Long time faithful reader Milonga from Uruguay has finally accepted to send me a note about what is going on down South with all these elections going on. There is her great article. Enjoy and thank her. Note: we had the pleasure to read her in the past.
--------------------------------------------
They say all roads take you to Rome. Well, here in Latin America, all roads lead you to Chavez.
When Mauricio Macri was elected, Argentineans started to find out some of the comings and goings of the Kirchner government. For example, take this poultry farm called Red Crest (Cresta Roja), which just went bankrupt and fired 300 workers. It exported to Venezuela and received a 650 dollar subsidy for each ton exported. Also, they were paid by the government for selling their produce underpriced to the local market. And gave them billionaire credits which they can´t pay back to the Bicentenary Bank, due to the fact that Venezuela is not paying its debts. So, in spite of all these benefits, it went broke. Money loaned went to pay for the K political campaign, not to cover up for Venezuelan lack of payment. They did not count on losing the election.
Showing posts with label kirchner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kirchner. Show all posts
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Las consecuencias de errores de prensa
El error que cometió El Pais de España en publicar una foto de Hugo Chávez entubado que no era trae desafortunadas consecuencias. Todos tenemos el derecho de equivocarnos y le perdonaremos este desliz a El País, por lo menos nosotros los que no nos olvidamos de la trayectoria de un gran periódico que no se puede manchar con un solo desliz, por mas grande que sea ese desliz. Cuando uno publica centenares de trabajos a la semana es un milagro que haiga tan escasos errores.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
You know that Chavez is going to run out of money when...
Today the BBC carries (semi hat tip SYB) that the Argentina government will take over the private pension plans of Argentina. The excuse is to protect them from the turmoil of the world markets. First, there is no way that Argentina which is basically a permanently broke government can protect the money deposited in the private pension funds. I do not know how the private pension system worked in Argentina, it could have been good or bad, that is not the point. What I know for sure is the dismal record of ALL Argentina governments since Peron and how all in the end ate all the trust and savings of the people. The current administration is no exception as Cristina has already proven herself to be an incompetent ruler in the barely one year she has been in office as she messed up badly the agrarian crisis through her, oh, so very Peronist arrogance.
But this is in a way anecdotal for us concerned about Venezuelan matters. What this take over of the pension plans, pretty much a highway robbery if you ask me, means is that Argentina has realized that it cannot rely on Chavez anymore to shore up its financial troubles. Maybe Chavez thinks Venezuela is safe from the financial global mess but in Argentina they know how to add and rest, and better than Chavez it seems. Thus they are taking measures, in true Peronist style, to make sure Cristina can keep making populist promises. We all know how it is going to end: after an initial apparent improvement through creative accounting the reality will come to roost. Then we will see yet again another massive devaluation of the Argentina currency, whatever name it will have at that time. The people that 14 years ago started saving in these plans will not be allowed to remove their deposits, or partially at best, and what they must leave will be eaten by devaluation and inflation. A fraction of it will have gone to buy out piqueteros and the sort, and the bulk to people close to the Peronist party. O just plain waste. They are good at waste in Argentina.
And the Argentine cycle will start again as after an interregnum of sorts (the current opposition mayor of Buenos Aires?) they will vote in yet again a new Peronist government, apparently never learning the lessons of history.
I am not laughing at Argentina because the future of chavismo is to become our own Peronist version, bankrupting the country every couple of decades. Meanwhile the current crowd at Casa Rosada gives us a new meaning for rats abandoning ship.
-The end-
But this is in a way anecdotal for us concerned about Venezuelan matters. What this take over of the pension plans, pretty much a highway robbery if you ask me, means is that Argentina has realized that it cannot rely on Chavez anymore to shore up its financial troubles. Maybe Chavez thinks Venezuela is safe from the financial global mess but in Argentina they know how to add and rest, and better than Chavez it seems. Thus they are taking measures, in true Peronist style, to make sure Cristina can keep making populist promises. We all know how it is going to end: after an initial apparent improvement through creative accounting the reality will come to roost. Then we will see yet again another massive devaluation of the Argentina currency, whatever name it will have at that time. The people that 14 years ago started saving in these plans will not be allowed to remove their deposits, or partially at best, and what they must leave will be eaten by devaluation and inflation. A fraction of it will have gone to buy out piqueteros and the sort, and the bulk to people close to the Peronist party. O just plain waste. They are good at waste in Argentina.
