The Devil's Excrement

Some jerk contacts opposition leader Timoteo Zambrano and asks him to check on the health and whereabouts of Chavez’ ex-wife Marisabel de Chavez claiming they have not heard from her for four days and fearing for her safety. Zambrano stupidly checks with the Red Cross and before the news is barely out, the former First Lady shows uup buying shoes in a Barquisimeto shopping mall. How stupid can people be?

Loved the response of Chacao’s Mayor Leopoldo Lopez when he said today commenting on the fact that he has been called to testify, as an accomplice, in the escape of oil manager Juan Fernandez from last Saturday’s rally. Lopez simply said:

“What I have to clarify, is that we have not, and we will not, be accomplices to the excesses of the Disip (intelligence police), everyone sees the manner in which they run over and react out of proportion, they use tear gas for everything, we have to evaluate the action, not of Poli Chacao, nor the Metropolitan police, but of the state polices, this is another way of turning what is a reality, it is Disip that has been using force against the citizens.”

He added” we are here, we will not run away. We have never had a response from the Attorney General, when we caught a vehicle spying on my office, which was the same one seen the same day of the explosions in the Spanish and Colombian Embassies, nor when we showed the bribing by the Director of Disip of some of functionaries of Poli Chacao, in the best style of “Montesinos”.

I have always wondered why the government has always said that the only way out of the political crisis was the recall referendum in August. Politically, it seemed to me to be a lose-lose proposition for President Chavez. First of all, he would be running against only himself. Second, he has little chance of surviving a recall referendum as demonstarted by the “Firmazo”. Finally, if he lost a recall referendum, he would not be able to run as a candidate in the elections aftwerwards. In contrast, by accepting an early election Chavez could wish that the opposition would split into various factions and either win or at least have a respectable showing coming in second place. (note I said “wish).

Well, today we hear Vice-President Rangel explaining, that Chavez, even if he lost a referendum would be able to run in the election that follows and that “nothing” in either the Constitution or the electoral law bans it. Now, I am definitely not a lawyer, but as explained again quite well by Deputy Gerardo Blyde today, article 233 of the Constitution says that once the mandate of the President is revoked, the Vice-President will assume the Presidency until a NEW President is elected within thirty days. Now checking the seven definitions of “new” in Webster’s dictionary or the nine for “nuevo” in the Royal Acadamy of the Spanish Language Dictionary it certainly does not appear as if Chavez would fit any of them. But, of course, when you have bought the Supreme Court, you never know how they might interpret it differently.

One interesting aspect of this statement by the Vice-President is that, as noted by my boss, for the first time ever the Government recognizes such a possibility exists….interesting.

Deputies of Chavez’ MVR party will ask the attorney General tomorrow to order the arrest of the opposition Mayors of Chacao and the Metropolitan District, as well as the Heads of the respective police forces. The charge? Not obeying the order to capture oil leader Juan Fernandez last Saturday during the opposition rally and helping to hide him because they were present at the rally. They also said that they will press the Attorney General for the liberation of the gunmen caught on video shooting at the peaceful march last April 11th. who are “unjustly” being held. I love justice in the Vth. Republic! They, of course, make no mention of the fact that the “Intelligence” police has been incapable of capturing even one of the union leaders that have outstanding orders for their detention. Or how about the “investigators” that have not even looked for the additional shooters of Altamira Square on Dec. 6th.? Or the ones that are looking into the torture and death of three soldiers and two of their girlfriends after being kidnapped from Altamira Square, but have yet to visit the square? Or the fact that a well-known militant of Chavez’ MVR showed up with an armed group to “rescue” the only survivor from that massacre and when arrested was himslef “rescued” by his wife MVR violent leader Lina Ron? Just some innocent questions on my part….

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton, challenged the US Government today to provide evidence of the charges made by Gen. James Hill that Venezuela is now part of the arab terrorist network and that part of the financing is being done through our country. The charges were made by the General at a Conference in Miami two weeks ago, as reported here. The island of Margarita was explicitly mentioned by the General. Separately, MVR (Chave’z party) Deputy Tarek Saab, who is of Arab ancestry, also rejected the accusations today.

What puzzles me is why it took them two weeks to respond to Gen. Hill’s accusations and it is not a coincidence that the two replied the same day. This seems to be part of a new campaign by Chavez and his collaborators to distance themselves from terrorism, even if they refuse to call the FARC terrorist, but the trail is long and I hope the US Government responds…..

Via Instapundit I learn of Thor Harvolssen’s good article in the magazine The Weekly Standard on Hugo Chavez and his friends in the terrorist world, he forgot Carlos The Jackal, but nobody is perfect…… Coincidentally, today’s New York Times has an article on that magazine and it quotes the Editor of The Nation saying that The Weekly Standard may be “the most influential publication in America”. At least we know the right people will be reading Thor’s thoughts on Chavez.

Iris Varela, a Deputy from Chavez’ MVR party, demonstrated her deep belief in democracy on Sunday during the President’s weekly program when she suggested the meetings of the National Assembly be moved to the barrios, such as Caracas neighborhood “23 de Enero” so they coudl approve laws without the “hindrance” of the opposition. Such a pretty revolution!