Today we commemorate (?, what other word could one use) the murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. We do not know yet who ordered that crime, and for that matter we cannot be certain of who killed him. But there is finally a novelty: Tal Cual mini editorial of "Simon Boccanegra" has no second thoughts at accusing former general prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez of muddling the waters and making sure that innocent parties paid for the crime so as to protect the real culprits. The more so that hyper morally corrupt Rodriguez wants to become the president of the High Court, TSJ. So certain he is of his nomination that he even resigned his ambassador post in Spain, another job for which he demonstrated his total unfitness, by the way.
The editorial is translated below but before you go further be aware that the relatives of Danilo Anderson have asked for the investigation of former Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel as the likely head of the plot to kill Anderson to protect his corrupt banker friends, some of them are on the run today or in jail. Eventually, shall we know the truth? The Tal Cual article includes a summary of the Anderson Case to date.
Showing posts with label anderson case. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anderson case. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Danilo Anderson
I am not going back on that case. But since yesterday it was the fourth anniversary of his murder and since while driving back to San Felipe I listened when Chavez talked about it I need to post something(he claims to have "ordered" more protection for Anderson, but he was not obeyed. Yes, he said that.)
Last week, after the false key witness has been exposed, more has happened. One of the state prosecutors, now in hiding, has detailed a lot of the ways in which the case was in large part a big cover up. If to this we add the manipulations that Isaias Rodriguez did, and much, much more, we can conclude this very likely scenario.
Danilo Anderson was no hero. In fact he was part, or led, a racketeering group.
He either found something big about a higher up or worked together with a higher up in government. He then either started blackmailing that/these person/s, or was perceived as being able to do so. We are talking here inner circle of the chavista government.
His assassination was planned at the same time as the cover up that followed. In that cover up cops and other tried deliberately to get rid of inconvenient people and thus put the blame for the murder on them. That explains why such unlikely candidates for such a well planed murder were involved: I think in particular of Cardinal Castillo Lara and Patricia Poleo.
Something went not quite right and they managed to kill only two of their targets. Eventually the evidence they advanced was not enough to inculpate all those they wanted to do. Still, a few took the fall. Patricia Poleo is still in exile and now it appears that the Guevara brothers are serving a life sentence for something that they might not have done. At any rate, whether they did the crime or not, it is clear that whomever paid them to do so is free, at large. Amen for those who were killed as prime suspects and who now might be totally blameless. When is the repair to their families coming?
Thus the words of Chavez yesterday had the fake ring of hypocrisy, of someone trying to cover himself with Teflon because he knows that the judicial system in Venezuela is never going to scratch where it is supposed to investigate. Exactly as with the Maletagate, the Anderson affair is way, way too close to Miraflores for comfort.
On the radio I could hear the ignorant PSUV mob who cheered him as he spoke of that, not realizing that anyone of them could be next in yet another murder that will never be explained.
-The end-
Last week, after the false key witness has been exposed, more has happened. One of the state prosecutors, now in hiding, has detailed a lot of the ways in which the case was in large part a big cover up. If to this we add the manipulations that Isaias Rodriguez did, and much, much more, we can conclude this very likely scenario.
Danilo Anderson was no hero. In fact he was part, or led, a racketeering group.
He either found something big about a higher up or worked together with a higher up in government. He then either started blackmailing that/these person/s, or was perceived as being able to do so. We are talking here inner circle of the chavista government.
His assassination was planned at the same time as the cover up that followed. In that cover up cops and other tried deliberately to get rid of inconvenient people and thus put the blame for the murder on them. That explains why such unlikely candidates for such a well planed murder were involved: I think in particular of Cardinal Castillo Lara and Patricia Poleo.
Something went not quite right and they managed to kill only two of their targets. Eventually the evidence they advanced was not enough to inculpate all those they wanted to do. Still, a few took the fall. Patricia Poleo is still in exile and now it appears that the Guevara brothers are serving a life sentence for something that they might not have done. At any rate, whether they did the crime or not, it is clear that whomever paid them to do so is free, at large. Amen for those who were killed as prime suspects and who now might be totally blameless. When is the repair to their families coming?
Thus the words of Chavez yesterday had the fake ring of hypocrisy, of someone trying to cover himself with Teflon because he knows that the judicial system in Venezuela is never going to scratch where it is supposed to investigate. Exactly as with the Maletagate, the Anderson affair is way, way too close to Miraflores for comfort.
On the radio I could hear the ignorant PSUV mob who cheered him as he spoke of that, not realizing that anyone of them could be next in yet another murder that will never be explained.
-The end-
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Petkoff on the implications of Isaias Rodriguez cover up
Today's Tal Cual editorial marks a new high/low in the "Anderson affair".
Teodoro Petkoff wearily starts by remarking that once again he is obliged to write on the case. But this time his editorial goes further than ever. If he repeats the question as to who was Isaias Rodriguez protecting, covering for, Petkoff gives an answer: high ranking political players.
See, the argument advanced by the Anderson case prosecutors was basically that Anderson was examining some bankers money and political deals and thus it was justified to go after them to look for "suspects". Hence the arrest of the president of the Banco Federal who has since been totally exculpated.
However the situation since has changed dramatically. The star witness, Geovanny Vasquez, has been shown to have lied through and through, and some of the prosecutors and judges of the case have been shown to have manipulated the evidence, going as far as making outright forgeries. Three now are under investigation.
What this editorial brings is a higher bidding of what lies behind the case. This time Petkoff writes that such a cover up, such an amount of personal risk that Isaias took then, can only be justified if the people being protected were occupying high political ranking in the government. Indeed, the extent of the misdeed is now so impressive that we are allowed to wonder as to whether Isaias would risk so much for some banker's payoff funds.
With this editorial Petkoff raises the ante and takes a personal risk: he is telling to the government that the people that Isaias was/is protecting are in the close entourage of Chavez and that the murderers of Anderson worked for the Chavez administration, not for the opposition. He does not give names but this blog will fill in the blanks: at that time two of the blokes that had the most influence in the day to day managing of the country were Jose Vicente Rangel and Diosdado Cabello. Both have left the government since though still involved in partisan inner warfare. I do not mean to point my finger to them, but you had to be of a comparable importance in government to be put in a position of requesting the elimination of Anderson. The list of possible suspects include personnel from the finance ministry of the time, or even associates or underlings of powerful people who might have commandeered the murder as free agents. Also we could add that it was a time when fast fortunes were made by the "boliburgues" new elite who was closely linked to the government. One thing is certain: whoever ordered the murder of Anderson had powerful motives, and access to considerable means, and the ability to pressure Isaias Rodriguez effectively. That should narrow the list of probable suspects, and all, starting with Chavez himself, have great interest in clearing up things before someone eventually talks. Otherwise, even if they had nothing to do with the said assassination, they will also go down as favoring the cover up this late by delaying any investigation and trying to shield Isaias from the prosecution he so richly deserves.
The rottenness of the Chavez administration seems to have been much older than what we thought, and probably started a few days after Chavez reached office. But all eventually comes to light and right now the Anderson affair could reach the foundations of Chavez power. Dangerous, very dangerous!
PS: the editorial is here in Spanish. It is not good enough to deserve translation as the main idea is quite simple and better explained above for those late into the story.
-The end-
Teodoro Petkoff wearily starts by remarking that once again he is obliged to write on the case. But this time his editorial goes further than ever. If he repeats the question as to who was Isaias Rodriguez protecting, covering for, Petkoff gives an answer: high ranking political players.
See, the argument advanced by the Anderson case prosecutors was basically that Anderson was examining some bankers money and political deals and thus it was justified to go after them to look for "suspects". Hence the arrest of the president of the Banco Federal who has since been totally exculpated.
However the situation since has changed dramatically. The star witness, Geovanny Vasquez, has been shown to have lied through and through, and some of the prosecutors and judges of the case have been shown to have manipulated the evidence, going as far as making outright forgeries. Three now are under investigation.
What this editorial brings is a higher bidding of what lies behind the case. This time Petkoff writes that such a cover up, such an amount of personal risk that Isaias took then, can only be justified if the people being protected were occupying high political ranking in the government. Indeed, the extent of the misdeed is now so impressive that we are allowed to wonder as to whether Isaias would risk so much for some banker's payoff funds.
With this editorial Petkoff raises the ante and takes a personal risk: he is telling to the government that the people that Isaias was/is protecting are in the close entourage of Chavez and that the murderers of Anderson worked for the Chavez administration, not for the opposition. He does not give names but this blog will fill in the blanks: at that time two of the blokes that had the most influence in the day to day managing of the country were Jose Vicente Rangel and Diosdado Cabello. Both have left the government since though still involved in partisan inner warfare. I do not mean to point my finger to them, but you had to be of a comparable importance in government to be put in a position of requesting the elimination of Anderson. The list of possible suspects include personnel from the finance ministry of the time, or even associates or underlings of powerful people who might have commandeered the murder as free agents. Also we could add that it was a time when fast fortunes were made by the "boliburgues" new elite who was closely linked to the government. One thing is certain: whoever ordered the murder of Anderson had powerful motives, and access to considerable means, and the ability to pressure Isaias Rodriguez effectively. That should narrow the list of probable suspects, and all, starting with Chavez himself, have great interest in clearing up things before someone eventually talks. Otherwise, even if they had nothing to do with the said assassination, they will also go down as favoring the cover up this late by delaying any investigation and trying to shield Isaias from the prosecution he so richly deserves.
The rottenness of the Chavez administration seems to have been much older than what we thought, and probably started a few days after Chavez reached office. But all eventually comes to light and right now the Anderson affair could reach the foundations of Chavez power. Dangerous, very dangerous!
PS: the editorial is here in Spanish. It is not good enough to deserve translation as the main idea is quite simple and better explained above for those late into the story.
