UPDATED
I know, I know, wishful thinking of the demise of Chavez has made me step ahead of myself in the past. But this time around there is a different quality in the latest departure of Chavez for Cuba. Apparently he will be leaving for a short while to receive hyperbaric treatment. No explanation of course why he must receive such treatment, and no explanation as to why such treatment cannot be received in Venezuela. There is enough money in Chavez 2013 budget for his own personal expenses to build whatever hyperbaric chamber he wants wherever he wants it.
Of course, as usual I am not going to speculate what is his latest pain in the ass. What is noteworthy this time around are the circumstances.
The guy has barely been seen since his reelection In fact, El Universal even publishes a graph of diminishing return of his appearances. His suffering in the last events of the campaign was not fake it seems and now he is gone all the way to January we presume.
However we are in the middle of an important campaign where Chavez needs to win at least 18 state houses to push forward without trouble his constitutional reform for hereditary regime. Since the beginning of the campaign Chavez has made no public appearance in favor of X, something he used to do profusely, cadena and all, in 2008. That Chavez will forfeit the only thing he knows how to do is simply astonishing.
But other signs are rather ominous Just today we got a plane crash during the November 27 "festivities". Those are for the failed coup of November 27 1992 that Chavez is trying to turn into a national holiday, yet another activity he never missed until today.
Elsewhere in Lara a Falcon rally was attacked with tear gas and stuff, leaving people injured. That chavismo is so nervous that it feels compelled to attack the campaign of falcon in such ways tells us volumes....
This all on top of a crumbling country and an obvious rudderless administration since now a few months.
You be the judge on how bad things may be turning. But you will agree that the signs are different this time around.
Now back to my Margarita Holiday.
UPDATE. You may remember the previous departures of Chavez to Cuba. One even included a caravan all the way to the airport in cadena, among "spontaneous" popular delirium at a Chavez head picking up above a truck. Not to mention farewell speeches at the airplane stair case. Well, this morning we read that Chavez left in the middle of the night, incognito for him. No pictures, no nothing.
Maybe he was on a stretcher......
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
23 comments:
Comments policy:
1) Comments are moderated after the sixth day of publication. It may take up to a day or two for your note to appear then.
2) Your post will appear if you follow the basic polite rules of discourse. I will be ruthless in erasing, as well as those who replied to any off rule comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yerba mala no muere! Fidel lo ha comprobado! A bad weed never dies, how does one say that in English?
ReplyDeleteyou might want to simply explain the concept, in the language that you are translating from the spanish idiom. Meaning, to ensure that people understand the spanish idiom, you could try this in english:
Delete"bad people last longer". Just a suggestion.
"A bad penny always turns up" is the idium in U.K. english.
DeletePenny = 1/100 U.K. pound.
Gerry.
"only the good die young"?
DeleteMilonga, I am not one who likes to correct spelling and grammar errors, I leave that one to the nit picks who never make mistakes, but as you have made no mistake I will opine.
ReplyDelete" A bad Weed Never Dies" is the literal translation though it would be enough to just say " A Weed Never Dies" in English ( I think) but we never say that, so we don't believe it :)
In any case I thought( correct me if I am wrong ) that we say that in Spanish when we want to cheer someone up when they are sick.
Saludos!
firepigette
Wha'? No way. I mean if they can say that "to cheer up", but they are playing at quite another level of sarcasm.
DeleteKepler I imagine you are right..I heard people say that and of course knew it was sarcastic, but didn't know how common it is to use it in that sarcastic way
DeleteAs with the old Chinese proverb, we sure live in interesting times. Among others, the gringo green lettuce has gone from Bs 11 to Bs 17 (yesterday) in a couple of months. That is a very steep rise. Harbinger of hyperinflation? Possibly since there is too much money around chasing too few goods (imports?).
ReplyDeleteSince when has chavismo NOT tried to attack oppo rallies, especially in the interior of the country? That it's happening in Lara is simply same ole, same ole. No sudden change in signs, in my opinion. Same with Chavez' departure to Cuba. Several more recent departures have occurred away from the spotlight, at night. So I wouldn't read this particular departure as a sudden change in signs. But what do I know.
ReplyDeleteThere are major differences. First the attack. It was with tear gas which implies official involvement. In previous attacks a few shot guns were enough.
DeleteAs for Chavez. Most of his diseased trips to Cuba were in reasonable to great teary eyed fanfare. It is true he has left in the middle of the night but it was never for more than a couple of days and we knew about it after he came back. If it were because he wanted to participate in a crucial FARC negotiation I would agree with you hut it does not seem to be the case.
"Maybe he was on a stretcher......"
ReplyDeleteChavez is definitely very sick and not in any condition to be seen in public. Most likely he cannot walk. Possibly the pain killers are making him incoherent. Chavez health will likely never get better but they may extend his life.
Cuba can maintain secrecy in his treatment. In Venezuela, everyone would know what is going on.
If Chavez and Castro were to stop living on the same day, would it be a double national holiday?
"would it be a double national holiday?"
ReplyDeleteNo. Officially, it would be 3 days of mourning for the new Cubazuela.
