It cannot be lost on the Venezuelan observer that the commemoration of January 23 1958, the date we thought marked the end of our last time under a dictatorship would be the date chosen by our new dictatorship to limit the reach of cable TV and start the process of forcing it to transmit for free all the propaganda of the regime.
Showing posts with label rctv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rctv. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Cable TV falls to Chavez abusive cadenas: even in Discovery?
And thus the era of big brother keeps expanding its reach into Venezuelan's home.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Facts and Fiction on Chavez reasons to close media
This week we are commemorating two years of the closing of RCTV while we are contemplating the very distinct possibility of Chavez closing Globovision at any moment. Yesterday in yet another cadena where Chavez shows increasing imbalance, he DEMANDED that the judicial power closed Globovision. That is, he does not even pretend that there is a separation of powers in Venezuela, he gives the order in public, requesting the resignation of the judicial "personnel" that is not willing to carry his orders. In English here and in Spanish here much more complete, with video included.
But let's not waste time in discussing the reasons for his latest immature and psychotic outburst (oxymoron? redundancy? intended). Let's review instead some of the facts and fiction surrounding this whole business, things lost in the hot air waves issued from the marathon Alo Presidente that is plaguing us with cadenas for the next three days.
Coup mongering in Venezuela
Fiction: the media conspired in 2002 to overthrow Chavez.
Fact: we are now 7 years and 1 month since April 2002 and not a single indictment has been issued against the owner or journalist of any of the private media that chavismo ROUTINELY accuses of being coupsters ("golpistas").
Interpretation? If in 7 years nothing has happened we must suspect one or more of the following: no hard evidence available to indict anyone for April 2002 events (let's not forget that the judicial system is FULLY in the control of Chavez since 2004); complicity between some media and Chavez (that one dedicated to mercenary Venevision and its owner, Gustavo Cisneros); incompetence and/or betrayal of people that should be indicting the media owners (which of course assume that indeed these media owners were acting in a conspiracy which send us to square 1, no evidence presented so far).
The media distort the message
Fiction: the private media are basically washing the brain of the people by emitting anti Chavez propaganda all the time and lying all the time about what is really happening in the country.
Fact: the government has in fact dominated the airborne media since 2004, and overwhelmingly dominated it since RCTV was closed in 2007. Today there is no single free air borne media espousing a critical line available nation wide. Globovision, the case presently at hand ONLY COVERS Caracas and Valencia, that is much less than a third of the Venezuelan homes. At local levels only some TV and radio stations are mildly critical and in some areas of the country, in particular rural areas, there is not a single airborne media that is critical of the government. Any criticism heard in such areas is of the intra party fighting nature, not from the opposition to the government.
Some specifics. There is ONLY one radio network allowed nation wide, RNV, and it is basically a propaganda outlet 24/24. The state controls two nation wide networks, VTV which is 24/24 propaganda and Tves which is part propaganda and part entertainment. ViVe is growing fast along Telesur and they are pro government 24/24. Only Venevision has a nationwide coverage and it is rather pro Chavez, only allowing some counted criticism of the government and only by some "selected" opposition figures. And even that is a rarer and rarer occurrence. Televen is a little bit more "independent" in its nightly news but it does not cover all the country.
In other words, unless you have access to cable TV, in some areas of the country, perhaps as much as half of it, you cannot obtain reliable information from both sides of the story. And on the other half, outside of Caracas and Valencia, objective information is limited.
Interpretation? With the overwhelming control of airborne media supplemented by the forced simultaneous broadcasts on ALL airborne media of Chavez speeches for hours every week (the infamous cadenas!), the message of the government is fully accessible everywhere, in large amounts. The problem is elsewhere.
That remote control problem or why is the "correct" information not reaching the people?
Fiction: that people are not listening to Chavez is a question of brain washing, and international media conspiracy, sabotage. Journalists are paid by the media owners to spread lies and disinformation.
Fact: If there is a media owner that pays its journalists to editorialize rather than present the real news it is the current Venezuelan government. TV shows such as La Hojilla in VTV would have been long banned in any democratic country. Besides, the sheer amount of cadenas and cadena time should have belittled any effort made by the alleged mercenary journalists in misinterpreting Chavez glorious deeds. Is Chavez not supposed to be his best publicist? Is that not the avowed objectives of cadenas and Alo Presidente? Has he not won the 2006 reelection with 60%+ vote in spite of a hard core RCTV and Globovision opposition?
Interpretation? What is happening here is that the government realizes that in spite of its best efforts people are increasingly tuning out the official message even among those who still vote for Chavez. Apparently the government has a poor understanding of a device existing in at least 90% of Venezuelan homes: the remote control of the TV set. No one so far has been able to fix such remotes so that they can only show only, say, Globovision. Chavismo simply cannot comprehend why the huge majority of the Venezuelan people at night will prefer to watch anything else but the propaganda coming out of VTV or ViVe. Watching soap operas by the chavista voter strata has long been considered subversive as Chavez more than once has admitted that his cadenas preempted the "novelas" that were bad for the people to begin with.
So now not only Globovision must be shut down but the Nazional Assembly is diligently preparing a text that will force Cable TV to pass mandatory cadenas and remove from the menu TV stations that displease the government (Cable TV is exempt of cadenas transmission and RCTV with soon Globovision have only cable as a refuge). How long until National Geographic or Animal Planet are judged subversive, anti revolutionaries?
A word to end
I know, I know, this is yet again a repeat on things that I have extensively written on and on in the past. But I thought a nice, simple text in clear format would be useful for people who need to explain what is going on really in Venezuela these days: as the going is getting tough, Chavez does not want the people to know what is really going on inside Venezuela. Repression and economic crisis do not make for a good Chavez image on TV.
Or, the only freedom of choice that chavismo understands is their freedom to tell you what to watch.
-The end-
But let's not waste time in discussing the reasons for his latest immature and psychotic outburst (oxymoron? redundancy? intended). Let's review instead some of the facts and fiction surrounding this whole business, things lost in the hot air waves issued from the marathon Alo Presidente that is plaguing us with cadenas for the next three days.
Coup mongering in Venezuela
Fiction: the media conspired in 2002 to overthrow Chavez.
Fact: we are now 7 years and 1 month since April 2002 and not a single indictment has been issued against the owner or journalist of any of the private media that chavismo ROUTINELY accuses of being coupsters ("golpistas").
Interpretation? If in 7 years nothing has happened we must suspect one or more of the following: no hard evidence available to indict anyone for April 2002 events (let's not forget that the judicial system is FULLY in the control of Chavez since 2004); complicity between some media and Chavez (that one dedicated to mercenary Venevision and its owner, Gustavo Cisneros); incompetence and/or betrayal of people that should be indicting the media owners (which of course assume that indeed these media owners were acting in a conspiracy which send us to square 1, no evidence presented so far).
The media distort the message
Fiction: the private media are basically washing the brain of the people by emitting anti Chavez propaganda all the time and lying all the time about what is really happening in the country.
Fact: the government has in fact dominated the airborne media since 2004, and overwhelmingly dominated it since RCTV was closed in 2007. Today there is no single free air borne media espousing a critical line available nation wide. Globovision, the case presently at hand ONLY COVERS Caracas and Valencia, that is much less than a third of the Venezuelan homes. At local levels only some TV and radio stations are mildly critical and in some areas of the country, in particular rural areas, there is not a single airborne media that is critical of the government. Any criticism heard in such areas is of the intra party fighting nature, not from the opposition to the government.
Some specifics. There is ONLY one radio network allowed nation wide, RNV, and it is basically a propaganda outlet 24/24. The state controls two nation wide networks, VTV which is 24/24 propaganda and Tves which is part propaganda and part entertainment. ViVe is growing fast along Telesur and they are pro government 24/24. Only Venevision has a nationwide coverage and it is rather pro Chavez, only allowing some counted criticism of the government and only by some "selected" opposition figures. And even that is a rarer and rarer occurrence. Televen is a little bit more "independent" in its nightly news but it does not cover all the country.
In other words, unless you have access to cable TV, in some areas of the country, perhaps as much as half of it, you cannot obtain reliable information from both sides of the story. And on the other half, outside of Caracas and Valencia, objective information is limited.
Interpretation? With the overwhelming control of airborne media supplemented by the forced simultaneous broadcasts on ALL airborne media of Chavez speeches for hours every week (the infamous cadenas!), the message of the government is fully accessible everywhere, in large amounts. The problem is elsewhere.
That remote control problem or why is the "correct" information not reaching the people?
Fiction: that people are not listening to Chavez is a question of brain washing, and international media conspiracy, sabotage. Journalists are paid by the media owners to spread lies and disinformation.
Fact: If there is a media owner that pays its journalists to editorialize rather than present the real news it is the current Venezuelan government. TV shows such as La Hojilla in VTV would have been long banned in any democratic country. Besides, the sheer amount of cadenas and cadena time should have belittled any effort made by the alleged mercenary journalists in misinterpreting Chavez glorious deeds. Is Chavez not supposed to be his best publicist? Is that not the avowed objectives of cadenas and Alo Presidente? Has he not won the 2006 reelection with 60%+ vote in spite of a hard core RCTV and Globovision opposition?
Interpretation? What is happening here is that the government realizes that in spite of its best efforts people are increasingly tuning out the official message even among those who still vote for Chavez. Apparently the government has a poor understanding of a device existing in at least 90% of Venezuelan homes: the remote control of the TV set. No one so far has been able to fix such remotes so that they can only show only, say, Globovision. Chavismo simply cannot comprehend why the huge majority of the Venezuelan people at night will prefer to watch anything else but the propaganda coming out of VTV or ViVe. Watching soap operas by the chavista voter strata has long been considered subversive as Chavez more than once has admitted that his cadenas preempted the "novelas" that were bad for the people to begin with.
So now not only Globovision must be shut down but the Nazional Assembly is diligently preparing a text that will force Cable TV to pass mandatory cadenas and remove from the menu TV stations that displease the government (Cable TV is exempt of cadenas transmission and RCTV with soon Globovision have only cable as a refuge). How long until National Geographic or Animal Planet are judged subversive, anti revolutionaries?
A word to end
I know, I know, this is yet again a repeat on things that I have extensively written on and on in the past. But I thought a nice, simple text in clear format would be useful for people who need to explain what is going on really in Venezuela these days: as the going is getting tough, Chavez does not want the people to know what is really going on inside Venezuela. Repression and economic crisis do not make for a good Chavez image on TV.
Or, the only freedom of choice that chavismo understands is their freedom to tell you what to watch.
-The end-
Monday, February 11, 2008
That remote control problem: closing down on Globovision
The international press might have highlighted again the now routine threats that Chavez will close the supply of oil to the US, but that was not the real news from Venezuela. Of course with 12 billion of PDVSA assets frozen, the casual observer might think that Chavez will finally shut down oil supply to the States. But that is not what matters in Caracas today: what matters is the renewed interests of chavismo to shoot the last messenger left, Globovision.
