The Venezuelan Consulate in New York reaches VN&V mail box

A reader sends me this note (adequately edited since that reader will need in the future services from the Consulate of Venezuela in New York).

Hi Daniel,

[...]I guess the desperation of the Venezuelan government is echoing abroad. The Venezuelan Consulate in NY has been recently placing phone calls to Venezuelan residing in the area in order to "invite" them to "informational forums" (in my dictionary, eventos chavistas). The Consulate in NY is a highly dysfunctional office (it has been for years and years) yet they are now taking the time and energy to follow up emails with personal phone calls asking us to attend these events. Last week it was an "informational forum about the constitutional amendment" with Marelys Perez Marcano (from the National Assembly) and the Consul in NY on Jan 23rd. This week in an attempt to continue our indoctrination they are presenting (at taxpayers expense, I'm sure) a forum entitled "The sovereignty resides in the people" with Calixto Ortega y Francisco Torrealba.

The most interesting part is that they host a whole array of events but only last week they started producing this surprise phone calls, right on time for the amendment. [...]

We can pass on the folksy aspects of the Consulate management and on the fact that the Venezuelan National Assembly is paying big bucks to send its members in brazen propaganda missions (in an age of CADIVI restraining travel money for people like me, but not for them who get, I am told, 700 USD travel expense a day while I get, and pay of my own pocket, only 2,500 a year).

No, what fixed my attention is that I also got some other interesting stuff in my mail such as the romantic liaison between Venezuela’s Consul in New York and Gregory Wilpert, one of the chief propagandist of the regime. Alek Boyd has taken the time to dig a little into Wilpert present activities in association with other well known apologists of the regime.

Now, personally I have no problem with Wilpert who has been civil in the scarce contacts I have had with him, including even a joint appearance in a talk show. However after the criticism that he levied against HRW and the clumsy replies he gave the HRW retort or his deliberate ignorance of the evils of the Tascon List, one would wish him to be a little bit more forecoming and stop pretending to the title of impartial observer. His credibility could improve some if he were more open about the extent of his links to chavismo. At any rate, considering that he is the editor (was?) of Venezuelanalysis, the main propaganda vehicle of the regime in English, he was properly dismissed by HRW.

One thing is certain, Wilpert has known how to advance his career serving Chavez. We can grant him that much of a skill, to get to afford to live in one of the best places to live in the world, New York City. I cannot even afford to travel there........


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