Informamos a nuestra clientela que nuestros vuelos comerciales hacia Aruba, quedan cancelados a partir de hoy 25/07/2014 y hasta nuevo aviso
— Laser Airlines (@laserairlines) July 26, 2014
Tweet from Laser Airlines announcing the suspension of its flights to Aruba.
So, what is it that put the regime over the edge? Well, a judge in Aruba has decided that Hugo Carvajal will stay for the time being in Aruba, that the US has 60 days to prove conclusively its case for extradition and that the progress of the procedure will be monitored by the judge on a weekly basis, meaning that at some point the judge may decide to release Carvajal if the US does not establishes fast enough its reasons. Any normal person would find that quite reasonable. Carvajal has already his lawyers in Aruba, hired by the vice minister of Foreign Affairs designated hitter Calixto Ortega himself. Aruba is not giving him yet to the US so he has time to prove he is innocent. Etc. Etc.
The attitude of the Venezuelan regime is execrable on many levels.
First, it is bullying a small island country which depends in part on Venezuelan tourism. For a "revolutionary" government that respects the sacrosanct principle of non intervention, well, call that a miss if you want.
Second, Venezuela has never investigated ANY of the officials pointed by the US for drug traffic. In fact, Venezuela has denied it all and Maduro went as far as putting his own career on line to retrieve Carvajal, as if he were some type of Nobel Prize. That of course has never stopped Venezuela from criticizing any Senator, Secretary, Congressperson, whatever in the US that dared cast a vague doubt on the regime democratic nature.
Third, for the sake of it, since it is the US that is demanding Carvajal extradition, why is Venezuela not suspending all of its flights to the US? Just asking, you know...
Fourth, in view of the crisis Rafael Ramirez, our economy Tsarevitch, suspended a crucial trip he had scheduled in New York today to discuss refinancing Venezuela's debt. That is smart, standing up people that made all the travel to meet you in New York to see if they would loan you money... Unless, of course, Ramirez was afraid to be arrested à la Carvajal?
Fifth, because the links between Carvajal, PDVSA and corrupt providers have also been shown today when we learned that the private plane Carvajal used to go to Aruba (chavista upper echelons do not seem to travel regular, not even in Business) was property of such corrupt PDVSA providers.
And I could probably add more. But the case is made.
Whether Carvajal is eventually extradited to the US is not the point anymore. The anxiety expressed through the out of bonds response of Venezuelan authorities demonstrate in a crystal clear way what a gang of corrupt narco state Venezuelan regime has become. They are simply defending one of theirs, in the only ways thugs know how to defend themselves, through brutal aggression, starting verbally and going up as needed, regardless of the consequences.
The repression of student protests in February, March and April established to the world eyes that Venezuela was not a democracy, just a brutal fascist organization. Now the response to Carvajal arrest allows us to add "narco", as in Venezuela is narco fascist organization. The damage is done. Deal with it.
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UPDATED
This is too good to be true. Nothing can illustrate better the panic situation in the Miraflores panic room than this tweet announcing that Aruba flights will restart!
Informamos a nuestros clientes que la medida de suspensión de vuelos hacia Aruba ha sido levantada. Continuamos nuestras operaciones!
— Laser Airlines (@laserairlines) July 26, 2014
Though Aruba airlines decided to wait until Sunday to start again. I understand them....
I love it!
Speaking as a lawyer who has done many extradition cases: Carvajal is going to be extradited. It is becoming extremely easy to extradite, with all evidence set out by affidavit. Typically, a prosecutor simply sets out the evidence they rely upon, along with a statement that it amounts to a prima facie case. There is no right to cross examine. It can take a while, but the outcome is close to certain.
ReplyDeleteThe only question in my mind is the Venezuelan claim for diplomatic immunity. Let´s face it, I would say he merits a fair trial in the US, and I´m sure he can hire a pretty good set of lawyers. But I fear another Makled type escape.
DeleteMore and more convinced "el pollo" fell into a trap. Too may enemies of one kind or another from Caracas to Miami.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes, It could be a trap. Then Maduro can escalate this affair by calling out his army for the defense of Venezuela, although I think that Carvajal just screwed up. But it doesn't matter. Maduro can still use this 'illegal' incarceration of his drug merchant to solidify his position.