The reasons are very simple, and have not changed: Globovision is the only TV network that regularly displays the problems that the country is suffering, the real problems of the people. Which are these problems? Lack of some food items; crime reaching levels unheard of and putting Caracas in the top 5 more dangerous cities in the world; inflation among the highest in the world, affecting food prices the most, the prices which are most felt by the poor; lack of real jobs as too many depend on government handouts and public services jobs where wearing a red beret is de rigueur; and more, much more. It is easy to understand that at a time where the government is showing increasing strain and where its ineptitude is becoming extraordinarily obvious Globovision (or any other critical media) is something that will need to be dealt with.
There is that saying that homo sapiens is the only animal that stumbles twice over the same stone. It seems that the government has already forgotten that closing RCTV was a huge mistake, a mistake that was in large part the cause of losing the December 2 referendum as it made it clear to the Venezuelan people that the referendum was about naked power grab more than the betterment of the people. Closing Globovision would be a much , much worse mistake. That perspective does not seem to stop chavismo who as it feels the waters rising to its neck is showing signs of acute despair.
The problem for Chavez and the sycophants that surround him is that diversity is not their strong point. They are all mediocre individuals and have reached high position just because Chavez has charisma. Any other group that might show some success in their field is feared because it exposes their mediocrity. It is very simple actually, a very normal emotional reaction for the feeble of mind.
Chavismo simply cannot understand why Globovison is the most worn out button on the remote control in Caracas and Valencia, the only markets where Globovision is on open broadcast (the rest of the country is cable only). That is right: if you have no cable TV in Caracas the TV set will offer you a limited choice. From the government side, most of the media dedicate most of their broadcasting time to support or emit outright propaganda in favor of Chavez. You have VTV, ViVe TV, Teves, Avila TV, Telesur, ANTV just to name the main ones. That is: 6 networks plus the minor players. On the border line supporting of chavismo you have Venevision and Canal I. Neutral there is only Televen. For the opposition there is only Globovision. Though it must be repeated endlessly that Globovision emits the news, that is, emits all the petulant declarations of Chavez and his ministers and offers them a mic if they were to accept their invitation. But the government has become allergic to probing questions by real journalists. On the other hand you can look by yourself how much from the opposition side makes it to the news in the 6 networks mentioned above.
Chavismo is helpless against Globovision whose ratings surpass easily of any of the pro Chavez channels in Caracas, a truly remarkable feat for a 24 news channel. That it is due to the state media passing programs that do not reflect the reality of Venezuela does not seem to reach chavismo folks. So, after having tried to confuse the audiences by offering all sorts of state media, there is only one recourse left for chavismo: take the remote control out of the people's hand. Because this would be the effect of closing Globovision: there will be no more choice for news, thus no more need for channel surfing since all would say "viva Chavez!". Or remain silent.
Unfortunately for chavismo that would spell its final demise. Globovison is increasingly offering its air waves to chavista rank and file complaining that they cannot go to VTV to expose their just causes: a large chunk of chavismo knows now full well that if they have a complaint, the state media will not air it. That is why Chavez must shut up Globovision, as things are getting increasingly difficult for him he thinks he can hide the times through censorship.
-The end-
The reasons are very simple, and have not changed: Globovision is the only TV network that regularly displays the problems that the country is suffering, the real problems of the people. Which are these problems? Lack of some food items; crime reaching levels unheard of and putting Caracas in the top 5 more dangerous cities in the world; inflation among the highest in the world, affecting food prices the most, the prices which are most felt by the poor; lack of real jobs as too many depend on government handouts and public services jobs where wearing a red beret is de rigueur; and more, much more. It is easy to understand that at a time where the government is showing increasing strain and where its ineptitude is becoming extraordinarily obvious Globovision (or any other critical media) is something that will need to be dealt with.
There is that saying that homo sapiens is the only animal that stumbles twice over the same stone. It seems that the government has already forgotten that closing RCTV was a huge mistake, a mistake that was in large part the cause of losing the December 2 referendum as it made it clear to the Venezuelan people that the referendum was about naked power grab more than the betterment of the people. Closing Globovision would be a much , much worse mistake. That perspective does not seem to stop chavismo who as it feels the waters rising to its neck is showing signs of acute despair.
The problem for Chavez and the sycophants that surround him is that diversity is not their strong point. They are all mediocre individuals and have reached high position just because Chavez has charisma. Any other group that might show some success in their field is feared because it exposes their mediocrity. It is very simple actually, a very normal emotional reaction for the feeble of mind.
Chavismo simply cannot understand why Globovison is the most worn out button on the remote control in Caracas and Valencia, the only markets where Globovision is on open broadcast (the rest of the country is cable only). That is right: if you have no cable TV in Caracas the TV set will offer you a limited choice. From the government side, most of the media dedicate most of their broadcasting time to support or emit outright propaganda in favor of Chavez. You have VTV, ViVe TV, Teves, Avila TV, Telesur, ANTV just to name the main ones. That is: 6 networks plus the minor players. On the border line supporting of chavismo you have Venevision and Canal I. Neutral there is only Televen. For the opposition there is only Globovision. Though it must be repeated endlessly that Globovision emits the news, that is, emits all the petulant declarations of Chavez and his ministers and offers them a mic if they were to accept their invitation. But the government has become allergic to probing questions by real journalists. On the other hand you can look by yourself how much from the opposition side makes it to the news in the 6 networks mentioned above.
Chavismo is helpless against Globovision whose ratings surpass easily of any of the pro Chavez channels in Caracas, a truly remarkable feat for a 24 news channel. That it is due to the state media passing programs that do not reflect the reality of Venezuela does not seem to reach chavismo folks. So, after having tried to confuse the audiences by offering all sorts of state media, there is only one recourse left for chavismo: take the remote control out of the people's hand. Because this would be the effect of closing Globovision: there will be no more choice for news, thus no more need for channel surfing since all would say "viva Chavez!". Or remain silent.
Unfortunately for chavismo that would spell its final demise. Globovison is increasingly offering its air waves to chavista rank and file complaining that they cannot go to VTV to expose their just causes: a large chunk of chavismo knows now full well that if they have a complaint, the state media will not air it. That is why Chavez must shut up Globovision, as things are getting increasingly difficult for him he thinks he can hide the times through censorship.
-The end-
Thursday, August 02, 2007
RCTV to stay a little bit longer in the Venezuelan airwaves
(updated)
In one of those weird turn of events, the high court of Venezuela, under the pen of its chief, Luisa Estela Morales of ill repute with this blogger, has decided to accept a cautionary measure from the Cable and Satellite systems of Venezuela. What did they do? Well, believe it or not, they sort of used the same tactic that was used against RCTV in May when a group of citizens claimed that they would suffer some form of psychological damage if they were to turn on their TV and nothing would happen on channel 2 (RCTV slot until May 27). So, the court, ever so obliging when it is convenient for chavismo decided that the equipment of RCTV must be seized and "lent" to TVes so the channel 2 slot will not be empty and people would not get into some deep funk, or withdrawal syndrome.
The Cable system, probably very pissed off at the government for threatening to put cadenas everywhere used the same strategy, that nothing should be changed on cable until rules, laws and regulations are cleared up. Otherwise "general" interest might be affected. The TSJ could not say one thing one day and go against it own precedent barely two month after. Chavismo has not gone that far, yet.....
So the end result, even though the name of RCTV is not in that new lawsuit, is that RCTV remains on the air, and will not transmit cadenas. It seems that the government will have to change the law or do something, or counter appeal or whatever to remove RCTV. Which it will do in due time, and sooner than later.
Meanwhile, even if forced by events and by a minimum of rationality that is left in the judicial system (you can screw whomever you want, but you must do it in a certain order) the government gets a little bonus: it will be able to pretend that the judicial system is independent. Yeah, right... RCTV lost zillions of cases and suddenly one simple delaying cautionary measure will be portrayed as a final proof of Venezuelan separation of powers. Even CNN seemed to buy that line it its preliminary report!!!! But then again CNN is not good in in depth reporting....
More information:
As it turned out Marcel Granier was a scheduled guest at Alo Ciudadano, and he arrived a few minutes before the TSJ decision was announced. Needless to say that Granier gave one of those memorable interviews that should be mandatory watching for any one that wants to know what chavismo is doing to the fabric of our society. As soon as a video appears I will let the readers know.
What did Granier said? In short:
The TSJ decision was obscenely fast. As so many other related RCTV issues are in a deep slumber over some dusty shelf at the TSJ warehouse, today's decision was processed in a very few hours. In fact Granier thinks it must be a record of sorts.
Granier also stated that this decision ONLY benefits the state, NOT RCTV. The reason is very simple: in the rush to shut up RCTV the government made a few mistakes and it realized that following through the decision of shutting up RCTV tonight would bring it a lot of internal trouble with other local TV stations, and even Telesur, that could cost millions in multiple law suits. Thus it was in the best interest for the government to stop for a few days or weeks the closing down of RCTV until it coudl set up some more satisfying scheme. Thus Luisa Morales might be the TSJ head but she just acted like the errand girl of Chavez she is, not the head of a power whose total independence from other powers is the key of any democracy.
Pressed as to why Granier does not try to talk with the government, he reported that no one talks with the government because this one does not agree to any of the meetings that have been asked for by RCTV, the groups of Cable TV operators or any major political operators in Venezuela. In other words, the Chavez administration is acting everyday more and more like an autistic body.
Pressed further, Granier said that the conflict is not between Chavez and RCTV, but between Chavez and Venezuelan society. According to Granier, Chavez deliberately seeks chaos for whatever political objectives he has in mind.
And much more that could bring Granier into judicial trouble, by the way. But this is not anymore the voice of some millionaire losing his business. Not that it matters but I am pretty sure that Granier has a safe retirement package outside of Venezuela. No, what was talking tonight was a man determined to confront head on the government of Chavez with all the risks that this entails to his personal safety. His position is now a political position and as such the escalation is only starting.
-The end-
In one of those weird turn of events, the high court of Venezuela, under the pen of its chief, Luisa Estela Morales of ill repute with this blogger, has decided to accept a cautionary measure from the Cable and Satellite systems of Venezuela. What did they do? Well, believe it or not, they sort of used the same tactic that was used against RCTV in May when a group of citizens claimed that they would suffer some form of psychological damage if they were to turn on their TV and nothing would happen on channel 2 (RCTV slot until May 27). So, the court, ever so obliging when it is convenient for chavismo decided that the equipment of RCTV must be seized and "lent" to TVes so the channel 2 slot will not be empty and people would not get into some deep funk, or withdrawal syndrome.
The Cable system, probably very pissed off at the government for threatening to put cadenas everywhere used the same strategy, that nothing should be changed on cable until rules, laws and regulations are cleared up. Otherwise "general" interest might be affected. The TSJ could not say one thing one day and go against it own precedent barely two month after. Chavismo has not gone that far, yet.....
So the end result, even though the name of RCTV is not in that new lawsuit, is that RCTV remains on the air, and will not transmit cadenas. It seems that the government will have to change the law or do something, or counter appeal or whatever to remove RCTV. Which it will do in due time, and sooner than later.