-The end-
Monday, May 26, 2008
The 2008 election gambles: part 1, Chavez’s angst
May first brought once again to the forefront the divided country that Venezuela has become. There were two “workers” marches convoked. One to praise Chavez, with dozens and dozens of buses coming from all around at tax payer expense, all passengers adequately uniformed in red, brandishing whatever slogan du jour. The other one was a more heteroclite affair made of actual workers, mostly from Caracas. But there was a difference this time: the opposition workers march was barred from its final outcome by an extraordinary display of police and soldiers that betrayed only one thing: chavismo is running scared.
It is clear to all that the December 2 referendum has changed the political course of the country. With Chavez aura of invincibility gone, not only his followers are less likely to put up with all of his antics, but a new type of opposition, now emboldened by its success believes that the end of the regime is not a farfetched hypothesis anymore. What the opposition is doing these days is the subject of a following post.
The pressing events of the past few months, from the pro FARC debacle, through the new wave of nationalization and to the difficulty in locking up the PSUV configuration give a clear picture of what Chavez problems are and how he would try to win the regional elections next November. But before getting into this once again the reader must be reminded what are the real objectives of Chavez and what does he disposes to reach them.
What Chavez wants
It is very simple: Chavez wants to remain in office for life. For the time being his aim is thwarted by the December 2 2007 defeat but he still has more than 4 years to find a way around this obstacle. This need is exacerbated with the debacle of the Anderson Case where, after the financial corruption, the moral corruption of the regime is for all to see: once Chavez is not anymore in office, once the judicial power is freed of his control, a boatload of chavistas, including Chavez, are going to find their sorry asses in court, on the accused benches for a welcome change. In other words, the only way that a few hundred of folks can keep enjoying their loot is for Chavez to remain in office ad perpetuum, including the Chavez family who have carved a nice little fiefdom in Barinas. Not understanding this makes it impossible to understand anything else that is going on in Venezuela these days.
What Chavez has
He has two things: the oil check book and the people that are still with him. The oil check book is something nice and handy and with a lot of reach, in particular these days where a decreased Venezuelan oil production is nicely compensated with an oil barrel flirting with 130 USD. In fact some economist think that the misiones and his foreign actions are financed directly by oil, bypassing normal budgetary procedures (and staling funds that should go to the individual states). Day to day state functions are financed by a large portion of the oil income and by the SENIAT who every day is taxing more and more as the state expenses increase more and more. The taxation burden in Venezuela is reaching unbearable proportions, not from the amount of money taxed but because the tax payers are getting less and less in return. More than ever taxing is robbing the rich to give to the crooks, and, accessorily, the poor. In democracy the rich (read, anyone paying taxes in Venezuela) do not mind that much that their taxes are used to buy social peace, but they also want pothole free roads and to be able to sleep tight at night.
But there is also another problem that chavismo is starting to feel: the stipends that they used to give to the huddled masses are not enough. When someone is used to get a certain amount of freebees after a while this amount does not seem so great anymore, the more so when the annual inflation is somewhere high above the 20% mark. That is, if instead of teaching to fish you give free food, well, people get fat and hungrier. In short, if Chavez does not hurry up to secure his permanent hold on the country, soon there will be not enough money to buy such control, no matter how high oil prices are. Social programs can reach only so far.
Of course that Chavez is surrounded by crooks able now to steal quickly millions of dollars through semi legal ways does not help him much. Corruption under Chavez has rotten the state faster and deeper than the corruption during the full 40 pre Chavez years. And yet Chavez has to work with such people: he is the one that turned a blind eye to corruption in the hope to secure a devoted base, if anything to blackmail this new caste if needed- Unfortunately, even if devoted to Chavez (often through necessity and inner chavismo scare tactics), such a base is incompetent.
The drama of Chavez is that he cannot attract good managers, or charitably put, not enough good managers. Competent people, people with good administrative skills have enough self worth that they do not need to work for Chavez, and are certainly not willing to put up with his lengthy cadenas where they must spend hours nodding so as not to fall asleep, where they cannot even get a glass of water nor a bathroom break, while hoping that they will not publicly be insulted by Chavez. To subject yourself to such public humiliation you are either a nobody that has no choice in life or you are a crook. A few years ago one could still give the benefit of the doubt to the Chavez entourage: today such benefit is not allowed anymore.
Thus Chavez is paying the price for surrounding himself with mediocrities, whose only value for him is an alleged blind loyalty. All the problems that are now associated with the regime, from potholes in the streets to crumbling hospitals, from food shortages to extraordinary import levels are due to the people in charge who are all, without exception after the departure of Vielma Mora, crooks or incompetents, or usually both.
Clearly, with that motley crew Chavez will not solve the problems of the country and yet he must rely on them to spread the oil manna. And win elections.
The problems at hand
Moral corruption. After the Isaias Rodriguez fiasco with the Anderson case, as the cover up cannot be hidden anymore, you have to be a really hard core chavista to pretend that everything is fine. True, there are plenty of those around left, but not enough to win a large election without cheating.
Financial corruption. That one cannot be hidden anymore. Paradoxically it is not too much of a problem for chavismo since too many people just want to plug in and see what they can get. Besides, the primitive political culture of too many Venezuelans lead them to think such silly things as “well, it is our side who is stealing, so what is the problem?”. Yet, the problem is slowly but surely eroding chavismo more moderate base. That Chavez is not really hanging anyone for corruption will eventually accelerate the demise of the regime, just as it sped up the demise of the pre Chavez years. There is only so much that people can put up with and that these days Venezuelans are particularly lax in morals do not mean that they have no moral.
Food and other shortages. The coupling of increased purchasing power of the masses with the failure of production to increase from the late 90ies levels have resulted in a catastrophic chronic food shortage in Venezuela that can only be palliated through massive, and increasingly expensive, imports. That is, the oil money is spent on food and eventually find its way to the sewers, instead of, say, new roads or new jobs. Regrettably for Chavez with the incompetents that surround him, it does not matter how much he will increase imports, he will not be able to solve the problem on even a medium term prospect. Once upon a time the solution would have simply been to allow the private sector to work without much harassment, but now even that would not enough. For ten years there has been a major neglect in the upkeep of the Venezuelan infrastructure and this now is reaching dramatic proportions. The increased volume of cars and trucks, and motor traffic, courtesy of oil at 100 USD is just overwhelming the road system. Now any truck carrying food spends twice as much time as it used to do 3 years ago to reach its destination. The railroad system is years form been completed and collapsing roads are ensuring that the problem of efficient food distribution is going to get worse before it gets better. Amen of any increase in food production which depends in large part on the circulation of crops and their needed supplies.
Insecurity. The crime wave is not abating no matter how much the government twists statistics. The back pages of the newspapers tell a tale: Iraq risks being favorably compared to Venezuela. The only solution to this problem is short term repression and long term plans and prosperity and real job creation. The government has demonstrated that it can only repress opposition and is devoid of any long term plans. These anyway probably would be useless since the ministry revolving doors make any new appointee come up with his own plan superseding any previous effort. Expect an upward trend in the murder rate. Besides, high crime is a way for the government to control the opposition. After all the big wigs of chavismo have several body guards paid at tax payer expense. Why should they worry about their own security? How can the relate with the masses? Why should they care? The more crime there is, the more scared the populace is and the less it will think about protesting Chavez policies.
Real jobs are not coming. Real jobs are only created when there is a real economic growth in production ventures. Imports, distribution and banking redistribution of populist supplies do not ensure a permanent growth in economic output. In other words as long as Chavez economic policies do not allow the private sector to grow, there will be no creation of real jobs and only the public sector and some services will be the ones creating a few jobs, with the fragility that this implies. Yet the problem is dramatic for the state. The first promotions of the new chavista universities (UBV, for example) are coming to graduation and the work training plans are churning out “graduates” by the thousands. They all have pretty much useless skills and too much political baggage for the private sector to hire any of them, assuming it were hiring. Legions of chronic jobless are starting to hit the streets of Venezuela, and they have been promised jobs. How will Chavez deliver?
The enemy within. The newly formed PSUV is already having all sorts of problems. The delay in its formation was apparently due to the near impossibility to put up a veneer of democratic hues over the need for Chavez to have a transmission vehicle totally reliable, military style. Starting for the claimed 5 million plus sing up in 2006 we ended up one year later to about 20% of the original claimed number voting in the PSUV internal “elections”. Of course, that was in part a consequence of an indirect tiered voting procedure which was designed to have Chavez favorites to win. Still, many did not, delaying further the final installation of the PSUV. As the candidates are been selected for November, the PSUV is showing considerable strain due to this deficient birthing.
And there are many more problems that could be listed, something normal for any regime that has already run for ten years and who is now devoid of ideas and who never was very creative to begin with. The question is what Chavez will make of this and how will he run a campaign which is crucial for his future. Any result where the opposition carries 8 or more states will be considered as a major defeat and cannot be spun as a democratic face-lift for the regime. Any result where the opposition gets 10 or more states will even question the chances for Chavez to reach the end of his term. Such a defeat will almost automatically trigger a recall election on the National Assembly and the loss of the chavista majority there. There is one thing I can vouch for: Chavez knows this very, very well.
-The end-
It is clear to all that the December 2 referendum has changed the political course of the country. With Chavez aura of invincibility gone, not only his followers are less likely to put up with all of his antics, but a new type of opposition, now emboldened by its success believes that the end of the regime is not a farfetched hypothesis anymore. What the opposition is doing these days is the subject of a following post.
The pressing events of the past few months, from the pro FARC debacle, through the new wave of nationalization and to the difficulty in locking up the PSUV configuration give a clear picture of what Chavez problems are and how he would try to win the regional elections next November. But before getting into this once again the reader must be reminded what are the real objectives of Chavez and what does he disposes to reach them.
What Chavez wants
It is very simple: Chavez wants to remain in office for life. For the time being his aim is thwarted by the December 2 2007 defeat but he still has more than 4 years to find a way around this obstacle. This need is exacerbated with the debacle of the Anderson Case where, after the financial corruption, the moral corruption of the regime is for all to see: once Chavez is not anymore in office, once the judicial power is freed of his control, a boatload of chavistas, including Chavez, are going to find their sorry asses in court, on the accused benches for a welcome change. In other words, the only way that a few hundred of folks can keep enjoying their loot is for Chavez to remain in office ad perpetuum, including the Chavez family who have carved a nice little fiefdom in Barinas. Not understanding this makes it impossible to understand anything else that is going on in Venezuela these days.
