Chacumbele’s cynicism by Teodoro Petkoff

November 7, 2007

Chacumbele’s* Cynicism by Teodoro Petkoff in Tal Cual

In front of a crowd that arrived at Avenida
Bolivar without asking for a permit from the Mayor, that marched
without any repressive core opposing them with tanks and water whales
and without anybody throwing stones and bottles at them, Chacumbele
demanded of his henchmen that they prohibit student demonstrations and
that they punish the media which he claimed were trying to stage a
coup. This is the last straw, coming from someone who seems to have no
limit to his abuses and arbitrariness, and above all, his cynicism.
While a gang of motorcycle riders with red t shirts goes into the
Central patio of the Capitol building without being stopped, the
students, in order to hand over a document to the National Assembly,
have to arrive protected by the National Guard and avoiding bottles
thrown by Chacumbele’s hoodlums. Could a group from the opposition have
been standing at the corner of the CNE while Celia Flores and her
pathetic combo marched to hand over the reform proposal to the CNE?
Pointless question. On the other hand when the student commission
arrived at the CNE it was stoned by hoodlums, happily gathered in the
neighboring corner. This inequality, this trampling of denying some
people what is allowed to others is at the origin of the tensions. It
is the feeling of abuse, of cowardly and immoral advantages, which
eventually stirs emotions and also, one should add, facilitates the
actions of the provocateurs interested in creating disturbances. We can
admit that the attitude of some of the young people, hotheaded in the
face of the tanks and the police line of the Metropolitan force, was
not politically the most convenient thing to do (without discarding the
action of the provocateurs) and that trying to chain themselves at the
CNE was not either, and moreover that it was an error. But the
President should not rip his clothes over this, how many burnt vehicles
have in their trajectory the various Ministers, some of them part of
the old hooded demonstrators of UCV? How many fights between police and
students have there not been in this country, so that now Chacumbele
pretends to nullify this constitutional right to demonstrate, since the
events of last Thursday? He must be quite nervous with the numbers in
the polls, so as to prohibit the public rallies of his opponents and to
silence the media through which they express themselves. We do not
share at all neither the tone of the speeches of the sector that met on
Saturday in Avenida Victoria, among other things, because of the
insults that were proffered against other sectors of the opposition,
but the media is not responsible for what was said there, the same way
that the swaggering, the threats and other offenses that Chacumbele
issued in his speech on Sunday,were also registered by the same media.
Take a tranquilizer please.

*Chacumbele killed himself by trying out his own poison, in this case it refers to Chavez

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The hidden history of Venezuela by Moises Naim

November 6, 2007


Moises Naim, who was Minister of Development from 1989 to 1992, is
Editor of Foreign Policy and wrote the book “Illicit: How drug smugglers,
traffickers and copycats are hijacking the Global Economy”
wrote the article below in Madrid’s El Pais about how Venezuela is becoming a
center for globalized criminal activity thanks to corruption and the lack of
enforcement. This is another achievement of the robolution that is actually
hard to understand: How Chavez has simply ignored crime and corruption and
allowed it to grow uncontrolled during his nine years in office. Given his
military background and the goodwill with which he arrived in office I actually
thought these would be two areas where there may be progress. I was very wrong,
as corruption has proliferated and crime has tripled since Chavez took office. This
permissiveness has also propelled the country into the ranks of most favored
nation for international criminal syndicates as Dr. Naim so clearly explains
below:

The hidden history of Venezuela by Moises Naim


As the world debates between horror and admiration, the changes that Hugo Chavez is imposing in Venezuela, other
transformations less visible but equally profound are taking place in that
country. Venezuela
has become a major center of operations for the criminal networks that operate
internationally. What most attracts these foreign traffickers of Venezuela is
not the local markets; what they love are the excellent conditions offered as a
basis for managing their criminals businesses. Crossroads between South
America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe, the Venezuela’s location
is ideal. Borders? Long, depopulated and porous. It’s financial system? Large
and easy to evade government controls for those who need it.
Telecommunications, ports and airports? The best that oil can buy. Levels of
corruption of politicians, soldiers, judges and policemen? Venezuela occupies a
shameful position at number 162 on the list of Transparency International,
which ranks 179 countries according to their level of corruption. Has President
Chavez shown any interest in the face of these international networks in his
eight years in power? Not much.

