The Devil's Excrement

This table is taken from an official document  from the National Institute for Statistics (page 67). As you can see, INE estimates there were 21,132 homicides in Venezuela in 2009, a horrifying figure, larger than the estimates that Andres Izarra laughed at in CNN, where he questioned the studies, the methodology and the seriousness of the numbers that were being given.

But beyond the homicides, note there were also 26,873 kidnappings, 9,205 cases of sexual abuse and between robbery and theft there were 1,916,625 crimes of those two types in Venezuela. Given that INE projects the population to be today 28,833,845, the last number implies that in the last year alone, one out of every fifteen Venezuelans was robbed.

These are appaling numbers, but we are sure Izarrita is still laughing, that is what he gets paid to do.

Thanks AB!

It was the first day of campaigning and some candidates for the opposition decided to symbolically go to the Capitol building where the National Assembly meets, to present their proposals if they are elected. The National Guard and Chavista groups not only barred them from getting close to the building, but very quickly began throwing tear gas at them.

Wonder what the Guards will do when these same people show up to take their elected seats?

(Note added: In the Chavista version, published on the webpage of the National Assembly, the opposition candidates were trying to kidnap 600 children of the workers of the Assembly. Interesting, ten guys with no weapons, kidnapping 600 children. Hard to imagine human rights activist Carlos Correa trying to kidnapp a cat, let alone 600 kids)

(I voted for HIM, precisely so that this would not happen to me)

If there was ever a subject that Chavismo has trouble dealing with, its crime, also known by now as Pudremorgue. Clearly, Chavismo has not been able to BS its way out of this problem, seems to have problems dealing with it and it sounds infantile in its excuses for the magnitude of the problem.

From Chavez, to Jaua, to Navarro, the discussion is simply Bizantine. Crime is, after all, the number one concern of every Venezuelan, each and everyone one of us is touched weekly about it, more so if you are poor or live in a barrio, but during the last two weeks, someone close to a coworkers was killed and a coworker managed to weasel out of being kidnapped last Friday, when his car was hit by another one and three armed thugs came out ready to take him, his friend and the car. Some quick reflexes and luck and he is telling us about t. This, by the way, happened not a mile from my home.

And that is why Chavista excuses are so lame. The crime problem has been there for all of Chavez’ eleven years and he has never acknowledged it and as his popularity drops, I am glad he is addressing the problem, because there is no way to address it.

Thus, it was fun to watch Ambassador to Washington Alvarez, trying to sweep the problem using arguments like ” it is a difficult reality” or “the Venezuelan Government has been making efforts” or “the drastic expansion of social services …has played an important role to attack the fundamental causes of criminality”

Hello! Where have you been the last eleven years? Oh! Yes! Washinton D.C., it shows. Because it has always been a difficult reality and homicides and crime have soared under Chavez and the revolution, leaving no trace, proof or evidence that either the Chavez Government is doing anything or the social programs have helped reduced criminality. In fact, if anything, it may be that the Chavista giveaways provide free time for the criminals to spend doing their thing rather than being dutifully employed and thus busy.

And the Director of Communications and Propaganda (!) of Chavez’ PSUV party was simply laughable today, when she criticized the New York Times for its factual article saying “where he dares to compare in immoral and criminal fashion, Venezuela with Iraq”

I wonder what Iraq’s Ambassador to Venezuela thinks about that pearl of a  statement. I guess PSUV is not too concerned about diplomacy right ow, with its life at stake.

And if this was not enough, Ms. Eekhout then talks about the “extraordinary efforts” the Government has made to confront violence, which is, of course, a capitalist problem.

According to Eekhout, violence in Venezuela arises from the 80’s when “young people were capable of killing for a pair of shoes, due to to extreme poverty and the lack of opportunities.

Funny, these same kids kill today for a beer or a cheap cellphone and with informal unemployment at 50% plus and crime having tripled, it is not clear what has changed.

The thing is Ms. Director of Propaganda for PSUV, on this issue, you can’t fool people into blaming capitalism, the Empire or the New York Times. This is about a reality that you used to care about (or so you say) but are so far removed to it and so powerless to fight, that you and your boss resort to convoluted arguments that may work with Pudreval, military spending or people trying to kill Hugo, but the “people” know all about crime and how things have deteriorated since you guys took over.

Which is why the Opposition, the MUD and everyone that wants the Dictator out of power should keep hammering the issue, talk about crimes, there is no defense, there is “yo no fui”, there is no excuse, there is no explanation.

And it is killing us all.