Meanwhile, even if forced by events and by a minimum of rationality that is left in the judicial system (you can screw whomever you want, but you must do it in a certain order) the government gets a little bonus: it will be able to pretend that the judicial system is independent. Yeah, right... RCTV lost zillions of cases and suddenly one simple delaying cautionary measure will be portrayed as a final proof of Venezuelan separation of powers. Even CNN seemed to buy that line it its preliminary report!!!! But then again CNN is not good in in depth reporting....
More information:
As it turned out Marcel Granier was a scheduled guest at Alo Ciudadano, and he arrived a few minutes before the TSJ decision was announced. Needless to say that Granier gave one of those memorable interviews that should be mandatory watching for any one that wants to know what chavismo is doing to the fabric of our society. As soon as a video appears I will let the readers know.
What did Granier said? In short:
The TSJ decision was obscenely fast. As so many other related RCTV issues are in a deep slumber over some dusty shelf at the TSJ warehouse, today's decision was processed in a very few hours. In fact Granier thinks it must be a record of sorts.
Granier also stated that this decision ONLY benefits the state, NOT RCTV. The reason is very simple: in the rush to shut up RCTV the government made a few mistakes and it realized that following through the decision of shutting up RCTV tonight would bring it a lot of internal trouble with other local TV stations, and even Telesur, that could cost millions in multiple law suits. Thus it was in the best interest for the government to stop for a few days or weeks the closing down of RCTV until it coudl set up some more satisfying scheme. Thus Luisa Morales might be the TSJ head but she just acted like the errand girl of Chavez she is, not the head of a power whose total independence from other powers is the key of any democracy.
Pressed as to why Granier does not try to talk with the government, he reported that no one talks with the government because this one does not agree to any of the meetings that have been asked for by RCTV, the groups of Cable TV operators or any major political operators in Venezuela. In other words, the Chavez administration is acting everyday more and more like an autistic body.
Pressed further, Granier said that the conflict is not between Chavez and RCTV, but between Chavez and Venezuelan society. According to Granier, Chavez deliberately seeks chaos for whatever political objectives he has in mind.
And much more that could bring Granier into judicial trouble, by the way. But this is not anymore the voice of some millionaire losing his business. Not that it matters but I am pretty sure that Granier has a safe retirement package outside of Venezuela. No, what was talking tonight was a man determined to confront head on the government of Chavez with all the risks that this entails to his personal safety. His position is now a political position and as such the escalation is only starting.
-The end-
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
RCTV to go off the air again
In a bad case of déjà vu all over again we are getting ready to see the signal of RCTV go off our cable TV system tomorrow. The discombobulated legal mechanism used by the government cannot hide that the real reason why RCTV is going off the air is because Chavez wants so.
There is no Chomskyan grandeur anywhere in here (Chavez is now the most powerful media mogul of our history); there is no desire to create a true public service TV here (the new TVes, the ersatz to substitute RCTV on open signal has already established itself as a subservient Chavez propaganda tool); there is not even the slimmest desire to make a deal and let the opposition with a small space in the hertzian kingdom (the government has not offered any UHF to RCTV, nor to any other TV station that cannot be verified as a pro Chavez joint).
No, there is just the naked desire to shut up one of the only two TV systems where critics of the government can express themselves freely, even if only on cable or satellite. In a country where pay TV does not even reach 25% of the country, that 10% of the people at a given time might chose to watch something else than a Chavez speech is simply unbearable for our local kinglet wanna-be.
You doubt me? Look at today's speedy decision form the high court of Venezuela where it refuses to consider the petitions of RCTV. We read this gem:
But what else can you expect form a judicial system where the president, Luisa Estela Morales, has been herself fired from a tribunal until recovered from chavismo to become the president of the judicial system of Venezuela? Such judges can only rule in favor of the daemon that allowed them to reach the top in a new Faustian bargain. On their work and merit only these judges would have never reached exalted positions where such merits are measured, evaluated and compared. No wonder the Venezuelan judicial system today is an active participant in the lynching of RCTV. But history is rich with examples of morally corrupt judges who erased with stupefying ease from their vocabulary words such as fairness, due process, impartiality.
-The end-
There is no Chomskyan grandeur anywhere in here (Chavez is now the most powerful media mogul of our history); there is no desire to create a true public service TV here (the new TVes, the ersatz to substitute RCTV on open signal has already established itself as a subservient Chavez propaganda tool); there is not even the slimmest desire to make a deal and let the opposition with a small space in the hertzian kingdom (the government has not offered any UHF to RCTV, nor to any other TV station that cannot be verified as a pro Chavez joint).
No, there is just the naked desire to shut up one of the only two TV systems where critics of the government can express themselves freely, even if only on cable or satellite. In a country where pay TV does not even reach 25% of the country, that 10% of the people at a given time might chose to watch something else than a Chavez speech is simply unbearable for our local kinglet wanna-be.
You doubt me? Look at today's speedy decision form the high court of Venezuela where it refuses to consider the petitions of RCTV. We read this gem:
...it is of public knowledge that the said business continues to operate as a broadcast station that can transmit its information and entertainment contents, using its its tools and technical material, which leads one to presume that it is fulfilling its contractual and financial commitments.That is right, you read it it perfectly: the high court of Venezuela, because RCTV TODAY is showing up on cable is saying that it has suffered of no prejudice and that its complaint against a CONATEL ruling has no basis. That for almost two months RCTV was off the air and still kept is staff did not cause any prejudice to RCTV coffers; that it cannot reach a quarter of its previous audience anymore because of its cable only presence does not affect its business performance; that its transmission equipment has being seized by the government without any form of compensation causes no financial loss to RCTV.
But what else can you expect form a judicial system where the president, Luisa Estela Morales, has been herself fired from a tribunal until recovered from chavismo to become the president of the judicial system of Venezuela? Such judges can only rule in favor of the daemon that allowed them to reach the top in a new Faustian bargain. On their work and merit only these judges would have never reached exalted positions where such merits are measured, evaluated and compared. No wonder the Venezuelan judicial system today is an active participant in the lynching of RCTV. But history is rich with examples of morally corrupt judges who erased with stupefying ease from their vocabulary words such as fairness, due process, impartiality.
-The end-
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
RCTV comes back, sort of, while Globovision fights back to stay
This weekend the rumor of an eventual return of RCTV were confirmed: I saw it myself Saturday AM when on my Direct TV screen I saw the RCTV logo running in an endless loop, channel 103 for those interested. The papers confirmed that vision: Intercable will give the number 13 to RCTV, NetUno will give varied numbers as they change according the region. But Supercable has declined, with the confession that they do not want to "run into trouble" with the government.
Now, what does that mean exactly? Not much. Cable, even if Supercable were to be included, does not reach 25% of Venezuelan homes. Even adding Internet (by the way, those who can watch RCTV through Internet and YouTube certainly can afford cable), even adding those who steal the signal of some cable company, no more than 30% of Venezuelan homes have access to some form of cable TV, and mostly in upper income areas: poorer areas simply cannot afford a cable bill unless a few pool together and steal the signal with the complicity of the payer. One of the reasons by the way why you see many Direct TV satellite dishes in the barrios is that Direct TV signal cannot be stolen that easily. Besides, installing expensive and vulnerable ground line in popular district is a deterrent for other systems than Direct TV. The paradox is that the poor are forced to buy the more expensive satellite system if they want to escape Chavez blabber.
The result is that RCTV will go from a 100% national coverage to a 30% coverage AT BEST. With the consequent decrease in advertising revenue. The implications for RCTV is that it will be difficult to keep its large staff and producing capabilities and news coverage, at least as long as it does not manage to sell enough production overseas. Right now, outside the US and Colombia I do not see that many buyers for anything Venezuelan except soap operas.
Will chavismo settle for a diminished RCTV? Not sure. On the positive side for chavismo it effectively removed RCTV from the popular areas so that RCTV will not be able to offer the very needed counter information against the permanent Chavez propaganda. RCTV and Globovision together will not reach more than 50% of the country and thus 50% will have to rely on either sycophantic pro Chavez media (VTV, ViVe) or on mildly pro Chavez to neutral TV (the rest).
The real reason why the government might not accept that "compromise", even though it would go a long way to assuage some of the foreign concerns on that matter, is that the new RCTV will be called RCTV "internacional". Under the current rules, as an international cable channel AND as a network that does not emit on the air waves directly, RCTV would be exempt from following cadenas. That is, when ALL VENEZUELAN CHANNELS must go into simultaneous broadcast to transmit the silly Chavez tirades, RCTV can keep along, minding its own business, and passing the news that sometimes Chavez tries to hide through his cadenas (April 11, 2002 anyone?). That by itself could push many folks to make the financial sacrifice to get cable as they will be able to watch their soap operas without interruption. The only winners right now are the cable companies. That is, until Chavez decides to strike against them, in particular if RCTV manges a 30% rating again in spite of all the obstacles. I suspect that this will happen, not counting all the legal attacks that the government is certain to launch against RCTV to shut it up once and for all.
And what about Globovision? While we are discussing attacks on RCTV and the media, let's look at the letter that Globovision posted as full page ad in all major Venezuelan newspapers. I have taken picture even if is rather hard to read (click to enlarge). It is a big picture and I had to reduce it to try to make my page as easy a download as possible. You can read the full letter at the Globovision site, by clicking the little green arrow on the lower left corner.
What does the letter say? It is addressed by the CEO of Globovision to the Vice President Jorge Rodriguez. It was received at the vice presidency on June 29 and since on Saturday 8 of July there was no reply yet, Globovision decided to make a big deal of it and publish it.
In short: it openly calls Jorge Rodriguez a liar. This is no surprise of course, we have seen all the lies of Rodriguez when he was the head of the CNE. Of the regime figures he is with the interior minister Pedro Carreño the two characters that are least trusted in Venezuela, in particular within the opposition. Personally I would leave my wallet alone in a room with Chavez but I would not do so with these two creeps.
The main themes of the letter:
What does this mean? Globovision knows that it will be closed sooner than later, that Chavez simply cannot allow independent information in Venezuela, at the moment which his regime is facing so much problems and at the moment when he wants to establish his rule for ever and ever. Chavez has no choice but to close Globovision (and "re"-close RCTV by the way). Globovison knows it and it is preparing itself to go down with its boots on.
-The end-
Now, what does that mean exactly? Not much. Cable, even if Supercable were to be included, does not reach 25% of Venezuelan homes. Even adding Internet (by the way, those who can watch RCTV through Internet and YouTube certainly can afford cable), even adding those who steal the signal of some cable company, no more than 30% of Venezuelan homes have access to some form of cable TV, and mostly in upper income areas: poorer areas simply cannot afford a cable bill unless a few pool together and steal the signal with the complicity of the payer. One of the reasons by the way why you see many Direct TV satellite dishes in the barrios is that Direct TV signal cannot be stolen that easily. Besides, installing expensive and vulnerable ground line in popular district is a deterrent for other systems than Direct TV. The paradox is that the poor are forced to buy the more expensive satellite system if they want to escape Chavez blabber.
