Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: The King and Chavez: Chavez reaching the deep end
Venezuela News And Views
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The King and Chavez: Chavez reaching the deep end
In yet an astounding display on how far the goading of Chavez can go the King of Spain asked him to shut up: "¿Por qué no te callas?" with the familiar 'tu' included.
Short video version below and the longer version which shows the desperate efforts of Zapatero trying to beg Chavez for some civility here. You will notice how bloated Chavez is while Zapatero remains trim and fit. An additional interesting little piece data, no?
(update: CNN has now a video with some dubbing. However what is good in that Video is that it shows that at the moment Chavez was making a fool of himself, there was yet another hugely successful student protest in Caracas.)
Before I go on to what happened let me tell the reader the possible reason of the whole distasteful scene: A Chavez who is getting used not having any one interrupting him at home, ever, thinks he can do the same abroad. He already did so at the Santiago summit earlier this week when he went 21 minutes above the allotted 5 for EACH HEAD OF STATE HAD according to protocol. But there is something else: as years go by Chavez has more and more trouble being the star of any summit he attends. People are getting justifiably weary of his ever repetitive speeches. Thus Chavez, seeing his poll numbers heading South and seeing his summit influence waning is just taking matters in his own hands as he thinks it is his right. Crazy people all share the same pathology: rules do not apply to them and Chavez is getting everyday closer to become certifiable.
The exchange came because Chavez, for some obscure reason, has decided to campaign against former Prime Minister of Spain Aznar. Probably with the new constitution Chavez is preparing to seize a few Spanish assets in Venezuela and is thus getting ready. Perhaps Chavez is just bonkers. So now he is saying that Aznar told him in private this or that and as such Aznar is a racist and fascist. That might be, BUT......
1) Aznar was elected in a parliamentary system. Twice.
2) At a time where Chavez is trying to remains in office forever, Aznar, with polls largely in his favor, decided that two terms were enough for a prime minster and presided over the election of his successor who turned out to be the opposition.
3) Chavez is ill placed to mention racism and fascism when his government has presided over all sorts of human rights violations such as the Tascon list (duly reported in Spain by the way where it has been quite shocking for all sides). Chavez might want to start by demonstrating that he is less fascist than Aznar.
So the poor King of Spain, who every year has to deal with Chavez tantrums, who is not cherishing the idea of having him for a few more years ahead, asked him how come he could never shut up his big and vulgar mouth. The news in Spain at 4 PM gave in Google news Spain page 389 links.
As usual not only Chavez miscalculates (though a few silly lefties will undoubtedly share yet another insult to the powers that be) but demonstrates that he has no clue on how democracy works. Bringing Zapatero to defend Aznar, of whom it is well known that he deeply despises, is quite a feat. Bringing the normally composed figure of the King of Spain who plays a very symbolic but crucial role in the Iberoamerican summit in bringing together ex-colonies and the mother land past centuries of antagonism is another feat. Refusing to listen when Zapatero tries to explain that democracy requires dialogue and participation of both sides simply reflects the petty tyrant that Chavez; in camera, for the whole world to see.
Finally I would like to remind folks that Chavez gets intensely angry when any visitor to Venezuela makes observations on the country management to the point that the new constitution will bring provisions to allow to either muzzle these critics or the peopel who are seen with them in Venezuela. And yet he has no qualm in grossly insulting whomever he wants whenever he wants. In all truth, it only shows he is losing his marbles and that he is losing control of the Venezuelan situation.
ADDED LATER: In longer videos and on TV news at the end of his speech Zapatero asks President Bachelet (who is of course the moderator of the Iberoamerican summit) that from then on it is the official policy of these summits to engage the mutual respect of its participants. Zapatero gets an ovation. That is, for those who might not still get it, the King and Zapatero said aloud what 90% at least were thinking quietly.
And it also made the nightly news in France. Mon Dieu!
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.