While this situation has so far been invisible to world public opinion, it has
not been for those fighting transnational crime. They are not interested neither
in Venezuela nor in Chavez’ policies, but in the fact that from that country the
tentacles of these criminals global networks are irradiated to the rest of the
world. And the numbers speak for themselves: in 2003 75 tons of cocaine left
Venezuela; this year it is estimated that 276 tons will leave the country. Before,
the main target were the United States and the Caribbean; Now Europe is
increasingly the target with technical stops in African countries like Guinea-Bissau,
where there has recently emerged a community of Venezuelans and Colombians.


A senior Dutch police officer told me that he and his European colleagues spend
more time in Caracas than in Bogota, and that many of the major heads of
criminal cartels now operate with impunity – and effectiveness – from
Venezuela. And traffickers are not only Colombians: there are also Asians and
Europeans and even from Belarus, a country that President Chavez has paid
particular attention to and visited several times.

Venezuela also appears on all of the lists of havens for money laundering. And
money moves from Venezuela not only through electronic interbank transfers: the
combination of private jets, suitcases full of money and diplomatic immunity
has opened up new possibilities. Recently, a member of the so-called Bolivarian
bourgeoisie or boliburguesía-the new group of mega rich that has emerged in
recent years, was discovered at the customs office in Buenos Aires with at
least one of these bags. Discovered, but not arrested, because he was traveling
with a group of senior members of President Nestor Kirchner´s Government. Just
a few weeks ago, in Uruguay the illegal trafficking of arms and ammunition by
Venezuelans which were thus trying to avoid the embargo imposed on Iran by the
Security Council of the UN was denounced. The Colombian guerrillas do not seem
to have major problems in obtaining the weapons they need, many of them through
Venezuela. Someone is selling them to them.


Diamond exploiters are doing equally well. “Venezuela is allowing massive
smuggling of diamonds and the country should be expelled from the Kimberley
Process”, recommended in a recent report by Global Witness and Partnership
Africa. The Kimberley Process is the mechanism sponsored by the UN to combat
the smuggling of so-called blood diamonds. Venezuela is in the first division
of the illegal trade in people and is one of the countries which gives less
protection to human beings trafficked involuntarily, especially women. It is
also a major hub for transshipments of Chinese citizens and from the Middle
East en route to other destinations and who obtain Venezuelans passports in a
matter of hours. But never free.

The great paradox of this terrible story is that, despite the constant
denunciations of President Chavez against globalization, the revolution has not
been able to avoid that Venezuela suffer its worst consequences. These criminal
gangs are globalizing Venezuela. But this is a globalization that depends on
corruption, crime and death. The hidden history of Venezuela may end up being
much more important in determining the future of my suffering country that Hugo
Chavez´experiment.

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Former Chavez Defense Minister calls reform fraudulent a coup d’etat if approved and encourages people to vote against it

November 5, 2007


Chavez’
former Minister of Defense Raul Baduel, the man that single-handedly brought
Chavez back to power in April 2002, came
out today to voice his strong opposition to the proposed reform, which “if
approved would consummate in practice a coup d’etat in Venezuela”

Baduel did not mince words
saying “unnecessarily and trampling over procedures, using fraudulent
procedures they want to impose a proposal that requires a wide consultation
process via a Constituent assembly”

“Any Constitution that
reduces regulation (on the Government) and takes away limits to power must be
viewed with suspicion”

Baduel called on
Venezuelans to inform themselves and defense their rights and “not allow their
power to be taken away from them” and on the Armed Forces to be alert about the
content of the articles approved.

“This is not a
Constitutional Reform, it is not a revision…it is a transformation of the
State, thus it should have been assumed by a National Constituent Assembly”
u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\>“At this moment, both the Executive Power asnwell as the Legislative Power are taking power away from the people alteringntheir values, the principles and structure of the State without having the abilitynto do so”u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\>Thus, Baduel concluded that he wanted to publiclynmanifest his rejection to the proposal; because it was regressive one which reducesnthe advances achieved in constitutional rights since 1999 and urged people tonvote NO on the proposal. u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\>This is a very interesting development. Baduelncoincides with the view that this is simply a coup against the VenezuelannConstitution and raises all of the relevant issues abut the illegality of thenproposed reform. His words are too strong for this to be some sort of trick. Itnwill be interesting to see the Government’s reactions and whether othernvoices join him. u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\> u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”3″ faceu003d”Times New Roman”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:12.0pt”\>The downside is that Baduel has personal ambitions, isnalso former military and who knows what he wants…u003c/span>\u003c/font>\u003c/p>\nn\u003cp>\u003cfont sizeu003d”2″ faceu003d”Arial”\>u003cspan langu003d”EN-US” styleu003d”font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial”\>”,1]
);

//–>

“At this moment, both the
Executive Power as well as the Legislative Power are taking power away from the
people altering their values, the principles and structure of the State without
having the ability to do so”

Thus, Baduel concluded
that he wanted to publicly manifest his rejection to the proposal; because it was
regressive one which reduces the advances achieved in constitutional rights
since 1999 and urged people to vote NO on the proposal.

