The Devil's Excrement

The revolution never ceases to surprise and amaze. This week’s tidbits:

—Last
Christmas Hugo Chavez voiced his concern as a historian that Simon
Bolivar may have been killed and the bones in his tomb in Caracas may
not be his. He said he would name a commission to study this and this
week we saw the decree creating it.
You would expect forensic scientists, historians or medical doctors.
Instead, almost the whole Cabinet is in it, including the
Vice-President, the Minsiter of Interior and Justice, Foreign
Relations, Finance (Yes, Finance!), Defense, Education, Higher
Education, Health, Culture and Science and Technology. Just in case
there is a crime involved (nothing is said about the statue of
limitations) they also include the General Prosecutor.

Which
only goes to show why things don’t work in Chavez’ revolution. First of
all, most of these people are busy enough as it is, with tremendous
challenges and problems to solve to be distracted by this whim of the
amateur historian Sherlock Holmes Chavez. Even worse, it goes right to
Chavez’ apparent belief that anyone can do anything no matter the
background, including him.

—And Minister of Finance Rafael
Isea, who has been in the job for only three weeks and has yet to
announce any major decisions or plans is being promoted by the
revolutionaries of Aragua State as their next Governor for Chavez’ PSUV
party.

Just imagine, this most popular man has the task of
trying to fix the economy with limited economic experience and he is
being proposed as a candidate for Governor in elections that will take
place in less than ten months, which means he would have to resign in
about seven or eigth if he is to have a chance. Well, given the
problems in the economy, from inflation, to high interest rates to
shortages, I do hope Isea is thinking about these problems and not
politics. My feeling is that if he stays two or three months as
Minister, he has no chance to be Governor, just watch inflation and his
popularity will be inversely proportional to it.

—And how
about funny man Francisco Carrasquero, the former Head of the Electoral
Board who is now a member of the Venezuelan Supreme Court gave the
formal speech at the initiation of the judicial year. Given that
sometimes he can barely speak well, I was surprised they picked him,
but to top it all off, he said that justice can not be “apolitical” and
the Constitution can not be “rigid” or like a “stone” and that it
should not be that amendments and reforms of the Constitution serve to
protect eternal regulations. Proving once again, that Mr. Carrasquero
does ot even understand the role of the Constitution and is willing to
twist the law, like he did as President of the Electoral Board in order
to promote Chavez’ political goals. With people like him at the Supreme
Court, there can not be justice for all in Venezuela.

—Then
there is this tidbit in Tal Cual, explaining how in a country where the
“unreformed” Constitution prohibits Government financing of political
parties (Introduced in the Constitution by Chavez in 2000), the
Electoral Board (CNE) spent US$ 17.1 million in providing Chavez’ newly
created political party PSUV with 1,050 fingerprint machines, antennas
and the like in order to aid in the process of registering the members
of the new party. On top of that the CNE provided personnel, rented
tents and purchased t-shirts and caps for the new members. To finish it
off the Armed Forces provided some helicopters to support the logistics
of the process. All at taxpayers expense and illegal at that!

—But the juiciest tidbit of the week has to be that at last the National Assembly will open an investigation into Maletagate.
But the investigation will not be into looking how the money left
Venezuela with exchange controls or in a PDVSA airplane filled with
Government officials. No, the investigation will be to “prove” that
Antonini was a CIA agent, the money left the US and it is all a
conspiracy against the people of Venezuela. All is based in Jaime
Baily’s article saying he met Antonini in 2002 and at the time Antonini
claimed to be anti-Chavez. Of course, Antonini made millions since
2002, so maybe the robolution changed his mind, but I am sure the
Assembly will not look into this part of the story.

This anonymous spoof of Chavez’ Facebook page is just too funny not to post even if it is huge!!!

A friend sends me the
address of the home where one of the men jailed in the Maletagate case, Franklin Duran, was living in Miami before he was detained, specifically in Key Bizcayne, FL. The
address is 655 North Mashta Drive
and if you look at google maps, you find this aerial view:


It looks very nice
indeed, right on the inlet, and on the water as you can see on the left and you can see on the right the dock and boat in the back of the house. If one the puts the same
address into zillow.com, then one actually gets a very nice view of the house,
pools and everything, looks like the house has two buildings and maybe even a
couple of pools:

According to zillow, the
house is estimated to be worth US$ 3.96 million and yearly property taxes alone
are US$ 75,600, what would be a huge salary by Venezuelan standards.