What Chavez has
He has two things: the oil check book and the people that are still with him. The oil check book is something nice and handy and with a lot of reach, in particular these days where a decreased Venezuelan oil production is nicely compensated with an oil barrel flirting with 130 USD. In fact some economist think that the misiones and his foreign actions are financed directly by oil, bypassing normal budgetary procedures (and staling funds that should go to the individual states). Day to day state functions are financed by a large portion of the oil income and by the SENIAT who every day is taxing more and more as the state expenses increase more and more. The taxation burden in Venezuela is reaching unbearable proportions, not from the amount of money taxed but because the tax payers are getting less and less in return. More than ever taxing is robbing the rich to give to the crooks, and, accessorily, the poor. In democracy the rich (read, anyone paying taxes in Venezuela) do not mind that much that their taxes are used to buy social peace, but they also want pothole free roads and to be able to sleep tight at night.
But there is also another problem that chavismo is starting to feel: the stipends that they used to give to the huddled masses are not enough. When someone is used to get a certain amount of freebees after a while this amount does not seem so great anymore, the more so when the annual inflation is somewhere high above the 20% mark. That is, if instead of teaching to fish you give free food, well, people get fat and hungrier. In short, if Chavez does not hurry up to secure his permanent hold on the country, soon there will be not enough money to buy such control, no matter how high oil prices are. Social programs can reach only so far.
Of course that Chavez is surrounded by crooks able now to steal quickly millions of dollars through semi legal ways does not help him much. Corruption under Chavez has rotten the state faster and deeper than the corruption during the full 40 pre Chavez years. And yet Chavez has to work with such people: he is the one that turned a blind eye to corruption in the hope to secure a devoted base, if anything to blackmail this new caste if needed- Unfortunately, even if devoted to Chavez (often through necessity and inner chavismo scare tactics), such a base is incompetent.
The drama of Chavez is that he cannot attract good managers, or charitably put, not enough good managers. Competent people, people with good administrative skills have enough self worth that they do not need to work for Chavez, and are certainly not willing to put up with his lengthy cadenas where they must spend hours nodding so as not to fall asleep, where they cannot even get a glass of water nor a bathroom break, while hoping that they will not publicly be insulted by Chavez. To subject yourself to such public humiliation you are either a nobody that has no choice in life or you are a crook. A few years ago one could still give the benefit of the doubt to the Chavez entourage: today such benefit is not allowed anymore.
Thus Chavez is paying the price for surrounding himself with mediocrities, whose only value for him is an alleged blind loyalty. All the problems that are now associated with the regime, from potholes in the streets to crumbling hospitals, from food shortages to extraordinary import levels are due to the people in charge who are all, without exception after the departure of Vielma Mora, crooks or incompetents, or usually both.
Clearly, with that motley crew Chavez will not solve the problems of the country and yet he must rely on them to spread the oil manna. And win elections.
The problems at hand
Moral corruption. After the Isaias Rodriguez fiasco with the Anderson case, as the cover up cannot be hidden anymore, you have to be a really hard core chavista to pretend that everything is fine. True, there are plenty of those around left, but not enough to win a large election without cheating.
Financial corruption. That one cannot be hidden anymore. Paradoxically it is not too much of a problem for chavismo since too many people just want to plug in and see what they can get. Besides, the primitive political culture of too many Venezuelans lead them to think such silly things as “well, it is our side who is stealing, so what is the problem?”. Yet, the problem is slowly but surely eroding chavismo more moderate base. That Chavez is not really hanging anyone for corruption will eventually accelerate the demise of the regime, just as it sped up the demise of the pre Chavez years. There is only so much that people can put up with and that these days Venezuelans are particularly lax in morals do not mean that they have no moral.
Food and other shortages. The coupling of increased purchasing power of the masses with the failure of production to increase from the late 90ies levels have resulted in a catastrophic chronic food shortage in Venezuela that can only be palliated through massive, and increasingly expensive, imports. That is, the oil money is spent on food and eventually find its way to the sewers, instead of, say, new roads or new jobs. Regrettably for Chavez with the incompetents that surround him, it does not matter how much he will increase imports, he will not be able to solve the problem on even a medium term prospect. Once upon a time the solution would have simply been to allow the private sector to work without much harassment, but now even that would not enough. For ten years there has been a major neglect in the upkeep of the Venezuelan infrastructure and this now is reaching dramatic proportions. The increased volume of cars and trucks, and motor traffic, courtesy of oil at 100 USD is just overwhelming the road system. Now any truck carrying food spends twice as much time as it used to do 3 years ago to reach its destination. The railroad system is years form been completed and collapsing roads are ensuring that the problem of efficient food distribution is going to get worse before it gets better. Amen of any increase in food production which depends in large part on the circulation of crops and their needed supplies.
Insecurity. The crime wave is not abating no matter how much the government twists statistics. The back pages of the newspapers tell a tale: Iraq risks being favorably compared to Venezuela. The only solution to this problem is short term repression and long term plans and prosperity and real job creation. The government has demonstrated that it can only repress opposition and is devoid of any long term plans. These anyway probably would be useless since the ministry revolving doors make any new appointee come up with his own plan superseding any previous effort. Expect an upward trend in the murder rate. Besides, high crime is a way for the government to control the opposition. After all the big wigs of chavismo have several body guards paid at tax payer expense. Why should they worry about their own security? How can the relate with the masses? Why should they care? The more crime there is, the more scared the populace is and the less it will think about protesting Chavez policies.
Real jobs are not coming. Real jobs are only created when there is a real economic growth in production ventures. Imports, distribution and banking redistribution of populist supplies do not ensure a permanent growth in economic output. In other words as long as Chavez economic policies do not allow the private sector to grow, there will be no creation of real jobs and only the public sector and some services will be the ones creating a few jobs, with the fragility that this implies. Yet the problem is dramatic for the state. The first promotions of the new chavista universities (UBV, for example) are coming to graduation and the work training plans are churning out “graduates” by the thousands. They all have pretty much useless skills and too much political baggage for the private sector to hire any of them, assuming it were hiring. Legions of chronic jobless are starting to hit the streets of Venezuela, and they have been promised jobs. How will Chavez deliver?
The enemy within. The newly formed PSUV is already having all sorts of problems. The delay in its formation was apparently due to the near impossibility to put up a veneer of democratic hues over the need for Chavez to have a transmission vehicle totally reliable, military style. Starting for the claimed 5 million plus sing up in 2006 we ended up one year later to about 20% of the original claimed number voting in the PSUV internal “elections”. Of course, that was in part a consequence of an indirect tiered voting procedure which was designed to have Chavez favorites to win. Still, many did not, delaying further the final installation of the PSUV. As the candidates are been selected for November, the PSUV is showing considerable strain due to this deficient birthing.
And there are many more problems that could be listed, something normal for any regime that has already run for ten years and who is now devoid of ideas and who never was very creative to begin with. The question is what Chavez will make of this and how will he run a campaign which is crucial for his future. Any result where the opposition carries 8 or more states will be considered as a major defeat and cannot be spun as a democratic face-lift for the regime. Any result where the opposition gets 10 or more states will even question the chances for Chavez to reach the end of his term. Such a defeat will almost automatically trigger a recall election on the National Assembly and the loss of the chavista majority there. There is one thing I can vouch for: Chavez knows this very, very well.
-The end-
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Ayn Rand quotes for today Venezuela
I have not read any book of Ayn Rand yet which has not stopped me from being exposed to this icon of Libertarians. I suspect perhaps because so many people have told me that "YOU MUST read her", that it would "change my vision", has made me diffident in attempting the
lecture. After all I have a certain allergy to "salvation literature" and other messianic forms such as uncouth military self appointing themselves as the savior of the poor of the world.....
Thus out of character when I received a note from occasional reader S.C. with an ill translated quote of Ayn Rand I decided to check how badly it was translated (heck, her name was put as Any Rand which had an interesting promiscuity shade to it). It was quite bad, but that is not the point of the post. Checking through some of Rand quotes I found some that are particularly appropriate to today's Venezuela and I could not resist sharing them for fun. The case to refer to and the quote.
On Chavez motivations. His anti US stand as well as his "resentido social" approach to life which lead him to make us believe he hates money and rich people while his family is now the richest of Barinas.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter.
On Chavez economic policies and the future of Venezuela.
When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.
On Chavez view of the world and human rights.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
On the mediocrity of chavismo.
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.
On the dangers of chavismo, in particular as it is creating a national police and increasing the numbers and functions of the indoctrinated militia at the expense of the more "controlled" armed forces.
A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
On the Anderson case and the fraud to justice by Isaias Rodriguez
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
On the legal system that allowed a monstrosity like Isaias Rodriguez.
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers.
On the "misiones"? That is, all of the social programs whose benefit increase with your direct support to the government.
The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.
On the "boliburguesia"? That is, the chavista nouveau riche class versus the hoi poloi, be it opposition or pro Chavez.
Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.
On PSF and other assorted fools here and abroad so willing to serve and justify chavismo actions.
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.
On the difficulty to be a blogger trying to express the reality of his country
The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.
PS: readers that can find more quotes that can be linked to Venezuela today are welcome to submit them :)
-The end-
lecture. After all I have a certain allergy to "salvation literature" and other messianic forms such as uncouth military self appointing themselves as the savior of the poor of the world.....Thus out of character when I received a note from occasional reader S.C. with an ill translated quote of Ayn Rand I decided to check how badly it was translated (heck, her name was put as Any Rand which had an interesting promiscuity shade to it). It was quite bad, but that is not the point of the post. Checking through some of Rand quotes I found some that are particularly appropriate to today's Venezuela and I could not resist sharing them for fun. The case to refer to and the quote.
