possible that they saw it that way. But my resignation occured because the Ministry of Finance is located just where the massacre took place. I saw what happened there. I had also witnessed the Cabinet meeting on the night of April 7th., in which, even if it was not said explicitly that violence would be generated, you could see that a violent attitude would be assumed in the following days.

From a first hand witness…..