One can then go to the
Dade county webpage
and put in the address in the database for properties in the county and one
finds that the house was assessed in 2007 at US$ 4.7 million and is the
property of a company called Foxdelta Investments. In pilot-speak Fox Delta stands for FD, the initials
of Franklin Duran, but one can go to the sunbiz webpage and find that
Foxdelta investments is indeed currently owned by Franklin Duran himself as its sole
Director.

However, if one looks
at the annual reports of the company, the original company
was registered by lawyer Wladimir Abad in 2003 and in 2004, it’s
President became Franklin Duran and it’s Vice President became none other
than the carrier of the suitcase himself, Guido Alejandro Antonini, with their
addresses specified, confirming beyond any doubt that the information given to
me is correct: This is Duran’s home, not too shabby, no? Long live the robolution!

Nothing much happened with the company until August 22^nd.
of last year, when two weeks after Antonini was caught with the suitcase
entering Argentina,
Duran removed his buddy Antonini from being a Director, probably as a way of
distancing himself from Antonini. Unfortunately, later he met repeatedly with
Antonini trying to help him “hide” the origin of the funds in the suitcase and
the FBI was watching and taping and he was detained for acting as an agent of a
foreign Government.

Meanwhile, William
Abad, who created the company FoxDelta Investments was
also the Secretary of the company which owned the
plane confiscated last June by the DEA, as they made believe that the plane
was owned by US nationals, which he, as a lawyer, clearly knew was not true. This all makes it fairly clear that all of these guys know each other.

The bolibourgeois seem all to be connected to each other and they seem to love nice homes and expensive toys like planes.

You have to love the robolution!

And the Financial Times discovers Oligarco Burguesito and how stupid and inefficient this Government has been:

“Some with enough contacts are making a living through arbitrage. People
with credit cards who cannot afford to use their dollars from Cadivi
sell their quotas to those who can. According to Cadivi, from January
to November last year, Venezuelans spent more than $4bn (€2.7bn, £2bn)
on credit cards abroad, compared with just over $1bn the year before.
By contrast, Cadivi approved only $2.2bn for food importers, even
though the nation is battling food shortages.”

The Maletagate case gets more interesting by the minute as Moises Maionica’s guilty plea appears ready to open a can of worms for the Venezuelan Government and apparently, the Argentinean one will not be that far behind.

First of all, Maionica must have a lot of interesting and significant information as he has been offered an S visa in exchange for his guilty plea. I confess I had never heard of such a visa, but from its description, it must not be used unless the witness can provide extremely useful and interesting information for the US Government on the case. Thus, Maionica must have offered a wealth of interesting stuff, given that now he will be unable to return to hi home country. And one has to wonder whether the others accused in the case will soon follow Maionica’s steps. According to the immigration website:

“The
S visa issued to persons who assist US law enforcement to investigate
and prosecute crimes and terrorist activities such as money laundering
and organized crime.”

On top of it, the US Attorney General has to approve it.

Reportedly, the Prosecutor in the case has not revealed all his cards and may have recordings between some of those indicted and the Argentinean Consulate in Miami, which can only create more problems to both Governments as the recording will be made public some point and the total denial they have so far used may become a laughing stock. Additionally, Guido Antonini, who carried the suitcase with the US$ 800,000 into Argentina is ready to testify on his meetings with some of the same members of the Argentinean Consulate caught on tape talking to the other defendants on the case.

Finally, the Venezuelan Government has made many denials, but has yet to say anything about the man at large, Canchica, who is reportedly and active military officer and member of the intelligence police, but nobody has been able to locate , amidst rumors he is in Cuba.

While Chavez continued saber rattling Colombia, his former Minister of
Defense Raul Baduel sent a message to that country not to pay attention to
what Hugo Chavez may say. It was a remarkable statement from Chavez’ former
buddy, but one had to see beyond the message itself.