On Chavez motivations. His anti US stand as well as his "resentido social" approach to life which lead him to make us believe he hates money and rich people while his family is now the richest of Barinas.
A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.
Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter.
On Chavez economic policies and the future of Venezuela.
When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.
On Chavez view of the world and human rights.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
On the mediocrity of chavismo.
Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think.
On the dangers of chavismo, in particular as it is creating a national police and increasing the numbers and functions of the indoctrinated militia at the expense of the more "controlled" armed forces.
A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.
On the Anderson case and the fraud to justice by Isaias Rodriguez
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
On the legal system that allowed a monstrosity like Isaias Rodriguez.
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers.
On the "misiones"? That is, all of the social programs whose benefit increase with your direct support to the government.
The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian state is a matter of time.
On the "boliburguesia"? That is, the chavista nouveau riche class versus the hoi poloi, be it opposition or pro Chavez.
Upper classes are a nation's past; the middle class is its future.
On PSF and other assorted fools here and abroad so willing to serve and justify chavismo actions.
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist.
On the difficulty to be a blogger trying to express the reality of his country
The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.
PS: readers that can find more quotes that can be linked to Venezuela today are welcome to submit them :)
-The end-
Friday, April 11, 2008
What would Homer Simpson make of the April 11 bash of chavismo?
So we have reached a new anniversary of April 11, the one of 2002, remember? I am not going to go into any panegyric of the date. By now it has become a totally ridiculous propaganda opportunity for chavismo. After years of stonewalling justice, of blocking true investigation of the events, Chavez and associates have granted a select amnesty and now feel free from ever digging at the dark secrets of the day, in particular the dark cloud over chavismo actions. Now they can say whatever they want about that fateful week: as long as they are in office the real truth will never be known. The permanent media show, if any. By the way, Geovanny Vasquez left Venezuela yesterday for Panama. Just like that in spite of the huge storm he unleashed early this week. Another case from which we will likely never get the truth, and even less from the dark chavista cloud of the murder of Danilo Anderson.
That is why I think it is a timely coincidence that my piece on the suspension of the Simpsons makes it out today on Index on Censorship. I get top billing right now and here is the link to permanent page. Fitting coincidence, no?
-The end-
That is why I think it is a timely coincidence that my piece on the suspension of the Simpsons makes it out today on Index on Censorship. I get top billing right now and here is the link to permanent page. Fitting coincidence, no?
-The end-
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Danilo Anderson case collapses: who is going to pay for ALL the wasted lives?
[Update: for those who read Spanish and are late to this Anderson melodrama, there is a chronological account, long, here. Hat tip Alpha.]
Today we had an hallucinating moment.
At a book signing Isaias Rodriguez declared non-plussed that all what he did on the investigation of the assassination of Danilo Anderson was legit. Any new evidence that might come up today was just the latest media manipulation. Apparently CNN and other are now "transnational media" serving Bush and which main goal is to destabilize Chavez. Apparently chavismo thinks that high of itself....
In other words any information is disqualified because it comes form the US. And it is put out because this year is an electoral year (note: most years are electoral years with Chavez). Ah! and the FBI, yes, the FBI, has a plan for that called "shock and awe". I kid you not. When I was watching Isaias I could not get the words as he probably took perfect pleasure in massacring them (they are in English, you know, the language of evil). I had to wait to see it written to confirm the "awe" part.
Meanwhile the star witness, whose words were enough because Isaias personallysaw sincerity in his eyes, was declaring at the prosecutor office. We had to wait until a few minutes ago when it was over to hear the first info on the deposition. Apparently the star witness, Giovanny Vasquez, was offered money then to say all sorts of things that today he denied under oath. In other words, the people that are in exile, the ones that have been prosecuted, the ones that have been jailed, the ones that got killed, all of these judicial decisions were prosecuted on false witness charges and are as of today void or need to be voided fast. Probably even including the Guevara brothers trial.
Of course, I never believed Vasquez then, I do not see why I should believe him today. But the credibility of his words come from the pretense of Isaias who knows he is done with, that a side of chavismo has decided to throw him to the wolves. We have seen that before, remember? Even Tascon, the ultimate blackmailer is a nobody these days...
Conclusion: the Anderson Case is over. Unless some new evidence comes front, it will now slowly but surely go into oblivion. Whoever planned that has had plenty of time to cover his or her tracks. More importantly, the corruption web around it is so deep that an omerta of sorts will take place.
The only suspense is how fast the charges will be lifted and whether the Guevara brothers will get at the very least a fair trial without the deposition of Geovanny Vasquez included. The other question is who will pay for that. Honorable people have been put at the index and have lost YEARS of their lives running for their life or trying to rebuild their reputation. Isaias Rodriguez has built one of the biggest judicial travesty of history and someone some day will have to pay for that. I suspect that people like Patricia Poleo will now go to international court to get Isaias ass. I think jail is too good for him. Then again he knows so much that do not be surprised that if he has an "accident" or is named to some embassy and never returns. Because if Isaias falls, a lot of people within chavismo are going to fall.
In a way evil triumphs: the murderer will never be known but that the innocent is released at the end will be a compensation of sorts and too many people will swallow it, fish, bait and hook.
-The end-
Today we had an hallucinating moment.
At a book signing Isaias Rodriguez declared non-plussed that all what he did on the investigation of the assassination of Danilo Anderson was legit. Any new evidence that might come up today was just the latest media manipulation. Apparently CNN and other are now "transnational media" serving Bush and which main goal is to destabilize Chavez. Apparently chavismo thinks that high of itself....
In other words any information is disqualified because it comes form the US. And it is put out because this year is an electoral year (note: most years are electoral years with Chavez). Ah! and the FBI, yes, the FBI, has a plan for that called "shock and awe". I kid you not. When I was watching Isaias I could not get the words as he probably took perfect pleasure in massacring them (they are in English, you know, the language of evil). I had to wait to see it written to confirm the "awe" part.
Meanwhile the star witness, whose words were enough because Isaias personallysaw sincerity in his eyes, was declaring at the prosecutor office. We had to wait until a few minutes ago when it was over to hear the first info on the deposition. Apparently the star witness, Giovanny Vasquez, was offered money then to say all sorts of things that today he denied under oath. In other words, the people that are in exile, the ones that have been prosecuted, the ones that have been jailed, the ones that got killed, all of these judicial decisions were prosecuted on false witness charges and are as of today void or need to be voided fast. Probably even including the Guevara brothers trial.
Of course, I never believed Vasquez then, I do not see why I should believe him today. But the credibility of his words come from the pretense of Isaias who knows he is done with, that a side of chavismo has decided to throw him to the wolves. We have seen that before, remember? Even Tascon, the ultimate blackmailer is a nobody these days...
Conclusion: the Anderson Case is over. Unless some new evidence comes front, it will now slowly but surely go into oblivion. Whoever planned that has had plenty of time to cover his or her tracks. More importantly, the corruption web around it is so deep that an omerta of sorts will take place.
The only suspense is how fast the charges will be lifted and whether the Guevara brothers will get at the very least a fair trial without the deposition of Geovanny Vasquez included. The other question is who will pay for that. Honorable people have been put at the index and have lost YEARS of their lives running for their life or trying to rebuild their reputation. Isaias Rodriguez has built one of the biggest judicial travesty of history and someone some day will have to pay for that. I suspect that people like Patricia Poleo will now go to international court to get Isaias ass. I think jail is too good for him. Then again he knows so much that do not be surprised that if he has an "accident" or is named to some embassy and never returns. Because if Isaias falls, a lot of people within chavismo are going to fall.
In a way evil triumphs: the murderer will never be known but that the innocent is released at the end will be a compensation of sorts and too many people will swallow it, fish, bait and hook.
-The end-
Thursday, April 03, 2008
How to protect a criminal in Venezuela? Name him to the Supreme Court!
The Anderson case has been violently reopened when one of the prosecutors of the investigation basically admitted that he was forced to forge evidence to implicate given folks. The orders, or at least the implications to execute this or that misdeed came directly from the then General Prosecutor of the country, former vice president, Isaias Rodriguez. In recent days all sorts of things came to float again and the more time passed the less Isaias Rodriguez looked good. Today we even got treated to a tale on how false witness were promoted.
So, what happened today? In breaking news Isaias Rodriguez would have been named to the Highest Court of Venezuela, as an interim judge to no one else but the chief justice of Venezuela, Luisa Morales.
So, where do I start?
First, I am wondering if such move is real or if is a trial balloon to see the reaction of the country. Because if this is true then we are in deeper shit than what I thought we were.....
The High Court, TSJ, is supposedly named by the National Assembly after a lengthy consultation process. Of course, most present judges did not fulfill many of the requirements but still made it to judge, including Luis Morales who in her past was fired twice as a judge for shoddy work. But she is willing to take all the legal chances for Chavez and she is thus in the TSJ where for example she stole personally all the communication equipment of RCTV. "Stole", I meant that word.
That the chief justice of the country can be replaced by a judge named by its colleagues is simply inviable. If it is indeed constitutional then the constitution must be changed ASAP!!!! Because let's not be fooled, if this is indeed true, when Luisa is on vacation, Isaias will be the "superior" of his colleagues even though he was not named by the National Assembly. I do sincerely hope that I am wrong and that tomorrow I will stand corrected, and gratefully at that!
But even if this worse case scenario does not happen, the second explanation is not any more reassuring. See, even if Isaias is now only doing clerical jobs when Luisa is out of town, without any authority over his Assembly named colleagues, he will still benefit from prosecution immunity!!!!!! That is, it will nearly impossible to send him to trial, to question him. The procedure to remove his legal protection would be as difficult as the one to remove a "legal" judges!
That is, suddenly, as the Anderson Case is blowing up, Isaias is removed from any declaration, any responsibility, any investigation of wrong doing, of welcoming false witnessing, making up charges and what not!
