Cardinal Castillo Lara is no more

We started the day with the announcement that Cardinal Castillo Lara passed away.

Perhaps for the Catholic Church this is not anymore a terrible loss except for the sentimental aspect of it since Cardinal Castillo had reached some of the highest positions at the Vatican and was the mentor of many a younger Cardinal of the world. But at 85 years old and after 7 years of retirement his life was accomplished, and in more senses than one.

The great loss was for Venezuela since Cardinal Castillo was one of the most outspoken critics of Chavez. And perhaps the one who most irked chavismo because he had an uncanny ability to poke his fingers in the moral weaknesses of chavismo, and Chavez himself. It is fair to say that after president Bush Cardinal Castillo was perhaps the person that Chavez hated the most, and perhaps the one that could materially do the least against him. But morally and intellectually, that was quite another story.

Chavismo was so adamant at damaging Castillo Lara that it even tried to implicate him, a frail 80 year old man, in the murder of Danilo Anderson, with charges of traveling to the torrid Panama jungles for the deed. The accusation was so ridiculous that it actually forced chavismo for a while to tone down its hatred toward the Cardinal.

One of the reasons why any of the accusations thrown by chavismo against the Cardinal never stuck was in the very own life of the Cardinal. See, of the XX century Venezuelans Rosalio Cardenal Castillo is perhaps one of the half dozen truly success stories among those who made a brilliant carer overseas. Born in San Casimiro, a humble village in Aragua, he rose to become one of the power brokers in the Vatican, with crucial roles as much as in the establishment and defense of the doctrine of the faith to the finances. A Papal vice president of sorts. This is a man that had it made in Rome, that could have remained there to finish his old age in the artistic splendors of the Vatican.

Instead Castillo Lara returned to the tiny village of his childhood, Güiripa, where he grew up, a few miles from San Casimiro, at the tend of a long lost coffee growing valley, when oil did not exist in Venezuela. Rosalio Castillo Lara left his cardinalice life to face the difficulties and discomfort of living in a Venezuelan Podunck where he could not even get Internet and had to rely on an expensive telecommunications system during his early retirement as the Vatican had to keep consulting regularly with him. Of course as years went by he limited himself to a cell phone and an assistant to take care of his old days. After all, he was a Prince of the Church and if their retirement is not luxurious, it is still comfortable.

I know some of this stuff personally as I have had the good luck to meet the Cardinal in his retirement. Even though established religion is not my cup of tea, I must admit that I was quite impressed by the man. In his almost peasant like simplicity of speech you could sense a rare intensity, a keen intellect and an extraordinary knowledge of the ways of the world. That he has been so articulate in his intense exposure of Chavez for the thug this one is was not an accident. The Church has been dealing for centuries with people trying to destroy it, people like Chavez. They know what these people are all about and they are never impressed. That is what Chavez cannot forgive the Catholic prelates: they see right through him, for the fraud he is.

So there you had Rosalio in his retirement. Back to the family home he inherited in Güiripa, saying mass to the few dozens local who attended the small church. A Cardinal saying mass at the near edge of the world to people who might have never even been to Caracas once in their lives. Imagine that for a second. Though his home did attract many visitors who trekked the two hour drive from Caracas to visit him and seek advice. Regularly from Güiripa he made the news. Or from some public service in some holiday, each time infuriating beyond belief chavismo.

In any normal country a man of his achievements would receive all sorts of state honors. Many US cardinals received the visit of protestant US presidents once they died. Or got plenty of honorific mentions in their home states. But here in Venezuela today it seems that chavismo is taking a particular pleasure in ignoring the event preferring to focus on the constitutional changes, a fraudulent new commie bible that the Church is increasingly attacking. Because there is something that chavismo, like Stalin did, ignores: Chavez will be long forgotten when the Catholic Church will still be relevant in the world. And the one that reminds this is a lapsed Catholic who attended mass for communion decades ago for the last time. Not even Cardinal Castillo could make me go back to Church on Sundays....

And that is perhaps the secret of the resentment that chavismo professes toward Cardinal Castillo. Chavistas, and Chavez, are mediocrities that cannot achieve anything except by bullying or plain violence. Rosalio showed that a determined youth can make it in the world on his own. Because if you think that the Vatican gives away plum positions just because of affirmative action programs to Latin American scholars you are in for a rude awakening.... If Rosalio had chosen another way he would have probably succeeded all the same, becoming a great businessman, or a Nobel Prize winning scientist. Chavistas know that without Chavez they are nothing, that they would still be eating dirt in far back of some low office. And Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara did have the guts to do what revolutionary chavistas cannot do: give up a life of comfort, art, culture, interesting people to go back to the poor village of his childhood, to try to help them by founding a small library or starting a foundation for a health center before Barrio Adentro was invented by Chavez. How many chavistas are giving up their new riches to go back to the people they defend?

-The end-

An electoral campaign? Where? Indictments? Everywhere!

The casual observer of the Venezuelan situation would be hard pressed to detect an electoral campaign atmosphere. Except for a few pro Chavez posters here and there, and the occasional truck with blaring loudspeakers in the small towns of Venezuela, said observer would be clueless. In fact, public protests everywhere could at first be confused for campaign rallies by this observer. But they are not. Blocking of highways is now a more common practice for groups of people willing to express some form of opinion. When you drive around the country the odds that you will blocked for hours by such a protest must be now about 1 in 4 trips! But I suppose that in this age where all flows from Miraflores Palace if you want something it probably pays more to block the central highways of Venezuela than to attend the rather scant rallies that chavismo calls for its candidates. Not to mention the nearly inexistent opposition ones.

Should we be surprised? Not at all. The involution of our political process where Chavez is every day more and more at the center of all action, even the smallest of micro management scenes, has made people realize that unless you find a way to attract Chavez attention, well, you are wasting your time. Cynically the political movements of the chavista “coalition” do acknowledge this. For the past week, in my citizen duty, even as I have not decided yet whether I will vote, I have been scanning the Yaracuy press to see at least the face of the candidates to the National Assembly. At work, someone gets the Yaracuy al Día, a pro Chavez paper (though lately it seems that the relations with governor Gimenez are souring). So I borrowed to see the pics of the chavista candidates. Sure enough I saw some advertisement, not much. Always the name of Chavez and Gimenez were displayed, usually with their pictures, and rarely, very rarely the name of the actual candidate. Only one actually did print his picture in the advertisement. And no opposition advertisement that I could find. Truly amazing! Ex governor Lapi used to pay for advertisement in Yaracuy al Día!