The result is that RCTV will go from a 100% national coverage to a 30% coverage AT BEST. With the consequent decrease in advertising revenue. The implications for RCTV is that it will be difficult to keep its large staff and producing capabilities and news coverage, at least as long as it does not manage to sell enough production overseas. Right now, outside the US and Colombia I do not see that many buyers for anything Venezuelan except soap operas.
Will chavismo settle for a diminished RCTV? Not sure. On the positive side for chavismo it effectively removed RCTV from the popular areas so that RCTV will not be able to offer the very needed counter information against the permanent Chavez propaganda. RCTV and Globovision together will not reach more than 50% of the country and thus 50% will have to rely on either sycophantic pro Chavez media (VTV, ViVe) or on mildly pro Chavez to neutral TV (the rest).
The real reason why the government might not accept that "compromise", even though it would go a long way to assuage some of the foreign concerns on that matter, is that the new RCTV will be called RCTV "internacional". Under the current rules, as an international cable channel AND as a network that does not emit on the air waves directly, RCTV would be exempt from following cadenas. That is, when ALL VENEZUELAN CHANNELS must go into simultaneous broadcast to transmit the silly Chavez tirades, RCTV can keep along, minding its own business, and passing the news that sometimes Chavez tries to hide through his cadenas (April 11, 2002 anyone?). That by itself could push many folks to make the financial sacrifice to get cable as they will be able to watch their soap operas without interruption. The only winners right now are the cable companies. That is, until Chavez decides to strike against them, in particular if RCTV manges a 30% rating again in spite of all the obstacles. I suspect that this will happen, not counting all the legal attacks that the government is certain to launch against RCTV to shut it up once and for all.
And what about Globovision? While we are discussing attacks on RCTV and the media, let's look at the letter that Globovision posted as full page ad in all major Venezuelan newspapers. I have taken picture even if is rather hard to read (click to enlarge). It is a big picture and I had to reduce it to try to make my page as easy a download as possible. You can read the full letter at the Globovision site, by clicking the little green arrow on the lower left corner.
What does the letter say? It is addressed by the CEO of Globovision to the Vice President Jorge Rodriguez. It was received at the vice presidency on June 29 and since on Saturday 8 of July there was no reply yet, Globovision decided to make a big deal of it and publish it.
In short: it openly calls Jorge Rodriguez a liar. This is no surprise of course, we have seen all the lies of Rodriguez when he was the head of the CNE. Of the regime figures he is with the interior minister Pedro Carreño the two characters that are least trusted in Venezuela, in particular within the opposition. Personally I would leave my wallet alone in a room with Chavez but I would not do so with these two creeps.
The main themes of the letter:
- In the country there is a state policy to diminish and destroy the Venezuelan media.
- Many international institutions are aware of the abuses made by the Chavez administration.
- Globovision alone has reported and documented 59 physical aggressions, 174 verbal aggressions from government officials.
- To date NO ACTION has been undertaken by the Venezuelan judicial system to address these offenses and protect the victims.
- But in addition the government has undertaken judicial action against Globovision and those ones do see action in the courts, contrary to the ones presented by Globovision.
- Against Globovision there are 19 court cases, 6 administrative actions and many "investigations".
- The president and most of his personnel refuse any interview to Globovison whereas they give it to state media at will and to international media on occasion.
- The government has been refusing to accept increased coverage of Globovision (UHF), going to the length to grant previously UHF range reserved for Globovision expansion to other media.
- The human rights of Globovision and its workers have been under attack and defended by many important international organizations and the government, in violation of its international agreements, has refused to take action.
What does this mean? Globovision knows that it will be closed sooner than later, that Chavez simply cannot allow independent information in Venezuela, at the moment which his regime is facing so much problems and at the moment when he wants to establish his rule for ever and ever. Chavez has no choice but to close Globovision (and "re"-close RCTV by the way). Globovison knows it and it is preparing itself to go down with its boots on.
-The end-
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Chavez's somber June
Today, as the journalists and students march in large numbers in the streets of Caracas, Chavez on his trip to Russia will be able to meditate on how his presidency got entangled in the biggest crisis since he came to office. Even more than the one of April 2002 where at least things were somewhat clearer: a group of people tried to remove you from office forcibly, you prevailed. Simpler, no?
Losing the battle of ideas
It will be a month this week since Chavez decided to make good his promise of closing RCTV. And he has shown no repentance no matter what the mounting political cost at home and overseas has been. Not only that, but there is no negotiation going on as to the transmission equipments that were seized from RCTV. We are talking millions of dollars in assets that were just taken from RCTV. If at least the government were offering a compensation or a rental fee, but no. The TSJ ruling appears today like a clear duplicitous act from the government and the judicial power combined to steal from RCTV all of its equipment. Legalized robbery, pure and simple, with all the implications that this might carry as to the future of private property and investments in Venezuela.
But this official descent into thuggery by the Venezuelan state was the least of Chavez concern. For the past month the student protest have not ebbed one bit and in fact it seems that they are reaching deeper withing other areas of the society. In particular the appeal of Chavez to have the barrios come down from their hills to challenge the students have felt in deaf hears.
However the barrios were willing to move, but to go to Chavez to ask him what the f**k is going on with many of his promises, why there are so many Barrio Adentro clinics closed or understaffed and under provided, why its it so difficult to find milk or cooking oil.
The result of these recent weeks is to expose the scarcity of ideas within chavismo, its inability to go outside of its congealed dialectic to reach new grounds of discussion. The same vocabulary possesses the mouths of chavista sycophancy. As a visible consequence we see a country stalled.
Gone are the talks of increasing gasoline prices, a huge burden for the state who could use that money to solve some of these barrios claims.
No more constitutional talk except for a quaint defense against leaked documents, pretending to pass them as only one of the dozens drafts circulated secretly in the committee. But the document is, we are told, a 400 pages draft. Some leak, some forgery, some dozens of other documents! that must have pass. But publishing a real draft by the government itself has not happened which has for effect to confirm that the leak is actually the real thing.
Gone are the mass meetings as Chavez runs away from a bridge inauguration or locks himself up in private military bases ceremonies where the people are not invited.
The best example of that new, shivering ?, Chavez could be seen last night inaugurating the Copa America (even though Peru and Uruguay had done a first match early that afternoon). Chavez postponed his trip to Russia to inaugurate the Venezuelan game in San Cristobal. Even if the renovated stadium looked beautiful and world class, the heart was not there. Chavez and Evo Morales sat like "simple spectators", like the "people", on the highest rows but their backs against a wall. Maybe it was better security but it did not look too good. The opening show was chavista culture. I mean, Reina Lucero in an ill fitting tacky yellow dress belting out her contrapunteo? Even the song who was the opposition anthem in 2003 was clumsily recovered by folks who were unable to sing it (1). Where are Aldemaro Romero and Joaquin Rivera when you need them? And all of that in Cadena. Exactly as if the US president decided that the opening ceremonies of the, say, Atlanta Olympics had to be transmitted simultaneously on all TV and radio stations. Can you imagine that?
Thus as it is usual with Chavez, when the going gets rough, the rough start traveling overseas. First a trip to Russia to see if the submarines, 9 of them, will be bought or not. A wit has qualified these absolutely unnecessary submarines for Venezuela as just gadget to go and rescue people that will be taken by the frequent floods of our starting raining season. Even there ridicule pursues Chavez.
And then he will move on to Tehran.
The Iranian resourcing
There is also a stop planned for Tehran where Chavez will meet his pal Ahmadinejerk. These days the Iranian president has been very busy purging universities from folks that do not toe the fundamentalist line he comes from, you know, his Pasdaram days. His government has also been diligent cracking down on dress codes, when not having his police "create" adequate fashion. If this was not enough he decided to increase gas prices which are beat in ridicule only by Venezuelan gas prices. This has started a series of disturbances that he is trying to control with great trouble. Surely Chavez will learn a lot about these controls when he will be forced to increase gas price in Venezuela. But no matter what, Chavez like Ahmadinejerk will have to face brain drain has he keeps his foolish policies.
What is Chavez doing in Iran again, when Iran is now openly involved with the Hamas takeover of Gaza, when the Iran backed Syrian interference in Lebanon is vox popili, when Ahmadinejerk is cracking down on any dissent as he faces for a tough nuclear situation? Chavez has nothing to do there, of course, since even the Iranian model of repression would not apply much in Venezuela. But he is so bereft of ideas that he cannot pass an opportunity to go to a country where at least one street will be lined with flag waving supportive people.
And now, openly questioning Chavez sanity
To end this note there are increasing reports questioning the sanity or psychology of Chavez. something quite visible to the naked ye, you know. But when even journalists like Debusmann write extensive articles on it you start wondering.
--- --- --- --- ---
1) the Lyrics of the song here and a lousy rendition with Spanish accent here, until I find something better on Youtube. That song was passing on TV and at any opposition march through 2002-2003. Chavismo has been trying to bring it over its side since then, after a dispirited opposition stopped chanting anything.
DB sent me this better interpretation but it is not what I am looking for. Oh well...
-The end-
Losing the battle of ideas
It will be a month this week since Chavez decided to make good his promise of closing RCTV. And he has shown no repentance no matter what the mounting political cost at home and overseas has been. Not only that, but there is no negotiation going on as to the transmission equipments that were seized from RCTV. We are talking millions of dollars in assets that were just taken from RCTV. If at least the government were offering a compensation or a rental fee, but no. The TSJ ruling appears today like a clear duplicitous act from the government and the judicial power combined to steal from RCTV all of its equipment. Legalized robbery, pure and simple, with all the implications that this might carry as to the future of private property and investments in Venezuela.
But this official descent into thuggery by the Venezuelan state was the least of Chavez concern. For the past month the student protest have not ebbed one bit and in fact it seems that they are reaching deeper withing other areas of the society. In particular the appeal of Chavez to have the barrios come down from their hills to challenge the students have felt in deaf hears.
However the barrios were willing to move, but to go to Chavez to ask him what the f**k is going on with many of his promises, why there are so many Barrio Adentro clinics closed or understaffed and under provided, why its it so difficult to find milk or cooking oil.
The result of these recent weeks is to expose the scarcity of ideas within chavismo, its inability to go outside of its congealed dialectic to reach new grounds of discussion. The same vocabulary possesses the mouths of chavista sycophancy. As a visible consequence we see a country stalled.
Gone are the talks of increasing gasoline prices, a huge burden for the state who could use that money to solve some of these barrios claims.
No more constitutional talk except for a quaint defense against leaked documents, pretending to pass them as only one of the dozens drafts circulated secretly in the committee. But the document is, we are told, a 400 pages draft. Some leak, some forgery, some dozens of other documents! that must have pass. But publishing a real draft by the government itself has not happened which has for effect to confirm that the leak is actually the real thing.
Gone are the mass meetings as Chavez runs away from a bridge inauguration or locks himself up in private military bases ceremonies where the people are not invited.
