The Devil's Excrement

In a severe blow to Chavez’ plans, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ruled that the decree issued by the Chavez administration was void and that the Metropolitan Police and all of its facilities have to be returned to the Mayor of Caracas. Moreover, the Court took advantage of the decision to rule that the National Guard can not intervene in establishing order in civilian life unless the appropriate regioanl authorities agree with the measure because the regular police action has been overflowed. This was ruled earlier by a lower Court and was not the subject of the suit. This decision contains what every legal opinion had said all along, but the Constitutional Hall of the Highest Court is considered to be the most pro-Chavez of them all and thus there was no certainty as to the decision. The Chavez administration has defended the decree all the way. Even at noon today the Minsiter of the Interior and Justice (or is it Injustice?) had said the Government was ready to intervene other police forces, in reference to that of the Chacao municipality which yesterday was charged with having illegal weapons. . 

Shaking hands in peace                                     Peaceful protest (From reuters)

Only a couple of hours after I posted my brother’s comment about the error of believing the Venezuelan crisis is a one of rich versus poor that may end in Civil War, the events demonstrated exactly how wrong these people are. On Monday some people barricaded a highway in Caracas. From one of the barrios nearby some pro-Chavez people came down and it appeared there might be a confrontation. There was none, and the picture above shows Chavistas and opposition supporters shaking hands at the end (I can’t tell which side is which!). Well, today the opposition barricaded the same highway, the Chavistas showed up and guess what?. They ended playing an improvised game of soccer in the middle of the highway, which reportedly the Chavistas won 3-2. That is the Venezuela we all remember until Hugo Chavez showed up in his coup attempt in ’92. We want it back!

(Photo by Oscar Sabater, official Devil’s Excrement photographer)

From my brother the Tyromaniac:

They still are trying to portrait this fight as White vs. Black, Rich vs. Poor, that is also bullshit. Most venezuelans are mixed race and, as normally happens in mixed raced countries, families have a variety of colors. So, some of my sisters, who are rabidly anti-Chávez, have darker skin than most of Chávez supporters, much darker than Chávez himself, while the pro-chávez parlament officials, accused yesterday of having millions of dollars in accounts in the US, are as light skinned as any opposition supporter. The lack of serious journalism in a newspaper like The New York Times is really depressing.

To which I add: If Chavez were perceived as right-wing (part of his thinking is) the world would be outraged at his statements and actions.

Abother huge march today which had a path of over 8 Kilometers from the Esat of the city to Simon Bolivar’s burial place (today was the anniversary of his death). However, we were not allowed to reach that location as 200-400 Government supporters were there to try to stop us. Thus, even though we had the permits required, we were not able to exercise oour rights as citizens.

The pictures show: Above: A look to the back and front of the march at its beginning. Bottom: Left: The crowd in the middle of the march. Right: The place where we were stopped. You can see one of the cops on the right blocking us. Another example of why there is no democracy in Venezuela.

There were other marches during the day, the ones in Barquisimieto and Valencia looked huge on TV. Tomorrow, things will continue, there will be no Christmas in Venezuela this year.

In what is another defeat for the Chavez Government, the OAS resolution approved last night urges an electoral solution to the crisis. From  a resolution to back the Chavez Government, as originally proposed by Venezuela’s Amabassador to the OAS, to this, is a long way. Another victory for the good guys.

Pictures: Top-left: I was ready, Top-right: For anything

Bottom left: So were they, Next: We moved in, Next: Moved in even closer, Even more, Next: Until we were everywhere

Today the Democratic Coordinator planned a demonstration in front of the motorized unit of the Metropolitan Police, taken over by the military three weeks ago. A Court ruled on Friday that it should be given back to the Mayor of the city. Well, as you can see in the picture, we showed up, the military was there and then they started stepping back, and back until at the end, we took over the whole area, the military pulled back and the Mayor took over the unit. Nobody sure what happened or why it happened, but this is another defeat for the Government, another victory for the opposition. Is the end near?

Today, anti-Chavez protesters initiated a new form of civil disobedience setting up barricades at 6 AM in all major highways, avenues and neigborhoods of Caracas. The action had no permits and in at least three locations the police used tear gas. Curiously, Chavez’ supporters have been blocking a major avenue since the strike began, but the police has done nothing about it. Unfortunately as the protests were ending, there was some violence. This afternoon there will be a major demonstration at the Motorized Headquarters of the Metropolitan Police which was taken over by a Government decree a month ago and militarized. A Court ruled on Friday that the militarty had to return all facilities and equipment to the anti-Chavez Major of Caracas, but it has not been done and Chavez said yesterday that the military should not obey orders from Courts that go against his decrees.