Friday, November 18, 2011

Even driving you cannot reach the boundaries of Venezuelan corruption

Once upon a time, when there were still real intellectuals in Venezuela, when we thought democracy was coming, we used to say of Gomez that he was a ferocious dictator and that he managed the country as if it were its own rural estate.  We must say that after 13 years of Chavez if one Venezuelan caudillo will be rehabilitated it is Gomez.  Sure, Gomez stole a lot of public funds but he did not steal more than other caudillos, just for a longer time.  And still, Venezuela was better off when he died than when he took charge.  Let's just imagine for a minute how good would Venezuela had been if Gomez had stolen less than he did....

With Chavez we cannot even give him the benefit of the doubt since he steals money for the most useless causes.  At least Gomez invested most of what he stole in Venezuela, buying cattle ranches and paying off Venezuelans to get peace.  Chavez just grabs money and throws it out the window.  Indeed, if there are mega scandals of fraud or corruption like the millions of  tons of food that rotted, there are also "lesser" scandals such as the millions given to the F1 Williams team for no return to the country whatsoever.  Our own Alek Boyd has it all, this time around working with Representative Ramos.


Personally any motor race is a No-No for me, for the environment, for the noise, for the waste, etc, etc...  My stuff is sailing, hiking, swimming.  But in Venezuela, a superficial and lazy country if any, F1 car racing is big.  So Chavez in one of his now multiple acts of fancy decided to finance Williams to the tune of a few million dollars as long as one of their main drivers was Pastor Maldonado, some kid from Maracay who did good in the minor league of car racing, whatever these are.

The political fallout at first was good: Pastor came to Venezuela with a prototype before the season started and a whole bunch of people Ooohed and Aaaahed in rapture as he did a few laps at Los Proceres, our Army parade field.

But it went all down the drain fast.  Pastor in all of the season has been able to mark a single point while the winner, a certain Vettel, has 374 as of this typing.  Our own Gustavo Coronel who follows F1 has lovingly been reporting on Pastor's multiple excuses and propaganda stints with Chavez.

But all good things must go an end and now there is someone in Venezuela questioning the legality of the Chavez grants to Williams, grants given because he felt like it, even though there was possibly no positive return for Venezuela, even though that money spent in athletic facilities could have improved, say, last dismal results at the Panamerican Games.

It is not a book about Corruption in Venezuela under Chavez that we will write someday, it is an encyclopaedia....

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:47 PM

    a few million dollars? Really? Numbers rumoured to be around $140 million.

    ReplyDelete
  2. anonymous

    i am being sarcastic

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:24 PM

    That post reminded me of watching this years Indianapolis 500 and seeing the PDVSA logoed car crashing into the concrete sidewalls early on in the race. I think it was lap 5, or somewhere close. All that Venezuelan oil money and then, ...pooof!....outta the race. An excellent investment...(chuckle here...)

    150 million? 200 million? ...for Formula 1 sponsorship and the Williams team? Peanuts! When it comes to squandering money on idiotic ventures Hugo and the boys have much bigger fish to fry. You betcha. In just 10 days they're gonna pay 2.5 billion for a meagre 40% interest in the Abreu y Lima refinery. Then,...then!...they'll pay another 3.5 billion next year, 6 billion in total, for the rights to process a crummy 100,000 barrels of oil per day at this gold-plated refinery. Talk about p'ssing away hard cash. Do you know how many F1 sponsorships Hugo could buy for 'that' money? He could buy them all! Just imagine the F1 line-up next year at Monza. All PDVSA, all Hugo. One car will have Hugo's mother's portrait on it. Another Adan, his brother. Another a nude of his former mistress. Then one for Rafael. Another for Finance Minister Giordani. One painted with Simon Bolivars portrait on it. Just imagine the possibilities! It is sad to say but this,...this makes a whole hell of a lot more sense than investing in a silly refinery in Brasil called Abreu y Lima.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glenn3:32 AM

    Money means nothing to Chavez except how it can make his momma comfy. He has squandered BILLIONS AND BILLIONS with no regard for Venezuela. F1 is chump change.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:56 AM

    I have to laugh everytime Maldonado finishes the race 17th, which is the case in almost every race. He should play that number at the lottery, probably his only chance at winning. Typical chavista.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:36 PM

    El Presidente should ask Dear Leader Kim in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea for advice on how best to stimulate athletes to greater revolutionary zeal and hence onward to great victories.

    I understand that telepathic messages and advice delivered via an invisible cellular telephone, Kim's own invention, can also be successful.

    Should the athletes fail to respond in proper revolutionary fashion, there are always reeducation camps where they can do humble work useful to the state.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:24 PM

    Daniel,

    Dont be so hard with ´astor Maldonado, he and Ernesto Viso had the talent for racing in F1, but unfortunately today you not only need the talent but tons of money also ... Pastor decided to sell his soul to the revolution in order to get a chance at F1 (he is a little old and if he waited more, he had no chance). The team that they negotiated has had a very bad year... Venezuela has interesting story og good racing in the 50´s and 60´s, in those days money was not as important as today, take, a look here:

    http://www.pasionalavelocidad.com/phpBB3/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Venezuela is not a rich country. Even for Germany or Norway, it would be a complete waste of money to spend citizens' money on such a thing.
    If it were something like volleyball or running or the like at least you would motivate thousands and thousands of children to become fitter.
    Only governments with the mentality of people from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria or Venenezuela can support car racing...

    ReplyDelete
  9. CharlesC12:12 AM

    cfbleachers over at PJMedia
    discussing "Spainards set to throw out ruling socialists"-
    "Spain is in desperate straits. ..
    Spain is on a fiscal suicide watch.."
    Here's the really interesting part:
    "Turning to more lethal Marxists (Castro and Chavez) or toward the Sharia mullahfia…are signs of post traumatic socialist disorder."
    http://pjmedia.com/blog/spaniards-set-to-throw-out-ruling-socialists/

    Worth reading.
    As to Chavez and Formula One- this is part of his personal advertising campaign.

    ReplyDelete

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