The best example of that new, shivering ?, Chavez could be seen last night inaugurating the Copa America (even though Peru and Uruguay had done a first match early that afternoon). Chavez postponed his trip to Russia to inaugurate the Venezuelan game in San Cristobal. Even if the renovated stadium looked beautiful and world class, the heart was not there. Chavez and Evo Morales sat like "simple spectators", like the "people", on the highest rows but their backs against a wall. Maybe it was better security but it did not look too good. The opening show was chavista culture. I mean, Reina Lucero in an ill fitting tacky yellow dress belting out her contrapunteo? Even the song who was the opposition anthem in 2003 was clumsily recovered by folks who were unable to sing it (1). Where are Aldemaro Romero and Joaquin Rivera when you need them? And all of that in Cadena. Exactly as if the US president decided that the opening ceremonies of the, say, Atlanta Olympics had to be transmitted simultaneously on all TV and radio stations. Can you imagine that?
Thus as it is usual with Chavez, when the going gets rough, the rough start traveling overseas. First a trip to Russia to see if the submarines, 9 of them, will be bought or not. A wit has qualified these absolutely unnecessary submarines for Venezuela as just gadget to go and rescue people that will be taken by the frequent floods of our starting raining season. Even there ridicule pursues Chavez.
And then he will move on to Tehran.
The Iranian resourcing
There is also a stop planned for Tehran where Chavez will meet his pal Ahmadinejerk. These days the Iranian president has been very busy purging universities from folks that do not toe the fundamentalist line he comes from, you know, his Pasdaram days. His government has also been diligent cracking down on dress codes, when not having his police "create" adequate fashion. If this was not enough he decided to increase gas prices which are beat in ridicule only by Venezuelan gas prices. This has started a series of disturbances that he is trying to control with great trouble. Surely Chavez will learn a lot about these controls when he will be forced to increase gas price in Venezuela. But no matter what, Chavez like Ahmadinejerk will have to face brain drain has he keeps his foolish policies.
What is Chavez doing in Iran again, when Iran is now openly involved with the Hamas takeover of Gaza, when the Iran backed Syrian interference in Lebanon is vox popili, when Ahmadinejerk is cracking down on any dissent as he faces for a tough nuclear situation? Chavez has nothing to do there, of course, since even the Iranian model of repression would not apply much in Venezuela. But he is so bereft of ideas that he cannot pass an opportunity to go to a country where at least one street will be lined with flag waving supportive people.
And now, openly questioning Chavez sanity
To end this note there are increasing reports questioning the sanity or psychology of Chavez. something quite visible to the naked ye, you know. But when even journalists like Debusmann write extensive articles on it you start wondering.
--- --- --- --- ---
1) the Lyrics of the song here and a lousy rendition with Spanish accent here, until I find something better on Youtube. That song was passing on TV and at any opposition march through 2002-2003. Chavismo has been trying to bring it over its side since then, after a dispirited opposition stopped chanting anything.
DB sent me this better interpretation but it is not what I am looking for. Oh well...
-The end-
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
RCTV: debunking the bunk
some people did not like my argumentations that the closing of RCTV was just that, a censorship closing.
So, let's have you visit Alexandra Beech and tell me if you can counter her arguments.
-The end-
So, let's have you visit Alexandra Beech and tell me if you can counter her arguments.
-The end-
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Enjoying the moment (part 2): Forero writes his first real anti Chavez article
Readers of this blog know well the gripe I have had with Juan Forero when he was the NYT correspondent. Apparently something happen during his transition to the Washington Post but suddenly Forero started finding flaws in chavismo. Well, the circle is now complete as his piece in the Washington Post today can be qualified as an anti Chavez article. Mind you! Do not expect chants to speed up the removal of Chavez, this is the Post after all, but this is as much fair and balanced criticism as we can expect from those quarters.
And you know what, the article is good, clear and well researched. That is, Forero is now getting it. You see it at the slight turn of certain phrases such as: "Other private stations that were harshly anti-Chávez but have toned down critical coverage avoided the same fate, as communications Minister William Lara readily acknowledged in an interview broadcast Friday on CNN's Spanish-language service." Now, this might seem almost a normal sentence but think about it and observe how Forero exposes the phony in Lara, and thus the whole phoniness in the Chavez campaign to clean his image after closing RCTV. Not an "O'Gradyesque" article yet, but well on its way.
Because, see, when RCTV was closed, Chavez lost the support of all serious journalists, even those who supported him earlier. Chavez threatens their sustain, their job, and journalists do not like that. Venezuelan journalists have long known that, but now it is the turn of foreign journalists to know that if it were for Chavez they would all be fired at the first criticism.
No matter how much Chavez spends in propaganda he is now assured to have a lot of anti Chavez articles written all the time for free. He will only have for him hack jobs like the scandalous op-ed by Bart James in the LA times which reads straight as a piece of propaganda. Compare Forero and James, and for all my previous dislike of Forero one can tell easily what is the difference between a paid agent and a professional journalist with his own ideas and criterion. Even in his worse days Forero would have not written even an OpEd piece like the one from James. At least I like to think so.
-The end-
And you know what, the article is good, clear and well researched. That is, Forero is now getting it. You see it at the slight turn of certain phrases such as: "Other private stations that were harshly anti-Chávez but have toned down critical coverage avoided the same fate, as communications Minister William Lara readily acknowledged in an interview broadcast Friday on CNN's Spanish-language service." Now, this might seem almost a normal sentence but think about it and observe how Forero exposes the phony in Lara, and thus the whole phoniness in the Chavez campaign to clean his image after closing RCTV. Not an "O'Gradyesque" article yet, but well on its way.
Because, see, when RCTV was closed, Chavez lost the support of all serious journalists, even those who supported him earlier. Chavez threatens their sustain, their job, and journalists do not like that. Venezuelan journalists have long known that, but now it is the turn of foreign journalists to know that if it were for Chavez they would all be fired at the first criticism.
No matter how much Chavez spends in propaganda he is now assured to have a lot of anti Chavez articles written all the time for free. He will only have for him hack jobs like the scandalous op-ed by Bart James in the LA times which reads straight as a piece of propaganda. Compare Forero and James, and for all my previous dislike of Forero one can tell easily what is the difference between a paid agent and a professional journalist with his own ideas and criterion. Even in his worse days Forero would have not written even an OpEd piece like the one from James. At least I like to think so.
-The end-
Enjoying the moment: chavismo on the defensive
If there is something that makes these tense days particularly enjoyable is to see the decomposed chavistas faces, unable to deal with a situation that they had never thought of: no violence, students ruining the revolution credits, as it was. All of their paradigms of aggression and unfair advantage are useless as for the time they must improvise, something that few of them are able to do. Today the students wanted to march from the UCAB to the National Assembly to bring some "documento", a piece of paper full of grievances, the traditional Venezuela exercise. Instead of letting them pass, well, Libertador Mayor Bernal refused any permit. Students decided to go but on the walk sides. Chavismo would have none of it and blocked the UCAB students inside the campus. The long drawn out moment only resulted in the start of some fraternization between the Metropolitan Police and the students. A classic.
Chavez and his lackeys behaving more and more like your average right wing repressive government are getting the same results. How hollow the international conspiracy, presidential assassination, destabilization talk sound!!! And how twisted the faces of those uttering them.
But it did not work at the end. The USB march did manage to join the UCAB who sneaked to the Vatican Representation where, of all people, Ismael Garcia of PODEMOS went to meet the students and receive the "documento" that none of his colleagues who be seen dead holding it. It is not enough to exculpate all of the grievous faults of Garcia, no. But it shows truly that the students are making public some of the fissures that we suspected within chavismo when the PUS creation did not take place as wished for.
So, what other novel strategy for chavismo? They decided to call of a mammoth march Saturday. From the info I got, the hurried organization might flounder: I have heard from some public employees who have not been summoned tot he march! That is, there will be no roll call, no sandwiches, no water bottles, no booze for all the marchers, assuming they show up. On the rush the government can think of nothing else to counter a spontaneous student movement with the crassest of chavista political maneuvers: crowds. We'll see. What I am sure is that tomorrow there will be lots of buses driving up to Caracas, full of red shirted folks, while today the scarce buses carrying a few multicolored students were stopped by the Nazional Guard.
At any rate, even though today was planned to be low key by the students, it was still quite active all around the country. Who knows what they will do tomorrow. Perhaps counter the Caracas march with a big Valencia rally? Or perhaps rest nicely, organize themselves, let the government waste its breath on a now pathetically old fashioned event and come back Monday in full strength. The opposition, by the way, is not faring better. Rosales could only offer a RCTV referendum and other folks are calling for a counter march on Sunday which could fizzle as much as the chavista one on Saturday. Both sides it seem have lost the agenda! I love it!
Meanwhile back the ranch Chavez is not having a good time. Now he got into a spat with Lula himself as Chavez big mouth could not help itself but to insult Brazil's Senate for worrying about freedom of expression in Venezuela and thus force the last major Democratic leader of Latin America to growl against him. I mean, could have Chavez just shut up? No, in a stupid and silly bravado he went ahead to let the senate know that Portugal was more likely to colonize again Brazil before he would relent on RCTV. I mean, this is so incredibly lame, and ignorant, that I
will not offend the reader with further discussion.
And there are more, from Amnesty international to the Spanish government but the reader gets the drift, the list gets longer and longer and chavismo replies as a cornered chihuahua. After all, they all love nothing more but to be received everywhere in red carpets, and it is going to be very difficult now, no matter how fat the wallet is. Heck, even Jesse Chacon just lost his US visa. Jesse Chacon liked to travel to the US? Imagine that!
But two other great hits came from the press. First form El Carabobeño. This venerable paper, and one of the only two that I buy when I cannot find El Universal or El Nacional decided to run an empty front and back page, with only a small question at the end: How would a day without information look like? I am pretty sure that this is exactly the picture of an opposition newspaper that Chavez would like to see. But I am pretty sure that in the Valencia area the impact must have been quite considerable. People must be told what Chavez is all up to with his repression of freedom of information.
To end this nothing better than the fabulous Economist cartoon. No explanations needed, as Chavez is toast for the international community that matters. Ridicule does not kill in real life but it can kill in politics.
PS: Do not forget to visit YouTube for all sorts of videos on the different marches around the country, AND the RCTV newscast which now goes out on YouTube. view by "date added" to simplify your task. Also if you could subscribe to You Tube "el Observador en linea" you will get to show your support to RCTV, promote YouTube as an instrument fore democracy and be counted on the Internet. By the way, RCTV is already higher in ratings than Radioaporrea which is quite nice.
-The end-
Chavez and his lackeys behaving more and more like your average right wing repressive government are getting the same results. How hollow the international conspiracy, presidential assassination, destabilization talk sound!!! And how twisted the faces of those uttering them.
But it did not work at the end. The USB march did manage to join the UCAB who sneaked to the Vatican Representation where, of all people, Ismael Garcia of PODEMOS went to meet the students and receive the "documento" that none of his colleagues who be seen dead holding it. It is not enough to exculpate all of the grievous faults of Garcia, no. But it shows truly that the students are making public some of the fissures that we suspected within chavismo when the PUS creation did not take place as wished for.