To give the US reader a sense of what might have happened today, it would be the same thing as if the Supreme Court were allowed to name a temporary substitute to the Chief Justice and that this substitute would be protected from any investigation unless 6 other judges out of 9 approved such an investigation and dismissed him of his responsibilities. Imagine for example that a given US Attorney General who fudged the evidence of say, some Iraqi jail abuses or some illegal firings at the justice department, were named to the Supreme Court bypassing any Senate vote just to protect him from been further questioned and risk revealing wrongdoings involving the Vice President of the US!
Anyway, whatever it is really going on with Isaias I take this a confession from the state that Isaias has indeed manipulated evidence, sent people unjustly to jail or to exile, ruined the reputation of many others, and cannot hide it any longer. In a panicky moment they are trying to store him away. They are not realizing that at the same time they are agreeing in that he set up the whole thing himself, lying to us for all of these years.
I am reminded of a famous failed Austrian painter who eventually avenged himself from alleged ills he thought society had directed at him through immense cruelty. Isaias Rodriguez is himself a failed poet who had no problem hurting people deliberately to get something. It is exactly the same mental process.
-The end-
So, what happened today? In breaking news Isaias Rodriguez would have been named to the Highest Court of Venezuela, as an interim judge to no one else but the chief justice of Venezuela, Luisa Morales.
So, where do I start?
First, I am wondering if such move is real or if is a trial balloon to see the reaction of the country. Because if this is true then we are in deeper shit than what I thought we were.....
The High Court, TSJ, is supposedly named by the National Assembly after a lengthy consultation process. Of course, most present judges did not fulfill many of the requirements but still made it to judge, including Luis Morales who in her past was fired twice as a judge for shoddy work. But she is willing to take all the legal chances for Chavez and she is thus in the TSJ where for example she stole personally all the communication equipment of RCTV. "Stole", I meant that word.
That the chief justice of the country can be replaced by a judge named by its colleagues is simply inviable. If it is indeed constitutional then the constitution must be changed ASAP!!!! Because let's not be fooled, if this is indeed true, when Luisa is on vacation, Isaias will be the "superior" of his colleagues even though he was not named by the National Assembly. I do sincerely hope that I am wrong and that tomorrow I will stand corrected, and gratefully at that!
But even if this worse case scenario does not happen, the second explanation is not any more reassuring. See, even if Isaias is now only doing clerical jobs when Luisa is out of town, without any authority over his Assembly named colleagues, he will still benefit from prosecution immunity!!!!!! That is, it will nearly impossible to send him to trial, to question him. The procedure to remove his legal protection would be as difficult as the one to remove a "legal" judges!
That is, suddenly, as the Anderson Case is blowing up, Isaias is removed from any declaration, any responsibility, any investigation of wrong doing, of welcoming false witnessing, making up charges and what not!
To give the US reader a sense of what might have happened today, it would be the same thing as if the Supreme Court were allowed to name a temporary substitute to the Chief Justice and that this substitute would be protected from any investigation unless 6 other judges out of 9 approved such an investigation and dismissed him of his responsibilities. Imagine for example that a given US Attorney General who fudged the evidence of say, some Iraqi jail abuses or some illegal firings at the justice department, were named to the Supreme Court bypassing any Senate vote just to protect him from been further questioned and risk revealing wrongdoings involving the Vice President of the US!
Anyway, whatever it is really going on with Isaias I take this a confession from the state that Isaias has indeed manipulated evidence, sent people unjustly to jail or to exile, ruined the reputation of many others, and cannot hide it any longer. In a panicky moment they are trying to store him away. They are not realizing that at the same time they are agreeing in that he set up the whole thing himself, lying to us for all of these years.
I am reminded of a famous failed Austrian painter who eventually avenged himself from alleged ills he thought society had directed at him through immense cruelty. Isaias Rodriguez is himself a failed poet who had no problem hurting people deliberately to get something. It is exactly the same mental process.
-The end-
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The rotten stench of the decaying bolivarian revolution
Truly since December 2 the glorious bolivarian revolution has been redolent of moral decomposition.
This past weeks, as people are less and less afraid of Chavez and when scandals are more and more difficult to hide and ignore, we are witnessing an acceleration of accusations and "sudden discoveries". We started this year with already such lingering scandals as the Antonini 800 000 money bag to Argentina (by the way, this incident seems to have faded early Cristina K. presidency as she is going from new problems to new set backs, just as if her administration were already an exhausted one). But what has happened in the recent weeks make all of these previous scandals children game. Of course, each one is due to a judicial system hijacked since 1999 by the executive and which has failed miserably to exert any of the controls needed in civilized society. Moral and financial corruptionS are now so extensive that after the December 2 rupture, well, it all starts coming out, like worms escaping the rotten carcass. In no particular order of importance, since we do not know where will the next stinky bomb explode.
The Anderson case is reopened
Long time readers of this blog of course are aware of the scandalous investigation of the murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. To this date we still do not know who paid the alleged murderers (by a bomb in Anderson car). Still, with what looked like a manipulated trial, the Guevara brothers were put in jail. But that is not all. Using basically a single witness that Isaias Rodriguez personally trusted from "looking inside his eyes", he, the General Prosecutor of the Republic, thought it was enough evidence to arrest or point out to dozen of people. Today all are free though many are still under investigation, while several of them, including journalist Patricia Poleo had to exile themselves because they decided that under the present situation they could not benefit of a fair trial. Judging by how many people were shot and what happened to the Guevara brothers, her concerns were certainly not unfounded.
That the famous witness was confounded as a fraud did not change much to the results...
Well, last week one of the prosecutors in charge of the investigation of the Anderson case declared, accused, Isaias Rodriguez of having manipulated the evidence, fabricating some, dismissing any evidence that could have spared unjust blame, and other manipulation of justice. Today, after the government removed his body guards, Hernando Contreras went to ask protection at the OAS office in Caracas (by the way what is this that anyone in government seems to have at least one body guard in Venezuela while this bloggers is been robbed at least once a year since Chavez is president?). The initial reply of Isaias has been less than convincing...
So, what will happen with the Guevara brothers if they have been condemned unjustly? Will Patricia Poleo be able to return to Venezuela? What about the other guys accused on just an impression? Will they receive a reparation for the injustice made to them? Will Isaias go on trial in turn? Will we ever know who killed Anderson? Apparently from what has been said these days it seems that the cover up order came from somewhere inside the higher ranks of the government, that is, Anderson was ordered killed because... he knew too much? He charged too much the extortion victims his gang managed? went too far with a given minister? risked to expose accidentally someone else?
Yaracuy governor indicted, of sorts
Yaracuy actual governor, Gimenez, a user, an incompetent manager and apparently also incompetent thief has finally been nailed. Not because he was a thief, mind you!!! We in Yaracuy knew already that before he made it to the State Mansion. But for the hoi poloi he was Chavez candidate and that was enough reason to vote for him 3 years ago.
One of the first things he did reaching office was to prosecute former governor Lapi over some public works in Yaritagua. I do not know whether Lapi was guilty of any wrongdoing, there was never a trial. However Lapi was duly jailed for months during "the investigation" and eventually had to escape jail because his life was in danger. Now, like Patricia Poleo he is in exile, a much better thing for chavismo than to have to judge someone with insufficient evidence against him or her.
Meanwhile, Gimenez and his family who seem to have stolen more money than whatever Lapi could dream, or need in his exile, is walking the streets without much problem except some public embarrassment. See, the reason why of all chavista officials he is one of the few that got sort of caught is because he was very clumsy about stealing and they need him out of Yaracuy sate house for many reason that have nothing to do with good governance. Because if good governance were chavismo goals, Gimenez would have never been put as governor.
Chavez family as XXI century socialist landlords
And while we are talking family business the Gimenez are not the only ones who benefited from nepotism. With about half a dozen of siblings and parents the Chavez pack seems to have enough hands now to have become the biggest landlords of Barinas state in less than a decade. Oh, sure, they did it through front men and stuff like that, but the locals apparently know that some of the front men never had a penny saved to buy the dirt off the land they now own.
Now, we all knew or suspected of it for years but suddenly a representative for Barinas, Azuaje, who apparently has personal ambitions has decided to ask for an investigation on all of these suspect properties. See, apparently even though he is in the chavista party and even though he seems to have gained some merits of his own in Barinas (remember, merits in chavismo are mostly related to you abilities to suck up), he is miffed that some of the Chavez lousy brothers will inherit the state house of Barinas while he thinks of himself to be a little bit more valuable than a Chavez brother. He is probably right but that is not the point. The point is that as soon as he accused the Chavez clan of illicit enrichment the whole apparatus system and judicial system started to move in gear to shut him down. At flash speed a local judge declared that there was nothing to investigate. The parliament said that he was talking because of his ambition but no commission of course was dispatched to at lest look into the matter, though some perfunctory investigation was promised. However they also decided to investigate Azuaje. After all it would be very simple to investigate if one wanted to: you ask one of these front men to explain where they suddenly got the money to buy a given ranch. Surely they must have retained a copy of the winning lottery ticket? No?
On a judicial point of view of course I do not expect an investigation to be started, this is Venezuela and no sitting president has been investigated on illegally appropriated money even though many left Miraflores more prosperous than they entered (Carlos Andres Perez was unseated because he misplaced funds, not because he took them for himself, -1-). No, what is interesting here is that suddenly we are talking about those things, in particular the locals in Sabaneta, Chavez hometown, who say candidly on TV that having the brother of the president as mayor has not brought them any advantage. That is how clumsy chavistas are when they steal, they do not even bother to toss a bone to their local homies, as the Adecos had the intelligence to do....
So there you see, the consequences of the absence of an independent judicial system. And it is just starting.....
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
1- of the democratic era Betancourt and Leoni left Miraflores with only their pension as ex-president. None of their relatives has been reported having become suddenly rich. Caldera also lives in the same house he had and with the same life style although at least one of his sons seem to have benefited from his closeness to power. Luis Herrera did not even had a car when he died and we learned that some of his expensive medical bills were paid by his friends. Only Lusinchi and Carlos Andres are rumored to have acquired a significant fortune. Yet, if the Barinas tales are true, the Chavez clan will have taken from public treasures amount fo money never seen since the times of Gomez!
