Reactions have been pouring, from Amnesty International to the OAS. I think in Venezuela pretty much all serious sectors have condemned the crime unambiguously. There is an AP wire published in the Miami Herald where the Venezuelans in "exile" in Miami are pointed at as possibly behind that bombing. I quote:
Izarra [communications Minister] blamed Venezuelan exiles in Florida, echoing Chavez's earlier accusations that Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" were training in Florida to execute him and were using the media to call for his removal.
Meanwhile the government is wasting no time in canonizing its new martyr, helped along by the Venezuelan tradition to bury people as fast as possible. Sometimes people that die before 7 AM can be placed underground by 5 PM! Thus we had the remains of Danilo Anderson once he was identified, taken to the Prosecutor General office, in the picture below.
Then a huge march organized this late afternoon accompanied the remains to the National Assembly for an office of sorts. No buses where needed this time. Some brave opposition legislators braved the crowds to show their respect. Indeed, even if many do not mourn the death of Mr. Anderson, I would say that almost all of Venezuelans know that a line has been crossed today and we are all scared. This feeling could be easily gathered from both sides of the National Assembly session today. And was expressed quite clearly in Teodoro's editorial in Tal Cual.
El Nacional also has now a photo gallery. And El Universal publishes a bio of Anderson.
I have to hand a couple of kudos here:
- The government has displayed a remarkable restraint in pointing culprits. By these days standards the declaration form the AP quoted above is mild. The ones that count have been more controlled in their declarations, except Chavez of course, but that does not surprise anyone. Will this last? Will we get a real investigation?
- Globovision had already a black ribbon over its logo this morning. Alo Ciudadano has a fairly coherent and sympathizing coverage this afternoon. The hour is somber.
PS: Note added a couple of hours later. I do not want to make this yet another post.
Chavez did a rambling cadena where he repeated himself several times, and managed to make it about himself bringing back April 2002 issues and what not. I suppose that some people got some consolation from it, but not me who worried more about his mental state...
Then, in a second cadena Izarra announced that we were having three days of National mourning. That is OK. Whether one liked Anderson or not we do need to think about what this assassination means for our future.
With this I leave this topic. I confess that I am very shaken by this day. I might not be mourning Anderson who is far from being the Golden hero that Chavez tried to create during his cadena. After all, instead of saying tonight "we did not protect him enough" he should have worried about spreading Anderson's political charges on several prosecutors while he was alive. He used him and thus bears responsability for having made poor Danilo such a great target. It is too late to give him the highest honor in the nation, and three days of mourning.
But I am quite shaken by the death spiral we have stepped in. We all know, from both sides of our great divide, that something broke today.
I will comeback to this topic only if real important news come again on this. As usual, I am not expecting much and Danilo will become also a victim of oblivion.
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