This is a very interesting
development. Baduel coincides with the view that this is simply a coup against
the Venezuelan Constitution and raises all of the relevant issues abut the
illegality of the proposed reform. His words are too strong for this to be some
sort of trick. It will be interesting to see the Government’s reactions and
whether other voices join him.

The downside is that
Baduel has personal ambitions, was a strong collaborator in many abuses of this
Government and has his own personal political agenda, he is also former
military and who knows what he wants…In fact. his announcement even comes with
the creation of his blog with
a statement on his position on the reform.

What does Baduel really
want? Stay tuned…

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Chavez’ democratic wisdom at its best

November 5, 2007

The democratic wisdom
and goodwill of autocrat/dictator Hugo Chavez when referring to those that
disagree with him yesterday during his rally pro reform of the Constitution:

On the
middle class that lives in the east of Caracas:

“Imagine a
million people marching towards the East of Caracas burning palm trees and other
trees. We would be that million, not you, because you don’t even reach one
million. There would no stone left of this oligarchy without a fatherland”

On the
church that has opposed the proposed Constitutional Reform:

“The
Cardinal and the bishops are leaving the same pile of shit. Mr. Cardinal you
continue with the same pile of shit. Ali Primera used to say, don’t look for
the Cardinal because God is happy with the revolution”

On student
marches:

“Next time
you have to evaluate if you give them the permit to march, because you are
going to give it to them so that they can come and burn downtown Caracas. What Government can be so weak to
give a permit to some fascists that are threatening to burn cars with people inside?”

On the
leaders of the protests:

“I have
ordered to open case file on them…Barreto, open cases against them…because they are
looking for a dead body… what happened at the CNE was planned. I am sure they
were sorry nothing bad happened, but they want a bloody show. Don’t let
yourselves (the students) be used to march like peasants to a bloodshed”

On the
media:

“What is
this Conatel? What is this Barreto, Rodriguez and Bernal? Jesse Chacon
(Minister of Telecommunications). The TV stations call for a march with no
point of return (sic) and nothing happens. Apply the law. And if you don’t dare
do it, I sign it. Each of us has to assume his own responsibility.”

On what may
happen if he loses

“I prefer a
peaceful outcome, but if for any reason I fail, I would go to the mountains of
Falcon, the plains of Portuguesa, Lara and the South of the Orinoco. Is that what they want? If I have to
grab a rifle, I have no problem in ending my life like that”

Spoken like
a true democrat, no?

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Dumb, dumber and…dumbest

November 5, 2007

One of the things that has always
amazed me about the silly revolution is the ability of its members and
supporters to believe that anyone can do anything. Thus, Mathematicians
are named Ministers of Finance, Doctors who treat varicose veins
Ministers of Health and people with no managerial experience are put in
charge of complex institutions.
 
Even worse, if
the fact that even when they fail to understand how the system they
have imposed works, revolutionaries want to be in the limelight and are
willing to make statements about things that they clearly do not have
even the most basic grasp on.
 
Case in point was
the interview in today’s El Nacional with none other than Deputy Simon
Escalona, Vice President of the Finance Committee of the National
Assembly, who looks dumb, dumber and dumbest with the statements he
made.
 
Just the beginning of the interview is priceless:
 
 “For us, the parallel (foreign exchange) market does not exist”.
 
Wow,
I am not sure who “us” is, but he is definitely very much out of a
loop, as the Government has spent US$ 12 billion in trying to lower
this non-existent parallel market dollar rate and in fact, will sell
another US$ 1.5 billion bonds with that goal next week. Moreover, over
the last two years the Government sold more than US$ 8 billion directly
into that market, with no transparency and making millionaires of quite
a few bankers and commisionists, But I guess Escalona was not told.
 
