SCENES FROM THE “PARO”
Wednesday 11, December 2002

To my update I will try to bring some varied comments to try to reflect the mood in Venezuela.

UPDATE
After having worked only a few hours last week for emergencies we decided to reopen this Monday since too many of our clients were calling for supplies. We did work behind closed doors, that is, only attending emergencies. A little bit wimpy but we supply livestock needs: cows and chickens do not seem to understand the word "strike". Thus whether we want it we cannot totally close without jeopardizing the business of some of our clients. Today, with a third of the personnel not showing up, presumably for difficulties finding transportation, after two days trying to figure out ways to get gas so we can make some emergency deliveries, and realizing that the guys with emergencies could not make it here either to pick up their needs, I decided to close for good. That is, as of 3 PM we have stopped any activity and we will reopen only when the general strike is over, and our people can come back to work which might take an additional day or two.

In other words, since December 2 we have worked half time average and now are completely closed. If I had a shoe factory I would have closed completely since that the 2, but we could not, not mentioning that some of the personnel still supports Chavez and wanted to work, though with noticeably less conviction than in the last "paros" (the Venezuelan term for this general “strike”).

Now I am at home waiting for some form or Armageddon. I am now deprived of fresh produce (except for some corn and pineapple slices) but still supplied with a few days of UHF milk (a wonderful invention) and pasta and dried stuff. Not good for dieting but this is not a big concern now. Electricity should not be a problem for the time being and I suppose that this thing cannot last more than a few more days until Chavez establishes a state of exemption, or resigns. I still have a little bit over three quarters of my gas tank so I can scavenge some around here.

CLIPS

Money Matters

Banks are now open to the public only 3 hours a day. I had to get some cash to make payroll to workers today, in advance to Friday since I might not be able to pay folks the normal way. It took me an hour yesterday and half an hour today to deal with the huge lines. And I was lucky since I know the bank manager and left the checks to be processed after their closing time. I took some money for myself too but since there are fewer items where to spend it one does not need much cash anyway... This afternoon I made a manual payroll instead of a direct deposit as usual. That was interesting. Management is not so lucky, and if banks do not operate normally tomorrow we will not get paid this time since we are bi-weekly. Again, since I am with the "paro" I do not shop but for food so why should I care.

Street protests

Even San Felipe is starting to see its first "mass" protest. Now, they have become daily (they seem to become twice daily in Caracas). Up to 2,000 people gather, bang pans together (cacerolazo), whistle, march in circle through the main downtown drag, under the tropical sun. Most people around seem to be going on to their normal business, not showing their pro or con chavista bend. Yaracuy is definitely a backwater and people seem not to realize what is at stake.
In the evening yours truly has unleashed the devil. My building in the downtown area is circled by what was a mostly chavista neighborhood. Well, I was the first one to go down on the sidewalk to do our 8 PM "cacerolazo". Now all but one of the inhabitants go down at 8 PM and for at least half an hour we bang and whistle happily. It is deafening and I have stopped going, at least not every night. Funnily, at 10 PM the chavistas are supposed to do their cacerolazo. All is quiet and shows really how low Chavez fortunes have fallen around here.

Gas lines

At mid morning gas ended in San Felipe. Yet folks stayed for hours in line expecting for some gas to arrive. And this in spite of the fact that they only distribute a few gallons per car. What is even worse, is that it has become obvious that the army that has commandeered gas trucks is not applying adequate control measures for the unleaded/leaded gas. Already just in Margarita 10 people have reported today their catalytic converter damaged. Government claims that everything is normal. Yet the lines reach a mile outside the few stations that still have gas. [I have learned since that catalytic converters do not get damaged that fast, so who knows what really happened in Margarita].

TV

On one side you have the state owned TV. Everything is under control. Everything is recovering. The "paro" has failed.

On the other side you have what seems to be all the networks reporting that everything is slowly but surely failing. Chavez says they are lying and this past two evenings rioting groups have been threatening the media, even the all sports network! OAS secretary Gaviria was not amused.

What is more spectacular is that since the "paro" has started, ALL private networks have stopped showing advertisement! You are on strike or you are not. So except for a few old films we have news coverage all day long. But to make sure that folks remain used to their TV commercial breaks, they still exist but now they are composed of advertisement for coming attractions or for a wide variety of political announcements. Interestingly only state TV shows commercial advertisement, and less and less as people are threatening to sue if they do not stop to show them.

Another surprise is to see how backward state TV is, in spite of three years of Chavez administration. I am amazed at how fast, in a matter of a couple of hours sometimes, commercial networks are able to put together news footage into a glossy political advertisement. State TV not only cannot do that but the quality is primitive by comparison.

In case you think that it is not natural that all networks are against Chavez, I must remind you that dozens of journalists have been injured, and some even killed. It is crystal clear that freedom of speech is in great danger. Why worry for niceties and objectivity when you are about to go out of business? At least die with your boots on.

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This is all for now although I could go on and on. Enough is enough. I just hope that you are aware of the great sacrifice that today we are making as a people. From TV networks, to oil industry people have put their job on the line and the oil industry is state owned making it more dramatic. My own sacrifices, that could bring me to bankruptcy, actually seem small when so many people are actually risking their lives. It is amazing that since December 2 only 5 people have died for political violence. But if things go out of hand we would see quickly thousands of death.