Today was a recrudescence of barricades in some areas. Protests are not dwindling. I was surprised this morning at 7 AM with all roads blocked out of El Cafetal on my way to medical appointments. I had to escape through Macaracuay. Later I learned that for once the regime decided to scare El Cafetal barricades ignored until now by sending what has been reported a fake funeral of "motorizados" which was an excuse for colectivos to come and shoot their guns in the air.
See, motorbikes in Caracas have become such a plague that when they are not looting trucks they hold funerals where a squadron of dozens and dozens of bikers block traffic, raise their front wheels in the air, shoot in the air, play loud music to try to cover their deafening noise. That is what happens in some bikers funerals, probably those that where high in the gang structure. And it is probably the rule for colectivos funerals, those paramilitary groups that have been organized by the regime with weapons and motorbikes for fast deployment. Actually, there is evidence that the current interior minister, Rodriguez Torres , was hard at work ten years ago organizing paramilitary structures.
But I digress, the point is that the regime sent today its colectivos to try to strike fear in El Cafetal denizens. thus the El Cafetal barricades which were useless and a pain in the ass for an area that chavismo ignores (it votes 80% opposition) have suddenly become more relevant and will become again more frequent.
But tonight the regime made sure that protest will keep going on for a while more as the High Court, TSJ, unconstitutionally removed Maria Corina Machado from her representative seat. The excuse was that by accepting to seat for a few minutes in the Panama ambassador seat she betrayed the country, she accepted a foreign award and what not. Besides that she was disbarred unconstitutionally, I will not go into it now, too long and it is late, there are plenty of chavista officials accepting all the time all sort of awards in friendly countries, amen of the Venezuelan seat at the OAS having been loaned to to plenty of people in the past with causes occasionally less worthy than the one Maria Corina Machado presented.
It is a political decision of course, one typical of dictatorships of any kind, to jail, disable, dishonor, make up charges and what not against any political person that could cause trouble for the regime. The TSJ has lowered its already incredibly low standing by starting to remove one by one elected officials and thus recognizing that elections are truly worthless in Venezuela. Then again, a TSJ that had no qualms doing a constitutional coup to allow Maduro to succeed Chavez has taken the road to further constitutional crimes to justify the original sin. It is biblical!
Now the question is what the opposition will do. Is it still trying to pretend dialogue is possible? Will it make a show of force and try to enter with Maria Corina Machado in Parliament even if all may risk arrest? When are we going to start calling the regime a dictatorship and deal with it accordingly?
There are other questions equally interesting. Will Diosdado Cabello get away with what is such an obvious personal vendetta he has against Maria Corina (besides the possibility of also following orders from Cuba)? will the regime dare put all opposition leadership in jail? Will newspapers be closed? Will Internet go blank?
Is it time to consider article 350 of the constitution? You know, the one that allows for just rebellion....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Xl0Qry-hA
ReplyDeleteWhat's the deal with Nancy Sinatra Latulla, that's three blogs I've seen this posted? Subliminal message embedded? Why not her better effort - "Boots Were Made for Walking"?
DeleteI don't get it.
Well, I did not erase it because I wanted to see if someone would get it. So far nothing. Maybe I should erase....
DeleteIt's a song by Nancy Sinatra: "These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
Deleteone of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.
You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
and you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin' when you oughta be changin'.
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet."
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/
Salut, Daniel.
ReplyDeleteHors sujet mais ça vaut le coup.
Je suis tombé sur une perle rare chez http://www.legrandsoir.info dans leur rubrique "La citation du jour".
"la situation à Cuba, comparée à celle de ces pays-là [Indonésie, Turquie, Pérou, Colombie] et de la plupart des pays du monde, est paradisiaque"
Cette citation est attribuée à Wayne Smith, ancien chef de la Section des Intérêts Américains à La Havane (SINA) sous l’administration Reagan.
Saint Glé, priez pour eux.
It is now or never! Mujica had to go out and ask for respect for Venezuela and its Constitutional government, while Cuba welcomes capitalism, a way to say it has given up on Venezuela! Go for it!
ReplyDeleteHAVE YOUR READ THE CONSTITUTION? TE LEISTE LA CONSTITUCION? SABES COMO SE INTERPRETA LA LEY? CONOCES EL CONCEPTO EX PROPIO VIGORE? DI MAS BIEN QUE NO ESTAS DE ACUERDO.... LA DECISION EN ESTRICTA HERMENEUTICA ES CORRECTA
ReplyDeletehermeneutica? chavista tenias que ser para usar palabras mayores sin entender el sentido.
DeletePero como dijo alguien mas abajo, un diputado chavista puede participar en una guerra extranjera y a el no le pasa nada. No me jodas!
Conoces el termino " IMBECIL"pues vete y buscalo te sorprenderas encontrar tu foto en el diccionario.
DeleteI have a close friend who was at the guarimba in El Cafetal when the motorcycle thugs showed up.
