Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: Ingrid Betancourt has been rescued, along the 3 US hostages and another 11 Colombian military
Venezuela News And Views
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Ingrid Betancourt has been rescued, along the 3 US hostages and another 11 Colombian military
[updated regularly as her press conference goes on]
Not much comment needed in here. The FARC has lost its 4 major assets. It seems that Uribe pulled A MAJOR intelligence coup to con the FARC. And as observers such as this blogger wrote often enough, the FARC did not even have the intelligence to free them before the Colombian army rescued them or they died in their hands. Talk about stubborn stupidity. The FARC was not even able to cash on when Chavez bailed out on them.
As for Chavez, we can add a new meaning to "betting on the wrong horse". Guerrilla. Whatever.
How many votes do you think Uribe will win his referendum with? Note, I think it is a terrible idea for him to seek an extension of his term, but heck, if the FARC is helping him along……
Update: although there is nothing as complete in English yet as the Universal note I linked to above we can find some stuff. El Universal has a summary translated of its scoop of sorts. Simon Romero of the NYT is already up with some info. Though the Washington Post has more, of US interest. Of course, based on Google news search, the BBC beat them all, in news and details and even with a form for you to fill up to express your emotions.
Update 2: I cannot tell you how thrilling it was to see Ingrid getting down the Colombian Air Force plane. And she behaved already as a future presidential candidate, not letting her mother run the show (after of course the emotional first encounter) . Ingrid is her own woman and we are not done with her, fortunately. She, like Mandela and soon Aung San Suu Kyi, are coming stronger, bigger than life out of their ordeal. Fascinating years are ahead of us.
Ingrid Betancourt: "Gracias al presidente Uribe que se las supo jugar por nosotros". Thanks to president Uribe who knew how to play his hand for us.
'nuf said.
Ingrid Betancourt 2: She just said that one of the best things that happened to Colombia was the reelection, which allowed Uribe to be reelected. She said it as such, because according to her the FARC knew that within 4 years they would be rid of a sitting president but when Uribe was reelected it brought also continued pressure on them which started their downfall. She said that she agreed with him even if on some points she had other ideas. She also had he Mother thank Uribe in spite of all her fight with him and all her kowtowing to Chavez. Ingrid is smart, she is aware and SHE IS A STATESWOMAN. Again, be prepared to hear more from her.
Ingrid 3: Notice that she does not forget to speak in French on occasion. An impeccable French of course. And French TV is glued to her words.
And meanwhile back at ABN: And how is the Chavez government seeing the hostage rescue? Let's look at ABN, the official news agency. Well, first it is a "liberation of retained people". The wooden political speech trying to minimize as much as possible the horror of the FARC keeps going on. But observe how quick today they are reporting and how many articles they put up when usually there is a significant delay between MSM and BM (bolibanana media) when they need to put up some spin. Were they waiting for such news or did they realize that they could not be picky on their timing this time? I counted at least half a dozen items, as much as El Universal!
Catching TeleSur: according to the woman anchor, the "retenidos" suffered very much of their distance with their relatives, no word about the "retention" conditions. Must we assume that the jungle retention against their will was like being forced into a luxury spa for nearly a decade? the nerve......
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.