So, what other novel strategy for chavismo? They decided to call of a mammoth march Saturday. From the info I got, the hurried organization might flounder: I have heard from some public employees who have not been summoned tot he march! That is, there will be no roll call, no sandwiches, no water bottles, no booze for all the marchers, assuming they show up. On the rush the government can think of nothing else to counter a spontaneous student movement with the crassest of chavista political maneuvers: crowds. We'll see. What I am sure is that tomorrow there will be lots of buses driving up to Caracas, full of red shirted folks, while today the scarce buses carrying a few multicolored students were stopped by the Nazional Guard.
At any rate, even though today was planned to be low key by the students, it was still quite active all around the country. Who knows what they will do tomorrow. Perhaps counter the Caracas march with a big Valencia rally? Or perhaps rest nicely, organize themselves, let the government waste its breath on a now pathetically old fashioned event and come back Monday in full strength. The opposition, by the way, is not faring better. Rosales could only offer a RCTV referendum and other folks are calling for a counter march on Sunday which could fizzle as much as the chavista one on Saturday. Both sides it seem have lost the agenda! I love it!
Meanwhile back the ranch Chavez is not having a good time. Now he got into a spat with Lula himself as Chavez big mouth could not help itself but to insult Brazil's Senate for worrying about freedom of expression in Venezuela and thus force the last major Democratic leader of Latin America to growl against him. I mean, could have Chavez just shut up? No, in a stupid and silly bravado he went ahead to let the senate know that Portugal was more likely to colonize again Brazil before he would relent on RCTV. I mean, this is so incredibly lame, and ignorant, that I
will not offend the reader with further discussion.And there are more, from Amnesty international to the Spanish government but the reader gets the drift, the list gets longer and longer and chavismo replies as a cornered chihuahua. After all, they all love nothing more but to be received everywhere in red carpets, and it is going to be very difficult now, no matter how fat the wallet is. Heck, even Jesse Chacon just lost his US visa. Jesse Chacon liked to travel to the US? Imagine that!
But two other great hits came from the press. First form El Carabobeño. This venerable paper, and one of the only two that I buy when I cannot find El Universal or El Nacional decided to run an empty front and back page, with only a small question at the end: How would a day without information look like? I am pretty sure that this is exactly the picture of an opposition newspaper that Chavez would like to see. But I am pretty sure that in the Valencia area the impact must have been quite considerable. People must be told what Chavez is all up to with his repression of freedom of information.
To end this nothing better than the fabulous Economist cartoon. No explanations needed, as Chavez is toast for the international community that matters. Ridicule does not kill in real life but it can kill in politics.
PS: Do not forget to visit YouTube for all sorts of videos on the different marches around the country, AND the RCTV newscast which now goes out on YouTube. view by "date added" to simplify your task. Also if you could subscribe to You Tube "el Observador en linea" you will get to show your support to RCTV, promote YouTube as an instrument fore democracy and be counted on the Internet. By the way, RCTV is already higher in ratings than Radioaporrea which is quite nice.
-The end-
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Today's brief summary of Venezuela mess
I have lots of issues at work (imagine that in Venezuela!) so I could not follow things that well. Fortunately it was a more controlled day: so far the violence wishes so clearly expressed by chavismo are not happening. Let's start with Yaracuy.
This morning stopping for "un cafecito" in my errands, I learned that there had been trouble at the CUAM. Students protested, some where injured when the police crashed the protest. So I went to check it out, in great surprise that violence had ALREADY reached this little corner of the world.
When I arrived they were all gone, the CUAM was locked up with chains. But in the street, well, in addition to the slowly burning remains of a barricade there were still about a half dozen police trucks and perhaps up to 50 police people armed to the hilt, bullet proof vest and everything. Needless to say that being alone driving around I decided that it might not be a good idea to stop and take a picture. I learned later through El Impulso that two students had been hurt but that the rest moved on to the IUTY where apparently some from inside joined in the protest. To be continued here.
Elsewhere a large march of students made it way to Plaza Morelos. It is becoming more and more difficult for chavismo to sustain that it is only a couple of thousand of "desadaptados" who protest. Other parts of the country showed continuous protests, but at least less violence than the previous days. However that might have meant more worries for the government.
It seems that in the age of cell phone students are organizing themselves fast and that they might have understood that time plays in their favor if they manage to hold to a solid front for a while. They are also encouraged by some of the students from chavista universities joining them. This is difficult to evaluate as too many of these chavista universities get benefits not obtained by other students and thus might be moor reluctant to join in, if they want to of course. We will have to wait, but meanwhile it is quite clear that the student body of the old universities, students who left high school when Chavez was already president, not a small observation, are largely agasitn Chavez. And if not, well, there is no spontaneous pro Chavez march to be observed anywhere.
But there were other activities observed. For example the government started legal procedures against Globovision. What I expressed yesterday is thus starting to take shape.
But more bad news keep coming to Chavez. For example the Venezuelan Soccer team captain stated that he did not agree with the closing of RCTV. Could that means trouble for the political show that chavismo was trying to mount for the America cup opening in barely three weeks? but that was not all: the ambassador in the US, Alvarez, showed one again how little effect he has in affecting politics in the US as the US House might be about to vote in turn a condemnation of the RCTV closing. Imagine that, Alvarez was stupid enough to challenge Pelosi who has much bigger fish to fry. And Lula seems to be edging closer to eventually speak up on RCTV. He was still rather ambiguous today but his Senate seems to have less qualm about been more direct. At least the Brazilian media is starting to put more heat on the government. Heck, even Mexico's PRD is uttering some concern!
Anyway, today was a day of some reflux as all players seem to have taken stock of the situation. But a few things are certain: the price that Chavez is paying is growing everyday and his supporters everyday look in bigger disarray. But more about that in another post. Meanwhile I leave you to enjoy this great Weil cartoon about the reality of the country. From what little bit I have seen of TVes, I have no doubt that this is the goal of Chavez, that the media do not show the murders, the food scarcity, the corruption, etc... only the good words from his golden mouth.
-The end-
This morning stopping for "un cafecito" in my errands, I learned that there had been trouble at the CUAM. Students protested, some where injured when the police crashed the protest. So I went to check it out, in great surprise that violence had ALREADY reached this little corner of the world.
When I arrived they were all gone, the CUAM was locked up with chains. But in the street, well, in addition to the slowly burning remains of a barricade there were still about a half dozen police trucks and perhaps up to 50 police people armed to the hilt, bullet proof vest and everything. Needless to say that being alone driving around I decided that it might not be a good idea to stop and take a picture. I learned later through El Impulso that two students had been hurt but that the rest moved on to the IUTY where apparently some from inside joined in the protest. To be continued here.
Elsewhere a large march of students made it way to Plaza Morelos. It is becoming more and more difficult for chavismo to sustain that it is only a couple of thousand of "desadaptados" who protest. Other parts of the country showed continuous protests, but at least less violence than the previous days. However that might have meant more worries for the government.
It seems that in the age of cell phone students are organizing themselves fast and that they might have understood that time plays in their favor if they manage to hold to a solid front for a while. They are also encouraged by some of the students from chavista universities joining them. This is difficult to evaluate as too many of these chavista universities get benefits not obtained by other students and thus might be moor reluctant to join in, if they want to of course. We will have to wait, but meanwhile it is quite clear that the student body of the old universities, students who left high school when Chavez was already president, not a small observation, are largely agasitn Chavez. And if not, well, there is no spontaneous pro Chavez march to be observed anywhere.
But there were other activities observed. For example the government started legal procedures against Globovision. What I expressed yesterday is thus starting to take shape.
But more bad news keep coming to Chavez. For example the Venezuelan Soccer team captain stated that he did not agree with the closing of RCTV. Could that means trouble for the political show that chavismo was trying to mount for the America cup opening in barely three weeks? but that was not all: the ambassador in the US, Alvarez, showed one again how little effect he has in affecting politics in the US as the US House might be about to vote in turn a condemnation of the RCTV closing. Imagine that, Alvarez was stupid enough to challenge Pelosi who has much bigger fish to fry. And Lula seems to be edging closer to eventually speak up on RCTV. He was still rather ambiguous today but his Senate seems to have less qualm about been more direct. At least the Brazilian media is starting to put more heat on the government. Heck, even Mexico's PRD is uttering some concern!
Anyway, today was a day of some reflux as all players seem to have taken stock of the situation. But a few things are certain: the price that Chavez is paying is growing everyday and his supporters everyday look in bigger disarray. But more about that in another post. Meanwhile I leave you to enjoy this great Weil cartoon about the reality of the country. From what little bit I have seen of TVes, I have no doubt that this is the goal of Chavez, that the media do not show the murders, the food scarcity, the corruption, etc... only the good words from his golden mouth.
-The end-
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
PodCast at Radio Five of the BBC
For those who have time on their hands.
BBC's Radio Five Live from London called me for a Podcast. Since I am not getting used to the routine of Podcasting which is sweeping through the net, I actually thought I was answering casual questions Chris Vallance asked me while we were waiting for our air time slot....... it is only about half way through it that I realized we were on the air, or that it would be broadcast as is.
The blog with the program of the show items is here, and the actual broadcast is here. You need to go forward around minute 12 (20:12 in their dial). And this being the BBC, it was on a pleasant and civil tone; so if you hoped to hear me insult Chavez for the violence, well, you will be disappointed.
-The end-
BBC's Radio Five Live from London called me for a Podcast. Since I am not getting used to the routine of Podcasting which is sweeping through the net, I actually thought I was answering casual questions Chris Vallance asked me while we were waiting for our air time slot....... it is only about half way through it that I realized we were on the air, or that it would be broadcast as is.
The blog with the program of the show items is here, and the actual broadcast is here. You need to go forward around minute 12 (20:12 in their dial). And this being the BBC, it was on a pleasant and civil tone; so if you hoped to hear me insult Chavez for the violence, well, you will be disappointed.
-The end-
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Chavez shoots students
[updated]
There was only one thing missing in Chavez fascist list of accomplishments: shooting peaceful student protests. Yesterday events at Plaza Brion of Chacaito, a central district of Caracas, were another milestone in Chavez descent into petty tyrant status towards open fascism. We even had serious injuries when a group of hooded thugs attacked the pacific rally at University of Carabobo (we must always observe the "courage" of these chavista supporters attacking marches with bandannas or masks on their faces, preferably on fast motorbikes so they can escape, XXI century socialism S.A.).
But this being internet, Katy of CCSC send us this great video from Chilean TV who filmed perfectly the modus operandi of the chavista police attacking mercilessly students. There is one chilling moment where about a dozen police man (S.A.?) are pursuing on their bike a single pedestrian student and shooting him with "perdigones" to injury him without killing.
To watch this fantastic video "on the ground" you need to click here as a permanent link has now appeared. [to go here, and look for the image that I repost on the right. That image was on the bottom left quadrant last time I checked. Under that image there is a video button, push it and watch.] Even if you do not understand Chilean accent, the video is as clear as they come.
And Chavez? No where to be seen. As it is now a routine in his life, when he loses the emotional battle he retreats somewhere (Cuba?) to lick his bruised soul while his lackeys finish the dirty job he does not have the guts to direct. And there are still people that dare to defend him! It is simply amazing what some people will be able to accept as long as Chavez gives free aspirin to some of the poor, not the poor, some of them.
