Thursday, October 07, 2010

Yo no me registraré con el ejercito

Presidente de la República, Hugo Chavez Frias
Ministro de la Defensa, el de turno

Por la presente tengo a bien informarles que yo no voy a registrarme en el ejercito como ustedes lo estan exigiendo en la ley, a mi juicio inconstitucional, de nombre “Ley de Conscripción y Alistamiento Militar”.  Para empezar no vengan con el cuento de que yo no se de constituciones porque ustedes se la pasan violándola, como se vio claramente por la falta de respuesta del señor presidente a Andreina Flores el lunes 27 de septiembre.  Yo aquí apelo al artículo 350.  ¡Ojo!  Apelo a dicho artículo a título personal, que los otros que no quieran firmar esgriman sus razones.

Permitanme explicar mis razones.


Primero yo he sido antimilitarista de toda la vida, y mas pasan los años, mas lo soy, y aun mas después del combo pueblo-ejercito que ustedes nos venden.  Por lo tanto con el ejercito venezolano de hoy, menos  quiero asociar mi nombre.  Demasiados guardias nacionales me han matraqueado a mi y a mis amigos en la carretera para que me quede un ápice de respeto para lo que alguna vez tuvo semblanzas de institución.  No estoy hablando ni siquiera de la corrupción militar que se sabe existe en puertos, aeropuertos y ministerios, hablo de mi experiencia personal y punto.

Segundo, aunque me quedase algún deseo de someterme a sus dictados, ustedes no lo hacen fácil.  ¿A mi edad pedir que me vaya a sacar una partida de nacimiento y que la traiga con mi cédula a no sé que sitio cuando no se ni disparar una pistola de agua?  ¡Por favor!  ¿Para que sirve la cédula si de todas maneras tengo que traer partida de nacimiento?  ¡Ni el SENIAT me la pide!

Si todavía fuese cuestión de ir a una oficina móvil de un operativo estilo CNE con la cédula en mano, todavía lo pensaría para no complicarme la vida.  Pero es que no, es que son escasos los sitios de inscripción, es que además tengo que traer una factura de algo que pruebe donde vivo, y después si me mudo tengo que reportarme.  ¿Porque?  ¿A mi edad me van a enseñar a disparar?  ¿A marchar a paso de oca a pesar de mis dolores articulares que todavía no pasaron después de mi dengue hemorrágico? ¿Y si lo lograse, no podría  mudarme porque tengo que defender a mi vecindario? ¿De que?  Explíquenme por favor el porque de esto.

Tercero y ultimo, ante tanta prepotencia, ante tanto "lo tienes que hacer porque me da la gana y no tengo explicación que darte" me rehúso.

Pero no se preocupe, no voy a protestar en público, no voy a marchar, ni conspirar, ni nada de eso.  Y cuando tenga que pagar la multa le puedo asegurar que la pagaré con todo gusto y placer, a pesar de saber que terminará en el bolsillo de algún corrupto del régimen.  Y hasta advertí a mi lugar de trabajo que si los multan yo también la pago.  Total, ¿que me van a prohibir?  Ya tengo año y medio esperando la renovación de mi licencia para manejar y para cuando me llegue seguro que me durará hasta que me muera, de muerte natural o por culpa de algún malandro ya que de una cosa estoy seguro: esa ley no va a solucionar ninguno de los problemas del país que me agobian y terminaran matándome de una manera u otra.

25 comments:

  1. Charly10:15 PM

    Daniel, you got b*lls. I particularly love the: "no voy a protestar en publico", quite disingenuous considering that your blog reaches way beyond any simple public protest. Kudos!

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  2. moi? disingenuous?

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  3. Anonymous11:19 PM

    "¿Para que sirve la cédula si de todas maneras tengo que traer partida de nacimiento? ¡Ni el SENIAT me la pide!"

    Lo de la partida de nacimiento es porque quieren saber quienes son tu padres (e indirectamente, tus hijos, hermanos, primos, etc).

