Snowed in Caracas

I hope you will forgive me the bad pun of the title but this is a little bit the feel these days. Under the blizzard of news, most more ridiculous than the preceding one, I feel like I am trapped, unable to write about anything. Where should I start? The Evo non event? That we have no money to import grains but the regime finds money to import chicken? That the Nazional Guard made a "mistake" killing a mother, one her daughter and sending the two other daughters to the hospital? That no one seems to care about these issues, many more worried about the latest regime announcement that we may get an extra 3000 USD for our trips, albeit at a much higher value than the 6,3 current official exchange?

My level of despondency about the country seems to be reaching new marks.....

The fact of the matter is that I have been this week in Caracas and busy enough not to be able to sort thoughts before hitting the keyboard. Thus, I might as well start with Evo excellent adventure.

The only thing we know for sure is that the guy, coming back from Russia, was forced into an unscheduled stop in Vienna that lasted much too long considering the official excuses and motives. The man was in Moscow for a summit on world gas exporters because contrary to Venezuela that had Maduro attending and fussing, Bolivia DOES export gas. Then there was a rumor that Evo would smuggle spy Snowden to Bolivia and, I suppose, an international anti-something was activated, probably automatically through an idiot bureaucrat. As a result the air space of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal were closed to Evo's plane. That these countries happened to be in the flight path of Evo was after all an accident: the same thing may have happened if Evo had decided to go back to Bolivia via Turkey, through Africa. Nobody seems to be mentioning that. Nor that the Evo plane had a mechanical problem explaining better the over long stay in Vienna when in a couple of hours at most all restrictions would have been lifted and the plane refueled. After all, Evo did refuel later in the Canary islands which last I heard were still part of Spain.

Now, before I continue let me state that the European countries involved made an idiotic mistake as everyone would have been served better with Snowden going to rot in La Paz, eating chuños and cruising for pole dancing cholitas. That would have taught him a lesson right there. Which brings me to my opinion on Snowden: he is a jerk. A real whistle blower faces the consequences of his actions and do not run to the enemy. And furthermore, he does not contemplate seeking asylum in countries that have LESS privacy rights, LESS freedom of the press and LESS freedom of information than the country he running away from. His cause has a value, he has none.

This being said we were thus brought to the shameful spectacle of UNASUR rallying (not all apparently) around the slight made to Evo. Storming with harsh words was Maduro against Spain. Curiously this one said little against the other three, which coincidentally received him in his post election tour seeking outside the legitimacy refused inside Venezuela. And thus we got a double display of hypocrisy from UNASUR, selective in its condemnation of what is after all a fortuitous incident while sweeping under the rug real problems such as the electoral fraud in Venezuela. Definitely UNASUR is a crock of s**t.

This insult to the intelligence of a Venezuelan blogger would have been enough for a week, but alas, it would not be the lone one. At work I was told that all the plans of the poultry sector made with the regime came down crashing. The association had promised a steep increase in chicken and egg production provided the regime allowed for the imports of raw materials needed. As usual, political expediency and corruption took the day and the regime decided to restart imports of chicken from Brazil, more expensive, more subject to corrupt handling. We should always keep in mind that the only way el pueblo knows its food comes from the regime is by giving it directly to el pueblo, in red shirted Chavez decorated fairs, with imported chicken even if this one is of lesser quality than the locally produced one. The lessons from Chavez and the Cubans have been well learned even if this may put the chicken industry of Venezuela (44kg per capita) on the verge of bankruptcy while the regime will NEVER be able to import and distribute the 44 per capita required. In 1998 Venezuela was self sufficient and the way we go if we keep producing 50% of our needs in a couple of years we will be lucky, when not only we could produce everything needed, but export as we used to do.

There was also other stuff such as the wimpy to cowardly report of the Carter Center; or the big fuss about having an admiral female defense minister when in Chile the bridge has been crossed long ago all the way to the presidency and by a civilian woman. Amen of the lacerating question that why the f**k Venezuela has way more admirals vice-admirals and counter-admirals than actual serviceable ship in the pretend fleet.

To finish this outrageous post I will refer to the latest state crime. Apparently in Falcon state a detachment of the Nazional Guard confused two cars and by "mistake" shot 50 salvos in a small family car, killing the mother, one of her daughters, sending one critical to the hospital and leaving the last one with a life psycho trauma at the very least.  That the regime sent to preventive jail the officers in charge is of little comfort. Too many army personnel involved in such type of offenses have served perfunctory sentences. I am willing to bet that those involved in the crime will do no more than a couple of years in jail.

The source of all this mess is that the regime has been not only unable but unwilling to set a civilian security plan. When el pueblo complains too loudly and elections approach the solution is to send armed forces to the streets. Unfortunately they are woefully untrained for such tasks; though we hear that they are well trained to control harbor and commerce corruption. Having a professional police force trained to avoid such disasters require investment in personnel, a functional judicial system, jails, weapons and means, intelligence, etc, etc...  Here, the only intelligence that matters for the regime is the one used to spy on its opposition.

Now, tell me that all that I wrote above is not what you's expect to see in a dictatorship, a military dictatorship were the civilian president is a pasty/patsy.