But "extraofficially" ? :-)
DeleteExtraofficially? Ahh, that's a different story. In each country, there'd be a bifurcation (as one commenter stated on an unrelated issue) of celebrations. In Venezuela, you'd see people wearing red and black, while crying all the way to the new mausoleum next to the Panteón Nacional. While bells would peal from the cathedral and every church in all corners of the land, other religious institutions chiming in with whatever sounds they could muster (I'm thinking of the wailing calls to prayer from the loudspeaker on the minaret of the mosque in El Recreo).
DeleteThe schizoid nature of the celebrations, with the Cuban ones mirroring those in Venezuela, would perfectly suit each of the personalities who sought to divide the populations.
After a week, some other issue would take center stage, and everyone would simply forget about Chávez (and Fidel). People would once again smile and say hello to strangers in the street. Feuding family members would once again embrace. Simon Bolívar's white horse on Venezuela's coat of arms would change directions and once again face toward the right, while "Bolivarian" would be dropped from the country's official name. There would be a debate over whether to go back to 7 stars on the flag. But the debates would be harmonious. Men would once again be able to slap each other on the back and laugh. Even prisoners would be happy, knowing they would be soon getting a fair trial, or at the very least, proper facilities.
This is just a few instances of what will happen extraofficially in Venezuela.
Palabra de syd.
"After a week, some other issue would take center stage, and everyone would simply forget about Chávez (and Fidel). People would once again smile and say hello to strangers in the street. Feuding family members would once again embrace. Simon Bolívar's white horse on Venezuela's coat of arms would change directions and once again face toward the right, while "Bolivarian" would be dropped from the country's official name. There would be a debate over whether to go back to 7 stars on the flag. But the debates would be harmonious. Men would once again be able to slap each other on the back and laugh. Even prisoners would be happy, knowing they would be soon getting a fair trial, or at the very least, proper facilities."
DeleteMost corrupt thieving Chavistas would leave Venezuela within hours of Chavez demise. Maduro would have a plane waiting. Fidel's family and top generals already have arrangements in other countries and have practiced their departures. The government would go into a long-term shutdown but all most people would notice is that things started working better.
The only expression that is close that I can remember is:
ReplyDeleteHe's too mean to die"
firepigette
At this point I cannot think of a good equivalent in English or French.
DeleteI thought of "too mean to die," but Coche de Fuego beat me to it. A mirror image of "yerba mala no muere" might be Only the Good Die Young. This phrase can be found in the lyrics and/or title of songs written and performed by Billy Joel, Queen, Def Lepard, and Iron Maiden.
ReplyDeleteFinding equivalent idioms can be problematic.
Indeed. The Germans have an expression I like, although they don't used it much lately. It goes like this:
Delete"Life is not fair. THAT (referring to the person you are talking about) still lives and Schiller had to die!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNQsq5aVBmM
DeleteDaniel, I send you this pearl of local color... hope you are enjoying your stay( I envy you).Now even though I know there are a few Pterodactyls parading around to frighten folks , I feel sure that many golden butterflies are still there, flitting their wings against the green-blue sky of the sea, to remind you of the real Margarita.firepigette
Concerning the update, I wonder how many are placing bets ? I think I read somewhere that people used to place bets on the big bands returning to Dixie, but they never came back.I guess Dixie never got over that one.Now Chavez is lost, like a blacksmith on a freeway and we are looking for letters in the rain.Once in awhile I think I hear faint footsteps in the hallway, like ballerinas from Spain, but Chavez walks with claudication so it would be easy to hear him coming.There are so many memories which confuse me now.Is he holed up in the airport? or is he just passing through Havana? Are we looking up to the TV and his seeing his last chance, or is it someone with a face like his?
ReplyDeleteI hear rumors, but I can't concentrate on him anymore.I just can't..............Firepigette
It is definetly odd and out of the norm for the Venezuelan dictator. I for one, like most venezuelans i know, do not buy for a second that lame excuse of "hyberbaric" treatment in Cuba, his home away from home, the size of those things are relatively small and he can put on in his bedroom in Miraflores if he so chooses.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time im sick n tired of hearing the "he's dying" theory only 2 see him pop up somewhere playing baseball, dancing, singing, walking etc etc. If he does indeed have cancer he is nowhere near death or stage 4 like most of us have been led to believe by some twitter oncologists in Naples Fl and elsewhere. I just have never ever seen a stage 4 person maintain the amount of activity or do any of the things he is able to do.
I think his "illness" or lack thereof is another ace up his sleeve and he uses it when need be to draw attention to himself without the need for cadenas etc. The media buys into it hook line and sinker and BOOM his all over the headlines within hours he's trending topic worldwide.
I can just see some of the reports now "ailing chavez helps strike peace plan between FARC guerillas and Colombian government..." bla bla bla. They have been saying same thing about his daddy Fidel for about 10 years now. i think its all BS until i actually see him croak i wont beleieve any of it. Im tired of getting my hopes up just to be let down again days later. I just wont fall for that trap again. My 2 cents anyways.
It's a bit from the playbook of Fidel wouldn't you say ? A continual need to reenact the ,
ReplyDelete"Night of the Living Dead"
firepigette