And the Argentine cycle will start again as after an interregnum of sorts (the current opposition mayor of Buenos Aires?) they will vote in yet again a new Peronist government, apparently never learning the lessons of history.
I am not laughing at Argentina because the future of chavismo is to become our own Peronist version, bankrupting the country every couple of decades. Meanwhile the current crowd at Casa Rosada gives us a new meaning for rats abandoning ship.
-The end-
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Gucci-cuchi
In Venezuela we have a term of endearment for lovers, a tad old fashioned these days when language has acquired a je ne sais quelle crudeness, "cuchi-cuchi" (almost the same sound in Venezuela) . I thought of it as I was 
catching up some in my reading on the latest scandals which all involve revolutionaries who want to live well, while some other revolutionaries stand in line for hours to buy a pound of milk. I could imagine the vice president saying the equivalent of cuchi-cuchi to the guys filling up his wallet after he signed contracts for finger printing machines. I could imagine Carreño saying cuchi cuchi to his wife when she gave him his Louis Vuitton ties with Gucchi loafers for no other reason but her having enough money now to splurge at any mall she wishes to.
Rayma is the cartoonist from EL Universal that I seldom use in spite of her utter brilliance because, like Zapata El Nacional, she is too Venezuelan for outside people to get it, contrary to Weil who seems some times to draw his cartoon for the foreign crowd. But this week Rayma gave three cartoons in a row that deserve ample distribution, allowing me to make up some of my neglect. The first one of course is the one above making allusion to the incident where interior minister Pedro Carroña, ooops!, Carreño was caught off base about his wearing a LouisVuitton tie (1). He should have known that Venezuelan female journalists are well versed on fashion and thus speaking of socialism and equality and impossible reconciliation with the NO country while you
wear a Louis Vuitton, well, it sounds phony. Which explains the second cartoon here, with the LV on Che beret. Surely if the Che had worn any fashion design in his days (Hermes was big then, to name a reference) he would not have amounted to much. By not using brand names and toughening it up in jungles he became a logo himself, which is more than can be said from ANY of the bolivarian revolutionaries that we have had to put up with for the last 9 years.
One thing about being late in blogging on these matters due to end of year extra workload and Internet problems is that it sort of pays off: I just need to mention other people work. I have found three resources. A fabulous article form Alex Beech who had to wait for a year to be dragged back at her blog to write. I suppose that the intensity of the ridicule was irresistible for her to write about. Then there is a great gossipy compilation from Feathers who details all these socialists heroes ties (as in relationships, not only ties) and how they are linked to the government (very cuchi cuchi if you ask me). To narrate the new details about the Maletagate which is causing a lot of grief in Buenos Aires, and much less for the time being in Venezuela where all the crooks are out of reach from the Venezuelan judicial system (too bad that judges in Miami cannot be bought or pressured as easily than in Caracas, as Kaufman and Co. must be meditating these days) El Universal felt the need for a general compilation page web for all matters pertaining to bags full of money, brand name or not.
I think never as this week we have seen the true miserable nature of the bolivarian revolution, how it spoils all what it touches and how accidentally it reminds us that Peronism was always Peronismo. Cristina K., botox and all, cannot put the blame on the US judicial system even in the spectacularly infamous way her chief of staff, Fernandez, is trying to do, and thus possibly wrecking the US Argentinian relationship for the full term of Cristina K. All because Peronismo was too corrupt to put a stop to it when it had a chance last August. In fact, the incredible tone of that article indicates more than anything that there is guilt in Argentina that needs to be hidden. In a normal country with a normal president, such a letter would have never been allowed for publication. I suppose that the right hand of Cristina K. like many a Venezuelan revolutionary such as Maduro who showed Argentinians how to dodge the issue for their respective hoi poloi (the thinking world? they have long ago ceased to try to impress) will obtain this nifty medal of Rayma for the true robber cum revolutionary: the keys of a nice BMW to put their Vuitton bags full of Gucci shoes in. Meanwhile, Cristina K. who was thought to be more of a maven in the foreign policy field than her husband, well, now we know it was not true.