But let’s continue it, when he says:
 
“This is mostly a mediatic thing”
 
Jeez,
I love the standard explanation of blaming it on a “mediatic” thing. As
I was talking about with a fellow blogger today, we are not even sure
exactly what that means, but when something does not work in Venezuela
it is always some sort of “mediatic” conspiracy, never Government
incompetence. \u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Deputy Escalona then asks\u003ci\>: “Tell me, where I can find this market… those that do it are committing a crime”\u003c/i\>\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Well, he could first go and ask the Ministry of Finance who it has sold structured notes or Argentinean bonds to or he could go to the Government banks which placed so many illegal orders in the last Bono del Sur III and ask them who and where they sell the dollars obtained from it. He could also go to the many new brokers in Caracas, dozens of them brand new and devoted only to this phantom market,, but I imagine nobody would like to work with him given his PEP (Politically Exposed Person) category.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>As for it being a crime, the law approved by the same Finance Committee of the National Assembly that he is part of, explicitly says that securities markets are exempt from it. What is illegal is to trade currency, bills, checks and the like.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Then, he comes in the area of dumber and dumbest when he says:\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>\u003ci\>“We are going to put in the law that merchants will have to place a sign saying, “These products were acquired with dollars at the official rate of exchange””\u003c/i\>\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>What if they weren’t? Is he aware of the delays in Cadivi in handing out foreign currency? Or the fact that not everything is in the list to obtain foreign currency? Or is he saying that products not purchased with CADIVI dollars can not be imported? Try that, the country will come to a standstill.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>In fact, he recognizes the existence of this market and how positive they can be, when he says:\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>\u003ci\> \u003c/i\>\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>\u003ci\>“ There is no shortage of Scotch Whisky”\u003c/i\>\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>And that is true; shortages occur when you regulate products or restrict foreign currency for them. That is why there is no milk, black beans and the like, these products are both controlled in price and access via CADIVI is cumbersome and bureaucratic. In contracts, Scotch whisky, by order of his Latin American autocratic idol, receives no dollars from the exchange control office and its prices are not regulated. Thus much like caviar, champagne, imported cereals and candies and the like, you can find shelves at supermarkets stuffed with them. “,1]
);

//–>

 
Deputy Escalona then asks: “Tell me, where I can find this market… those that do it are committing a crime”
 
Well,
he could first go and ask the Ministry of Finance who it has sold
structured notes or Argentinean bonds to or he could go to the
Government banks which placed so many illegal orders in the last Bono
del Sur III and ask them who and where they sell the dollars obtained
from it. He could also go to the many new brokers in Caracas, dozens of
them brand new and devoted only to this phantom market,, but I imagine
nobody would like to work with him given his PEP (Politically Exposed
Person) category.
 
As for it being a crime, the
law approved by the same Finance Committee of the National Assembly
that he is part of, explicitly says that securities markets are exempt
from it. What is illegal is to trade currency, bills, checks and the
like.
 
Then, he comes in the area of dumber and dumbest when he says:
 
“We
are going to put in the law that merchants will have to place a sign
saying, “These products were acquired with dollars at the official rate
of exchange””
 
What if they weren’t? Is he
aware of the delays in Cadivi in handing out foreign currency? Or the
fact that not everything is in the list to obtain foreign currency? Or
is he saying that products not purchased with CADIVI dollars can not be
imported? Try that, the country will come to a standstill.
 
In fact, he recognizes the existence of this market and how positive they can be, when he says:
 
“ There is no shortage of Scotch Whisky”
 
And
that is true; shortages occur when you regulate products or restrict
foreign currency for them. That is why there is no milk, black beans
and the like, these products are both controlled in price and access
via CADIVI is cumbersome and bureaucratic. In contrast, Scotch whisky,
by order of his Latin American autocratic idol, receives no dollars
from the exchange control office and its prices are not regulated. Thus
much like caviar, champagne, imported cereals and candies and the like,
you can find shelves at supermarkets stuffed with them. \u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>It’s called free markets…\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>But that is s lesson that dumb and dumber will never be able to understand. \u003c/div\>\u003c/div\>”,0]
);
D([“ce”]);

//–>

 
It’s called free markets…
 
But that is s lesson that dumb, dumber and dumbest will never be able to understand.

