Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: David Duquenal, mysterious man of mystery in the Anglo Venezuelan conspiracy
Venezuela News And Views
Thursday, March 09, 2006
David Duquenal, mysterious man of mystery in the Anglo Venezuelan conspiracy
After a long day of work I was greeted with the news that I was listed in a paid add in Ultimas Noticias, the semi pro Chavez tabloid which is referred as serious read by chavismo. I suppose that indeed, compared to VEA, Ultimas Noticas is a good read.
The reason of the add? Well, there is some business exposing of a few of chavismo shady deals by Gustavo Coronel and Alek Boyd here and there, and some people are not amused. I will not bother the reader with the details, the two pages add with Alek explanations are posted at Vcrisis, and it is more than enough.
I prefer to notice that if the whole add (ill written but craftily structured) was an accusation against Alek and Gustavo, somehow they managed to post a list of other figures and coin the words "Anglo-Venezuelan-Conspiracy". I have extracted the below paragraph (click to enlarge) where the delirium reaches some paroxysm as one is led to believe that Gustavo and Alek are one and only, and that in addition David [sic] Duquenal, Miguel Octavio, Francisco Toro and Alex Beech are just but pen names used by that one character that, henceforth, we shall name Gustalek.
I do not know whether I should feel my intelligence insulted by such a hash, or personally insulted as not even having my name correctly written.
But make no mistake, if the add is ill written as I said above (plenty of mistakes, and not only on my name, incoherent style only too often) it is still a craftily written add. Why do I think that there is a lot of craft behind? It is written by someone who makes all these mistakes to hide his personality. It is written by someone (or a group) who carefully follow all of the opposition blogs in English. It is written by someone (or a group) that see the effect that all of these blogs are having, and a bigger effect than the paltry results of the pro Chavez pages, supported at huge expense but with low yields. It is also a compendium of most of the accusations routinely made by chavismo, trying to pin all of them on us when none of them would stick in any court of law. But of course this is not about law, this is a first warning to try to scare us away from the web, wholesale. These tactics are not casual, no one completely out of his mind will pay Ultimas Noticias good money for a double page without a plan, or at least an intention. This, of course, reminds us of Berlin circa 1930-something.
So, I have decided to cooperate by revealing that last Tuesday I had an interview with the Voice of America, that infamous propaganda channel from the empire that makes Cuba’s Granma and Chavez’ VTV look like paragons of objectivity and truth (and Ultimas Noticias as a modern Gospel of sorts). Thus the ones writing the add will have further evidence of my betrayal of Venezuela, errh, of Chavez, its beloved leader (sorry for the slip-up!). If you want to hear the voice of Gustalek, a.k.a. David/Daniel Duquenal you can go there and in the table that opens you click on your favorite format (mp3, Real, Winmedia) for the show titled “hablemos” (one hour, in Spanish, with an interesting Bolivian blogger as co-guest, up until next Tuesday only, so hurry up).
And before anyone from the loony chavismo screams that I accepted to go to the Voice of America (where there is much more balance there than some would like us to believe, and certainly infinitely more than at VTV or RNV), I want to state that if RNV calls me I will talk to them; that is, as long as they treat me as well as US Boston public radio Open Source, the BBC or the VOA treated me (or, for that matter, as well as Miguel or other oppo bloggers that were interviewed by these media). But somewhat I doubt that they will ever get la Golinger seating across Alek/Gustalek. I wonder why........
PS: Added next day. I decided to read a little bit more about the charges of that infamous add. Usually when something is so ill written, such a hack, but dedicated, job I do not think it is worth further consideration or rebuttal. But my fellow conspirators at AngloVenCon have been digging some, or explaining some of these details. From Quico and Alek exchanges we get the scope on NAOR (you might want also to read the comment section of that Quico post and perhaps even the thread on the adds in Noticiero Digital note not to mention the Herald article). It seems, among other gems, that even the alleged web page of NAOR was quickly set up when doubts as to its authenticity emerged, and that the US offices are mythological. NAOR was B.S. from the start.