This week-end I got both Yaracuy papers. Yaracuy al Día did carry this time a full page of a political campaign rally called by governor Gimenez. As you can perceive from the composition, all duly orchestrated, all the advertisement revolves around Gimenez, our local Chavez. At least all the candidates appear in a group photo, WITHOUT their names though. And not very happy faces? Truly amazing!

The opposition paper, El Yaracuyano did carry one advertisement for an opposition candidate. The way it was presented you could see that she probably paid it from her own pocket. All the parties that support her appear in the add, which certainly would not be the case if a given party were to pay for it! Incidentally you can see how the “morochas” work in practical terms. The rectangles of the UNIDAD (MIN) represent the candidature for the local seat. The individual party rectangles represent the “at large” seat. And yes, she is running in both at once, which gives you a hint of the degree of confidence she has in her potential to be elected.

One smiling politician face, at least!

I find these two advertisement for the very local Yaracuy campaign very telling of the situation in the country. Chavismo more than ever relies on Chavez whose picture appears most of the time alone. In other words, candidates know that they will only get elected if they manage close identification with the beloved leader. Originality kills politically.

The opposition is quite dispirited, already accepting the defeat, unable to find resources to match the grossly obscene chavista spending and use of the state monies for its campaign. The opposition also must rely more on the faces of the locals. One can always hope for the opposition that a better identification to the local issues will help it out and that people will want to vote for a candidate whose face they can place, no? Do not count much on it.

The question that is begging to be asked is how come the campaign for the national assembly is so lackluster? After all, Chavez counts on getting a two third majority to be able to modify the constitution and remain legally in office for ever and ever. Is he so certain he will get it by just having his face on the ballot, alone?

From the recent political events you would not think that chavismo is so certain of a good score. In fact, if the victory is all but assured, be it from the despondency of the opposition or the open favoritism of the CNE toward the chavista candidates, what will be missing on election day are voters. Chavez will win by default and that is bad for him, for his self proclaimed popular leadership (even if people had to be brought to the La Plata stadium in between rounds of rioting). Very bad in fact for his image not to see long lines of people screaming to be let vote for.

I believe that this is one of the main reasons why Chavez has kicked into the political battle mode overdrive instead of the electoral one as he does usually crisscrossing the country. Be it the Chavez-Fox-Bush-Kirchner orgy from hell, or the crazier and crazier indictments on the Danilo Anderson investigation, all is becoming pandemonium! That last mad house has reached a new low today as Cardinal Castillo Lara has been indirectly implicated. Apparently among the very unreliable witness that the general prosecutor office seems unable to free itself of, one would have said that the reunion in Panama included a 70 something year old guy with a silver cross on his chest and who went by the name of Lara. Castillo as a first name? Huh?

Let’s imagine that scene. Cardinal Castillo, the second in command in the Vatican for years, probably someone who was used by John Paul II for delicate, confidential or even secrete missions, went after retirement, as he is 80 year old, to the hot and damp Darien jungles, wearing his silver cross for all to see and giving his name around. At that meeting, in the same damp jungle where Patricia Poleo hairdo would not last 10 minutes, he would have met with a Jewish banker, the said Poleo, Venezuelan generals in uniform, CIA and FBI agents showing their badges around, etc… all to plot the murder of a prosecutor that apparently was more dangerous for them than Chavez and the Devil himself. I’ll bet you they also discussed creating a Bolivarian “endogena” cooperative to buy a bridge in New York. All of this as Colombian psychiatric impersonator with an impressive criminal track record was free to take notes.

That the possible motivations of these people to kill Anderson has not been addressed by Isaias Rodriguez so far, the simple fact of trying to imagine that scene can only lead anyone with half a brain to consider that Isaias has been taken in for a ride by someone at the office. No wonder that very seriously on Friday’s Tal Cual front page Petkoff has asked for the resignation of Isaias, the strongest editorial so far on the case. Isaias response? “not even dead will I resign!” Which besides pointing out at the arrogance and stupidity of the one who knows he has been caught, reflects that his lithium is not doing it for him anymore.

But Isaias boss lithium is not working much either. Today, as I heard the report on TV, his Alo Presidente was a long rant on Fox and Bush and what not. At three weeks from a crucial election Chavez could not find in a 4 hours rant the time to discuss electoral policies and strategies.

And then why do you want me not to be surprised when even my chavista employees are telling me that they will not go out and vote…

You can fool some of the people, etc… you know that speech.

--- --- --- --- ---

PS: I was writing this post listening to Broadway tunes. What your subconscient makes you reach for before you get to work! Surely there is a musical somewhere in what I wrote. But I suspect that as long as we do not have an Evita to focus the attention, the people just won't buy such a screenplay.

Honorable Venezuelans

With such a title the reader could be forgiven from expecting a list of the distinguishable honorable Venezuelan who dotted our history. Instead I will offer a gallery of rogues, recent ones at that.

It all started last Sunday when EL Universal published an interview of Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara, by Roberto Giusti (translated in English here). Not to elaborate too much on this subject, Cardinal Castillo has had a very distinguished career in the Vatican administration for which he obtained many years ago the princely title. Based, in large part on the trust he gained from both John Paul II and Benedict XV. This is a man that has seen it all, a man that has succeeded in life beyond any hope he could have had when he left his humble Güiripa decades ago to study for priesthood when Venezuela was still a rural country. And after so many years in the cultural splendors of Rome, he preferred to come back to his family house in Güiripa for his retirement where recites mass for his humble parishioners and neighbors.

In the interview, the Cardinal replied to a question as follows:

Q: Do you think that all in all, there is still rule of the law in Venezuela?

A: Let me laugh. A long time ago, I have said that there is neither democracy nor rule of the law. This is just varnished democracy. The laws approved by a feeble majority, but majority in any case, against the constitution, according to which qualified majority should approve organic laws, do not represent justice or law, but the way to an oppressive end.

Readers of this blog of course will not be surprised by such an opinion, an opinion held by at least the 40% of the people who voted against Chavez in 2004, and certainly held by the chavistas in office who enjoy that privilege of not having to account for their administrative actions.