    Quieren crear una base de datos no solo con los nombres de las personas, sino también con todas sus relaciones familiares. Es fácil imaginarse para qué lo quieren. Y si no te lo imaginas, lee el libro "1984" de Orwell.

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  4. Island Canuck11:47 PM

    Excellent Daniel.

    Nobody in our family or employ will register.

    I will pay the fines & will drive without a licence if it comes to that.

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  5. Anonymous12:15 AM

    Just for fun I called the Venezuelan Consulate in the UK today to inquire about the process, they told me they new nothing about it, had not received any news, instructions or directives from Caracas so there was nothing to do and lastly when I pressed about the timing and the fines they told me that it was just a "media thing".

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  6. Mira Daniel, este ha sido el tema de conversación en esta casa desde hace varios días.

    Yo me niego!!

    Mis razones son muy parecidas a las tuyas y agrego, qué carrizo va a hacer una vieja casada, gorda, casi ciega y artrítica inscribiéndose en el registro militar?

    No lo hice cuando Luis Herrera -también les dio por ahí en aquella época- cuando inventaron que las mujeres también les tocaba obligatoriamente incribirse.

    Esto no es mas que una Base de Datos para tener el control de la población. Y de paso, una manera de sacarnos unos cuantos centavos, pues están más limpios que talón de lavandera.

    Por mi parte, no pienso pagarles ninguna multa. Quisiera saber quién les va a cobrar esa fulana multa a los malandros.

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  7. liz

    Ah? Los malandros estan exentos?

    O seran ellos los que atienden ese registro?

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  8. I told my wife not to register...and if she does do it, she needs to write (in Spanish) something like "Registering under protest" or more elaborate more by citing the law is unconstitutional.

    When I had to register for the U.S. Selective Service back-in-the-day, the Iran hostage crisis was in full swing. I was young and working for the federal government that summer and felt I did not have a choice so I went to the local P.O. and wrote in big bold letters, "REGISTERING UNDER PROTEST!" under my name. The postman kind of rolled his eyes and accepted it.

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  9. Daniel, quiero decir que es imposible de cobrar esa multa a todo el mundo! empezando por los cerros... se van a meter allí a pedir el papelito? Van a tocar puerta a puerta a ver quien no se registró?

    Claro, si esto prospera... comenzarán a hacer redadas hasta en las empresas. Pidiendo el pago de las multas. Y se meterán los militares en el transporte público a molestar a la gente...

    Te acuerdas cuando les daba por pedirle la cédula a cualquiera en la calle? o la época cuando te aplicaban lo de vagos y maleantes (si no cargabas una constancia de trabajo encima ibas preso por 3 días). Esto último era una cruz, había que estar emitiendo estas fulanas constancias a cada rato, a los motorizados los tenían azotados.

    A principio de los 90s me pidieron la cédula en un carrito por puesto. Era uno de esos días en que no podía compartir el carro con mi esposo y vestida como toda una dama me tocaba mi cuota de transporte público. Nunca me dio miedo ni me asaltaron -como ocurriría en el presente- . La anécdota siempre me causa mucha risa, pues el policía se montó y pego un grito: LA CEDULA TODO EL MUNDO! yo saqué la mía... y cuando el hombre pasó a mi lado me dijo: No señora.. usted no!.

    No creo tener la misma suerte con la ralea que tenemos ahora.

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  10. GB, there is nothing inherently wrong with serving in the military. We must be about the same age because I was lowly enlisted man in US Army during the Iranian hostage crisis. Jimmy Carter was President and I was quite confident he wouldn't not waste American lives on a foolish military excursion. However, were I of draft age in Venezuela, there is no way I serve in a military with under the direction of someone like Chavez.

    Bravo, Daniel!

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  11. Anonymous5:19 AM

    Eloquent as usual, excellent post. I'm linking to this from my Facebook...

