Who does benefit from the death of Danilo Anderson?

We are reeling from the most frontal terrorist act in our recent history. Because this is what the assassination by a bomb in the car of Danilo Anderson, prosecutor extraordinaire, is.

Of course it is too early to draw any conclusion as to whom, and why, though people interested in such a death and benefiting from it are scores, from all sides, from here and abroad. Perhaps a little listing might help.

The logic of authoritarian regimes

All authoritarian regimes, from the left of the right, end up sooner or later in this kind of mess. Chavez regime will not, is not, going to be the exception. One thing in these regimes is that they love to create symbolic personages. This is very useful because it does distract the attention some from the prominent power holder who needs a few lightning roads to protect his/her power. This started with the French Revolution and its Fouquier-Tinville. Who ended himself on the guillotine once his protectors fell.

Danilo Anderson actual murderer is not known. But accomplices can fearlessly be pointed out. It was not right to transform Danilo Anderson, a small time attorney into the foremost prosecutor of the regime. The cases where he was involved count by the hundred! All political, all high profile. Was he the ONLY prosecutor capable of assuming these cases?

Thus the people that promoted him, from cowardly Isaias Rodriguez to upper echelons power holders are guilty of having created Danilo Anderson and having allowed him to grab the spotlight. He became the natural target for any terrorist attack that might be attempted. Even a much, much better and media savvy target than his direct boss Isaias Rodriguez, for example.

Does it benefit the opposition?

Of course? The cases under Anderson’s investigation can be taken by any other prosecutor. At best the opposition suspects gained time in their defense. But with the Venezuelan legal system, it is easy to gain time, you need not kill the prosecutor. Unless Anderson was personally involved into some shady deal to prosecute a give personality, few benefits can be collected by the opposition. Besides, how can the opposition have access to Danilo Anderson’s car to place such a bomb? This is a question whose answer is crucial! Unless this is a plain act of revenge from the opposition (the disappearing of Bustillos for example?), at this point there is little to be gained by this crime.

Does it benefit the government?

Much more. It has now a bona fide martyr. One that can make people forget a little bit about all the people whose human rights have been abused: Fort Mara soldiers, Semeruco’s night evacuations under gas attack, torture cases of February 27 2004 and following days, those deaths of April 11, and 12 and 13, etc, etc….. Nothing like a high profile terrorist attack on you to make people forget the “routine” elsewhere.

Also at a time where the doubts on August 15 are not going away, at a time were the October result 31 allows folks to wonder about the state of democracy in Venezuela, at a time where international public opinion battle is losing ground with such things as the “gag law”, the limitations of decentralization, the loss of judicial independence, at a time where foreign eyes have now more time to focus their attention on you, etc… it is rather convenient to have a terrorist attack against one of your guys so people stop looking into your dirty laundry. Besides, recently Mr. Anderson had been questioned about “failing” some of his cases. After all Capriles Radosnki is free. Llaguno shooters are free. The Carmona decree prosecutions makes for good TV but there is no result in sight, while the High Court ruling on the power vacuum still stands. Mr. Anderson simply might have outlived his usefulness.

I am not saying of course that the government had something to do with this terrorist attack. That terrosit act was too efficient if you ask me and other actions from chavismo were not very clean, not professional enough to hint at their ability to direct such a well conducted crime. I am just saying that the main benefits from this crime are on the governmental side. And chavismo has been fostering enough crazy people, right and left, to have among us a group take such a nefarious initiative.

Meanwhile us folks in the street are left scared that Colombia has arrived to our shores.

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Not very relevant note added. A friend of mine happened to know Danilo Anderson in his years as environmental prosecutor. He was courteous and very sparse with his words when receiving my friend for the business at hand, which by the way was requested by my friend seeking redress. Anderson seemed a little bit odd but he certainly did not seem that he was the kind of person that raised spontaneous antagonisms against him. All folks that have come out of Anderson’s interviews/interrogations never complained on his methods. Perhaps his private life connections are the cause of that bomb but at least he showed always that he was keen in separating private from public and except an occasional streak of violence in him, he seems to have known how to behave.

Note: the last paragraph has been slightly reworded 3 hours after posted to make it clearer. I report this as my policy is never to erase a post, and never to correct it, once posted, except for an occasional grammatical mistake. This time I had to add some words and replace another one. It does not change at all the meaning originally intended.