The answer came swiftly that same Sunday afternoon during the Chavez talk show. In declarations that matched any vulgarity he ever uttered, words or tone, he repeatedly used the words Pharisee, hypocrite, bandit, devil, enabler (in the pimp sense), coup monger, and immoral.

The Cardinal was promptly asked for his opinion, and replied magnificently: he would only be affected if those insults were coming from an honorable person. And in case the message was not clear he added "Things are noticed according from whom they come".

It is needless to say that the reaction to Chavez words was not very favorable. Though it would be useful to point out that according to the new "gag law" the Cardinal would be in his perfect right to sue Chavez for saying that live on TV. But of course the Cardinal knows full well who controls the justice and probably felt quite satisfied to have made a bull's eye on the president, who as usual replies with insults instead of arguments... Just as he probably used to do in the barracks that he should have never left, la soldatesca...

Instead of dwelling in news already one week old, I would rather look at the notion of honorable, so well used by Cardinal Castillo. A web search gives us the following:

1-honest: not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
2-showing or characterized by honor and integrity
3-used as a title of respect
4-ethical: adhering to ethical and moral principles
5-estimable: deserving of esteem and respect

Do we find any of this in the Chavez administration?

1-Hugo Chavez, who promised to change his name in 1998 if within a few months street kids could still be found in Venezuela. There are more street kids in Caracas than ever, at every major intersection, dirty, starving, trying to make a living out of acrobatic acts while cars are waiting for the green light, or with plain begging. No word.

2-Isaias Rodriguez, the nation's prosecutor, busy pursuing any opposition figure while accusations against chavista officials lay gathering dust in some distant shelve of the state prosecution building. No integrity.

3-Nicolas Maduro, the National Assembly president, declaring that he will rule the assembly as he pleases, and who has no qualms sending the guard to kick out anyone who dares oppose his pusillanimous decisions. No respect for institutions.

4-Jorge Rodriguez, the CNE president, who stopped hiding long ago his political preferences, making fun openly of the opposition complains while as the electoral umpire he should be the most impartial person in the country. No ethics.

5-Jose Vicente Rangel, the vice president, once upon a time a journalist in the search of truth and who daily tries to justify the unjustifiable. No self respect.

The reader will easily sense that I could write hundreds of examples, and list dozens and dozens of high ranking officials in this list.

Since 1958 this is definitely the administration most lacking in honor. And one would be hard pressed to find past administrations of our pre 1958 caudillo era as dishonorable as this one: many a caudillo allowed his political enemies to take a dignified road to exile even if he could have arrested and killed them. Even Gomez probably betrayed his own word and violated his own constitution in his near 30 years reign less than what Chavez has done currently since 1999, to the constitution he wrote himself.

Venezuela and Pope John Paul II

Today was the funeral of the Great Polish Pope. And what a funeral it was. Even this agnostic blogger feels compelled to recognize his admiration for the man who lighted the fuse for the downfall of the Iron Curtain. Even if I have had quite a few problems with his moral and social positions, I have to admit that at least you got what you saw and that his unquestionable moral fortitude and criticism of materialism, be it capitalist or communist, allowed him to accomplish so much. Never a Pope needed so few military divisions for the immense victories he obtained, to paraphrase Stalin whose "evil work" finally was undone in large part through the Polish Pope. No wonder Poles are lining the streets and streaming to Rome. He is their Simon Bolivar, to bring back in a way this thread to Venezuela.

The objective of this blog is not to write a panegyric to the dead Pope, but still it is a good opportunity to visit the religious issue in Venezuela and the problems that Chavez had with the Catholic church, problems that we can be sure will come back to haunt him.

Religion in Venezuela is a rather complex issue. First, although a nominally Roman Catholic country, many people ignore that "parallel" religions are very strong here. With Brazil Cadomble, Cuba Santeria and Haiti Voodoo, Venezuela holds the distinction to have a very strong pagan cult. It is not very known probably because contrary to the other countries it has not been used for touristy purpose. But the Maria Lionza rituals in Sorte have nothing to envy to what you will find at a Voodoo ceremony or a shadowy Bahian practice. Not to mention that public figures who consult astrologers or visit a witch doctor do not raise an eye brow when it is revealed.

In addition Evangelical missionaries have been working hard and their effect is now felt across Venezuela. Even modest San Felipe has a local Church of the Latter Day's Saint Temple, fairly sized for the city. Speaking of Venezuela as a Catholic country does not make much sense anymore when one observes semi empty churches with women inside during services while most men wait outside. Yet... Religious marriage, baptism of infants, communion are familial rituals that can not be ignored, even if the date might be consulted with the astrologer beforehand. All polls show the Catholic Church as one of the most respected institutions, and when Chavez tried to face the Church, well, he had to back down some.

Facing the Church is nothing new in Venezuela since the times of Guzman Blanco who declared that the only marriage recognized by the Venezuelan state was the civil marriage. In 1873! Divorce was added to the civil code in 1904! Chile barely allowed for some cases of divorce a couple of years ago...

But colluding with the church was also a sport sought. Though it seems that the Venezuelan Church since Guzman Blanco was not as tied up with governments as one could see elsewhere in Latin America. He set the precedent that the president could not be seen as a devout practitioner and none dared to stay publicly too close to church, even Christian Democrats who downplayed some of their Church attendance. As a matter of fact, even Chavez, whose connections to witch doctors is rumored, and who himself declared as belonging to more than one religion, did not dare to push for legalization of abortion in his 1999 constitution and retained some ambiguities, missing a great chance to clear up the air. Even today after years of conflict with the Catholic church, chavismo still subsidizes some Catholic charities though it seems that the final break up is around the corner.

The real problem between Chavez and the Catholic Church is that this one has clearly seen his game from the very start. The crass materialism of the chavista patchwork ideology, to give it a qualifier, and its connection to wanna-be atheist Cuba clearly spoke to a church that had been already lead by John Paul's anticommunist experience for 20 years. By the year 2000 the Catholic Church could be counted as an opponent to Chavez. And the rift shows no sign to mend. That many in the evangelical movement follow Chavez does not help much: the fire and brimstone style of Chavez appeals to that constituency, as well as the perceived anti Catholic stance.