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The Perils of Petrocracy in the NYT

November 3, 2007

The New York Times looks at Venezuela and revisits the effect of the Devil´s Excrement in tomorrow´s Sunday magazine under the title ¨The Perils of Petrocracy¨A good look and description of why Pdvsa and Venezuela are in trouble. The more things change the more they stay the same…

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November 3, 2007

With
the same lack of scruples that has characterized so many actions of
Chavez and his cronies in the last nine years, Chavismo set the stage
for the final coup d’etat against Venezuela’s Constitution, when it
handed in today the final proposal for its reform to the Electoral
Board in order to hold a referendum to approve it next December 2nd.

 
It
is a coup, because the proposed reform is absolutely and completely
illegal because it alters fundamental principles of the Constitution
written by a Chavismo dominated Constituent assembly in 2000. These
fundamental principles are contained in the first nine articles of the country’s Constitution, which while not being altered in the proposed reform, are certainly modified by the changes that will be voted on in a month. 
 
Simply
put, making Venezuela a socialist state, suspending the alternability
granted by the Constitution when allowing Chávez to be reelected
indefinitely and allowing Chavez to create regional “territories” at
will, all represent matters, which require a Constituent Assembly and
are thus illegal and represent a coup against Venezuela’s
Constitutional order.
 
There many other
illegalities, such as the fact that in the end it became a farce of
changes which were not discussed or consulted with the people as
required by law. On top of the 33 articles proposed by Chavez, the
Assembly added its own 25 after the law did not allow new ones to be
discussed. It also added some 15 transient articles, turning the
trampling of the rule of law into a true massacre of Constitutional
order.
 
The whole process and reform turned out to
be so grotesque, that Chavez lost the backing of the largest political
party besides his own, when Podemos leaders simply refused to join such
an absurd proposal. \u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>CNE Director Vicente Diaz did not vote in favor of taking the proposal to referendum, saying that the proposed reform is illegal and at the very least the Electoral Board should have requested an opinion from the country’s Supreme Court.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>And it was the silence of that Court which made the whole process bizarre, as the Court has yet to rule on any of the injunctions and suits brought in front of it to stop the process. In fact, even on the issue of whether the reform should or not be voted as a block the Court has been derelict in not ruling to protect the rights of Venezuelans. It was Chavez who made an about face on the issue, magnanimously allowing it to be voted as blocks, but of course, defining himself what those blocks should be, rather than the interpretation that a group of voters could define it. \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Thus, it was a very dark day today, in which one of the most sordid processes in the country’s democratic history was completed. The man that reached power by being critical of decisions being made by politicians in smoke filed rooms, has single-handedly imposed his illegal will and staged the final needed coup on the country’s Constitution, so that he can impose his dictatorial and autocratic rule on all Venezuelans.\u003cspan\> \u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\u003c/div\>”,0]
);
D([“ce”]);

//–>

 
CNE
Director Vicente Diaz did not vote in favor of taking the proposal to
referendum, saying that the proposed reform is illegal and at the very
least the Electoral Board should have requested an opinion from the
country’s Supreme Court.
 
And it was the silence
of that Court which made the whole process bizarre, as the Court has
yet to rule on any of the injunctions and suits brought in front of it
to stop the process. In fact, even on the issue of whether the reform
should or not be voted as a block the Court has been derelict in not
ruling to protect the rights of Venezuelans. It was Chavez who made an
about face on the issue, magnanimously allowing it to be voted as
blocks, but of course, defining himself what those blocks should be,
rather than the interpretation that a group of voters could define it.
 
Thus,
it was a very dark day today, in which one of the most sordid processes
in the country’s democratic history was completed. The man that reached
power by being critical of decisions being made by politicians in smoke
filed rooms, has single-handedly imposed his illegal will and staged
the final needed coup on the country’s Constitution, so that he can
impose his dictatorial and autocratic rule on all Venezuelans. 

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Fascist is, fascist does

November 2, 2007

Today students marched to the Electoral Board in what was a large march that has been covered well by the media.
The students met with the CNE Board and expressed their desire that the
referendum be postponed, a position that I find is hard to sustain
unless you can prove procedures have been violated as the Constitution
is quite clear that the CNE has 30 days to hold the referendum once the
Assembly has approved it. I believe the approval is spurious, but it is
not for the CNE to decide that.
 
In any case,
after the students presented their letters, a group of students
attempted to chain themselves to the stairs of the CNE in order to
stage a permanent protest at the Electoral Board. The action, while I
did not agree with it, as they were guests at the CNE, was certainly
not violent but gave the National Guard and the police the excuse to
repress and use violence against the marchers.
 