Remember Maletagate? When the case was being discussed, we all learned that Antonini (the guy with the suitcase with $800,000), Duran and Kauffman were involved, among other things, in a housing project, whereby an Uruguayan company would sell prefab houses to Venezuela, as part of their aid to the revolution to solve the housing crisis.

Well, in the Comptroller’s report to the National Assembly, there is mention to one such contract, but the specific name of the company in Uruguay is not specified. But the coincidence of countries (The Comptroller does say it was a Uruguayan company) is simply uncanny.

The Comptroller’s report says that the Ministry of Housing paid US$ 155.47 million to this Uruguayan concern to provide 12,000 prefab housing kits and the corresponding technical assistance. That comes to about $13,000 per prefab house, or Bs. 27.855 at the rate of exchange at that time, not extremely cheap for a prefab house then, but no outrageously expensive either.

Guess how many houses were built?

11

Not 11,000, just eleven, like in 6+5, or 7+4. That’s it. ELEVEN.

That’s about US$ 14 million per prefab house. Even worse, the same report by the Comptroller says that even the eleven houses built had to be finished with local construction material, because not a single one of the prefab kits was sent complete.

Fortunately (I guess), only 45.47% of the contract was paid, adding to it some US$ 13.17 in “operating expenses which the Comptroller says: “there is insufficient documentation to determine the exactitude, sincerity and legality of these operations”.

Where is the Prosecutor on all this? Who was in charge of the Ministry? The Project? who were the intermediaries? Were they the same individuals involved in Maletagate? Will they go after anyone?

These are all silly questions. Clearly there is no intention of going after anyone. This is, like Pudreval and others, a project set up to rob and steal, not to get anything done. And those involved are high level Chavistas that nobody wants to go after. Why doesn’t the Comptroller say which Uruguayan company was involved?  Which Minister approved payment? Come on! These guys could even be running for office in September, but Chavismo has no interest in barring them from running.

Such are the ways of the robolution, spend 155 million dollars to solve a problem and not even begin doing it. For all intents and purposes, 11 out of 12,000 is as good as saying no houses were built. But a few Chavista millionaires were certainly created.

And that the robolution is very good at!

And nothing like the anniversary of Venezuela’s Communist Party (PCV) for a little revolutionary capitalism. At the celebration in Maracay a scant 133 Kms. from Caracas, there was a stand selling Farc coffee (No signs of a trade mark) as you can see in the picture below:

The communist party has been a staunch supporter of the robolution, its only saving grace being that it has refused to be absorbed onto Chavez’ PSUV party.

Just think, you are not only contributing to the “cause” of terrorism, kidnaps, bombs and the like, but you are buying the best organic coffee from the FARC’s own farms in Santa Marta or stolen at random from Colombia’s best farms, bypassing Chavez’ boycott of Colombian products and without paying value added tax. What a deal!

And all of this happens under the watchful eyes of a revolution that is everywhere in Venezuela and is always ready to stop anything it does not like, from violent pictures to sensationalist music videos and who (wink, wink) does not support the FARC, as Chavez has told us repeatedly. Yeah! Sure!

What’s next? Al Qaeda fireworks for Chirstmas?

Continuing with the Terminator policies of destroying the country’s infrastructure, Cemex Venezuela, nationalized by Hugo Chávez two years ago, announced that the company had lost Bs. 78 million in the first half of 2010.

Way to go Hugo!

To give this some perspective the last time that Cemex reported financials was in 2007 (It was taken over in 2008) and that year the company made Bs. 277 million. In fact these are the profits the last four years of operations under private management:

2004 223 million Bs.

2005 370 million Bs.

2006 336 million Bs.

2007 277 million Bs.

The explanation for this negative result?

Everything really, from lower cement production, to lower cement sales, to higher costs, to distribution problems, you name it.

In only two years, the revolution has taken a well managed cement operation with unique competitive advantages into an operation with loses.

Cemex México has taken the Venezuelan Government to arbitration over the nationalization of its affiliate.

(Reality is unpublishable)

When El Nacional published the very gruesome picture of the Caracas morgue in response to the cynical and hysterical laughs of Andres Izarra, President of Chavez’ pet international propaganda TV station Telesur, reactions were mixed. The comments section of this blog flared up with disparate positions. Curiously, my concern when I thought about whether to publish it or not in my blog, was that some may find it offensive. But this seemed to be the minority position. A larger fraction seemed more concerned with the publication of the picture backfiring against those that oppose Hugo Chavez (I am trying to differentiate them from the “opposition”)

But El Nacional’s picture, through the missteps of the Government, some cooperation from other media, and yes, some luck, has become the “in your face” picture seen around the world, that has revealed the lack of respect of Chavez and his cohorts for the right to life and freedom of the press. In fact, even VTV reporters have already spoken against the very clear act of censorship by the Judge who banned printed media from publishing violent pictures.