But the Church is not going to be intimidated by Chavez. After all it survived the Inquisition, the XVIII century philosophers, the XIX revolutions, the XX century fascism and communism, and scores of other trials. The Church has eternity as time reference, it never forgets sic transit gloria mundi.

Unfortunately for Chavez, he has had two formidable opponents from within the church.

Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara, descending from an illustrious pedigree, became Cardinal due to his services in the Vatican administration, rising to some of the highest positions in the Church. In short, a Cardinal that had perhaps almost daily access to the Pope and his total confidence, a Cardinal that likely was very involved in the two visits of John Paul to Venezuela. In an unusual move Cardinal Castillo decided to retire to his ancestral home, in the remote village of Güiripa where he dedicated himself to social work. He could have stayed in Rome longer, or forever, in the glories of the Vatican, but he chose to retire to comfortable but distant dwellings. Unfortunately for his peace of mind that retirement coincided with the bolivarian riot. And Cardinal Castillo rose to the occasion, becoming a leading critic of chavismo while this one was unable to find a way to tarnish his image. After all, it is understood that a Cardinal deserves a nice retirement and when it is in the Venezuelan boondocks, people are impressed. At 80 plus years, what personal interest could a Cardinal seek?

Cardinal Castillo was the one directing the Venezuelan Church mass for John Paul. The mass, in Don Bosco Church of Altamira drew an immense crowd. And during the mass the Cardinal told us stories that illustrated how close he had been to the Pope, going as far as saying that he does consider him worthy of beatification. There is no doubt that the Pope was well informed on Venezuela descent into madness.

But that was not all. The Papal emissary to Venezuela, Monsignor André Dupuy, revealed himself to be an extraordinarily articulate moral light against Chavez, obtaining more than once unbelievable, not to say vulgar, criticism from Chavez. And Monsignor Dupuy never blanched, never raised his voice while Chavez was showing his true self, his ignorant "resentimiento social" dark side, not noticing that the Church of John Paul 2 was not the Church of the Inquisition anymore. Torquemada was now outside of the Pale of the Church.

Monsignor Dupuy is now leaving Venezuela after 4 years of service. His presence will sorely be missed. Honors are falling on him and his services must have been great as he goes to represent the Vatican to the European Community. He certainly was a great diplomat. And he certainly understood the creeping materialistic fascism that is besieging Venezuela. His parting salutation to Venezuelans was to tell them not to be afraid.

The coherence that existed between his words and his deeds [John Paul II's], what he beleived and waht he lived. Sadly,in our human life there is often a divorce of sorts between words and actions.

Needless to say that these general words had in fact a precise target.

Chavez has nothing to look for in the Vatican. Even with the Pope death Chavez lack of class showed. The delegation sent to the funeral is a joke of ex-guerilla and atheists. Compare this to Bush and Clinton praying together, or Zapatero going hand in hand with the opposition leader Mariano Rajoy. And to dig further his hole, Chavez convoked his own requiem mass in the Caracas Cathedral, a much smaller church that Don Bosco, where the military vicar presided the mass. Chavismo in full was there, alone.

Chavez probably wonders how many oil wells the future Pope will have.

Friday night round up: democracy death watch in Venezuela

Yours truly has been exceedingly busy this week, from personal problems, to work problems, to the death of Cardinal Castillo. Stuck in Caracas, its nightmarish traffic, its lack of milk (I have not been able to find any milk since I arrived last Saturday except for a few cans of evaporated stuff that tastes like, well, you know), I can hardly wait until I can go back to San Felipe. If truth be told, I have even missed reading the papers, not only for lack of time, but because for three full days, the "quiosco" down the street where I stay in Caracas has been receiving half of its usual allotment of newspapers and by the time I use to stop there, coming back form work or errands in late afternoon, well, there is only the 5 copies of VEA left, the same ones that arrived in the morning.

Not that it was not a newsy week. Last Saturday I went to Primero Justicia bash. Quickly followed by the sadness of Cardinal Castillo death. I did go Wednesday to the Don Bosco church "capilla ardiente" to pay my respects. The line was long, it lasted quite a while for me to make my way to the altar and to spend a few three seconds in front of one of the greatest Venezuelans of the XX century, something that even as a lapsed catholic I have no qualm acknowledging. What was rather shameful was the total ignorance by the government of Cardinal Castillo death, who was buried today in Güiripa . But that is not surprising: the National Assembly was busy adding articles to the constitutional reform, 3 more today for a total that now has climbed to 61 from the 33 original Chavez proposal. The only question in people's mind is whether the AN will bring the total to 66, a close approximation of the Devil's number....

Discussing the articles added by the National Assembly is pretty much useless. At some point I will write a general informative review for the sake of it. What is telling, on the other hand, is that the modifications introduced by the N.A. are designed to limit even more our liberties and freedoms, and improving the welfare of "our" representatives: one of the new additions is to allow representatives that have been named into some executive position to return to the NA once their job is over (or Chavez fire them, something that happens very easily). Most serious democracies have abolished decades ago that automatic return to parliament, something prone to huge conflict of interests (and corruption?)

What is even more telling is that the N.A. has even stopped any pretense of discussion with the added articles. We get the lame excuse that the changes were "suggested" by the "wisdom of the people" during the previous round of discussion and thus further discussion is unecessary. That there is no evidence of that, that parliament never made it to a discussion day to Yaracuy is of course something that Cilia Flores, the chair of the N.A. is not close from admitting. The staged pseudo discussions held in some cities of Venezuela will not even do this time. A Teresa Carreño theater meting early this week was chavista only and when a few dissenting students tried to go and discuss the changes, well, they were thrown out as soon as they disagreed with a given article. Details of the moment are again irrelevant, what matters here is that chavismo has decided to force the issue now, that there is not even a pretense of discussion as poor PODEMOS is regularly humiliated in the N.A, by such "raclure de bidet" as Mario Isea (no, I will not translate the French term I used).

