Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: The perception of fascism in Venezuela
Venezuela News And Views
Saturday, November 03, 2007
The perception of fascism in Venezuela
I was reporting about the Thursday march in Caracas where a few students were beaten up by the Metropolitana, and a few Metropolitana Policemen were threatened by the dissident anti “reforma” students. This is becoming an almost routine post in this blog.
There were several comments by readers, in particular one that made me think for a while. The writer of that comment, Gene Zviter from Harry’s Place, mentioned justifiably that in the war of images it was not a good idea for the students to attack the security apparatus of a supposedly democratic country. I did agree with Gene in my response but it still left me with that “missing” feeling. Today I realized what was the problem: Gene still looks at Chavez and chavismo through a democratic lens filter. Now, Gene is someone quite aware of the reality of chavismo even as he comes from the liberal-left of the US. Often in his blog he has demonstrated his dislike for the authoritarian and pseudo social revolutionary posturing of Chavez. He is one of the few Liberals who early enough realized that my vigorous criticism of Chavez did not come from some right wing background. We are not talking here, at all, about some naïve foreigner expressing a passing interest about Venezuela. We are talking about someone who for years has been criticizing Chavez, before almost any leftie blog did (many now are joining but Harry’s Place was a pioneer, and a much reviled one among the simple minded philo-chavistas that haunt these pages).
What we are talking about is someone intelligent and well informed that still does not quite fully see the evil behind chavismo. Why is it so? Where is the communication failing? Or is it that in the XXI century people simply cannot believe that Venezuela is slowly and willingly succumbing to ghosts that were supposed to have been discarded for good between the Fall of Berlin and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Then this morning I found these pictures published in Tal Cual Friday. I am posting both of them with their legend. They need no comment, just context.
In the first picture we get a bike with two guys riding. One gets down and runs toward an isolated student a few yards from the main body of the march. He was not that alone since there was another student who managed to take these damming pictures.
In this second picture we see the moment the student gets hit treacherously.
Then the legend accompanying the pictures in Tal Cual tells us that some of the students not too far form there quickly came back to help, the two guys on the bike left and went to get refuge BEHIND the Metropolitana lines, just as the chavista hecklers at the CNE did when the Nazional guard did “contain” them. The passenger on the bike had a red cap badly hidden in his pants
It is difficult for an outside observer to realize how partial the security apparatus of Venezuela has become. And I guess it is becoming inconsequential for us to the point that we do not bother that much in explaining that fact outside. We have become so used to the state defending chavistas and ignoring anti chavistas, when not attacking them directly, that we just are beginning to see it as a normal everyday life occurrence. This does complement the reply that I gave to Gene two days ago: the students were roughing up some of the police barricades because they have long stopped seeing the police has a security system, put there to protect them from themselves, from chavista hecklers, from thugs seeking to rip them. The students at that barricade saw the Metropolitana police as uniformed agents of the regime that were there to repress the students as soon as the order or the opportunity arose.
Now I do not want here to imply that the Metropolitana Police is all like that. In fact many of the reports from the Students are witness of the willingness of the Metropolitan to let them go by, to even help them if necessary. But the rank and file must follow orders, even if they despise the orders and those giving them. It is also true that since Barreto is the Mayor at Large of Caracas the Metropolitana image has degraded to levels unheard of before. Newspapers often carry in the red pages accusations of Metropolitana officers participating in robberies and assorted crimes. Newspapers often report crimes where the victims first went to the media before going to the police, so little trust the population at large has for the police corps, even if they do not live in mostly anti Chavez bastions.
I can bring up again my own experience here. I have been victim of robbery twice in my apartment in the past two years. I am not going into the details. Suffice to say that the first time insurance covered electronic objects that had been stolen and thus I had to do a police report. Of course nothing happened out of the "investigation", the police did not even bother collecting the evidence that I pointed to them. The second time I was robbed since the "visitors" did not take anything of great value, well, I did not even bother reporting the robbery. Would have the forced door evidence and the broken padlocks impressed the police this time? As an “escualido” I know perfectly well that I rank at the bottom of the piles of cases to follow. That is, there is no justice for me; I just have to be extra careful, hide my valuable objects or get rid of them. The police is a bureaucratic agency I go to when I need to file an insurance claim report. Period.
That might be sad, but what is sadder is that this reasoning I just expressed goes at every level of society when you are an “escualido”, an opposition, a dissident student, a church member, whomever is not obviously supporting the regime. That is why violence is growing in marches: we do not see the security apparatus for what it is, a security apparatus. We see them now like the enemy. Period.
And thus for people like Gene who cannot see that. Because simply put, they are fortunate enough not living through such a thing, because where they live they cannot see it happening. But if, of all people Gene, who does get it a lot still does not see quite well this point, how can we expect much less informed people to see this degradation of Venezuela society?
Obviously I am not supporting attacks to the Metropolitana as I know two things: 1) it is exactly what Chavez seeks to get the excuse to unleash outright repression and 2) It makes for good pictures but in the end it does not help much our cause. Though I could also add that when the Metropolitana sees students so aggressive it might have the effect of scaring them as most of them are not in the mood to kill anyone to begin with. Famed regimes fell because the security system refused to follow in the ordered murders, just as it happened in April 11 2002 when the army refuse to abide the orders from Chavez that could have resulted in thousands of people killed.
Meanwhile it is an added challenge for me, for the Venezuelan opposition, to find the words to express, to convey how rotten Venezuela society has become, and how it is exactly what Chavez wants, to create the permanent social violence, to get us used to it, a situation that characterizes totalitarian regimes such as Cuba, and will characterize soon enough the not so light version of it that Chavez is trying to create with the constitutional changes announced officially yesterday.
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.