Bonus video: some videos are reaching the screens of You Tube. This one shows the march arriving at Chacaito. Note the appreciable size considering that it is a spontaneous march of students already blocked earlier at Plaza Venezuela. That person has a few videos in fact which are not all great but reflect a little bit the anguish but determination of these students as the sound track is sometime better than the images.
-The end-
There was only one thing missing in Chavez fascist list of accomplishments: shooting peaceful student protests. Yesterday events at Plaza Brion of Chacaito, a central district of Caracas, were another milestone in Chavez descent into petty tyrant status towards open fascism. We even had serious injuries when a group of hooded thugs attacked the pacific rally at University of Carabobo (we must always observe the "courage" of these chavista supporters attacking marches with bandannas or masks on their faces, preferably on fast motorbikes so they can escape, XXI century socialism S.A.).
But this being internet, Katy of CCSC send us this great video from Chilean TV who filmed perfectly the modus operandi of the chavista police attacking mercilessly students. There is one chilling moment where about a dozen police man (S.A.?) are pursuing on their bike a single pedestrian student and shooting him with "perdigones" to injury him without killing.
To watch this fantastic video "on the ground" you need to click here as a permanent link has now appeared. [to go here, and look for the image that I repost on the right. That image was on the bottom left quadrant last time I checked. Under that image there is a video button, push it and watch.] Even if you do not understand Chilean accent, the video is as clear as they come.
And Chavez? No where to be seen. As it is now a routine in his life, when he loses the emotional battle he retreats somewhere (Cuba?) to lick his bruised soul while his lackeys finish the dirty job he does not have the guts to direct. And there are still people that dare to defend him! It is simply amazing what some people will be able to accept as long as Chavez gives free aspirin to some of the poor, not the poor, some of them.
Bonus video: some videos are reaching the screens of You Tube. This one shows the march arriving at Chacaito. Note the appreciable size considering that it is a spontaneous march of students already blocked earlier at Plaza Venezuela. That person has a few videos in fact which are not all great but reflect a little bit the anguish but determination of these students as the sound track is sometime better than the images.
-The end-
Monday, May 28, 2007
Antes que anochezca: waiting for the night in Venezuela
This book title form Cuban writer Reynaldo Arenas is from one book that has perturbed me since I read it first. The autobiography of sorts of a gay Cuban writer who welcomed naively the arrival of Castro and the sexual liberation of those earlier days, until the regime became the repressive puritanical bastion still expiring today. If it is definitely one of the best books on the Cuban revolutionary reality, it is also one of the best books, for its flaws since it was written in a rush before arenas died, on how a regime, any regime, becomes an oppression.
Tonight I will wait patiently until midnight, to watch the RCTV signal go out. Not because I particularly liked RCTV: I am a cable person, Animal Planet, History channel and the mindless entertainment of Sony or Warner Channels are my cup of tea. No, I will wait because tonight, at midnight we, Venezuelans, as a a people will lose freedom of information, and most of our freedom of expression. It is historical and the historian in me cannot help but live it.
I do not care about what comes next on the #2 Hertzian wavelengths: as soon as darkness falls on RCTV I will turn off the TV and go to bed. TeVes will be a fiasco because the government will never grant it the freedom of becoming a Latin American BBC. It id not do it with VTV, it did not do it with ViVe, it did not do it with ANTV, it did not do it with TeleSur. It certainly will not do it with the new monstrosity coming to pollute our broadcast ranges. If there is anything that chavismo has amply demonstrated is that it does not have the personnel to make great TV. It will never have it because the chavismo system cannot sponsor creativity, which is based on criticism. Great art is always based on criticism, on art criticism, and political criticism. Besides, if truth be told, Chavez does not care whether TeVes is good or not, he only cares about shutting up the dissent of RCTV.
But I am not pessimistic tonight. Chavez will pay a heavy price for this closing. Even the shootings of CONATEL this afternoon can be blamed on him even if the bullets come from the opposition side. Who shot within the opposition? Could it even be a chavista obeying orders and hiding in the crowd? And if it were an opposition radical, why has s/he been radicalized to that extreme? Can the government plead innocence after the extraordinary verbal aggression it has subjected the country for weeks of cadena after cadena to insult whomever does not agree with Chavez? Violence is inevitable and it comes as much from the insulted and dispossessed oppo guy as from the chavista guy whipped irresponsibly into frenzy by Chavez and his lackeys. What can you expect when the vice president says that whomever defends RCTV is a mercenary? Is it not a license for chavista to shoot such people? Is it not a license for those aggressed to shoot before they are shot at? The ones that must go on trial here no matter who gets a bullet are Rodriguez, Chavez, Lara and their helpers.
But more importantly, and a consolation of sorts for me, is the intensity of the international response to the closing of RCTV. Anyone who is anybody in the world has either condemned Chavez or at least remained silent, and definitely refused to support Chavez. Only a few, a surprisingly very few, have come out to support Chavez and they have no credit anyway. You can see it everywhere, from the desperate and ridiculous accusations of Minister Lara today to comment sections at Publius Pundit from pro Chavez Anglos losing their grip on things. Indeed, one from that side should be pissed off: 6 months of intense propaganda and you get editorials such as the one from Le Monde. Millions of dollars in paid services gone to waste, thousands of hours of "grass root" working for naught. The world is unto Chavez, and them, and they know it.
Yes, it is a small consolation but it is an important one. Chavez has lost any respectability he might still have had, and there is nothing he can do to recover it. When, say, Mugabe or Fujimori did this sort of things, they stopped been received where it mattered. Their regime started to unravel as they started losing the respect of their people even if those for a variety of reasons kept voting for them at first. And we know all that Chavez pins for international stages. Many will be denied him now.
A new fight starts tomorrow and I am full of energy for it because now the people who matter in the world, those who think, those who create, those who feel, are on my side. To those readers that are still bearing up with me tonight, who are probably quite depressed, do not be depressed. Our fight is going to become easier intellectually and emotionally though not materially: we will finally start being heard all around, Chavez mask is begin lifted. Oh, he is far from gone, but for the first time his image is seriously dented and there is no telling how such chipping evolves.
So maybe we are at the hour where darkness falls on us, but light can only come after darkness. Reynaldo Arena escaped Cuba. Cuba will escape Castro and Venezuela will escape Chavez. Someday, you can count on it. And we might have reached that road tonight!
-The end-
Tonight I will wait patiently until midnight, to watch the RCTV signal go out. Not because I particularly liked RCTV: I am a cable person, Animal Planet, History channel and the mindless entertainment of Sony or Warner Channels are my cup of tea. No, I will wait because tonight, at midnight we, Venezuelans, as a a people will lose freedom of information, and most of our freedom of expression. It is historical and the historian in me cannot help but live it.
I do not care about what comes next on the #2 Hertzian wavelengths: as soon as darkness falls on RCTV I will turn off the TV and go to bed. TeVes will be a fiasco because the government will never grant it the freedom of becoming a Latin American BBC. It id not do it with VTV, it did not do it with ViVe, it did not do it with ANTV, it did not do it with TeleSur. It certainly will not do it with the new monstrosity coming to pollute our broadcast ranges. If there is anything that chavismo has amply demonstrated is that it does not have the personnel to make great TV. It will never have it because the chavismo system cannot sponsor creativity, which is based on criticism. Great art is always based on criticism, on art criticism, and political criticism. Besides, if truth be told, Chavez does not care whether TeVes is good or not, he only cares about shutting up the dissent of RCTV.
But I am not pessimistic tonight. Chavez will pay a heavy price for this closing. Even the shootings of CONATEL this afternoon can be blamed on him even if the bullets come from the opposition side. Who shot within the opposition? Could it even be a chavista obeying orders and hiding in the crowd? And if it were an opposition radical, why has s/he been radicalized to that extreme? Can the government plead innocence after the extraordinary verbal aggression it has subjected the country for weeks of cadena after cadena to insult whomever does not agree with Chavez? Violence is inevitable and it comes as much from the insulted and dispossessed oppo guy as from the chavista guy whipped irresponsibly into frenzy by Chavez and his lackeys. What can you expect when the vice president says that whomever defends RCTV is a mercenary? Is it not a license for chavista to shoot such people? Is it not a license for those aggressed to shoot before they are shot at? The ones that must go on trial here no matter who gets a bullet are Rodriguez, Chavez, Lara and their helpers.
But more importantly, and a consolation of sorts for me, is the intensity of the international response to the closing of RCTV. Anyone who is anybody in the world has either condemned Chavez or at least remained silent, and definitely refused to support Chavez. Only a few, a surprisingly very few, have come out to support Chavez and they have no credit anyway. You can see it everywhere, from the desperate and ridiculous accusations of Minister Lara today to comment sections at Publius Pundit from pro Chavez Anglos losing their grip on things. Indeed, one from that side should be pissed off: 6 months of intense propaganda and you get editorials such as the one from Le Monde. Millions of dollars in paid services gone to waste, thousands of hours of "grass root" working for naught. The world is unto Chavez, and them, and they know it.
Yes, it is a small consolation but it is an important one. Chavez has lost any respectability he might still have had, and there is nothing he can do to recover it. When, say, Mugabe or Fujimori did this sort of things, they stopped been received where it mattered. Their regime started to unravel as they started losing the respect of their people even if those for a variety of reasons kept voting for them at first. And we know all that Chavez pins for international stages. Many will be denied him now.
A new fight starts tomorrow and I am full of energy for it because now the people who matter in the world, those who think, those who create, those who feel, are on my side. To those readers that are still bearing up with me tonight, who are probably quite depressed, do not be depressed. Our fight is going to become easier intellectually and emotionally though not materially: we will finally start being heard all around, Chavez mask is begin lifted. Oh, he is far from gone, but for the first time his image is seriously dented and there is no telling how such chipping evolves.
So maybe we are at the hour where darkness falls on us, but light can only come after darkness. Reynaldo Arena escaped Cuba. Cuba will escape Castro and Venezuela will escape Chavez. Someday, you can count on it. And we might have reached that road tonight!
-The end-
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Le Monde against Chavez
Taking my coffee this morning I was treated to the Le Monde editorial of Saturday, with very extraordinary words against Chavez. An editorial nothing less. A Le Monde editorial has more influence in the world at large, with foreign offices, with intellectuals, than any editorial of any US or UK newspaper. For all its problems and failings, Le Monde is still one of the greatest papers, and always one of the special treats for those lucky enough to visit France and hold in their hands the light paper, read its tight font, enjoy the literary style of Le Monde. This is not a paper written for the masses, it is a paper deliberately written for the intelligentsia of the world. I could venture to say that this Editorial of Le Monde, which I translate below, is perhaps more damaging to Chavez in the long run than the EU or the US Senate resolution. Because more than any other paper, even London's Guardian, Le Monde is the reference of the democratic and sensible left. And it has a nifty way to link to its articles :)
Below my translation, followed by very briefs comments:
President Hugo Chavez ordered the disappearance of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), the principal television operator of Venezuela. Friday May 25, the army received the order of the Supreme Court [TSJ] to take the control of the buildings and installations of RCTV, in order to “ensure a serene transition” with the official chain which will replace it.