More than
talking to the Colombians, Baduel was likely sending also a message to the
Venezuelan military, the same military officers that had to exert pressure
on Dec. 2nd. to have Chavez accept his defeat in the Constitutional
referendum, to not pay attention to their own Commander in Chief’s attempt
to distract the attention of the people form the mess Chavez has
created.

And one hears daily the rumblings not only from the people,
but more and more from his own collaborators and remarkably, from Hugo
Chavez himself. In the middle of his threats against Colombia, Chavez now
regularly sprinkles his speeches with rants and loud statements about his
Governments inability to accomplish anything, as if he were not the Chief
of State but some sort of outside comptroller checking things
out.

What is remarkable and somewhat worrisome is the speed at which
the results of the December 2nd. referendum have unraveled the Chavez
Government. Chavez’ popularity is sharply down as the image of invnecibility
he had is now gone. But more importantly, there is no longer the fear of
speaking out or of being discriminated for speaking out. In fact, unlikely
other electoral processes, there has been no punishment or even threats
against those that did not vote and the former Chavez supporters that voted
No in December have not felt any indication that anyone knows their
vote.

The fact is the loss was so unexpected that Chavismo is still
trying to come to terms with it so it has not had the time to organize any
action against the voters, because it is more concerned about whether the
Government’s popularity can be brought back to its former levels. Moreover,
many of the fanatics who organized the discrimination campaigns in the past
are no longer around, they actually voted No.

And as they try to do
prop up Chavez, they find that events are unraveling at their own speed
with shortages widespread and the monetary reconversion creating another
spike in inflation, creating a very negative atmosphere against the
Government. In fact, polls continue to show a drop in the Government’s
popularity, beyond what was expected initially from the December
defeat.

And the question is how can truly the Government raise its
popularity? Chavez continues to shoot from the hip daily. Sometimes
at Colombia, other he says he will raise food prices, the next day he says
he will finance food purchases at Mercal. But the truth is that between the
gas subsidy, the food subsidy and the mismanagement, the Government
voracity has bn such that little has been accomplished and now desperate
measures with possible falling oil prices are unlikely to yield any quick
results. And with the economy strained by the bad policies of the last few
years, any new policies are likely to slowdown, not move the economy,
creating further backlash.

And I begin to get concerned at the speed
at which things are unraveling for the autocrat. I hope Hugo Chavez is in
charge to witness the effects of all of the mismanagement of the last few
years. I hope he rides his unpopularity to the lowest possible lows and is
blamed for nine lost years of progress, as he has essentially damaged the
Venezuelan economy through incompetence, fanaticism and ignorance. I want him
to be alone as his buddies defect one by one, money in their suitcases,
leaving him ranting into empty spaces day after day.

Only then,
should he be allowed to leave and face the courts for his mismanagement,
corruption and human rights violations.

Moises Maionica one of the men charged in the US with being an agent of the
Venezuelan Government in US territory in the Maletagate scandal, changed his
plea to guilty in a sign that he is now coopertaing with US authorities.
Immediately the Venezuelan Foreign Minister said Maionica was lying through
his teeth in declaring himself guilty. Maionica was facing 15 years in jail
if found guilty after declaring himself innocent, but has probably changed
his plea now in exchange for immunity and reportedly, a US visa.

Maionica’s plea change clearly indicates that Maionica is telling his stry
and exchanging information. This could mean bad news for the Venezuelan
Government not only in the Maletagate case, but also Maionica was the legal
representative of the fingerprint machines used in the 2004 referendum and
reportedly held property in his name, which belonged to former CNE President
Jorge Roridguez, who was later named Vice President of Venezuela and
currently is President of Chavez’ political party PSUV.

In the last few days it has become known that the FBI had more tapes, videos
and information that previously revealed, including SMS messages exchanged
by teh accused with Venezuela, which prove their involvement. Most analysts
expect others accused in the case to change their plea now that Maionica,
considered to be the one with the contacts at the highest levels of the
Venezuelan Government, has begun singing.

Many people in Caracas must be feeling their feet trembling and it is not
precisely an earthquake.

