Venezuela News And ViewsVenezuela News And Views: My French Week End
Venezuela News And Views
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
My French Week End
It is this time of the year where I am reminded that it is good to be French.
I took a long week end in Caracas for work but also because it was "le 14 juillet" party at the French embassy in Caracas. That is, for you US folks, Bastille Day. French embassies across the world usually hold two receptions, one, private, for the diplomatic corps and high national functionaries of the residing country. And the other one, an open house of sorts with pre-requested entry pass, for the French community of the place.
For once I was able to make it, actually a record of sorts, two years in a row. It is a very sought event because the French embassy flies in pâté and cheese from home, and even champagne is served for the toast. Of course, the ambassador makes a speech, takes the opportunity to pin a few medals on worthy recipients, we all thing a thrilling Marseillaise and then the buffet opens.
It is always the opportunity to see people we have not seen in ages, and that we are not necessarily wanting to see until next year. Because there is an interesting phenomenon here: most guests are long term residents of Venezuela, for at least 5 years I woudl guess. More recent arrival are still not home sick enough, or already left for the annual vacation, preferably back to France. But for those of us who have made our lives in Venezuela and we are following Venezuelan schedules, over the years Le 14 Juillet is our meeting date, our memory lane moment of the year.
But there is also something else that can make your July memorable if you are French and if for some obscure reason you can stay home late in the morning, say until 10 AM: Le Tour de France. True, you also need a cable service that carries TV5, the French broadcast to the rest of the world to enjoy the experience live, and hold on!, WITHOUT commercial pauses!!!! For as long as the day's race lasts.
But I am not really a bike fan. What really attracts me to the coverage for a few days in July is the filming.
The Tour is designed to snake through the most beautiful countryside and the most awesome landscapes of France (with a few brief outings outside the borders for a couple of days). With the technology of still camera filming today, and the French tradition of the Michelin guide which makes sure that the airborne guide knows the name of every little chateau and old stone houses village he flies by, the story of every gourmet produce of the area the bikers cross, it becomes fast an almost ecstatic moment. France never looked so beautiful and rich than it does now in July. Not to be chauvinistic but I doubt very much that any other country in the world can offer such a complete frame for an event like the Tour as France. Not to mention the cheerful crowds all along the way, coming from all around Europe now. For today's stage, watching as I was fixing up to come back to San Felipe, we flew though the "Sancerrois", the country of the Sancerre wine and the Crottin de Chavignol cheese. A rural area usually scarce in foeign tourists. There was almost a chateau every 2-3 miles, old villages and small "bourgs" everywhere, and best of all the Loire River, now a UNESCO heritage as the wildest "fleuve" of Europe. Fleuve is the name we give to the main river, the one that does not change its name from its start to the sea. One image, not that great perhaps but so telling, was of a few canoe tourists, on a sand bar in the middle of the Loire, their yellow canoes disposed as a star, watching the Tour as it went through the bridge above them. Simply stunning!
On the road back to San Felipe today, as I was dodging the humongous potholes everywhere, even on the speedways, I was stunned at how far Venezuela is from France, and how we are falling back while France somehow seems to keep going forward.
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.
=====================================
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.
