I do not know where Miguel got that but it is absolutely brilliant: what the Facebook page of Chavez would look like. The details are fantastic from the 666 friends of Chavez to the gifts that include a "good dog" cookie from Fidel. I am allowing myself to repost it on the left side because well, it cannot be missed (click to enlarge). But all credit belong to Miguel of course, or wherever it is he got that. And by the way, do not miss his post on the house of Franklin Duran one of Miami 4. The house is an expensive 4 million thing, on a canal, with a "parking spot" for the yatch. Viva la revolucion!!!!
government remains a key partner. Well, I have been informed that there is yet a new gay teenager hanging in the works in Iran. That is right, in Iran Sodomy or any Gay Activity is simply punishable by death, either in the bowels of some prison or in public hanging.
paying for cable TV to escape incessant cadenas, etc....
The next picture is the powder milk area. As usual there is nothing of the stuff, neither is the UHT versions usually stored on the right side. Even the infant formulas are low. There is though condensed milk, which I must add is not suitable for real arroz con leche as it makes it over sweetened. Condensed milk is a short cut to the real thing that any expert will immediately recognize. Not that I have anything against condensed milk which is great for "tres leches" or "quesillo", but it does not work well with arroz con leche.
There is rice though. But only a single variety from a single brand, which is totally unsuitable for making arroz con leche anyway. A little bit as if you were trying to make sushi rice with Uncle Ben's long grain. Thus, even in reasonably affluent El Cafetal it is that rice or nothing. But you have diet Pepsi to go with.
While I was there I looked at other staples.
The bakery stand was depleted, with only a few donuts left and three lonely breads still available. Wheat flour is becoming scarce too while the refusal of the government to allow for price increase in bread is, as usual, aggravating the scarcity created by the difficulties in importing the stuff.
Of course fresh milk is gone for good. As is the Colombian yogurt which used to occupy a large chunk of that shelf. No butter either as what you see at the right end is diverse type of margarine. At last that one seems to be back in force. But imported whipped cream is available!
Coffee is the latest item joining the list of missing in action. The ridiculous effort by the government to block the prices, even though supplies to the producers have increased by more than 22.5% just in 2007 is finally showing its effect. In a country of coffee drinkers, now we are forced to buy the multinational disgusting Nescafe instant coffee or the decaffeinated El Peñon brand. Pathetic! Of course, the government does not control the price of decaffeinated and instant coffee so we are forced towards these placebos, like it or not.
To complete this round up let's verify that the cooking oil situation has not improved. Only one brand of a soy oil which is not liked in Venezuela cooking. And at the right end expensive olive oil, increasingly coming at the free rate of the bolivar, that is, twice as much as the goods produced under imports favored by CADIVI, the currency exchange control organization which is making water from all sides.
And to get yet another evidence of wheat floor problems (favorable exchange rate of that sector have also been downgraded) we can look at the cookie section. Once upon a time you could find dozens fo types of cookies. Now you will have to content yourself of soda crackers or "galletas Maria".
Other stores in Caracas do not fare much better. I went to the gigantic Exelsior in Santa Eduvigis and if they had more stuff than the Plaza, they were still completly out of milk and sugar and had only the same brand of rice.
And what does happen in less affleutn areas? After all, in the sotrs of El Cafetal and Santa Eduvigis, there are enough non controlled items sold that allow the store to compensate from what it cannot earn in reselling basic stapples. For example the Plaza sells kitchen trinkets, imported wine and Scotch, has a wide selection of hygiene and beauty aids. But what about the "abastos" in San Martin, Petare or el Valle where people cannot go past cheap toothpaste and shampoo, with a little bit of beer on week ends? How do the owner of these stroes manage to make a living? To compete against the unfair price structure of Mercal (which by the way is unsustainable as even Chavez has announced that some of its prices will be increased)?
I think that the government does not care. If the delicate network of mom and pop abastos in popular areas dwindle because of lack of stuff to sell and high crime to steal any meager earnings, the people will become even more dependent of chavismo for their food. A new from of indenture, where public employees are forced to shop at the store of their boss, the state.
1) curiously of all the recipes I found in the Internet the one that comes close to the real thing is the one form WikiHow. It is also the one that gives best the basics allowing the cook to make as many add-ons as wished.
-The end-
What the terrorists have to do is to release the hostages, without conditions, immediately.Will Chavez receive the message? I ain't holding my breath. Whatever Chavez does, Europe will keep considering the FARC as a terrorist group. The implication is clear: Do not want to be called terrorists? Release 'em hostages now.
They cannot justify what they do and that idea must take hold in the hearts of well intentioned people.
"Venezuela's Hugo Chávez endorses Colombian groups known for abductions, drug trafficking and mass murder."
"In short, Mr. Chávez was endorsing groups dedicated to violence and other criminal behavior in a neighboring Latin American democracy, and associating his agenda with theirs"
"The answer to this logic was provided by the press office of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who has been waging what is, in fact, a heroic battle against the brutal gangs that for decades have plagued his country."
""The violent groups of Colombia are terrorists because they kidnap, place bombs indiscriminately, recruit and murder children, murder pregnant women, murder the elderly and use antipersonnel mines that leave in their wake thousands of innocent victims." All these assertions have been well documented by Western human rights groups that are otherwise hostile to Mr. Uribe's government."
"Latin American leaders who until now have seen in Mr. Chávez a crude populist who buys his friends with petrodollars are faced with something new: a head of state who has openly endorsed an organization of kidnappers and drug traffickers in a neighboring, democratic country"
There are still more than 700 hostage being kept in some quarters of the Colombian jungle by the FARC and ELN.
No matter how hard pro FARC folks like Piedad Cordoba try to convince us, the hostages are kidnapped victims, "secuestrados", and not just temporarily held folks, "retenidos".
Neither are these hostages "prisoner of war". If indeed there are some army and cops in their lot, most of them were innocent civilians going on their own business and taken away from their loved owes, their friends, their associates. And they were taken away for financial reasons, for extortion, not to score political points.
And if it is possible that Chavez has humanitarian intentions, it is even more true that he is managing this whole show, at Venezuelan tax payer expenses, for his own glory. Today, among the crowd that flew to Colombia, even Piedad Cordoba was dressed in bright red clothes ALL THROUGH THE DAY, from the Colombian lift off point to her impromptu press conference on the Melia Hotel side walk.
Let's not forget that Clara Rojas love child out of a possible Stockholm syndrome situation was taken away from her and put into hiding in an orphanage. The FARC had the cruelty to prefer to place the sick and abused kid in an orphanage rather than sending it directly to Clara Rojas relatives. Or even to the father relatives as surely he must have had some left somewhere.
Let's not forget that the arrogance of Chavez forced a second DNA evaluation in Spain, which confirmed that Emmanuel did indeed exist and had been placed for a couple of years in an orphanage.
Let us not forget that in Venezuela there are officially nearly 100 hostages, possibly much more than that as relatives rarely call for the inefficient a corrupt security system and prefer to deal on their own with the captors. Let's not forget that the Chavez administration is infinitely more interested in the FARC hostages than the ones he has at home and for which he could do a lot if he really wanted to.