ReplyDeleteI hope that if Carvajal is deported, the US releases quicky important points regarding this Venezuelan thug and the workings of the chavista government and how it endangers SA democracies.
I hope this is the start to some kind of crackdown by the US. May more government narcos follow this same path.
ReplyDeleteWhenever in doubt, if you're not sure about anything happening in Venezuela, the answer is very $$$imple:
ReplyDeleteI haven't even wasted time reading this story, but I bet here's the bottom line:
Corruption.
Right?
La pegue!!
The improvisation of this misgovernment never ceases to amaze me!!
ReplyDeleteI guess they soon realized how much money $$$$ it was going to cost them to bring all these people back- and there was surely more than one Chavista among them....
My prediction: Obama releases Carvajal to Venezuela, in the interest of "good relations" with Venezuela. I hope I am proven wrong, but I fear not.
ReplyDeleteIt is not in the best interests of the US to cave in. They understand that "good relations" with Venezuela would only be short lived. But whatever game is being played out here, how it develops will determine Venezuela's future. And this time, there are only two ways it can unfold: either the US finally takes a firm stand or it capitulates.
DeleteOnce the man is in the US Justice system the only way Obama can get him released is to influence his Attorney General. And I just don´t see that happening. If they let him go it will be done by presenting a weak extradition case. And I don´t see that happening either. I suspect you are letting your political side judge Obama a bit too hard. Obama is much smarter than Bush, and only time will tell if his strategy will work.
DeleteTime has told. Regarding what influence the POTUS had in the release, we do not currently know. In any event, I predicted a release, and the release occurred.
DeleteI don´t think he had much influence. If you look at an earlier comment I wrote replying to Jeffrey House´s legal opinion, I was afraid the Viena Convention would get him off, and as it turned out the Dutch did apply it. When I see cases like this I usually read the associated treaties, and I saw a clause which told me Carvajal did have a fairly good escape hatch.
DeleteWe also have to factor that a circus was mounted to get his phones. I would venture a guess those phones were looked over very carefully. The information they had must have been priceless. But this is a game of cat and mouse, the key for the US is to be very careful taking action.
AND, recall that Maduro seems caught in several conflicting currents. Maduro is not an independent thinker, the Cubans pull his strings to a large extent.
I´m from Cuba, and I see the Cuban leadership wanting to change reluctantly to a Chinese model. Like the Chinese, they want to keep a party dictatorship, but they understand capitalism is what works. It seems they want "Fascism of the 21st Century".
This puts Maduro at odds with the communist wing of chavism. And I know how those guys have been brainwashed (they are infected with a nearly religious mania, and they are willing to kill, torture, and do whatever it takes to march on towards their "worker´s paradise").
Although I see the Obama administration as fairly incompetent, and Kerry is indeed disastrous, this isn´t unique to the American left wing. The Bush administration didn´t do any better, and they did do a lot worse when they blundered into Iraq. So while we can acknowledge Obama is hobbled, his policy may be correct when he lets Maduro stew in that sauce. This means we´ll see the USA step back as the Cubans fight an interesting dirty war with several factions in Venezuela.
I know Raul Castro and his guys, they´ll want to clean out the drug mafias, they´ll have to pacify the communist radicals, they´ll definitely take down the opposition, and there´s going to be a quasi genocide as they kill the gangsters in the barrios.
This means a lot more chaos and violence is coming to Venezuela, all created first by Chavez and now the Cubans versus the Venezuelan factions.
The Cuban dream is to implement a little fascist empire, using a little bit of red paint to confuse the communist cadres they want to use as a fifth column as they undermine Latin American countries.
It´s a good plan....now the question is whether the USA focuses on Havana instead of pleasing Israel. I have my doubts, but time will tell.
Bloquear vuelos a Aruba?
ReplyDeleteBloquearse a si mismos ?!!!
Que burdos!?
He's free now Daniel, thanks to the Queen.
ReplyDeleteDid the US just capitulate? What is this game?
ReplyDeleteThe Netherland Antilles, nor the Netherlands itself, are US colonies. Furthermore, one could argue the US judiciary itself would have to acknowledge Carvajal was protected under the Viena Convention. This isn´t over 20 years ago, when the US could send troops into Panama to kidnap a dictator and face zero legal ramifications.
DeleteAs I wrote above, the "game" may have been simply to have access to Carvajal´s phones and the encrypted data.