Plus ça change et plus c'est la même chose.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- --- ---
1) video here, long but with the whole story, zip to minute 7:25 for the Gucci moment. But the whole video is worth watching as it includes precious footage of Chavez insulting his own supporters in his infantile bitterness or a minister admitting that after 9 years of revolution Venezuela imports still 95% of its junk while displaying his total ignorance of the state of the country. then again Pedro Carroña, ooops, Carreño, was the one of the secret cameras in Direct TV decoders for the CIA to spy on all Venezuelans.....
-The end-
catching up some in my reading on the latest scandals which all involve revolutionaries who want to live well, while some other revolutionaries stand in line for hours to buy a pound of milk. I could imagine the vice president saying the equivalent of cuchi-cuchi to the guys filling up his wallet after he signed contracts for finger printing machines. I could imagine Carreño saying cuchi cuchi to his wife when she gave him his Louis Vuitton ties with Gucchi loafers for no other reason but her having enough money now to splurge at any mall she wishes to.Rayma is the cartoonist from EL Universal that I seldom use in spite of her utter brilliance because, like Zapata El Nacional, she is too Venezuelan for outside people to get it, contrary to Weil who seems some times to draw his cartoon for the foreign crowd. But this week Rayma gave three cartoons in a row that deserve ample distribution, allowing me to make up some of my neglect. The first one of course is the one above making allusion to the incident where interior minister Pedro Carroña, ooops!, Carreño was caught off base about his wearing a LouisVuitton tie (1). He should have known that Venezuelan female journalists are well versed on fashion and thus speaking of socialism and equality and impossible reconciliation with the NO country while you
wear a Louis Vuitton, well, it sounds phony. Which explains the second cartoon here, with the LV on Che beret. Surely if the Che had worn any fashion design in his days (Hermes was big then, to name a reference) he would not have amounted to much. By not using brand names and toughening it up in jungles he became a logo himself, which is more than can be said from ANY of the bolivarian revolutionaries that we have had to put up with for the last 9 years.One thing about being late in blogging on these matters due to end of year extra workload and Internet problems is that it sort of pays off: I just need to mention other people work. I have found three resources. A fabulous article form Alex Beech who had to wait for a year to be dragged back at her blog to write. I suppose that the intensity of the ridicule was irresistible for her to write about. Then there is a great gossipy compilation from Feathers who details all these socialists heroes ties (as in relationships, not only ties) and how they are linked to the government (very cuchi cuchi if you ask me). To narrate the new details about the Maletagate which is causing a lot of grief in Buenos Aires, and much less for the time being in Venezuela where all the crooks are out of reach from the Venezuelan judicial system (too bad that judges in Miami cannot be bought or pressured as easily than in Caracas, as Kaufman and Co. must be meditating these days) El Universal felt the need for a general compilation page web for all matters pertaining to bags full of money, brand name or not.
I think never as this week we have seen the true miserable nature of the bolivarian revolution, how it spoils all what it touches and how accidentally it reminds us that Peronism was always Peronismo. Cristina K., botox and all, cannot put the blame on the US judicial system even in the spectacularly infamous way her chief of staff, Fernandez, is trying to do, and thus possibly wrecking the US Argentinian relationship for the full term of Cristina K. All because Peronismo was too corrupt to put a stop to it when it had a chance last August. In fact, the incredible tone of that article indicates more than anything that there is guilt in Argentina that needs to be hidden. In a normal country with a normal president, such a letter would have never been allowed for publication. I suppose that the right hand of Cristina K. like many a Venezuelan revolutionary such as Maduro who showed Argentinians how to dodge the issue for their respective hoi poloi (the thinking world? they have long ago ceased to try to impress) will obtain this nifty medal of Rayma for the true robber cum revolutionary: the keys of a nice BMW to put their Vuitton bags full of Gucci shoes in. Meanwhile, Cristina K. who was thought to be more of a maven in the foreign policy field than her husband, well, now we know it was not true.Plus ça change et plus c'est la même chose.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- -- --- ---
1) video here, long but with the whole story, zip to minute 7:25 for the Gucci moment. But the whole video is worth watching as it includes precious footage of Chavez insulting his own supporters in his infantile bitterness or a minister admitting that after 9 years of revolution Venezuela imports still 95% of its junk while displaying his total ignorance of the state of the country. then again Pedro Carroña, ooops, Carreño, was the one of the secret cameras in Direct TV decoders for the CIA to spy on all Venezuelans.....
