Pre electoral musings: NYT crap, abstention in Venezuela and a party for Castro

Tomorrow we vote and today I have never seen such an un-electoral atmosphere in Venezuela. There is no emotion whatsoever in the streets where I live, the little bit of campaign that was made by chavistas having died down yesterday. The papers report that tomorrow will be an almost normal day except of course for the ban on alcohol sales on electoral dates. It used to be that all sorts of restrictions would apply as if the country were on the brink of some disaster with all sorts of rumors flying from closing down airports to strange military maneuvers. One would normally be happy to see that voting perhaps is becoming such a routine event, but one would be very mistaken. In fact, what is going on is a profound disinterest by the population, form both sides, as all know that whatever the result is tomorrow there will be no change in our long national drama. Chavistas will still have to keep looking toward the big boss for anything, even sweeping the streets it seems. Opposition will have nothing to look up to.

Still, I did read my papers diligently today, hoping to find some solace, discovering some deep stirring in the country that might make my voting act a little but more significant. I might have, not by any given article, but by the conjunction of diverse readings through these past days.

Castro gets his own party in Cuba

This astounding picture reported by EL Universal is of Castro with the graduating class of upper echelon officers (kind of a Masters). They chose, we are told to believe, Castro as the patron saint of the class. The ruckus that this raised was enough that the government, and the army chiefs of staff, had to pretend all sorts of lame excuses that ended up in a subdued graduation ceremony that was not attended neither by Chavez nor the defense minister. But this was of course a sham: Castro had invited the officers and their families to Cuba (paid by Castro of Chavez? Same difference) and lo and behold, a real graduation party was held in Cuba, as the picture can attest. All in full gala drag.

So we have a Venezuelan army class of officers, sneaking by the back door, to have a very contested graduation ceremony in Cuba, under the patronage of the biggest Latin American criminal alive, who among many crimes has Venezuelan blood on his hand. The arrogance of Chavez seems to know no limits and I am sure that we will pay for the daring to force him to move the graduation to Havana where he could not go to enjoy the moment personally, the moment where as a lap dog he surrendered to Castro the last honor that might have been still existing in the Venezuelan army.

The New York Times again its cultural bias in Latin America

The reader might remember that sometime early 2004 I stopped reading the New York Times, considering that the lack of objectivity and understanding on Latin America did not allow me to read anything else from that paper. How could I trust info published, be it Iraq or the movie reviews when the NYT was so obviously expressing its sympathies for Chavez? Thus ended decades of faithful reading of a paper that I nearly worshipped. Fortunately the Washington Post has nicely replaced the NYT in my heart, and I realized even advantageously, but that is another story.

El Nacional has started publishing a week end translation of the Sunday NYT. Thus I do peruse it, mostly for the lifestyle part of it. But today it carried an article on Latin American corruption and how it is weakening democracy. So I read it, even though it was signed by the ineffable Forero and also by Rohter, who if memory serves me well was the one accusing president Lula da Silva of being a drunkard. Surely this explains why Lula comes so bad out of that article. Now, the case of the article is one worth to explore, but the bias showed by these two reporters is just astonishing! Here, a couple of gems (note: I am translating from the Spanish version as I refuse to fork over 3.50 to have access to the original).

… an eloquent sampling of the low quality of the democracies in the area and how little they have changed the attitude of the elites since the times of Colonial Landlords.

Now, that would be fine, except that the two main targets of the article, Peru's Toledo and Brazil's Lula are as opposed to the old elites as one can imagine. Toledo, a native as native as they get, and Lula, a trade union worker who misses fingers due to manual work he had to do to etch a living. And even if a case could be made for Toledo trying to join those elites (and I question the case), such a case is simply impossible to make for Lula, no matter how much corruption is showing up in the PT.

Through all the area, these democrats of second generation [one can sense the arrogance of the journalists!] have resulted disappointing, and their inefficiency and low popularity have allowed for the increase of political instability and economic disparity.

Did they talk of Chavez? Never. Did they mention the high popularity of Uribe? Colombia seems erased of the article map which mentions most countries from Mexico to Chile. Is this right? Not at all as Lula keeps very reasonable polls in spite of the hurricane in Brasilia.

In fact I am willing to write that this article is the smoking gun as to the total bias of Forero toward Chavez. Let's read one more.

Some point out the increasing number of cases as an evidence that the judicial systems and governments are at long last questioning the bad leaders.

That would be fine except that in the following paragraphs Forero and Rohter quickly void that argument. Indeed! It would be too easy to point out to them how subservient has the judicial system in Venezuela become to the interests of Chavez. Better to trash all of them least somebody notices that omission. Forero knows very well that the Venezuelan press has been dripping with corruption accusations, that the judicial system of Venezuela is been extensively questioned, that no legal action against any government official has prospered, with the paradoxical result that the few who dared to push through tend to be the ones going to jail. Even if whenever he gets to Caracas he hides at the Hilton, the chavista luxury headquarters.

Does any one supervise the writings of Forero at the NYT? I mean, this is not even third rate journalism. Some blogs do a better job for free than whatever the NYT is paying Forero.

Fausto Maso lonely campaign

You have to give it to Fausto Maso, one of the OpEd of El Nacional. For months now he has been waging a Quichote like campaign against those who promote abstention. Even today he still does a last ditch effort to try to convince a few that not voting is actually worse than voting even if the CNE is a sleaze bag institution. His arguments are rather good today, as his desperation seems to increase as he sees the folly of his co-citizens, a Cassandra in his own time.

Today simply he implies that the pro abstention campaign has been promoted mostly by the government who thus will not need to modify any of the electoral results as it will get ample victories with 70% people staying home.

Long are gone any fake qualms that chavismo had that abstention could hurt its image. It was all bogus soul searching. Reading in the paper the declarations of William Lara, one of the most soulless representatives of chavismo we can read that chavismo is counting, with Las Morochas, of getting 84% of the seats. I remind the reader that the "morochas" is an electoral trick, unconstitutional, that basically allows the winner an extreme over-representation. This is all well, but the declarations of Lara shows an interesting insight into the mind of the chavista mind. I find it rather obscene that in a democracy someone would gloat about obtaining 84% of seats in a democracy. Clearly, the goal here is 100%. Like all fanatics Lara reveals his self doubts about the system he represents and those doubts will only be erased, or so he thinks, when 100% will agree with Chavez. Oh well....

Putting together Lara and Maso words one sees that indeed, abstention by large sectors of the opposition are only sink this one further. Yet another self inflicted wound. It would have been a very different story if all the abstention promoters were to take to the streets tomorrow. But no, closed windows and turned off lights are the only proposed actions and Maso derides. As if such tactics had ever stopped Castro, as if such tactics would ever stop Chavez like fascisto-fanatics. We'll see Monday morning and what the abstention camp will propose.

Though at least there is already a small consolation prize: it says very little for a "participative democracy scheme" when more than 50% of the people do not bother in voting. Definitely today, one can sense that if chavismo is still a relative majority, the bloom of excitement is gone even from his supporters. Could that be what Forero is trying to hide by ignoring Venezuela in his latest article? Meanwhile the reader will forgive if some of us see Venezuela more and more related to yet another cartoon masterpeice by Weil. How can we have justice in Venezuela, Mr. forero, if this cartoon is everyday more and more real?