Two unrelated (?) items
02/09/2004

Well, the shelf life of last post was briefer than what I expected. Apparently, word is out that any official announcement as to the recall election on Chavez will be on February 20. To pacify us there might be this week a few announcement on the recall election of a few assemblymen. This is really a smoke screen. If chavismo was so certain of the Megafraud, we would have already seen the proofs and chavistas would be sitting quite contently expecting the final vindication verdict from the Electoral Board. Instead they are running around screaming louder than ever. Not to mention threatening the country if the decision is not the one they expect.

And while we are on threats. A bizarre and confusing incident occurred last Saturday evening when one of the electoral board members went out for dinner with an opposition assemblyman. It so happened that the commander of the National Guard of the area was there for diner too, with a large "security staff" that promptly initiated a brawl with the incoming guests. I will not bother you with the details but as Teodoro Petkoff clearly points out in his editorial of Tal Cual today, the General did not act properly, even to try to inquire and stop any possible brawl. This General Rojas Figueroa defended himself today. I saw his declaration during lunch time. Let's assume for the sake of the argument that the opposition representative lied and made up part of the story. The tone in which the general declared left no doubt as to him knowing that he would walk away unscathed no matter what. Not to mention his clear contempt for civilian authority and his moral self righteousness.

As I have already written here, the Venezuelan Armed forces have been in large part morally corrupted under the Chavez administration, in particular the National Guard which is slowly but surely becoming the S.A. equivalent of chavismo. Either seeing Rojas Figueroa stating his contempt or observing Acosta Carles campaigning in Carabobo and threatening with jail the present governor, one knows that as far as these people are concerned we are already in a "light" version of a military dictatorship. The longer Chavez remains in office the less there will be left worth recovering of the Armed Forces.

Clearly (?) moves are been undertaken to strike fear in the opposition or at least provoke it. We shall see.

Note: by the way, Acosta Carles is the famous National Guard general that burped on CNN in January 2003 while he was seizing private property during the general strike. He has been recently elevated candidate for Carabobo after the previously annointed Eleicer Otaiza has flopped badly with chavistas in Carabobo. As it has become the rule, Chavez decides who is candidate and for how long. "Primary election" is not a word in the lexicon of our great leader.