-The end-
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Anti Semitism in Venezuela: Crisitna Kirchner pays us a visit
Unfortunately, no matter how discreet the government tries to pass in front of antisemitism and his more than dubious friendship with Ahmadinejad of Iran, certain telltales signs keep forging unbreakable suspicions of a now more than simply nascent antisemitism in Venezuela. The latest example was during the recent visit this week end of Argentina's first Lady, Cristina Kirchner.
Mrs. Kirchner is widely rumored to be a possible successor to her husband next October. Nobody understands why but it seems that Argentineans do love to have the wives of their leaders in a position of power or power position. They had Evita who did not make it to the top but who certainly was the power behind the throne until cancer took her away. And then Isabelita was Peron vice president and sure enough became the lousy president that allowed the Videla dictatorship to come to power. Peron is gone now but Peronism is not and the Peronist president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, happens to have a very strong wife, a senator on her own name and if not a power behind the throne, certainly the power next to it.
I really cannot judge what type of person is Mrs. Kirchner. The Kirchners as a power couple raise many questions in Argentina about their personal power and ambitions and lukewarm love for institutions and democracy. However Argentina is doing well, much better even on many aspects than Venezuela in spite of a horrendous economic crisis a few years ago and no oil to buttress the state coffers. Obviously they are more capable than the selfish entity at Miraflores that cannot even tolerate a wife to steal some of his limelight time. But I digress.
Mrs. Kirchner was visiting Venezuela because she is trying to get some international exposure and experience. Looks good on a wanna-be presidential CV. She was in Ecuador beofre and she was this week end in Caracas to talk about her pet project: antisemitism in the Americas. Some people even went on to write that Mrs. Kirchner visit was to try to improve the relations between the Jewish community and Chavez. For which I had that any deterioration that has happened in these relations had been due solely to Chavez, but I am a nit picker I suppose.
Mrs Kirchner has sensed antisemitism in Argentina, she has been sensitized to it by the AMIA attack of 1994. And she deals with topics that her husband deems better left out of his plate. But Nestor Kirchner is no Chavez on this respect: no friendship with Iran for him even if he seems to share some of the ambitions of Chavez, and arrogance. Kirchner at least seems to be more educated and worldly and preoccupied to achieve something with his rule besides promoting his passage to history books.
So Mrs, Kirchner had a very nice act in Caracas where she seems to have said all the right things to make sure Jews in Latin America felt that not everyone hated them. Short blurb in English here and the longer Spanish version here. Very timely in Venezuela as this blog has had too often had to report on disturbing antisemitic tendencies in the current Chavez administration.
But the visit revealed that there was definitely a "malaise" about the visit and its goal. To begin with if the reunion between Cristina Kirchner and leaders of the Venezuelan and Latin American Jewish communities was attended by personalities such as Teodoro Petkoff, no high ranking Chavez official attended. Sure enough they did not want to hear about the 8 high ranking Iranians for which Argentina is seeking international arrest for the AMIA bombing. Nor the Hezbollah terrorist that Argentina also seeks to bring to Argentinian courts for trial. Such evidence while Chavez and Iran are trying to deepen their relationship is not what chavismo wants to hear. Nor probably would they have liked to hear Cristina reminding them of Curaçao Jews helping Simon Bolivar, nor her comment that political dissent were the first ones sent to concentration camps.
