Pre war drum roll?
And a brilliant article from Milagros Socorro

Thursday evening, 26/02/2004

Tonight TV is not too good.

Some opposition leaders are persisting that they will go on their march tomorrow until the site of the G-15 meeting (a G6 by now, and Uribe of Colombia will only be here for a very few hours). This in spite of an announcement of the ineffable Lucas Rincon, the interior minister of April 11 fame, that the march could not reach the "security perimeter". Tonight the Coordinadora Democratica is meeting and there is a strong sense in the air that the time of words is about to pass. The government hides behind international law to forbid access to Plaza Morelos. The real objective is to avoid TV to show Brazil’s Lula too close from a mass rally against Chavez. Pious patriotic excuses are advanced as the duty of the opposition not to tarnish the image of Venezuela. Well, it seems that it is too late.

Mugabe of Zimbabwe was indeed offered an amazing welcome. Fitting from one crook to another. I’ll bet he would cherish an opportunity to criticize the Venezuelan opposition given a chance on VTV. Will they dare to give him that opportunity?

Jorge Rodriguez, the "real" president of the CNE gave his nightly communiqué. The two "dissident" rectors did not show up again and the trio went ahead nevertheless. But an interesting detail: they decided on mundane matters only. The real decision, the one about how to fix the forms "under observation" was not taken. Rodriguez did not seem a happy camper for someone that supposedly has now real control of the CNE. How come? Is he realizing that the 2 dissident rectors want him to assume his full responsibility now that he did the dirty deed for his master? It would be indeed too easy to do the dirty job and then let the other guys help him pick up the pieces and get the glory for himself.

But at least something came to cheer me up, another brilliant opinion piece from Milagros Socorro. She refers to how Chavez has been breaking our morale by continuous insults and humiliations. And how this has affected our capacity of response and how we are playing in his hands starting to wish for violence to reach some conclusion one way or the other.

But the more interesting part I translate below. Something that I have long thought and never dared to write bluntly in my very own blog.

Many of those who voted for Hugo Chavez in 1998 and, later, in 2000, did so for him to install in Venezuela a dictatorship. This is the truth. Do not come now with tiquismiquis {slang for petty excuses}. Many saw in the primitive lieutenant, ignorant and rancorous, the strong arm that would bend the other [side], that would dominate the other, that would remove the liberties of the other and would reduce it. Many voted for Chavez because they saw in him the rabid dog that would attack the neighbor, that would get pay back from the parties that he did and to which he did not invite me, that would wreck the neck to the rich cousins that at year end pass on to me their used stuff, that would settle all accounts... Those that move in politics because of resentment tend to think that the arbitrary actions of the felon will reach the other one, those from over there; that the dead bodies will come from the other side; that the wasted farms will belong to the other. They did not calculate what eventually came to pass: the dog escaped their hands and bit their throats.

Strong words indeed. And so true unfortunately. I have met these people, heard them on the media. They really were seeking some revenge for true or imaginary deeds against them. One cousin of mine, belonging to this group told me finally after a long discussion that he knew Chavez was incompetent, that he was stealing from the coffers of the nation. But he did not care as long as he was screwing up the Adecos [from Accion Democratica, the main party in the 1947-1998 period]. He meant it. That was over a year ago and since them we have not discussed politics again. Actually we have barely talked to each other although we did not fight, the exchange had been rather civilized. Simply put, we have nothing to say to each other anymore.

Milagros Soccoro ends up saying that no matter what we cannot fall, yet, in the realm of violence. If we hold strong, eventually Chavez and chavismo will be unmasked for good and that day their card house will collapse. May she be right!

The march is programmed for tomorrow at 10 AM. And at this hour it seems that the opposition will push through the forbidden area. No cadena yet to dissuade us, strange.