The Devil's Excrement

Francisco Toro writes today about Chavez’ plan to shut out the media and has this paragraph that I thought was quite eloquent:

Of course, the government has become so thuggish that that’s not particularly hard. The proliferation of amateur videos showing chavista activists attacking opposition gatherings, often shooting guns into opposition crowds, is the most striking example. Those videos are for real, as are the reams of self-destructive presidential statements, the burping generals, the footage of soldiers beating on opposition activsts, or any of the long list of moronic own-goals the government has been scoring in plain view of the TV cameras. You don’t need some sort of sophisticated media dirty tricks lab to make the government look thuggish on TV, as the chavistas would have it. No, you just have to put a camera in front of them and hit record.

As I tell everyone that is so critical of the opposition, there is no equivalent footage that you can blame on the opposition……

Well, the twenty four hours are up, but the people are still out there en force. What now? I think it will be dangerous to extend it as an act of Civil Disobedience indefinetly, the effort and resources required are simply huge. They are talking about five more hours, what if people don’t leave?

(Permit has been extended to 11 PM tonight)

Hugo Chavez will be travelling to Porto Alegre, Brazil, tomorrow to attend the World Social Forum. Interestingly, friends in Brazil (thanks David!) tell me that Chavez was not invited. The Social Forum is essentially a meeting of non-Government organizations that deal with social issues and they do not want famous political leaders to attend. In fact, most of these organizations in Venezuela are anti-Chavez….but he enjoys the travelling!!!

I have posted pictures of the Panamco workers that were tortured by the National Guard on the day they took over the Distribution warehouse for Coke and other products. Those injuries were caused by electric cattle prods and the case has been presented to the Attorney General’s office. He will do nothing and then it will be taken by COFAVIC to International Human Rights Courts. I really did not want to have them in my home page, but think they should be part of the documentation of my blog.

(By the way, a First Circuit Court issued yesterday a precautionary order against the Government carrying out similar actions. In a curious note, the action was justified by the Government because the scarcity of the products was leading to speculative prices, the confiscated beer is being sold by the consumer protection  authorities with a premium of more than 100%. Long live the revolution!)