    Luis

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  12. Anonymous6:42 AM

    I completely agree - I'm on the younger side of the age bracket and I refuse to register (it also doesn't seem like the SF consulate is doing it). I am a little afraid, however, of being harassed when trying to enter the country - does anyone know if we are going to have to present these things when going through immigration? It seems like the perfect place to demand a fine.

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  13. Apparently they want to have a clean database and know who is a real person and who is a creation from their own CNE workers.

    The military have been the worst decease for Venezuela since independence time (not that independence was not good, but the wrong people took over and they were virtually all nothing more than power-mad milicos)

    When I was 18 I had a car accident (99% of Venezuelans drive like autistic people under drugs)
    and I was in wheelchairs for several months. I got a letter from the military to go and register. I went, my brother and sister took me there. I insisted in going because the milicos would not believe my brother I could not go nor would they believe a doctor's letter. When I got there and asked the officer what/where I needed to do something to show I was not capable at that moment and besides I was at the university already (which would take you from the priority list in Venezuela), he said I was crazy to go there in that condition, there was no way they would draft me. I said: I know how I am now but in six months I will be walking around, I am at the university and I need to have my papers in order because I am going to be asked by your people in the streets to show my carnet.

    The bastard laughed very loud and said: you watch too many soap operas. Do you think you are going to be walking in six months like that? Keep on dreaming.

    Six months later I was indeed walking from my residence to the university in Caracas when a military in civil clothes came out of the blue and said: ciudadano, carnet militar. I got out my wallet, took out the carnet and almost threw it to his face. I was so angry. I got that paper through an aunt, who asked a friend of hers, a general saw her as a platonic love, to produce that paper because the whole bloody administration could not give it to me.

    You cannot imagine how much I reject that bloody military caste Venezuela has.

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  14. Island Canuck12:19 PM

    As I suspected the government has backed down and will remove the Oct. 21 deadline. They will wait until Monday as I assume they will need his highness to direct them.

    What happened here, in my opinion, is that this law was passed in Oct. 2009 & then simply forgotten. A reporter from Sol de Margarita printed a story about the impending deadline and caught the country & the government sleeping after it was slowly picked up by the rest of the national media.

    As the presidential elections are looming I firmly believe that this will be buried.

    In any event there are nefarious reasons to include people up to 60.

    And I also ask what is the purpose of the cedulation system that has exactly the same information.

    Is this just someway to bypass the constitution? Would the registrants now be subject to military law?

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  15. Alpha1:31 PM

    Hola Daniel,

    Definitivamente lo que acabas de escribir es la clara realidad de lo que cada venezolano que este en desacuerdo con esta medida debe hacer. Felicito el hecho de que lo hayas hecho es español, ya que es el pueblo de Venezuela el que bede estar claro y mas que enterado de lo que esto implica en sus vidas. Nada claro, todo en grises. ¿Cuál es la finalidad de militar un país? ¿Unos ancianos? ¿Unos niños?. El trasfondo de tal decisión es tan obscuro como la misma Ley.
    Venezuela hay que despertar de una vez por todas.
    Felicitaciones por la manera en que le has podido llegar a todos, de manera sencilla y clara para que no se dejen...!!!!! Que sí se pueden negar a registrarse en algo que no están de acuerdo en hacer. Que eso tambien esta en esa Ley y Constitución de la que tanto alardean.

    Saludos,
    Alpha

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  16. Anonymous1:42 PM

    Perfectisimo Daniel, no le quito ni le pongo nada a tu nota!!!

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  17. Let me start off by saying that I tend to mostly agree with you Daniel on the articals you write, however in this one case I couldn't disagree more with you.

    First, even before Chavez came to power if you needed to go to a public university you needed to get yourself signed into the military. My wife did so 13 years ago. Chavez did not have this law, he is simply expanding it by making everyone else do so.

    Second, she has yet to fire a rifle, or have any military obligations.

    Your objection to this is exactly what Chavez wants. To further point out the difference between the rich, and those in the middle and lower classes.