But PODEMOS is getting a taste of what it has been turning a blind eye for all these past 4 years. This blog has reported quite often how when opposition calls for marches in Caracas how the Nazional Guard stops buses on their way to Caracas. While of course Caracas fills up with buses carrying red shirted chavistas from Tucusiapón. Well, today PODEMOS wanted to bring a document to the high court asking them to force a delay in the new constitution referendum arguing very justly that the government is bulldozing more than 60 articles in barely 60 days. For notice, real democracies take up to 2 years to change a single constitutional article. Well, guess what? Buses carrying PODEMOS supporters are now the ones that are stopped at Nazional Guard controls. Ramon Martinez, Sucre governor, and certainly not my favorite person, was receiving a taste of his own medicine when the alleged 15 K supporter he gathered were also stopped. He even, gasp!, accused Chavez, made him accountable for his followers fate in front of the Nazional Guard! After years of sucking up to Chavez.....

In a way it is all very amusing. This time I have yet to see the first outdoor activity of chavismo to support the referendum. Only some limited ones, with close up on the V.P. Rodriguez screaming near obscenities, are shown on VTV. Activities with Chavez are ALWAYS indoors, ALWAYS in "controlled" conditions. Imagine that...... In other words, from the lack of public rallies by chavismo, from their obstruction to the meager anti "reforma" rallies, to the now total disregard to debate by the N.A. in its gamble in force feeding us an indigestible document, we know that polls must be bad at Miraflores. But if elections this time around seem difficult to win in a honest way, there is always the CNE to rely on to smooth the path to approbation.

The Venezuelan electoral board, CNE, long decried as sold out to chavismo, is stepping in to supply the lack in chavismo campaigning. Besides refusing to correct the flaws of the electoral system duly reported by the European Union observers, it basks in self sufficiency, in the deep knowledge that they cannot do wrong in the eyes of Chavez as long as this one keeps getting the majority he likes. One should not be surprised. As the magazine Zeta felicitously told us today, 4 are now open supporters of chavismo through their acts, and the fifth member is so incompetent, so wishy washy, that he might as well join chavismo and make the CNE a 5 to 0 majority instead of the 4 to 0 majority we have now. Zeta also published a picture where the 4 chavistas were sitting together in some activity (the fifth member is rarely seen with them, apparently an embarrassment for both sides)). When you look at the picture (a scan from Zeta) you are reminded about that thing about body language, how it might reveal the biased people chosen to do the dirty job that is required.


Because indeed the slimy CNE obliged Chavez today, thus deserving for its president Tibisay Lucena the title of second chavismo harlot after the first place so richly earned by Luisa Morales. See, the NGO Ciudadania Activa was passing a few adds that were not properly a campaign against the "reforma" but where clearly questioning the wisdom of the said "reforma". Nothing that the polls do not project themselves. But apparently, even though these adds appear on only one open air signal through Globovision in Caracas and Valencia, they were already too much for chavismo to stomach. It is not useless to remind the reader that since the closing of RCTV, there is ONLY ONE open air signal to which opposition message has access: Globovision. And this only in Caracas and Valencia. The rest of the country has access to opposition messages only through cable. The rest of the networks are either pro Chavez or will not pass such opposition messages.

Ciudadania Activa effective campaign was too much for chavismo, even if it reached at most half of the country. So the CNE today duly launched an investigation against Globovision, demanding that they stop showing such messages. If El Universal indicates the real target, Globovision, this one publishes a more extensive article where there is a list of a series of opposition media which have been harassed this week by the state. We learned that this Friday not only Globovision was told to stop (a direct attack on freedom of expression, a clear harbinger on what is to come if the "reforma" is voted), but we also learned from the exorbitant fine levied on El Universal. But that is not all, Bolivar Films, who produced the Ciudadania Activa adds was closed by the SENIAT for 48 hours, and the 4 nightly anchors of Globovision received citations by the SENIAT.

Can you say "intimidation"? "censorship"? "end of freedom of expression"?

Should I remind the reader that the famous "rojo, rojito" speech of Ramirez did not bring the intervention of the CNE until after the reelection of Chavez, and the eventual sanction, after months of dithering, came more than 6 months after the fact?

Can any one spell "double standard"? "total CNE bias"? "Tibisay Lucena is a servant of Chavez"?

But the CNE is not going to save Chavez reputation. Voices keep rising against the constitutional change who is now so nakedly unconstitutional that it is tearing the insides of chavismo. What else are the latest amendments added suddenly but meant to control all this dissidence within chavismo which cannot be hidden anymore? That is right, the first victims of the "reforma" will not be this blogger and his friends and readers, but chavistas themselves!!!!

As from voices outside chavismo, well, condemnations keep coming. Today's biggie was the one from the Catholic church who directly called the constitutional change proposal undemocratic in that it would end pluralism in Venezuela. There, just like that. If chavismo thought that the death of Cardinal Castillo Lara would tame the church voice, its disappointment must have been great.

But this should not make us forget that all major Venezuelan academies wrote a joint communique refusing the reform. This is not small thing because chavismo presence is low in such academies (chavismo lacks intellectuals of consequence, of course, see my post on one attempt at passing for intellectuals).

And for good measure the IAPA also condemned the end of freedom of expression that the new constitution would mean, this before Tibisay acted today... All of this just for this end of week.

So there we have today late as I finish the post, a quick survey on how debate, freedom of expression, authoritarianism is already everywhere in Venezuela. Can you imagine what it will be once the 60+ articles are ratified?

For curiosity I did one of my rare visits the English language sites supporting Chavez. Venezuelanalysis, the only worth an occasional visit, was faithful to itself refusing to debate the articles of the constitution in any real depth (certainly not with the depth, and reach that you can find on this site!). Still, there was a small concession besides the constant glorification of the revolution: the troubles of PODEMOS were at least acknowledged. There was though a rather bad surprise: the reprint of an exchange between an everyday more out of touch Quico and a Katy that was trying gently to bring him back to reality. Good fodder to amuse the readers of Venzuelanalysis.

On the blog side, do not expect any serious discussion either. Borev kept its sophomoric humor and Eva Golinger blog kept its promise to be as dull as it can be. Though she nailed a Chomsky interview and her picture with Evo. She is definitely tops for self promotion within the chavista camp. And her bland style is certainly going to protect her for a while.

