The Devil's Excrement

The judge who ordered the two opposition leaders detained was recently named as a judge by the “hand-picked” committee that is reviewing the judicial system. He was the lawyer for the three accused gunman of the massacre during the mrach last April11th., all pro-Chavez.

Today I woke up in a Dictartoship. Up to now Hugo Chavez and his hoodlums had been using the law to “hide” the repressive and intolerant nature of this Government. Last night they detained one of the two most important leaders of the opposition and an order is out to capture the Head of the Federation of Unions (CTV) the other visible leader of the opposition. The charge: treason and inciting rebellion. This is political, this is repressive and coupled with assasinations last Monday indicates to me that Chavez has decided to step out of Democracy. The charges against the two most important leaders of the opposition are just an excuse to neutralize them and silence others. The Government quickly charges two political opponents on these charges, but assasins from April are still free or not charged, no investigation has been made of other gunmen on Dec. 6th. and many other political and violent crimes have yet to be investigated. But this one has, with efficiency. Maybe the world will now understand what is going on here in Venezuela.

Witneses are saying on TV that the intelligence police officers who detained opposition leader Carlso Fernandez had no Court order to arrest him and made some shots in the air to stop him from leaving. This is absolutely illegal in Venezuela. What else is new?

As if the previous article were not enough, the Head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce (FEDECAMRAS) and opposition leader Carlos Fernandez has just been reported detained by the Intelligence Police (DISIP) as he was leaving a Restaurant. The beginning of formal repression against the Democratic Coordinator? Whatever happened to the letter and spirit of the agreement signed yesterday?

Last night the events leading to the deaths of the three military officers were so confusing that I preferred to pass on the subcject and simply quoted my brother’s reaction to the story. Well, the more I read the details the more I am reminded that one should never believe in coincidences. Imagine this:

Saturday night near midnight, three military officers, part of the dissident miltary officers of Plaza Altamira, together with two females accmpanying them are taken by twelve men in two cars and driven away. On Monday, two of the officer’s bodies are found in one location while one woman and the other officer are found shot to death in a separate location. Separately, the second woman, reportedly manages to escape, reaches a Hospital where she is treated for gunshot wounds. As she is being treated, a bus full of armed men shows up at the hospital looking for the woman and in the process injure five people, including one of the medical doctors traeting teh patient, with bullets and knives. Now, the group of armed men is led by the concubine or husband of Chavez MVR’s leader Lina Ron, who is known for saying “there will be no change without violence”. Five of the armed men are jailed by the municipal police, including Ron’s husband. A couple of hours later, Lina Ron shows up at the police headquarters and all five men are released. The Head of police resigns and the Mayor of Sucre District, the son of Vice-President Rangel, says the two events have nothing to do with each other and that some people are still in jail.

Today, without barely any investigation, the Head of the technical police says the two cases are not connected and the motive for the assasination is not political but “passional”. Meanwhile, some reports say that the three men were also witnesses to the assasinatiosn atht took place on Dec. 6th. in Plaza Altamira. The lone gunman captured that day, was accused of being close to the Mayor of another municipality of Caracas who is both close to Chavez and Lina Ron. Meanwhile,dissident leaders of Plaza Altamira, find the whole affair suspicious, including the fact that each of the military officers was from each of the three forces in the Venezuelan military.

Obviously, this all sounds so fishy as to being absolutely incredible that this is not political, led by Chavez’ MVR and another vioaltion of people’s political and human rights. To my surprise, Human Rights Watch, that has been so quiet and lenient, and in my opinion partial to the Government, about the events in Venezuela, issued today a press release urging the Government to investigate the cases, saying “all indications are that they were political assasinations”. Wow! What is going on here! Have these people seen the light?

Meanwhile, some people are even connecting Chavez’ cancellation of his trip to Malaysia as being related to the assasinations. Very heavy stuff in my opinion, but will it once again, come to nothing?