    I can already hear Chavez saying: "If you had to get an education in a public university you had to do this before I even came to power, but the rich didn't complain because they went to their rich universities. Now that they have to get this, it becomes an issue. They don't care about you, the poor and lower middle class, they simply care about themselves. We are simply making it equal for everyone, making them do what you had to do."

    Seriously while I would have an issue with this if it happened in Canada, for the opposition to take offense to it NOW would seem disingenuous, and would reek of rich wishing a doubling standard.

    If the opposition wants to win 2012, like some believe they can, they have to (and that includes you) pick their fights, and this is not a fight you want to get involved in. Indeed I suggest quite the opposite, embrace this, show unity with those that have had to get it over the last 13+ years, and show that there should be no double standards between the rich and the rest, just like there shouldn't be between Chavistas and the rest.

    So in the end, as well written as it was (this Canadian needed his wife to translate some words), I strongly am against the sentiment you've expressed. And yes, this doesn't solve anything, but this is not a fight you want, focus on the more pressing issues, rather then get angry at something that so many poor and lower middle class people have had to already for so long.

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  18. Anonymous6:46 PM

    When I was sixteen (still in high school) I went to register for the military service. Went through the whole process: haircut down to the scalp, photograph in prophile, physical tests, two-arm vaccinations in a single day (small pox, tuberculosis, tetanus, typhus, typhoid, and a few more I can't remember). Apart from knockingt out my arms for over a week, I discovered a strong allergy to one of the vaccines. After all that they said they didn't want me because I had been born in the Caribbean. A couple of weeks later coming out of a movie theater in Valencia guess what: la jaula was waiting at the door to take us to the army shop, and had to walk all the way back home from the Carabobo Batallion barracks. I went through part of it again some 20 years later in order to get paid or something. Not again! The photograph in profile was great: I still have it. I know it won't be so bad when I finally lose all my hair.

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  19. I got a good one for you. I was 18, minding my own business when all of a sudden the cops began a "redada" or sweep, looking for the "carnets militares". Since this was a middle class area they figured no one would have one, and they were right. So they started loading people up to take them away. When it came to me, I showed them my cedula which showed I am a foreginer. Didn't matter, they said, in to the "jaula" with you.

    I protested, told them a foreigner did not need a carnet. I got walloped on my butt with a nightstick for it and into the cage I went.

    When we got to headquarters, again I tried to call attention to the fact I was an American and didn't belong there. THis time I got rapped on the knucles.

    I was there for at least four hours before someone with more than 3 fingers for a forehead finally realized I shouldn't be there.

    They drove me back to where I was dropped off and told if I said anything, they had enough cocaine on them to frame me for possesion.

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  20. Muy bien dicho y también muy valoroso, como siempre fuiste. Estoy orgulloso de ti.

    Dan

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  21. I think what Island Canuck suggested is interesting :

    "Is this just someway to bypass the constitution? Would the registrants now be subject to military law?"

    By having everyone up to 60 pertaining to the military by registering for it, they could be subject to receiving direct orders from the commander in chief Chavez, thus by-passing Congress and being subject to penalties under military law for non- compliance.

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  22. Anonymous6:17 PM

    BRAVISIMO!, Que vahina es esta de esta Ley dictada por diputados que no saben en que ahorcarse. Lo dices muy bien y ojalá todos hagamos lo mismo, es digno de analfabetas haber siquiera pensado en hacer esta Ley. Que se ocupe el gobierno en meter en cintura a la cuerda de malandros que lo rodea. La Maga Lee

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  23. Anonymous2:07 AM

    Thought this was very interesting, you mighthttp://en.whatsnextvenezuela.com/power-abuse/democracy-vs-elections/ want to check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous2:24 AM

    Although Chavez toutes his system as 21st Socialism, is it really not communism? I found this interesting quate defining the differences between the two and his government system rings true to the later I believe.
    Socialism is defined as "any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods." Whereas, communism is defined as "a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy, and a single, often authoritarian party, holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people."

    ReplyDelete

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