Oil Wars (note how all these blogs are neatly listed on the left site of Venzuelanalysis) seems at least to have some very minor misgivings about what is going on in Venezuela. Very minor. I did detect a post with the astounding amount of 787 comments, I wonder who has time to read 787 comments... Certainly not me, reassuring me on the moderation policy of this blog where already more than 20 comments tend to scare me by the implied work it means. Still, no in deep analysis of the constitution there either, not even in the lone post on the Constitution that comes up in the recent posts where one of the guest bloggers of that blog rejoiced at the inclusion of gay rights. I suppose that gay rights will compensate for all the other rights we are about to lose, such as the right to vote, the secrecy of voting, the increased bar for recall elections and petition referendum, the right to due process in time of trouble, and more, much more....

I include these observations in a way unrelated to this post, because they are in fact quite pathetic, while illustrative. These pro Chavez bloggers (there are more but those three will suffice for the point) are people who are desperately now trying to look for anything positive in Chavez while ignoring all the huge negatives accumulating. It is true that I also look only at the negative of Chavez. But the fact of the matter is that I have at least never denied the social needs of Venezuela, and always understood the appeal of Chavez, giving him always a solid 30% even in the dark days of 2003. On the other hand, these people, all foreigners, do not really care about Venezuelans. I am sure that if someday this blog is closed by chavismo and the owner confronted with the repressive agency called SENIAT, or jail, they will be secretly cheering, if not publicly attacking me as Eva has already done many times for many Venezuelan journalist. That is one conclusion of this post if you like: it is sad to see so many people, at the AN or in the anglo blogs, it does not make any difference, considering democracy as a disposable item as long as their objective is reached. But I am preparing a translation of a great article from this Friday Zeta that will illustrate this very well.

-The end-

Danilo Anderson

I am not going back on that case. But since yesterday it was the fourth anniversary of his murder and since while driving back to San Felipe I listened when Chavez talked about it I need to post something(he claims to have "ordered" more protection for Anderson, but he was not obeyed. Yes, he said that.)

Last week, after the false key witness has been exposed, more has happened. One of the state prosecutors, now in hiding, has detailed a lot of the ways in which the case was in large part a big cover up. If to this we add the manipulations that Isaias Rodriguez did, and much, much more, we can conclude this very likely scenario.

Danilo Anderson was no hero. In fact he was part, or led, a racketeering group.

He either found something big about a higher up or worked together with a higher up in government. He then either started blackmailing that/these person/s, or was perceived as being able to do so. We are talking here inner circle of the chavista government.

His assassination was planned at the same time as the cover up that followed. In that cover up cops and other tried deliberately to get rid of inconvenient people and thus put the blame for the murder on them. That explains why such unlikely candidates for such a well planed murder were involved: I think in particular of Cardinal Castillo Lara and Patricia Poleo.

Something went not quite right and they managed to kill only two of their targets. Eventually the evidence they advanced was not enough to inculpate all those they wanted to do. Still, a few took the fall. Patricia Poleo is still in exile and now it appears that the Guevara brothers are serving a life sentence for something that they might not have done. At any rate, whether they did the crime or not, it is clear that whomever paid them to do so is free, at large. Amen for those who were killed as prime suspects and who now might be totally blameless. When is the repair to their families coming?

Thus the words of Chavez yesterday had the fake ring of hypocrisy, of someone trying to cover himself with Teflon because he knows that the judicial system in Venezuela is never going to scratch where it is supposed to investigate. Exactly as with the Maletagate, the Anderson affair is way, way too close to Miraflores for comfort.

On the radio I could hear the ignorant PSUV mob who cheered him as he spoke of that, not realizing that anyone of them could be next in yet another murder that will never be explained.

-The end-

Chavez at the Vatican

Apparently, in an electoral year, Chavez thought that a brief foray into the city of Saint Peter might do him some good. It did not. And the rather discreet coverage of that foray (ABN has all but nothing on the matter, leaving it for MINCI and RNV) seems to indicate that chavistas are nto too sure how to use it. Not to mention that Globovison gives quite a different perspective, totally ignored in the pro government news propaganda system.

The news in fact is how the news is covered.

On the sate side we can red such things as the MINCI version telling us that the 35 minutes interview where filled with Chavez exposing the catalogue of Chavez Misiones to Benedict XVI. More "engaged" RNV cannot escape its idolatry of Chavez and writes the rather stunning sentence:

"El intercambio de obsequios también formó parte de esta reciprocidad de opiniones. La serigrafía del Libertador, Simón Bolívar, fue el regalo otorgado por el mandatario nacional a su Santidad, quien a su vez le entregó una colección de monedas del Vaticano."

I do put it in Spanish first as the arrogant sycophancy of the Spanish text cannot be conveyed in the translation below (emphasis mine):

"The exchange of presents was also part of its reciprocity of opinions. The serigraph of the Libertador, Simon Bolivar, was the present granted by the national leader to his Holiness, who in turn gave him a Vatican coin collection"

Surely, the editor of RNV has been trained at Prensa Latina and Granma.....

The list of visitors that accompanied Chavez is a who's who of Venezuelan junketeers. It included truculent Barreto, Mousy Delsy Rodriguez (the sister of Jorge of the CNE) and Nicolas Maduro. Barreto is one of the biggest cynics of Venezuela. The now Caracas mayor has a past littered with racial, sexist, homophobic, anti religion epithets and one can only wonder what the heck he was doing in the Vatican. Maduro has been known to travel first class to India, during the last stretch of his 2006 electoral campaign. I pointed then that it showed he must have known that the results was preordained to be taking time off to visit Said Baba on its birthday. Said Baba and Benedict? As for Delsy Rodriguez, whatever is known of her is that she is of the bitchy type, making her brother look nicer and more diplomatic, certainly not the type of woman to be seen at church benches every Sunday (I actually know that from somebody who worked with her during her brief tenure at the Foreign office). I do not know whether Benedict XVI knew of the past of his visitors, but I am pretty sure he would have been nonplussed.

One interesting detail is that the official press uses the opportunity to launch yet a new round to convince people that Venezuela's new Cardianl, Urosa Savino, has been named by the Pope to please Chavez. RNV also uses the opportunity to announce that Chavez in his magnaminity has announced that "he will turn" the page on the past frayed relations between his adminsitration and the Venezuelan Church.