ReplyDeleteAccording to him, it was worse than just shooting in the air.They tried to run people down with their bikes,and they threw rocks as well. Apparently there were mothers along with the students,just imagine.
My friend went home and wrote me a note and said that it was terrifying and for a moment he even though that he would die there...but that he had decided to take a nap and rest up a bit, only to return to help out.
According to my friends who are helping the students...the students have vowed never to give up.
They have all my respect, admiration,and compassion.
Firepigette
Si pendejo, pero un Diputado Chavista puede ir a pelear una guerra en Syria y no pasa nada.
ReplyDeleteEn el caso de ese Diputado, a el le dieron permiso y se fue y que a luchar ( no hizo un coño ). Por lo menos esa vez siguieron las formas.
DeleteEl caso de Diosdado es patético. Una clara violación a la Constitución y aquí no pasa nada
Roberto N
The regime keeps escalating things on purpose. It's all they know how to do. They don't want the protests to die. They know MCM is very unpopular to their base, so they want to make it about her or LL and not about the shortages or inflation or crime.
ReplyDelete"See, motorbikes in Caracas have become such a plague that when they are not looting trucks they hold funerals where a squadron of dozens and dozens of bikers block traffic, raise their front wheels in the air, shoot in the air, play loud music to try to cover their deafening noise."
it's truly amazing. They even block an entire side of a highway at rush hour to do their crazy funerals. And the authorities are powerless (or unwilling) to do anything. What a country
Wrong Anonymous.
DeleteThe resistance keeps elevating things because they are determined and they are finding their way.For the first time the resistance is proactive, which means that for the first time they have a chance.
To think that the regime wants this is the kind of reasoning that is so bizarre that I shudder to think where it is coming from.
The government would do so much better with an oppressed and meek population as it has for the last 12 years.
firepigette
I have to disagree. It was the government who chose to expel MCM. They set this recent surge of protests off by doing this. They could have easily just denounced her as usual and not expelled her. Only by expelling her in characteristically aggressive and vile fashion did todays dramatic actions come about.
DeleteOverall, I do agree with you in the sense that the last two months have finally seen the opposition force the government to react and make mistakes and show the world all too plainly their true authoritarian ways.
I just don't know if they were forced into this particular action, I think it was a calculated move on their part. Let's hope it backfires.
Anonymous...that does not mean that the government likes to have more protests...that is only an assumption with no proof whatsoever.
DeleteIt is more likely that the government wants the opposition to think that so that they stop protesting and things can go back to where they always were.
They can keep on tightening their control and repression as they always have making it much harder to start new protest in the future.
Your thinking is very dangerous to the opposition.You play right into the government's hands.
Look at Cuba...what protests do they need?
firepigette
Seems like regime 10 opposition 1. Opposition have made little to no progress.
ReplyDeleteLa primera revolución popular de Venezuela. sEsta,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, de la historia
ReplyDeletees....
D. Cabello cannot hold his position in the AN because he is part of the military. So who is not playing by the constitution? These corruptos have been wiping their asses with the constitution for years.
ReplyDeleteFull agree with that. The Venezuelan Constitution is worth less than toilet paper right now.
DeleteAlso, any human rights group is absolutely worthless. These institutions don't deserve a single dollar as they are clearly doing nothing.
Tpilet paper is worth a lot in Venezuela my friend, more than the Constitution by far.
Deletenot to mention that the leaves of the blue book are too small to wipe properly....
DeleteMaria Corina sets the traps and the communists fall for them, time and time again. No one will move a finger for this regime when it falls. Not even Dilma.
ReplyDeleteMaria
All seems like early skirmishing to me. The regime could easily displace all the protesters, but chooses not to. Because ?? Not sure. Because it might ignite real opposition fury ? Because it might get truly bad foreign publicity ? Because the regime is split as to how to respond ? Because the regime is hoping that the protesters get weary and the protest diminishes in size ? Because the regime thinks that those inconvenienced by the protesters will lose sympathy and patience with the protesters ? Because the regime can use the protesters to rally the ' true red shirts' back to the cause ? I really don't know. Have to admit, not even sure of what the protesters hope to achieve, though they have my admiration. There is no possibility, imo, of any 'general uprising' against the regime, reasons being, that the official military, the 'street' military, and a largish sector of the population ( 35 % ???) probably support the regime or would support its overturn only for a substitute with similar ideas. Is there a game plan here, or is this just the extreme frustration of brave people ?
ReplyDeleteI have no answers, and look to those closer to the scene to educate me.
The government may not want the protests to continue, but it is a necessary evil for them as they continue to need scape goats to blame for all of their other failures. It is right out of the generic third world dictator play book. There are too many photos and evidences of infiltration into the opposition marches, and even videos of the GNB starting fires in blockades in an effort to continue to distract from the real problems. They just need a little more justification to take it to the next level.
ReplyDeleteconcerned