Another one from the multiple personality disorder of Gustalek posted his entry. Miguel coins TAC, for "The Anglovenezuelan Connection". For rebuttal to a tacky accusation you cannot beat it! I have not heard of other entries yet, but I am sure that Gustalek is at work somewhere else. Heck, for all what I know Instapundit might be yet another outlet of Gustalek!
Damn! That Gustalek works around the clock, around the world! He's goooood!
PS2: There is also, it seems, a Spanish version of Gustalek who translated quite well this article. Actually I migth even prefer the Spanish version. Go and read Klaus Meyer.
Now that I think of it, I understand better that famous Holywood quip: "there is no such a thing as bad publicity". Thanks Ultimas!
posted by Daniel Permalink 11:21 PM
Written from the Venezuelan provinces, this blog started as private letters to my friends overseas, letters narrating the difficult days of the 2002/2003 strike in Venezuela. These letters became this mix of news, comments, pictures of the Venezuelan situation. Unknowingly, I have written the diary of Venezuela slow descent into authoritarianism, the slow erosion of our liberties, the takeover of the country by a military caste, the surrendering of our soul to our inner demons.
Click logo above to go directly to the English language blog. Click here to go to the Spanish language mirror.
Estamos en Venezuela, nunca se sabe. In spite of its Spanish title, an irregular blog about a French student observing Venezuela. Interesting pictures.
General info and discontinued blogs but with good archives
Venezuela Crisis has a visual and textual record "hors pair" of the recent electoral campaign in Venezuela, the first blogger to have covered live a Venezuelan campaign. Seems to be on a resting phase for a few weeks.
Digital papers with Venezuela and LatAm in mind (in Spanish)
There are two major digital papers with forums and all, for a permanent clash between factions. Noticiero Digital is the oldest one and Noticias 24 is giving it a run for tis money.
And a new comer:Venezuela es noticia.
Ciudadania Activa has a large selection of articles on Venezuelan politics and civil rights issues.
Relevant info to expose some of the regime's propaganda and human rights violations
The lies of April
The famous "infamous" video "The revolution will not be televised" has been duly analyzed and shown to be in large measure a crass manipulation. Counter-video in Spanish here, and summary of main points here.
There is a documentary that follows the April 2002 events from the perspective on what Chavez did that April 11, "La Cadena". It is about the forced broadcast made by Chavez to hide the massacre of the pacific march on Miraflores.
The infamous apartheid like system of the Tascon and Maisanta lists
The compilation of various documents from Miguel.
The video "La Lista" and my reviews in English and Spanish by invitation at Hispalibertas.
The El Nacional review of Perez Oramas.
The original video itself can be seen here.
Diverse Human Rights pages
Of course, from Amnesty International to the Human Rights Watch page, without forgetting local organizations such as prestigious COFAVIC, the Venezuelan government comes only too often lacking in its Human Rights record.
OTHER FOLKS WITH VENEZUELA MORE OR LESS IN THEIR MIND (Please send links that should be added here)
And of course to be fair there must be links to pro-Chavez sites. I do pride myself of having been the first opposition blog to have listed pro Chavez links; a situation that has now changed. However extremely rare is the pro Chavez page or blog that links to any of the sites listed above. The readers might draw their own conclusion
Aporrea (Beat up, bruise! as in the imperative mode of the verb; the only interesting one if you can read Spanish. Predicts the future)
And of course the full time propaganda agencies, ALL at tax payer expenses, the National Radio coverage, RNV, and the rather deficient official news agency, ABN (both in Spanish).
Without forgetting the "official" newsletter in English.
Some blogs, more or less sycophantic.
Yosmary, campaigning for Mario Silva, quite something.
Less sycophantic, even critical on occasion Terreno baldio.
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Map of Venezuela to help you locate the different locales mentioned through the blog (click here for a more detailed map)
For the memories. The picture below dates from the epic days of the December 2002/January 2003 "El Paro", when the opposition was strong and decided, and when Chavez was low in polls.
Then came the "misiones" and the worst populist episode of our history. Through pacific protests and strikes we tried to preserve democracy.
History proved us right even if we lost that battle.
Marching toward Hotel Melia, 01/31/03, 5 PM.
Small yellow square under the Pepsi ball is the big stage.
A special thanks to JoAnne Schmitz for the suggestions and help in setting this blog up.