As we learn today that “hard core” Chavistas are outnumbered for the first time by “hard core” opposition to Chavismo for the first time in nine years (25% to 22%) and that Chavez overall approval rating has fallen to 35%, it is perhaps appropriate to reproduce this article by Alvaro Vargas Llosa. Somebody should tell Chavez: “It’s the economy, stupid”

Slum Lord by Alvaro Vargas Llosa in The New Republic

CARACAS, Venezuela–After an extensive visit to the
slums of this capital, I am convinced that Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez lost the recent referendum that would have extended the time he
could remain in office not because his countrymen value democracy so
much, but because his social programs are crumbling. In the barrios of
Petare, Catia, Baruta and other places, the nationalist/populist model
is collapsing.

Through a network of
“missions,” the government has been using oil revenue to provide food,
housing, cars, education and health care for millions of Venezuelans.
In theory, Venezuelans are enjoying the “social justice” denied to them
during decades of rule by the country’s elites. In real life, the
missions are plagued with corruption and inefficiency, and are severely
hampered by the insecurity and the shortages that have become the
hallmark of Venezuelan society.

The Barrio
Adentro mission was originally run by about 30,000 Cuban doctors and
medics. Many of those health centers are now closed; the rest are
seriously understaffed. “The Cubans are leaving,” explains Felix, a
social worker from Baruta, “because they don’t get paid, because they
are the victims of rampant crime or simply because they have moved
on–they only offered to serve in Venezuela as an excuse to get out of
Cuba.” In some cases, the government never provided the funds needed to
finish the construction of clinics. In Baruta, a desolate construction
site reminds the local neighborhood that there is, as Felix puts it, “a
gulf separating reality from speeches.” I was not surprised to learn
that, according to Andres Bello University, 60 percent of the Barrio
Adentro health centers are not functioning.

The
Mercal mission, a series of supermarkets in which the poor can
theoretically acquire food at extremely low prices, is not faring any
better. Because of price controls, essential products are missing from
the shelves. People stand in line for hours to buy food or milk. In
some cases, as I was told in Petare, producers have been put off by
price controls; in others, the people who manage the supermarkets sell
essential products under the table to those able to pay more.

The
soup kitchens, which supposedly have to serve free meals to 150
Venezuelans in each neighborhood every day, are also falling victim to
the chronic shortages. Jesus, a Chavez supporter who manages a soup
kitchen in Barrio Union Petare, told me that he would not be serving
his neighbors until next week, when he expects to get new provisions.
The result? “The squalid ones,” he concluded, using the term with which
Chavez refers to his critics, “are now a majority around here.”

Corruption
has eroded the prestige of the Habitat mission through which the
government supposedly dishes out checks to poor Venezuelans so they can
buy a house. It is not unusual for an aspiring homeowner to find out
that a mystery person has cashed the check using his or her name. “The
same people who hand out the checks cash them for the benefit of their
relatives,” explains Eladio, who told me a nephew recently suffered
such an experience.

The decision to make cars available to millions
of Venezuelans has meant that Caracas is now a traffic inferno. “The
money I spend on gas in one day in the United States will allow me to
drive for an entire month down here,” says Virginia, a television
producer who goes back and forth between Caracas and New York, and
spends a good part of her day when in Caracas driving from one place to
another. “What use is it for millions of people to have cars if they
are wasting much of their lives paralyzed in traffic jams?”

The
Sucre mission, which helps adults complete their secondary education,
is also creating problems. The beneficiaries tend to go to
government-controlled universities that require few qualifications.
Therefore, numerous professions are overcrowded and Venezuelans
complain of not being able to get a job despite their credentials.
Together with a 30 percent annual rate of inflation, the closing down
of thousands of businesses because of socialist regulations, land
confiscations and nationalizations have crippled the country’s
productive capacity–and therefore the demand for workers.

“The
government led Venezuelans to believe that they could become a consumer
society without producing anything,” says Luis Ugalde, the president of
Andres Bello University, “and the results are now speaking for
themselves.”

When I asked Beatriz, a social
worker who spends her time in Catia, to talk to me about Chavez’s
missions, she responded, “One cannot speak about that which doesn’t
exist.” That strikes me as an appropriate way to sum up Venezuela’s
nationalist/populist model.