Things got complicated right off the bat, when, while you could still hear Izarra’s hyenic hysterics, a woman from Hong Kong’s team got shot by a stray bullet in the World Women’s Baseball tournament being played of all places at a Caracas military fort. As even the Vice-President tried to explain away this event as unusual, most Venezuelans who live in the barrios likely stared at their TV screens wondering where does Mr. Jaua live, as both specific purpose and stray bullets are part of the daily life of poor Venezuelans, where the strength of Chavismo happens to live.

On that same day, a bus filled with 69 campers was hijacked and all of their possessions stolen, as the 20 adults accompanying and protecting them also were forced to hand out their valuables.

The Government was caught off guard by theeffects of the “in your face” picture. As the picture went around the world, newspapers reported on the injunction on El Nacional not to publish similar pictures. The whole thing may have died there, but then Tal Cual also published the picture in its front page, accompanying its Editorial. The Government then also issued an injunction against Tal Cual, using the sensitivity of children as an excuse, but it began stumbling when a Judge then prohibited all printed media from printing violent, bloody or gruesome pictures.

It is unclear who or why the Judge ordered this, but his decision is so transparently political and cynical, that his order of censorship is only temporary, it expires in four weeks, as if the sensitivity of kids will harden a week before the upcoming National Assembly elections, just when campaigning ends.

And the significant impact of the “in your face” picture was such, that it forced Hugo Chavez to speak on the problem of crime and homicides for the first time, a subject he has consistently avoided and has always failed to address.

And the improvised response has been absolutely terrible and uninspired, for a Government well known for selling any explanation for its missteps, no matter how absurd they may be.

Because once again those living in the barrios will not buy the excuse that the criminals were raised during the IVth. Republic and that it is capitalistic desires that drive crime. Because each and everyone of the inhabitants of the barrios has been in contact with the crime, the deaths and the abuses, in the absence of a Government that has now been in power for eleven years. And it is precisely their desires to lead a better life that have been hampered by crime. Thus, blaming the messenger or calling the picture mediatic pornography, is very unlikely to sell well in the areas Catia or Caricuao, or in the mountains of Mérida.

140,000 people have been murdered in Venezuela since Chavez took power in 1999. Where have you been all these years Hugo? Its clear the Dictator no longer has the magic touch or is in touch with the people.

And meanwhile the cries of “Censorship” have also been heard around the world, as Oliver Stone and Sean Penn are probably wondering why the hell they had to make a defense of free speech being present in Venezuela. Being a Hollywood star makes no one an expert on democracy in far off lands.

And even the Investigative police and the Prosecutor act harshly, showing up at El Nacional at peak time, just as the newspaper is being composed, pretending to have 100 reporters and photographers leave the newspaper, so they can retrieve the memory card with the infamous picture to determine when it was taken. In the face of that crowd, already predisposed against them, and not ready to even consider obeying the order, the cops and the prosecutors decided not to create another show and simply left. Sans card!

Thus, thanks to Izarrita’s sordid and fake laugh and the picture, the Government, for once, has not been setting the agenda for the last few days, attempting to contain the effects of the picture. This distraction follows that of Pudreval, which has been forgotten only because of the “picture”, except that crime is more important an issue than food, more so among the poor.

And when Chavez says that in 20 years there will be no crime, it brings people back to the old promise of no kids in the streets in five years, a promise made 12 long years ago, as well as the promise of eliminating corruption, as the inhabitants of the barrios see their Chavista leadership move around with expensive cars and body guards, making them immune to the crime problem.

Which goes back to a post I wrote recently. I noted that Diego Arria and Alvarez Paz, had been more effective at challenging and making the Government react than the opposition, by confronting the Government with new issues or responding directly to the absurd arguments of the Chavistas.

The picture has been a wonderful example of that. It may have been unintended, but a Government with no scruples, used to winning every argument, has trapped itself in explaining away the problem that it has never cared about. And it was not ready for it.

In your face Hugo!

Using tactics not seen since the dictatorship of Marco Perez Jimenez in the 50’s, today’s El Nacional shows the word “Censored” in each of the pages where it had to remove material because of yesterday’s order by the Judge banning pictures of violent events in order to protect children.