And
they were extremely violent both inside of the CNE and outside where
they began using tear gas immediately without any particular reason as
the students had already been vacated from the inside. Violence inside
was limited by the intervention of CNE Director Vicente Diaz, but the
same National Guard soldiers he controlled inside, went outside to
express theirs fascists militaristic impulses.
 
But perhaps the clearest moment of what I mean, was when the police, the same one that the Minister of the Interior said today
had a “patriotic attitude” in controlling the marchers, began violently
beating a kid, managing to blow off his front teeth in the process. All
of a sudden one of the cops realized that Globovision was broadcasting
the abuse, so that the kid was surrounded by cops attempting to hide
what they had done. Sadly, the student is the son of former
Metropolitan Police Chief Henry Vivas, who is currently in jail and
spent a large part of his life finding ways to peacefully control
marches and demonstrations.\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>But the fascism of the cops and National Guard is simply overflowing and is ratified by the Minister of the Interior when he says, “it is the responsibility of the state to enforce with all its weight the principle of authority”. No, it is the responsibility of the State to avoid violence and protect the citizens and curiously, it never uses the same weight and enforcement when it comes to the pro-Chavez crowds who are always illegally present at these opposition marches, ready to confront and be violent like they did today.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>But you can’t expect from the Minister who conforms to a Forrest Gumpian “Fascist is, Fascist does” culture ingrained in him by the military and matured by his own stupidity. Lately, even the deaths in the prisons that he fails to supervise have been according to the Minister “induced by thugs paid by the opposition in order to destabilize”.\u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\> \u003c/div\>\u003cdiv\>Fortunately, human rights violations do not have a time limit for their prosecution and the Minister and his thugs will one day, no matter how far into the future be brought in front of the courts to pay for their crimes. \u003c/div\>\u003c/div\>”,0]
);
D([“ce”]);

//–>

 
But
the fascism of the cops and National Guard is simply overflowing and is
ratified by the Minister of the Interior when he says, “it is the
responsibility of the state to enforce with all its weight the
principle of authority”. No, it is the responsibility of the State to
avoid violence and protect the citizens and curiously, it never uses
the same weight and enforcement when it comes to the pro-Chavez crowds
who are always illegally present at these opposition marches, ready to
confront and be violent like they did today.
 
But
you can’t expect from the Minister who conforms to a Forrest Gumpian
“Fascist is, Fascist does” culture ingrained in him by the military and
matured by his own stupidity. Lately, even the deaths in the prisons
that he fails to supervise have been according to the Minister “induced
by thugs paid by the opposition in order to destabilize”.
 
Fortunately,
human rights violations do not have a time limit for their prosecution
and the Minister and his thugs will one day, no matter how far into the
future be brought in front of the courts to pay for their crimes.

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November 1, 2007


It is
anybody’s guess why the Autocrat/President/Chief Justice of the Supreme Court “came to the conclusion” that indeed the proposed
Constitutional Reform could be voted separately in two or three blocks and not
as a unit like he and his cohorts had contended up to now. It was he, in his
role as autocrat, that arrived at the decision and not the Supreme Court, which
has had a number of injunctions on the subject for the last two months, but
clearly did not want to go against the wishes of the all powerful autocrat. And
as proof that he is the law, he ordered the National Assembly to incorporate
his suggestions in order to vote on the reform as soon as possible.

But it was
not clear why he did it, since the proposal forces the Electoral Board to throw
away all of what it had done in order to fulfill the Constitutional mandate
that this has to be voted on 30 days after the National Assembly approves it.

And
therein lies the first problem; the changes would make it quite difficult for
the referendum vote to take place on December 2nd. as planned, which has led
some to suggest that that was exactly the purpose. But I just don’t buy it.
Time is running against the Government and the proposal is not very popular and
on top of that regional authorities, who would get the Chavista vote out for
the reform, seem to have little interest in doing so, as they will see their
power reduced by the reform.

In fact,
the proposal raised more questions that answers, as some of the articles
proposed by The Assembly are related the ones proposed by Chávez and you could
not separate them. Just sorting that out, as well as the advertising on the
different proposals could take days and there is simple no time for that.

In fact,
the about face suggests that it would have been better off for the Supreme
Court to rule as it would have delineated the criteria on how to vote these
reforms and how one can propose or not that some articles are voted as a block.

Some have
suggested this may make the proposed reform more popular as it would seem more
open, but I just think that the whole affair just gets more confusing and it
may just be that Chavez came up with this on his own and announced without consultation
without realizing the possible consequences of the measure.

