Another day, another devaluation

The most interesting thing about today's devaluation is that it was treated as just another item in the news. Certainly front page material, but shared front page. Have we become so used to the financial calamity who are those who rule us that a February/ March devaluation has become something to be expected like some sort of perverse national holiday? At any rate, today the official currency rate went up by 12%, from 1920 to 2150. Amusingly some in the government calculated it on a 2150 basis obtaining *only* a 10.7% devaluation. Again, chavismo thinks we are stupid. Meanwhile the parallel dollar remained at 2700, thank you very much!

So there we are, after what chavismo claims was a banner year for the economy, an inflation *allegedly* lower, foreign reserves high, etc, and we go down 12% on the US dollar, itself down from the Euro. That is already bad enough but what makes it worse is to see government officials stating that inflation will be marginally affected. Again, they think we are stupid.

Yesterday Chavez was in Uruguay and today in India. He does not even think that a devaluation is important enough to justify his presence in Venezuela. In fact he is already preparing the next devaluation. In Uruguay he announced that he would trade beef and wheat for oil. The Uruguayans must be ecstatic as they will always have beef and wheat whereas one day we will run out of oil. As an inauguration present to Tabare Vazquez, one might be forgiven to think so, Uruguay will have 20% of the anti CNN TV service Chavez wants to create. Chavez also announced Venezuela will be buying some of Argentina's bad debt. And let's not forget all the oil sent to Castro, an amount staggering enough that it allows Castro shamelessly to proclaim that Cuba is doing better on its own. Now, do we have a vende patria here? Who is the one betraying the interests of the Venezuelan people for his own selfish aggrandizement in Uruguay?

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A best wishes note to Marta Colomina

Cesar Miguel Rondon dedicated his program tonight to Marta Colomina who will be leaving her morning show held for 9 years at Televen. As a fierce and precise critic of the current bunch of incompetent thugs that made out with our public treasury she certainly has garnered enough animosity from chavismo. The new "gag law" and the undue pressure publicly admitted by Televen personnel have forced her exit. This is an empty victory as Marta Colomina morning show was not her best work in my opinion. I find her best at the radio (that she will keep for the time being) or as a writer.

Thus she rejoins Napoleon Bravo as the second important victim of the reduced freedom of expression in Venezuela. Probably moderate Rondon will become now undesirable as he is the last heavy weight left with El Ciudadano at Globovision.

Marta Colomina was quite clear. She will not cease her battle for democracy. She will not hide. She will denounce all the abuses that reach her desk. She also warned us that a new restrictive regulation of the radio is in the works and that the press is next. I agree with her, such is the logic of authoritarian regimes. She also forgot to add the Internet but I know from a good source that she does little besides e-mail and she probably does not know what blogs are. I would not be surprised to see her soon opening her own blog.