From the other side, it seems that the story comes from a whole different reunion, somewhere esle in space and time. Globovision actually reports the words of the Pope, lacking in every governmental publication that I have checked on Internet. According to Globovision the Pope pressed on the following issues: respect of the rights of the Catholics in Venezuela (could it be that he was aware that no real catholic was among Chavez' courtiers?); freedom to name the bishops that the Church sees fit to name (there is an outdated concordat that Chavez is willing to use on that matter); protest of the new education law and its anti spirituality bent; and of course, the usual pro life stand. I do not know about you, but I have the feeling that Benedict XV was not fooled for a minute by Delsy Rodriguez new found faith...

Globovision also reports that the Vatican coverage and pomposity was rather subdued, diminishing the photo Op moment that Chavez would have loved to carry home with him. It also reports that the talks between Cardinal Castillo Lara, fierce Chavez opponent, and the Pope where way longer than the 35 minutes of Chavez. And that last but not least, Benedict XV gave a written letter to Chavez of all of his opinions so as to make sure that Chavez would not distort them as he pleases once he is out of the Vatican. Nope, the Pope was not fooled and new exactly who he was dealing with. All of these of course absent of the pro Chavez media.... But present in the New York Times!

A note on the pics I chose. The first one with all the fake piety of Chavez comes from RNV. The second one, where Chavez appears as edging the Pope and where you can see one of his military aids in the background (in the Pope office? What the heck!...) comes from Globovision. As usual, pictures are worth thousands of words….


And of course Weil in Tal Cual yesterday has the best possible summary as to what Chavez really wanted to say to the Pope when he went to Rome. Priceless! A good cartoon is worth a thousand blogs :)

Venezuela is off to the beach, or something

Thursday 8, April 2004

I drove back to Caracas today and traffic was light. The last big rush was yesterday afternoon and until Sunday morning people will be enjoying their Easter holiday. Even the news are taking a break. I could not even get the papers as my newspaper stand did not open! Not that it matter, many papers will not come out today and tomorrow. And a very thin edition on Saturday.

Thus I have only the web for news and the pickings are slim. Mostly news about where the flow of people has been largest, car crashes due to the usual suspects of people on holiday being careless.

The only feature is that the gravely other burnt soldier, Pedreanez is not doing to well and got an infection. His relatives are complaining that the military are still trying to take him away to Caracas. They also have refused to travel to Caracas to meet Chavez. And they reported that the military is pointing out at Pedreanez as the one that started the fire, according to the version of the other 8 soldiers that were in detention. That might be so, a young soldier that starts a fire to get out of detention. But some things are not quite right. Why is the commander of Fort Mara forbidden to talk to the press? Why are these soldiers shielded from the press? Why is there no official communique from the Ministry of Defense at this late date? Etc, etc.... Certainly not the way an administration would act if it were sure of its facts.

Meanwhile in Washington Venezuela keeps trying to put all sorts of blame on the US, persisting in accusing the Bush administration of financing the Recall Election effort. The State Department and the OAS representative of the US refuse to take the bait. Actually one wonders how long the Venezuelan government will persist insisting that with a couple of million of dollars the US has been able to stir all the mayhem that has wrought Venezuela since late 2001. If this were true, this would be one of the most profitable destabilization programs ever launched by the US.

By the way, how much did Chavez spend in the Salvadoran electoral Campaign? And what about the money given to Morales in Bolivia?

Finally since this is the holy week for Christianity, I will suggest a reading with a religious line. El Universal has a translation of the article/interview that they did of Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara. It is interesting to read how who was one of the most important Cardinals in the Roman Curia sees the Venezuelan situation now that he retired in the village of his birth. From the Roman golds to rural Venezuela, unfortunately coinciding with the arrival of Chavez into power.

El Universal roster of the Venezuelan intelligentsia

Friday 2, April 2004

Yesterday I was too engrossed by the translation of Milagros Socorro great opinion piece, and I was too tired to go on describing this great work of El Universal. This is an example of what makes this paper great and why yesterday it has reached 95 years of age in a continent where 20 years is a life time. Even if on occasion El Universal deserves justified criticism, as I pointed out early this week.

El Universal had the great idea to interview briefly some of the great minds of Venezuela in order to ask them if they thought that we were already into a authoritarian regime, or on our way to it. Miguel has covered some of the highlights. Thus I am spared from writing the review comments (not to mention that I have not read all the interviews yet).

I will limit myself to one reflection: the people interviewed, whether one agrees with them being another story, represent some of the best of the thinking world in Venezuela. All of them have taken position against Chavez, even if many of them have supported chavismo in its early stages. These last ones have felt out of favor because they are indeed thinkers and Chavez does not tolerate independent minds around himself.

It is striking to realize that if there were a real chavista newspaper it could not put up such a list of successful and bright people, so many of the Universal list having even transcended the borders of our small country. Indeed, one of the great failures of chavismo, in spite of all its resources, has been its inability to publish a paper that people "want" to read, a sure example of its intellectual failure. Probably the best that chavismo has produced is the original web site Aporrea where at least some folks are creative in expressing their anger and desire of revenge from real or imagined woes. Anything else is or was a hack job.

This is the very impressive list, even if many more names could have been added

Ex-chavistas, and probably the best (only?) minds of chavismo until 2001

Hermann Escarrá
Alberto Jordán Hernández
Francisco Rodríguez
Ricardo Combellas
Javier Elechiguerra Naranjo

Some ex politicians but mostly those that exert leadership in their area of expertise, goes to show you that the post Chavez government will have its pick for high quality public office holders

Fernando Luis Egaña
Gerardo Fernández
Luis Enrique Oberto
Eduardo Roche Lander
Carlos Delgado Chapellín
Miguel Angel Santos
Gustavo García
Juan Martín Echeverría
Román Duque Corredor
Gustavo Linares Benzo
Asdrúbal Aguiar
Manuel Cova
Carolina Jaimes Branger
Enrique Medina Gómez
Luis José Uzcátegui
Diego Bautista Urbaneja

And last but not least:
Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara (one of the highest Vatican ranking prelates, now retired in Guiripa, small village south of Caracas)

Again, at a cross roads in Venezuela

The judicial decision of Thursday legalizing an electoral fraud, bringing also a new constitutional violation by the constitutional court itself, forces us to consider once again our options. Not that we have that many. Let's first look at some facts.

1)The obvious chumminess of the "independent" powers during the Thursday hearing, showing how lonely the plaintiff was, how all the state powers were in perfect unison against anyone even dreaming of questioning them, should give pause. We all knew it was like that. What is disturbing is that they do it so openly now.