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I did not know what to do with the confusing information about three military officers who were part of the dissident military in Altamira Square and were shot this weekend. So I will just quote my brother the Tyromaniac on it:

For those who think there is no torture or dictatorship in Venezuela. Read this. Three soldiers, plus a lady that was with them, who frequented Plaza Altamira, were kidnapped, tortured and killed…

More info on this here and here. Very strange…I don’t believe in coincidences.

After reading the declaration against violence and for peace and democracy, I can only wonder what they will do with Hugo Chavez in order for the Government to fulfill its part. The declaration signed today by both the Government and the opposition contains eight articles. Let’s see which Hugo Chavez violated last Sunday in his usual Sunday address:

 1) We reject verbal intemperance, recrimination, injuring language and any rhetoric that in any way may contribute to stimulate confrontation. We propose a language of mutual respect, tolerance and of consideration for the ideas of others… Wow! He did not respect a single one of these. Actually this appears to define the anti-Chavez

2) In general we ask for respect for the Constitution and the laws of the Republic. Not even close, on Sunday he asked judges to jail PDVSA people for sabotaging the company, no formal charge has been brought against any of them. He also said if private companies did not want to sell their products and shut down, he would have the military and the people take them over. All of these are simply illegal.

3) We reject categorically all manifestations of violence or intolerance, as well as expressions that may mean offense as a means of discussing political differences. ….We will place all our efforts in creating conditions to strengthen and consolidating a climate of peace and tolerance…. Has Chavez seen this? After all, he is Mr. Intolerance and Mr. Offense.

4) All attitudes should cease that directly or indirectly promote aggression, threats, persecution or violence…. Chavez violates this one every single Sunday

5) We ask the church…..political parties and similar organizations to promote actions and send messages to promote democratic values and the principle of peace, tolerance and coexistence….. If this includes the President as part of his political party, then he violates it everytime he speaks.

6) The parts ratify their total respect to the validity of the rights granted by the Constitution for freedom of speech and information….This is exactly the opposite of the “muzzle” Bill being promoted by the Government to control the media and their actions in the last few weeks against TV stations.

 7) And 8) express the wish to maintain communication between the parts and work towards reaching agreements so they can’t be violated.

Thus I ask, what will happen this Sunday when Hugo Chávez in his Sunday program violates 1) though 6) as he customarily does? Has he read this? Can he even try or attempt not to violate them? I simply doubt it………what then? The only way he may respect the agreement is simply to shut up!

As if there was any doubt to the nature of the exchange control system that will be imposed in Venezuela, the Head of the Exchange Control Office Colonel Hernadez Behrens held a press conference where Venezuelans were lectured repeatedly. Among other things, he announced that travelers would be given one thousand dollars per trip up to three times a year. In his own words, the Colonel said that in this maner people will travel for only reasonable periods of time of four or five days. No explanation was given why people could not go on a single long three a year, except that “in the previous controls whole families travelled to obtain more dollars (???)”. The explanation was followed by a lecture to Venezuelans who know “Holland, Paris, Miami and New York” to get to know their country and visit it. (I did not quite understand why he mentioned first Holland and then a bunch of cities!). He then added, in any case, we will not give out dollars for travelling until there is sufficient money for it……Maybe women should wear veils over their faces when they make requests in the exchange control office…..

Last week, a Venezuelan man was detained at Gatwick airport with a live grendae in his suitcase. Venezuelan police said today that the man was carrying a fake national ID card as the local identification office said the number and the name of the man detained do not coincide with their records. Reportedly the number was a 1978 number issued in 1990 and was handed out by an official fired for corruption.  To make the matter even more confusing, the man’s family said his capture was in error as they don’t consider him the type to be carrying such an artifact, but he left when he was 20 (he is now 37) to teach Islam and they haven’t heard from him since about two and a half years ago. However, the man boarded the British Airways plane in Caracas and gave a local address to British authorities. Neighbors said that the house has been empty for a while. Sounds strange overall, maybe he is not even that person.