-The end-
This past weeks, as people are less and less afraid of Chavez and when scandals are more and more difficult to hide and ignore, we are witnessing an acceleration of accusations and "sudden discoveries". We started this year with already such lingering scandals as the Antonini 800 000 money bag to Argentina (by the way, this incident seems to have faded early Cristina K. presidency as she is going from new problems to new set backs, just as if her administration were already an exhausted one). But what has happened in the recent weeks make all of these previous scandals children game. Of course, each one is due to a judicial system hijacked since 1999 by the executive and which has failed miserably to exert any of the controls needed in civilized society. Moral and financial corruptionS are now so extensive that after the December 2 rupture, well, it all starts coming out, like worms escaping the rotten carcass. In no particular order of importance, since we do not know where will the next stinky bomb explode.
The Anderson case is reopened
Long time readers of this blog of course are aware of the scandalous investigation of the murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. To this date we still do not know who paid the alleged murderers (by a bomb in Anderson car). Still, with what looked like a manipulated trial, the Guevara brothers were put in jail. But that is not all. Using basically a single witness that Isaias Rodriguez personally trusted from "looking inside his eyes", he, the General Prosecutor of the Republic, thought it was enough evidence to arrest or point out to dozen of people. Today all are free though many are still under investigation, while several of them, including journalist Patricia Poleo had to exile themselves because they decided that under the present situation they could not benefit of a fair trial. Judging by how many people were shot and what happened to the Guevara brothers, her concerns were certainly not unfounded.
That the famous witness was confounded as a fraud did not change much to the results...
Well, last week one of the prosecutors in charge of the investigation of the Anderson case declared, accused, Isaias Rodriguez of having manipulated the evidence, fabricating some, dismissing any evidence that could have spared unjust blame, and other manipulation of justice. Today, after the government removed his body guards, Hernando Contreras went to ask protection at the OAS office in Caracas (by the way what is this that anyone in government seems to have at least one body guard in Venezuela while this bloggers is been robbed at least once a year since Chavez is president?). The initial reply of Isaias has been less than convincing...
So, what will happen with the Guevara brothers if they have been condemned unjustly? Will Patricia Poleo be able to return to Venezuela? What about the other guys accused on just an impression? Will they receive a reparation for the injustice made to them? Will Isaias go on trial in turn? Will we ever know who killed Anderson? Apparently from what has been said these days it seems that the cover up order came from somewhere inside the higher ranks of the government, that is, Anderson was ordered killed because... he knew too much? He charged too much the extortion victims his gang managed? went too far with a given minister? risked to expose accidentally someone else?
Yaracuy governor indicted, of sorts
Yaracuy actual governor, Gimenez, a user, an incompetent manager and apparently also incompetent thief has finally been nailed. Not because he was a thief, mind you!!! We in Yaracuy knew already that before he made it to the State Mansion. But for the hoi poloi he was Chavez candidate and that was enough reason to vote for him 3 years ago.
One of the first things he did reaching office was to prosecute former governor Lapi over some public works in Yaritagua. I do not know whether Lapi was guilty of any wrongdoing, there was never a trial. However Lapi was duly jailed for months during "the investigation" and eventually had to escape jail because his life was in danger. Now, like Patricia Poleo he is in exile, a much better thing for chavismo than to have to judge someone with insufficient evidence against him or her.
Meanwhile, Gimenez and his family who seem to have stolen more money than whatever Lapi could dream, or need in his exile, is walking the streets without much problem except some public embarrassment. See, the reason why of all chavista officials he is one of the few that got sort of caught is because he was very clumsy about stealing and they need him out of Yaracuy sate house for many reason that have nothing to do with good governance. Because if good governance were chavismo goals, Gimenez would have never been put as governor.
Chavez family as XXI century socialist landlords
And while we are talking family business the Gimenez are not the only ones who benefited from nepotism. With about half a dozen of siblings and parents the Chavez pack seems to have enough hands now to have become the biggest landlords of Barinas state in less than a decade. Oh, sure, they did it through front men and stuff like that, but the locals apparently know that some of the front men never had a penny saved to buy the dirt off the land they now own.
Now, we all knew or suspected of it for years but suddenly a representative for Barinas, Azuaje, who apparently has personal ambitions has decided to ask for an investigation on all of these suspect properties. See, apparently even though he is in the chavista party and even though he seems to have gained some merits of his own in Barinas (remember, merits in chavismo are mostly related to you abilities to suck up), he is miffed that some of the Chavez lousy brothers will inherit the state house of Barinas while he thinks of himself to be a little bit more valuable than a Chavez brother. He is probably right but that is not the point. The point is that as soon as he accused the Chavez clan of illicit enrichment the whole apparatus system and judicial system started to move in gear to shut him down. At flash speed a local judge declared that there was nothing to investigate. The parliament said that he was talking because of his ambition but no commission of course was dispatched to at lest look into the matter, though some perfunctory investigation was promised. However they also decided to investigate Azuaje. After all it would be very simple to investigate if one wanted to: you ask one of these front men to explain where they suddenly got the money to buy a given ranch. Surely they must have retained a copy of the winning lottery ticket? No?
On a judicial point of view of course I do not expect an investigation to be started, this is Venezuela and no sitting president has been investigated on illegally appropriated money even though many left Miraflores more prosperous than they entered (Carlos Andres Perez was unseated because he misplaced funds, not because he took them for himself, -1-). No, what is interesting here is that suddenly we are talking about those things, in particular the locals in Sabaneta, Chavez hometown, who say candidly on TV that having the brother of the president as mayor has not brought them any advantage. That is how clumsy chavistas are when they steal, they do not even bother to toss a bone to their local homies, as the Adecos had the intelligence to do....
So there you see, the consequences of the absence of an independent judicial system. And it is just starting.....
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
1- of the democratic era Betancourt and Leoni left Miraflores with only their pension as ex-president. None of their relatives has been reported having become suddenly rich. Caldera also lives in the same house he had and with the same life style although at least one of his sons seem to have benefited from his closeness to power. Luis Herrera did not even had a car when he died and we learned that some of his expensive medical bills were paid by his friends. Only Lusinchi and Carlos Andres are rumored to have acquired a significant fortune. Yet, if the Barinas tales are true, the Chavez clan will have taken from public treasures amount fo money never seen since the times of Gomez!
-The end-
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Maletagate continues, plus "fake socialism" accusations
Sorry, not much to say, I have been busy this week end and today I did not even bought the papers. However I felt like dropping a little note to keep folks somewhat up to date. In no particular order.
Globovison passed tonight about half of an Argentina newscast. Over there, the 800 000 bucks piece of luggage is an affair that is not going away. The head of Uberti apparently will not be enough.
In fact rumor has that Kirchner is pressing Chavez for a Venezuelan head. Naturally he is asking for the head of PDVSA in Buenos Aires. But Chavez is demurring, he really, really does not like to behead his supporters even when caught red handed. Usually in such cases they go into some discreet oblivion and if their "mistake" was not too grave they get rewarded for their loyalty and silence with some diplomatic position. This has become a feature of the regime I suppose, when the moral and financial corruption is so extended that nobody can get fired because too many people are afraid the fired guy will open his or her big mouth. Usually in such regimes when money becomes a tad scarcer, they start having "accidents".
If in Argentina the investigations seem to proceed as expected in Venezuela whatever little bit is does seem oriented at finding excuses. For example, Carroña, oops, Carreño, the interior minister of the "Dead Montesinos" fame is saying that the plane touched down in Bolivia. Let's visit this issue for a short while. Antonini got up on the plane empty handed. At a refueling stop in Bolivia he went down and picked up the bag of money. In Bolivia, of all places, where 800 000 USD is a colossal fortune to be given away just like that. Yeah right, and from someone of the negative credibility of Carroña we will buy that.... The objectives of the Venezuelan government are now clear: to pretend that the money did not leave from Venezuela AT ANY COST, to point all to Antonini, to not investigate seriously. Period. Just like Anderson case, excuses, more excuses and deliberate false leads...
And speaking of Antonini. The security cameras of Buenos Aires caught him as he was checking in for the Montevideo flight that took him away of the country. Now it is "el gordo Antonini". Venezuelans are a true joke over there... But the press found also a nice picture of a red Ferrari sponsored by Antonini (with others) and carrying the "Venezuela es de Todos" sticker. The Bolivarian Revolution associated with one of the richest "sports"?. Now I have sen it all! What next? The America Cup? Polo games with Bonnie Prince Charles?
For those who do not trust blogs, El Universal has now an historical account in English.
But that Ferrari association, or rather, miss-association with Venezuelan Socialism is not the only problem that Chavez must face in his defense of a democratic socialism which is looking faker by the minute. The socialist party of Spain, in earlier days a strong supporter of Chavez is now going the way of almost all European Socialists and Social Democratic parties: Chavez is a fake. Elena Valenciano, a spokesperson of the party, has said that they are "worried by the authoritarian drift of the regime". She also added their concern about "the clear intervention [of the state] in the media, controlling spaces that in many cases are pure and hard propaganda of the regime". Obviously in Spain RCTV has been closed, not silly "suspended" euphemism.
No wonder Chavez suspended his Alo Presidente today, with Maletagate his self promoting tour in LatAm, check book in hand, has tanked miserably. And if in addition the RCTV issue is far from leaving people's mind as he was also quizzed in Argentina during an interview...... I bet you today Miraflores was very busy with febrile damage control discussions. What they do not seem to understand that the more they delay their answer, or at least strategy, on the matter, the more pro Chavez opinion might start wondering....
-The end-
Globovison passed tonight about half of an Argentina newscast. Over there, the 800 000 bucks piece of luggage is an affair that is not going away. The head of Uberti apparently will not be enough.
In fact rumor has that Kirchner is pressing Chavez for a Venezuelan head. Naturally he is asking for the head of PDVSA in Buenos Aires. But Chavez is demurring, he really, really does not like to behead his supporters even when caught red handed. Usually in such cases they go into some discreet oblivion and if their "mistake" was not too grave they get rewarded for their loyalty and silence with some diplomatic position. This has become a feature of the regime I suppose, when the moral and financial corruption is so extended that nobody can get fired because too many people are afraid the fired guy will open his or her big mouth. Usually in such regimes when money becomes a tad scarcer, they start having "accidents".