Cristina Kirchner was received also by Chavez but we do not know what happened during that meeting. He certainly praises her in public but it is everyone guess what transpired there. Though it is possible that Chavez is trying to use her not to mend his frayed relations with the Jewish community, he could not care less and he has long cast his lot against Israel. But rather to buy some peace from Jewish quarters while he changes the constitution and establishes his personal and permanent power in Venezuela. He does not need "Jewish press" on his case for the next few months and editorials like the NYT a few days ago is something he needs to avoid.
Also, it possible that Cristina came to give Hugo a friendly warning over Iran, to try to convince him that he does not need to tie his ship to Ahmadinejad and risk sinking together. Can Chavez understand that? I doubt it.
-The end-
Mrs. Kirchner is widely rumored to be a possible successor to her husband next October. Nobody understands why but it seems that Argentineans do love to have the wives of their leaders in a position of power or power position. They had Evita who did not make it to the top but who certainly was the power behind the throne until cancer took her away. And then Isabelita was Peron vice president and sure enough became the lousy president that allowed the Videla dictatorship to come to power. Peron is gone now but Peronism is not and the Peronist president of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, happens to have a very strong wife, a senator on her own name and if not a power behind the throne, certainly the power next to it.
I really cannot judge what type of person is Mrs. Kirchner. The Kirchners as a power couple raise many questions in Argentina about their personal power and ambitions and lukewarm love for institutions and democracy. However Argentina is doing well, much better even on many aspects than Venezuela in spite of a horrendous economic crisis a few years ago and no oil to buttress the state coffers. Obviously they are more capable than the selfish entity at Miraflores that cannot even tolerate a wife to steal some of his limelight time. But I digress.
Mrs. Kirchner was visiting Venezuela because she is trying to get some international exposure and experience. Looks good on a wanna-be presidential CV. She was in Ecuador beofre and she was this week end in Caracas to talk about her pet project: antisemitism in the Americas. Some people even went on to write that Mrs. Kirchner visit was to try to improve the relations between the Jewish community and Chavez. For which I had that any deterioration that has happened in these relations had been due solely to Chavez, but I am a nit picker I suppose.
Mrs Kirchner has sensed antisemitism in Argentina, she has been sensitized to it by the AMIA attack of 1994. And she deals with topics that her husband deems better left out of his plate. But Nestor Kirchner is no Chavez on this respect: no friendship with Iran for him even if he seems to share some of the ambitions of Chavez, and arrogance. Kirchner at least seems to be more educated and worldly and preoccupied to achieve something with his rule besides promoting his passage to history books.
So Mrs, Kirchner had a very nice act in Caracas where she seems to have said all the right things to make sure Jews in Latin America felt that not everyone hated them. Short blurb in English here and the longer Spanish version here. Very timely in Venezuela as this blog has had too often had to report on disturbing antisemitic tendencies in the current Chavez administration.
But the visit revealed that there was definitely a "malaise" about the visit and its goal. To begin with if the reunion between Cristina Kirchner and leaders of the Venezuelan and Latin American Jewish communities was attended by personalities such as Teodoro Petkoff, no high ranking Chavez official attended. Sure enough they did not want to hear about the 8 high ranking Iranians for which Argentina is seeking international arrest for the AMIA bombing. Nor the Hezbollah terrorist that Argentina also seeks to bring to Argentinian courts for trial. Such evidence while Chavez and Iran are trying to deepen their relationship is not what chavismo wants to hear. Nor probably would they have liked to hear Cristina reminding them of Curaçao Jews helping Simon Bolivar, nor her comment that political dissent were the first ones sent to concentration camps.
Cristina Kirchner was received also by Chavez but we do not know what happened during that meeting. He certainly praises her in public but it is everyone guess what transpired there. Though it is possible that Chavez is trying to use her not to mend his frayed relations with the Jewish community, he could not care less and he has long cast his lot against Israel. But rather to buy some peace from Jewish quarters while he changes the constitution and establishes his personal and permanent power in Venezuela. He does not need "Jewish press" on his case for the next few months and editorials like the NYT a few days ago is something he needs to avoid.
Also, it possible that Cristina came to give Hugo a friendly warning over Iran, to try to convince him that he does not need to tie his ship to Ahmadinejad and risk sinking together. Can Chavez understand that? I doubt it.
-The end-
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