2)But what about the plaintiff, AD? Besides being ridiculed, it got the kiss of death when the infamous Vice Prez Rangel congratulated AD as being like its good old days when it favored institutionalism. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry at these words of the Vice P. What happened Thursday seemed more an MVR as the caricature of the AD of Carlos Andres Perez who controlled quite a lot of power and was quite corrupt instead of the AD of Leoni who had to make compromises with a significant opposition. Was the Vice being ironic? Was the Vice recognizing that AD had caved in to chavismo, lending itself to that judicial farce and that its reward would be the title of "official" opposition? Or, was it the real role of AD within the opposition?

3)A simple observation to all this is that chavismo will not stop at anything to make sure that Chavez and his party, the MVR, will have all in favor to win an election. This should be a sobering thought now that it is all in the open, no more pretense. Violence if needed cannot be far behind.

4)A simple extrapolation is that the electoral system of Venezuela is now hopelessly rigged to favor chavismo, from the CNE to the electoral court of appeals. If we add to it gerrymandering, double voting and the like, even if Chavez would be willing to concede an electoral defeat, something that this blogger thinks will happen when hell freezes over, the opposition would have to win by at least 10% to squeak to a bare majority.

So what is there left to do?

The opposition options

They are few and all require that they act united and with resolve.

Option A: they decide to go to election

This implies that in the space of one month the opposition has to come up with a simple and strict electoral offering for the 2006 session period. Post 2006 is of the presidential election. The other thing that the opposition needs to do is establish a system to defend its vote. That implies at the very least to get about 30% of ballots actually counted with a coordination of activities such as at EVERY polling station the opposition manages to place its witness who will stand up to the chavista mob rule under the protection of a only too often complacent army.

There are also many other issues that have been detailed in the past in this blog, but this late in the game opposition would be lucky to be barely able to put these two above together. Chavismo has succeeded by using the "morochas" issue to distract the opposition and the public opinion on what really matters, organization a successful electoral bid.

Option B: they decide not to go to election

This very valid option will only work if all of the opposition agrees and I am pretty sure we cannot count on AD for that, at least not after the sorry show of Thursday. But it also requires that the opposition does more than just stay home. On Election Day all candidates from the opposition must have been withdrawn with a clear explanation as to why they did it: a new CNE is a must. And on Election Day everybody must be in the street protesting. Not necessarily blocking the streets but waving flags at every corner, for at least a couple of hours, while the TV cameras film polling stations empty, and the international observers observe the streets rather than the polling stations.

Any abstention strategy that does not reach this is doomed to defeat, to ignominious defeat as chavismo will simply laugh its way out to the bank. Abstention has never booted a government unless it is a militant one. Those who prone abstention in Venezuela without offering a real organization for it are as much serving Chavez as AD by going to court and running for office anyway after losing the ruling.

It is a good point to mention the words of Rosalio Cardinal Castillo Lara about a week ago. In a rather strong statement he called for using, in a pacific way, the famous article 350 of the constitution which supposedly allows for civil rebellion when the constitution is violated. This stupid article, placed in the constitution to exculpate retroactively the 1992 Chavez coup d'etat, is of almost impossible application unless you have a Lech Walesa leading the people. And certainly an octogenarian Cardinal is not going to be the one leading that fight. So, why did the Cardinal say such words when he should have known better? And not mentioning the fast distancing of the Vatican representative from the Cardinal position when we all know that he is a close friend of the new Pope?

I personally think that the Cardinal has put the opposition in front of its moral choices. He told the opposition as a whole that if they want Chavez out they will have to take risks, to sacrifice personal comfort and security. That next time they take a large scale action it cannot be like the general strike where they all hoped that the oil guys were going to do the job for them while most were only too happy to have the banks and food stores open a few hours a day, while going back and forth to the marches through the comfort of the subway.

Chavismo Pyrrhic victory

But for all its smiles on Thursday, as all the thugs of the regime were congratulating themselves about a risk-free victory, the Vice knew better. There is also another reason why Rangel congratulated AD: he knows that an election where no one comes is worthless. By congratulating AD he might also be trying to motivate Chavez supporters to go to vote as if AD were reviving, even if chavismo must resort to AD resuscitation. The thing that chavismo fears the most is an abstention of 70% or more. There is no way to hide such a disaster at a time where "participatory democracy" is cantankerously proclaimed everywhere by Chavez, a few months after Chavez set the goal of 10 million votes in 12/2006. Thursday celebration party managed to gather a rather meager attendance in front of the TSJ building. Clearly, the "morochas" issue was barely a blip for chavistas who know that no matter what they will win any election. Chavismo seems rather far from that 10 million, even quite far from the alleged 6 million of August 2004, victim of its own treachery with its own people.

All of this does not bode well for Venezuela.

PS very important

I think it is very appropriate to include this absolutely fantastic Washington Post editorial as a foot note of this post, in particular right after the concluding sentence. If Human Rights are alredy so threatened as Chavez "supposedly" is riding high in the polls and is stably installed in Miraflores, imagine what will be happening when he has not such confidence anymore.

Codicil

There is also the question as to why such a drive to stamp out the opposition out of parliamentarian existence. Even as the "morochas" issue was discussed and there was a possibility that they would be trashed, chavismo was already announcing that it had an alternative: they would be promoting all its single district candidates as if they were running on their own initiative, as "independents". I kid you not! Somehow as they elected the constitutional assembly of 1999 where using an electoral trick (el kino) they got 97% of the seats for barely 60% of the vote (and then they wonder how come so many people are so unwilling to accept that 1999 constitution...)

When I was studying philosophy in high school I was taught that fanatics are actually unfortunate people, people who have a deep seated doubt about their ideas and beliefs. That is why they are so intent in erasing any evidence that people disagree with their positions. This knowledge served me well when I lived in the US of A. I used to be amazed by the fanatics of the religious right that harassed me in the many civil rights marches I joined. Now, I see the same when fundamentalist pseudo leftist chavistas destroy all in their wake. Thursday they were acting more like a fascistic court of justice and its vulgar accomplices, than any modern and self assured social democratic movement. Thugs always end up as Fascists. Or Stalinists. Your pick.