If in Argentina the investigations seem to proceed as expected in Venezuela whatever little bit is does seem oriented at finding excuses. For example, Carroña, oops, Carreño, the interior minister of the "Dead Montesinos" fame is saying that the plane touched down in Bolivia. Let's visit this issue for a short while. Antonini got up on the plane empty handed. At a refueling stop in Bolivia he went down and picked up the bag of money. In Bolivia, of all places, where 800 000 USD is a colossal fortune to be given away just like that. Yeah right, and from someone of the negative credibility of Carroña we will buy that.... The objectives of the Venezuelan government are now clear: to pretend that the money did not leave from Venezuela AT ANY COST, to point all to Antonini, to not investigate seriously. Period. Just like Anderson case, excuses, more excuses and deliberate false leads...
And speaking of Antonini. The security cameras of Buenos Aires caught him as he was checking in for the Montevideo flight that took him away of the country. Now it is "el gordo Antonini". Venezuelans are a true joke over there... But the press found also a nice picture of a red Ferrari sponsored by Antonini (with others) and carrying the "Venezuela es de Todos" sticker. The Bolivarian Revolution associated with one of the richest "sports"?. Now I have sen it all! What next? The America Cup? Polo games with Bonnie Prince Charles?
For those who do not trust blogs, El Universal has now an historical account in English.
But that Ferrari association, or rather, miss-association with Venezuelan Socialism is not the only problem that Chavez must face in his defense of a democratic socialism which is looking faker by the minute. The socialist party of Spain, in earlier days a strong supporter of Chavez is now going the way of almost all European Socialists and Social Democratic parties: Chavez is a fake. Elena Valenciano, a spokesperson of the party, has said that they are "worried by the authoritarian drift of the regime". She also added their concern about "the clear intervention [of the state] in the media, controlling spaces that in many cases are pure and hard propaganda of the regime". Obviously in Spain RCTV has been closed, not silly "suspended" euphemism.
No wonder Chavez suspended his Alo Presidente today, with Maletagate his self promoting tour in LatAm, check book in hand, has tanked miserably. And if in addition the RCTV issue is far from leaving people's mind as he was also quizzed in Argentina during an interview...... I bet you today Miraflores was very busy with febrile damage control discussions. What they do not seem to understand that the more they delay their answer, or at least strategy, on the matter, the more pro Chavez opinion might start wondering....
-The end-
Friday, August 10, 2007
Why Chavez wants to close RCTV and Globovision
So, the scandal of the 800 000 dollars attaché kept making huge waves. In Argentina, that is. Even El Clarin give us a picture of what approximately would 800 000 USD look in a small suitcase. Definitely more than attaché is needed, even with 100 bills.
Today we learned the following from Argentina:
Because indeed, that is the point: while in Argentina things are moving, an investigation is taking place, some actions are done, in Venezuela the day was characterized by what DID NOT happen.
First, the Argentine press noted that the Venezuelan vice president made this whole business yet again a media manipulation from an international conspiracy. La Nacion goes as far as giving the article the following title "Venezuela takes distance again from the scandal", a clear allusion at the desire of chavismo to avoid its responsibility. Even better, ENARSA press representative complains about the nerve of the Venezuelan air hitchhikers to bring along such a suspect character as Antonini. In fact La Nacion uses the words "shot at the Caribbeans" as a clear ethnic prejudiced expression to qualify Venezuelans as not serious characters (or worse). In all fairness, it is hard to blame them after such a pitiful Venezuelan display, when Antonini left the country in a hurry..........
Indeed, the actions of Venezuelan officials were today less than stellar. If the Vice President was his usual self, the Republic Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez was at his worst, or best depending on your angle. He simply said that it was an Argentinean problem, that any crime was perpetrated there, and that he would wait for the Argentina report to see if there were any cause worth opining an investigation at home.
Some one should explain to Isaias that there is a stringent currency exchange control in Venezuela and that if, say, this blogger were caught at an airport with 10 000 USD he would be in great trouble.
And we should not forget that this prosecutor is the one who, based on a deep look in the eyes of a Colombian criminal, found enough evidence in that look to jail a few people for the Anderson case that remains to date unsolved. In fact, he has no problem in keeping Patricia Poleo out in exile even as his whole case on the Anderson murder has completely collapsed and we have lost all hope to ever know who the heck was behind it all... but perhaps I should not be so hard on Isaias: at least he sort of told us not to worry, that nothing will be done about Antonini larceny.
Only Luis Vielma, one of the few chavista servants with an ounce of dignity left, told us that an investigation should be done because customs laws were broken. I bet you that this stand will come back to bite Vielma in the ass once Chavez comes back to Venezuela from his gift giving tour of LatAm.
So you see again why Chavez wants to close media such as RCTV and Globovision: these people do try to inquire the way the Argentina media inquired and already got one head. Chavez does not like that, he does want only submissive media which spend their time praising the great leader of the revolution. Go to ABN and search for news of PDVSA employees taking along with them a guy and his money bag. Nothing! You will find only stupid glorification of Chavez giving Venezuelan property as if it were his and only his to give around, and the speech of the Vice President of course.
Let RCTV and Globovision be closed and Venezuelans will not know anymore about official money laundering, about the sacking of the country by Chavez cronies. At a time by the way where corruption is reaching unequaled heights in our history.
-The end-
Today we learned the following from Argentina:
- One of the passengers, Claudio Uberti , was dismissed from position as assistant to the Planning Ministry. The said minister, De Vido, seems to be in trouble too.
- A judge decided that there are causes to investigate further the case, seized all of the 800 000 USD of the bag. there is no word as to the current whereabouts of Antonini. Apparently he left the country without bothering to recover the 400 000 that he could still recover if that cash were legitimate. Amazingly Clarin has found more information about Antonini than what we found about him in Venezuela so far.
- President Kirchner, sensing political trouble acted swiftly, not only asking for at least one head but going on the offensive saying that his government was effectively fighting corruption as the dismissals are supposed to suggest. Well, at least we will give him credit to remove the blatant cases of corruption in Argentina, which is not the case in another country closer to our hearts.
Because indeed, that is the point: while in Argentina things are moving, an investigation is taking place, some actions are done, in Venezuela the day was characterized by what DID NOT happen.
First, the Argentine press noted that the Venezuelan vice president made this whole business yet again a media manipulation from an international conspiracy. La Nacion goes as far as giving the article the following title "Venezuela takes distance again from the scandal", a clear allusion at the desire of chavismo to avoid its responsibility. Even better, ENARSA press representative complains about the nerve of the Venezuelan air hitchhikers to bring along such a suspect character as Antonini. In fact La Nacion uses the words "shot at the Caribbeans" as a clear ethnic prejudiced expression to qualify Venezuelans as not serious characters (or worse). In all fairness, it is hard to blame them after such a pitiful Venezuelan display, when Antonini left the country in a hurry..........
Indeed, the actions of Venezuelan officials were today less than stellar. If the Vice President was his usual self, the Republic Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez was at his worst, or best depending on your angle. He simply said that it was an Argentinean problem, that any crime was perpetrated there, and that he would wait for the Argentina report to see if there were any cause worth opining an investigation at home.
Some one should explain to Isaias that there is a stringent currency exchange control in Venezuela and that if, say, this blogger were caught at an airport with 10 000 USD he would be in great trouble.
And we should not forget that this prosecutor is the one who, based on a deep look in the eyes of a Colombian criminal, found enough evidence in that look to jail a few people for the Anderson case that remains to date unsolved. In fact, he has no problem in keeping Patricia Poleo out in exile even as his whole case on the Anderson murder has completely collapsed and we have lost all hope to ever know who the heck was behind it all... but perhaps I should not be so hard on Isaias: at least he sort of told us not to worry, that nothing will be done about Antonini larceny.
Only Luis Vielma, one of the few chavista servants with an ounce of dignity left, told us that an investigation should be done because customs laws were broken. I bet you that this stand will come back to bite Vielma in the ass once Chavez comes back to Venezuela from his gift giving tour of LatAm.
So you see again why Chavez wants to close media such as RCTV and Globovision: these people do try to inquire the way the Argentina media inquired and already got one head. Chavez does not like that, he does want only submissive media which spend their time praising the great leader of the revolution. Go to ABN and search for news of PDVSA employees taking along with them a guy and his money bag. Nothing! You will find only stupid glorification of Chavez giving Venezuelan property as if it were his and only his to give around, and the speech of the Vice President of course.
Let RCTV and Globovision be closed and Venezuelans will not know anymore about official money laundering, about the sacking of the country by Chavez cronies. At a time by the way where corruption is reaching unequaled heights in our history.
-The end-
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Lapi, Chavez and private health care
In this glorious ever so more bolibanana revolution all things seem inextricably linked. The reason is that Chavez cannot tolerate that the spotlight is taken away from him and when that happens he always burps something out that is sure to send the country into a newer chaotic spasm since Chavez underlings are unable to discern what is a mere dissimulated form of swearing and what might be actually a state policy. Not wanting to take any chances, any uttering of Chavez is thus taken as a state policy announcement.
The escape of ex governor Lapi (we think, we hope, it is an escape as the guy
has not shown sign of been alive since he supposedly escaped jail) has sent the press into a holiday week feeding frenzy since they could not have hoped for a better bonus to sell newspaper at a time when Venezuelans tend to be away of it all. An irritable Chavez has been silent about all the security and jail and justice implications that are behind that jail break (for these implications you can read any of the preceding 5 posts...). So what did Chavez announce yesterday? That he would nationalize private health care. That is, no more private medicine in Venezuela. Of course he gets two bonuses out of it, he gets back into the news from which he had been semi erased for the past two days and he also tries to soften the blow of the announcement by semi hiding it in a holy week holiday distraction and the Lapi escape.