But to
suggest this, just when the cry of the students has been for a postponement of
the referendum seems to give ammunition to the student’s proposal, which I do
not believe will favor Chavismo. To begin with, shortages are increasing and
people are getting frustrated with them and they are blaming only the Chavez
Government. Add to that the upcoming rush in inflation due to the new tax and
the soaring swap rate and the mood, which has already been rarified by protests
lately, can only become worse. Additionally, the Enabling Bill also imposes a
time limit on the approval of the Constitution since there are many bills that
require approval.

I also
don’t buy that Chavez could lose the proposal as it stands today. It is clear
that what people don’t like is the indefinite reelection, but Chavez is putting
that on the same block with the shortened work week and the retroactive
severance pay, so there is little chance that it has something to with it.

But the
gauntlet has been thrown and now Chavismo will have to disentangle its
consequences, unless of course, the Venezuelan Supreme Court rules that Chávez
is wrong and the whole thing was a ploy to make him look more open that he
really is. Just in case this is the goal, Teodoro Petkoff challenged Chavez to
separate the indefinite reelection from his overall proposal to be voted on
separately, which Chavez will never dare accept. But even this theory of the
“more open” and “gentler” Chavez seems too far-fetched and inconsequential to
be behind the proposal.

So, we
will just have to wait and see how the complexity is disentangled from the
autocrat’s proposal and if the CNE has the capability to hold the vote in 31
days as the National Assembly wants. It definitely seems rushed to me, but so
has seemed the whole process that has led us to this point and to an absolutely
fraudulent and illegal proposal by Chavez to change the Venezuelan Constitution.

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As new tax slows down financial system, inflation soars in October in Venezuela

November 1, 2007

It was the first day of the new financial transaction tax and lo andbehold, the financial system sort of ground to a halt, given the
level of improvisation and the lack of preparation by the Government. Basically, the Government did indeed modify the terms of the original decree, exempting some transactions like credit cards, the stock exchange and the interbank system from the new 1.5% tax. But things were so unclear, and the regulations so badly defined, that banks did not process any transaction via the Venezuelan Central Bank and their policy was very clear: when in doubt, charge the tax, which led to most large transactions, including those with local debt, which in theory is exempt, not taking place for the time being. Thus, only cash and checks were processed since it was very clear in their exchange that a 1.5% tax had to be charged.

One of the main victims of the halt was the parallel swap market, which simply died in the last three days ahead of the tax, and today was functioning with a huge spread so that if the transaction was eventually charged the 1.5% tax, then banks and brokers would be covered.

Thus, volumes were small, and few transactions were taking place, which simply adds to the pent up demand of the last few days and may fuel further rises in the upcoming days.

And October inflation was announced today and it was much higher than analysts were expecting at 2.4%, certainly showing the effect of the soaring swap rate, despite the fact that the Government claims it is irrelevant. As I have suggested before, if it is so irrelevant how come the Government spent some US$ 12 billion so far this year trying to bring it down?

In any case, with the 2.4% this month, the accumulated rate increase for the year is already 13.4%, above the 12% target set by the Government and still two more months to go. This, despite the fact that the value added tax was lowered by 6 percentage points in two stages, which gave the CPI an artificial decrease. Even worse, the Food and Beverages group, which affects the poor the most, as over 80% of their income is spent on this group, was up 4.1% for the month of October. For the last twelve months food inflation has been 33%, absolutely killing purchasing power gains by the poor. Add to this shortages and the contribution of the new tax to inflation in upcoming two months of the year and anyone that argues, like the Minister of Planning, that things are going well, has no clue as to what he is talking about.  And that is in large part the origin of the problem.

The Government has yet to explain how with record oil prices it needs to set such a financial transaction tax at a whopping 1.5%, which will generate next year 9% of the budget. One thing is for sure, it will add between 4 and 5% to the CPI in the remainder of this year, absolutely destroying not only the Government’s goals, but also the purchasing power of the Venezuelan poor. But tell that to the Tax Superintendent who still insists this tax does not contribute to inflation. Maybe e should look at Alcoholic Beverages and tobacco in October, as this group was up 9.1% after a special new 10% tax was levied on those items last month.

So, another oil windfall in Venezuela’s history becomes a lost opportunity, as mismanagement and ignorance are such that people have not felt the effects of the huge inflows into the country.

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