But first let's us deal with the policy implied behind Chavez words. The Barrio Adentro mision is widely reported floundering, even with the help of Cubans who are rumored to be defecting in larger numbers. And Venezuelan state hospitals who showed some improvement last year courtesy of the electoral campaign are again showing signs of near collapse. Since this Chavez administration is unable to run a partially efficient health system it is starting to look at the second best: take away private clinics and give them to the people. That way we will all end up with bad medical care whereas the regime dignitaries will save a clinic for their own usage just as Castro does in Cuba. An amusing detail about these revolutionaries of the people is that you never see them seeking medical treatment in a Barrio Adentro facility, however you hear all the time reports of private clinic rooms or even aisles, barred form general public access by a few body guards while their boss or a boss relatives undergo some treatment.
Of course this will fail. Venezuelans practitioners in private care have usually specializations at overseas hospitals and clinics and most simply will leave the country if the state takes over private medicine. This state will eventually find itself in a few years with an assorted set of run down hospitals and clinics, ill staffed, ill provided, just as in Cuba where barely primary care medicine is worth mentioning these days, excepting the show clinics such as the ones for mision milagro (have you ever observed that the only mision for a particular health condition is mision milagro, for its publicity value in restoring eye sight to people with cataracts, just as in old times the king was supposed to cure you from the croup by just touching you?)
But I digress, let's go back to Chavez announcement. His justification is that private clinics keep increasing their prices whereas the inflation of March was a negative 0.7%. A negative 0.7% ONLY? Let's start by that, after reducing sales taxes by 3% last month the government gets only a 0.7% deflation? Does that mean that the real inflation was in fact 2.3% and we will start feeling it in the next months?
But the implications of this announcement must be looked further back. Chavez is aware that his folks are using private medicine. Chavez is aware that the costs increase in clinics are also due to his erratic polices, in particular the ones due to currency control exchange which has created a big mess in medication and medical equipment provision while medics must fight the inflation that affect their pocket and their staff pockets. So what does Chavez do? He calls for a ceremony to highlight the 0.7% deflation (the nerve!) and he kills one of the messengers of his erratic policies: private health care. But the chutzpah of Chavez goes beyond what he has already got us used to:
But for Chavez there is a real problem still going on. His -07% fake deflation is not going to have the psychological impact he hoped for. After all other news keep coming up such as the unwillingness of people to obey the booze restrictions of this holiday week, and the Lapi case. Right now we are at 59 arrests and more than 30 searches, something never heard of, in particular during the numerous kidnapping cases in Yaracuy that "lalo" gimenez cannot be bothered with. But Lapi is of course another matter.......... Who cares that civilians are held in ransom when Lapi cannot be held in jail? Maybe gimenez should hear form Chavez that he also must defend "the middle class and also the rich". Maybe some of those 2000 cops searching for Lapi could be used, after he is captured back, to decrease the crime rate of Yaracuy where this blogger has been a repeat victim?
And so the show continues with now talk of political exile for Lapi (who has the credentials to get one even from the useless OAS) or from the increasing count of people who are escaping jail in Venezuela where corruption and incredible conditions make one wonder how come more people are not running away....
Stay tuned, it is going to get even better, if possible!
-The end-
PS1: pic from yesterday's Tal Cual
PS2: The brother of Lapi tells us that he has not heard from his brother since this one went on missing. He also states that he is sure that his brother would surrender again if he were guaranteed his safety.
Meanwhile in an ironic turn of events, Giovanni Vasquez, the star witness of the Anderson case has been arrested with a fake Security Police ID and weapons. For memory: that Giovanni Vasquez is the now utterly discredited character upon which all the fake investigations and indictment on the Anderson case rest. We did not know where that paid for witness was hanging around since he disappeared from public scrutiny but now we know. Meanwhile some of the people that were incriminated upon his false testimony have still not been freed of their fake charges (such as Patricia Poleo still in exile). And then they want Lapi to surrender? So they can produce a sequel to Giovanni Vasquez against him? So that the new witness discredit will not result anyway in liberation of Lapi?
Meanwhile the attorney general Rodriguez has still not resigned for unbelievable incompetency and outmost lies and the Anderson case is still without solution in spite of repeated announcement to this respect. Truly, an astounding spectacle!
Gimme a break!!!!!
PS 3: Feathers made an interesting connection between health care and slaughterhouse, here.
The escape of ex governor Lapi (we think, we hope, it is an escape as the guy
has not shown sign of been alive since he supposedly escaped jail) has sent the press into a holiday week feeding frenzy since they could not have hoped for a better bonus to sell newspaper at a time when Venezuelans tend to be away of it all. An irritable Chavez has been silent about all the security and jail and justice implications that are behind that jail break (for these implications you can read any of the preceding 5 posts...). So what did Chavez announce yesterday? That he would nationalize private health care. That is, no more private medicine in Venezuela. Of course he gets two bonuses out of it, he gets back into the news from which he had been semi erased for the past two days and he also tries to soften the blow of the announcement by semi hiding it in a holy week holiday distraction and the Lapi escape.But first let's us deal with the policy implied behind Chavez words. The Barrio Adentro mision is widely reported floundering, even with the help of Cubans who are rumored to be defecting in larger numbers. And Venezuelan state hospitals who showed some improvement last year courtesy of the electoral campaign are again showing signs of near collapse. Since this Chavez administration is unable to run a partially efficient health system it is starting to look at the second best: take away private clinics and give them to the people. That way we will all end up with bad medical care whereas the regime dignitaries will save a clinic for their own usage just as Castro does in Cuba. An amusing detail about these revolutionaries of the people is that you never see them seeking medical treatment in a Barrio Adentro facility, however you hear all the time reports of private clinic rooms or even aisles, barred form general public access by a few body guards while their boss or a boss relatives undergo some treatment.
Of course this will fail. Venezuelans practitioners in private care have usually specializations at overseas hospitals and clinics and most simply will leave the country if the state takes over private medicine. This state will eventually find itself in a few years with an assorted set of run down hospitals and clinics, ill staffed, ill provided, just as in Cuba where barely primary care medicine is worth mentioning these days, excepting the show clinics such as the ones for mision milagro (have you ever observed that the only mision for a particular health condition is mision milagro, for its publicity value in restoring eye sight to people with cataracts, just as in old times the king was supposed to cure you from the croup by just touching you?)
But I digress, let's go back to Chavez announcement. His justification is that private clinics keep increasing their prices whereas the inflation of March was a negative 0.7%. A negative 0.7% ONLY? Let's start by that, after reducing sales taxes by 3% last month the government gets only a 0.7% deflation? Does that mean that the real inflation was in fact 2.3% and we will start feeling it in the next months?
But the implications of this announcement must be looked further back. Chavez is aware that his folks are using private medicine. Chavez is aware that the costs increase in clinics are also due to his erratic polices, in particular the ones due to currency control exchange which has created a big mess in medication and medical equipment provision while medics must fight the inflation that affect their pocket and their staff pockets. So what does Chavez do? He calls for a ceremony to highlight the 0.7% deflation (the nerve!) and he kills one of the messengers of his erratic policies: private health care. But the chutzpah of Chavez goes beyond what he has already got us used to:
Private clinic that does not follow the regulation that we will do, if we need to regulate, we will have to nationalize it, because we are obliged to protect all the people, including the middle class and also the rich.Chavez protecting the rich now! I have seen it all! Or have I? Whose rich are we talking about here? The ones from the government who use their body guards to shield them when they are in private clinics and who think that they are paying too much? I would not be surprised! These people are so ill educated, and so arrogant that maybe they complained to Chavez about the high prices of private clinics. Meanwhile as an admission of the failure of Barrio Adentro II and more to attract the middle class, Chavez could not have done better! Here, an idea for you Hugo: get Barrio Adentro to work for real and see how the middle class will flock there. Did that truly revolutionary idea occurred to you and the jerks that surround you?
But for Chavez there is a real problem still going on. His -07% fake deflation is not going to have the psychological impact he hoped for. After all other news keep coming up such as the unwillingness of people to obey the booze restrictions of this holiday week, and the Lapi case. Right now we are at 59 arrests and more than 30 searches, something never heard of, in particular during the numerous kidnapping cases in Yaracuy that "lalo" gimenez cannot be bothered with. But Lapi is of course another matter.......... Who cares that civilians are held in ransom when Lapi cannot be held in jail? Maybe gimenez should hear form Chavez that he also must defend "the middle class and also the rich". Maybe some of those 2000 cops searching for Lapi could be used, after he is captured back, to decrease the crime rate of Yaracuy where this blogger has been a repeat victim?
And so the show continues with now talk of political exile for Lapi (who has the credentials to get one even from the useless OAS) or from the increasing count of people who are escaping jail in Venezuela where corruption and incredible conditions make one wonder how come more people are not running away....
Stay tuned, it is going to get even better, if possible!
-The end-
PS1: pic from yesterday's Tal Cual
PS2: The brother of Lapi tells us that he has not heard from his brother since this one went on missing. He also states that he is sure that his brother would surrender again if he were guaranteed his safety.
Meanwhile in an ironic turn of events, Giovanni Vasquez, the star witness of the Anderson case has been arrested with a fake Security Police ID and weapons. For memory: that Giovanni Vasquez is the now utterly discredited character upon which all the fake investigations and indictment on the Anderson case rest. We did not know where that paid for witness was hanging around since he disappeared from public scrutiny but now we know. Meanwhile some of the people that were incriminated upon his false testimony have still not been freed of their fake charges (such as Patricia Poleo still in exile). And then they want Lapi to surrender? So they can produce a sequel to Giovanni Vasquez against him? So that the new witness discredit will not result anyway in liberation of Lapi?
Meanwhile the attorney general Rodriguez has still not resigned for unbelievable incompetency and outmost lies and the Anderson case is still without solution in spite of repeated announcement to this respect. Truly, an astounding spectacle!
Gimme a break!!!!!
PS 3: Feathers made an interesting connection between health care and slaughterhouse, here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)