The non-renewal of the concession of RCTV, created fifty-three years, deprives a popular public of its favorite programs. Serials, spectacles and humor constitute the essence of its programming. The identification with these programs encouraged part of the abandoned elements of Venezuelan society to express their complaints with the authorities via the microphones and cameras of RCTV. This role an echo chamber for their dissatisfactions undoubtedly annoyed the Chavez government as much than the programs of information and opinion devoted to the opposition.
None the charges carried by the president against RCTV, in connection with his role in the missed coup of 2002 or the oil strike of 2003, was the subject of a debate in front of a court. The Supreme Court was solicited by RCTV whereas Mr. Chavez had already announced his decision, irrevocable. This political decision reduced pluralism and increases the concentration of audio-visual tools within the hands of the government. Whatever the administrative or legal arguments called upon by the president, it is a hard blow carried against the freedom of expression in Venezuela.
The replacement of a private chain which was open to the opposition by a public chain circumstantially created piece meal is presented by the state power like “a democratization of the media”. The government controlled already several chains and had gained by various means the favors of the majority of the others. Following the disappearance of RCTV of the hertzian waves, Monday May 28, there will not remain but one opposition chain, whose [open] signal does not go beyond Caracas and whose audience is negligible.
In December 2006, neither RCTV nor the opposition prevented the re-election of president Chavez with nearly 63% of the voices. The National Assembly, where the totality of the elected officials are acquired to him, became a simple registration room. The Head of the State moreover made a point of benefiting from special capacities allowing him to legislate. Justice does not dare to contradict the executive and does not escape the generalized corruption.
The independence of powers does not exist any more in Venezuela. The opposition fears that, after the media, the president will proceed in a similar way towards the trade unions, the nongovernmental organizations or the political parties. With Mr. Chavez, the Venezuelan democracy is threatened.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Just to make things clear: this is not Le Monde Diplomatique which is another paper that has nothing to do with Le Monde anymore but which managed to retain the title wording for the obvious publicity advantage. Le Monde Diplomatique is a mercenary paper through its director Ignacio Ramonet who has no problem flying to Caracas to support his master, widely murmured to have paid for the Paris new headquarters of that yellow racket.
Le Monde is a very serious paper who people critical of its editorial line read anyway. I remember even a picture of Chirac reading Le Monde in the railway during one of his campaigns. It is also a paper that endorsed Segolene Royal in the recent elections, so there is no way to corner it as a right wing paper, paid for by Bush or any other inanity that the chavista crowd might want to use to disqualify it. You would be hard pressed to find kind words for Bush in Le Monde.
At any rate, such an editorial assures that the next French government that comes from the June legislative elections will not be a friend of Chavez. And as yet another public relations disaster for Chavez, it ranks way up.
-The end-
Below my translation, followed by very briefs comments:
President Hugo Chavez ordered the disappearance of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), the principal television operator of Venezuela. Friday May 25, the army received the order of the Supreme Court [TSJ] to take the control of the buildings and installations of RCTV, in order to “ensure a serene transition” with the official chain which will replace it.
The non-renewal of the concession of RCTV, created fifty-three years, deprives a popular public of its favorite programs. Serials, spectacles and humor constitute the essence of its programming. The identification with these programs encouraged part of the abandoned elements of Venezuelan society to express their complaints with the authorities via the microphones and cameras of RCTV. This role an echo chamber for their dissatisfactions undoubtedly annoyed the Chavez government as much than the programs of information and opinion devoted to the opposition.
None the charges carried by the president against RCTV, in connection with his role in the missed coup of 2002 or the oil strike of 2003, was the subject of a debate in front of a court. The Supreme Court was solicited by RCTV whereas Mr. Chavez had already announced his decision, irrevocable. This political decision reduced pluralism and increases the concentration of audio-visual tools within the hands of the government. Whatever the administrative or legal arguments called upon by the president, it is a hard blow carried against the freedom of expression in Venezuela.
The replacement of a private chain which was open to the opposition by a public chain circumstantially created piece meal is presented by the state power like “a democratization of the media”. The government controlled already several chains and had gained by various means the favors of the majority of the others. Following the disappearance of RCTV of the hertzian waves, Monday May 28, there will not remain but one opposition chain, whose [open] signal does not go beyond Caracas and whose audience is negligible.
In December 2006, neither RCTV nor the opposition prevented the re-election of president Chavez with nearly 63% of the voices. The National Assembly, where the totality of the elected officials are acquired to him, became a simple registration room. The Head of the State moreover made a point of benefiting from special capacities allowing him to legislate. Justice does not dare to contradict the executive and does not escape the generalized corruption.
The independence of powers does not exist any more in Venezuela. The opposition fears that, after the media, the president will proceed in a similar way towards the trade unions, the nongovernmental organizations or the political parties. With Mr. Chavez, the Venezuelan democracy is threatened.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Just to make things clear: this is not Le Monde Diplomatique which is another paper that has nothing to do with Le Monde anymore but which managed to retain the title wording for the obvious publicity advantage. Le Monde Diplomatique is a mercenary paper through its director Ignacio Ramonet who has no problem flying to Caracas to support his master, widely murmured to have paid for the Paris new headquarters of that yellow racket.
Le Monde is a very serious paper who people critical of its editorial line read anyway. I remember even a picture of Chirac reading Le Monde in the railway during one of his campaigns. It is also a paper that endorsed Segolene Royal in the recent elections, so there is no way to corner it as a right wing paper, paid for by Bush or any other inanity that the chavista crowd might want to use to disqualify it. You would be hard pressed to find kind words for Bush in Le Monde.
At any rate, such an editorial assures that the next French government that comes from the June legislative elections will not be a friend of Chavez. And as yet another public relations disaster for Chavez, it ranks way up.
-The end-
The RCTV closing: the teachings on Venezuelan society
Perhaps some might raise an eyebrow for the title. After all there are still a few hours to go before the closing time of RCTV. But as far as I am concerned, not only there is now 99.9999% chances of RCTV being closed, but even if by some last minute miracle an extension were granted, the lessons that we can learn about this experience would be exactly the same.
The Venezuelan government manipulates. No surprise there of course, coming form a government who refuses to discuss publicly the constitutional change it wants. However what is becoming increasing revealed is the intense manipulation and preparation that the government has put into closing RCTV. This was quite a requirement as the closing is illegal. Not to mention that Chavez could not do it before the presidential elections of December 2006 and thus that closing HAD TO be done this year so that by 2012 people would have long forgotten about RCTV.
But the extension of the manipulation is only becoming apparent. For example I was watching Saturday a certain Mr. Bisbal been interviewed in "Que Fuente" and he was showing us an ad that appeared two days after the December 28 Chavez announcement. That advertisement appeared in most Venezuelan papers and in that time of year probably required it to be done BEFORE the Chavez speech so that it could make it by December 31. However, that ad was wrong since it accused RCTV to violate article 58 and 28 of the RESORTE law. Unfortunately article 58 does not exist and article 28 is an organizational matter that does not contemplate any sanction (if I remember well the numbers I heard then) . The ad was not published anymore, but it showed at the same time the preparation and the incompetence of those behind this crass maneuvering.
It is impossible now to pretend that the government of Venezuela is open to scrutiny, is open to discussion, is transparent, is considerate of the rights of minority. Minority rights have been violated more in Venezuela in the past 6 months than during all of the preceding Chavez tenure in office. The Venezuelan government has been acting more in the dark shadows since December 3 than at any previous period.
The judicial system has no independence and is servile to Chavez. We have also known that all along, since 2000 in fact. It has just become worse and worse, and now without any pretense to the contrary. But what has happened in the campaign to RCTV defies any accurate explanation or moral examination. Ethics is a word that must be definitively removed from the Venezuelan language.
But what astounds us is the direct complicity between the judicial system and the government manipulations to bag the RCTV case. In other words the TSJ knew quite well that it could not close RCTV and diligently it has paved the way through indirect means for the government seizure not only of the Hertzian range of RCTV, but also of its properties in transmission equipment and the land where it is placed (and perhaps even the studios?). This included all the judicial arsenal that one could think of: delays in some decisions, expediency in others before RCTV even could know that it was a party of a given decision, distortion of the law at will, avoidance of any solid decision pretending that some day RCTV could aspire to redress but AFTER TVes would have been solidly on the air for months or years, etc, etc...
It is impossible now for the observer to pretend to even discuss possible objectivity of the judicial system in Venezuela. Oh, sure, it is all perfectly legal, and so were the Nazi concentration camps.
The Venezuelan people are afraid, or even worse, indifferent. How else can one explain that with polls at 70 to 80% against the closing of RCTV you do not see spontaneous marches of protest everywhere? It is not a matter of been indifferent, or even of wanting to keep a job in the public administration. No, now the Venezuelan people are becoming afraid. There is less open criticism from the masses, more discretion. And the state through its selective criteria as to who gets what, and with his weapons shown whenever needed to intimidate the hoi polloi, is not afraid to scare people as much as needed. It comes from the president himself who cannot help but insult whomever disagrees with him in his now overwhelming TV presence.
What we have learned through this past few months is that the Venezuelan people has no democratic backbone in it, that it is is disposed to sell its freedom for peanuts, and that more dangerous for our future than the scared people, are the indifferent ones who sigh and look away no matter how much they dislike what Chavez does. And thus Venezuela will get what it deserves, the only way it can learn that happiness cannot depend on what our new Deimos decides to do.
Freedom of information is lost. The distinction is important, a mangled freedom of expression still exists in Venezuela, but freedom of information is already lost. Yes, I know, there is still newspapers, Internet and Globovision. But who can access them? Globovision reaches by cable only many areas of the country. Internet must be payed for by the people and they will rather spend their money in e-mail, porn and game pages, even more so now that they cannot enjoy games and soap operas anymore with RCTV who at least had the grace to be free. As for newspapers, outside of Caracas their information tends to be more limited to local matters and sometimes to local gossip. Besides how long until some of them are closed or neutered or bought out by chavista capitalists?
This had been announced for years by people such as your favorite blogger and no one paid much attention. My words are no impossible to deny. There is no more liberty of information and thus there will be necessary a decrease in the liberty of expression which is the natural outcome desire of an informed people.
A new leadership for the opposition. The strong and dignified defense of RCTV by Granier and his team is an essential event. When we put it together with the late coming defense of the opposition political leadership inherited from December vote (with the honorable exception of Petkoff who has defended RCTV from the start) and the accomplice silence of some sectors such as the Cisneros of the world (who know is seen as traitor by the opposition, sinking even further the Carter center if it were possible), we can see that all of these people are doomed to irrelevance as voices of the opposition. After the Granier presentation last Friday in Globovision, who do you want to speak for you? Borges? Rosales? Venevision? In the mêlée they all lost some credibility, if they had any left, and the one coming out with the oval ball is Granier.
Big time ahead for Granier. Now the government will brand him and seek to destroy him. He has managed to reveal to the world as no one else could before the vulgarly crass abusive low life cheap military that Chavez is. And Chavez cannot forgive that, nor his followers from having been exposed to be servants of such a low creature. It is Granier's choice, to become the leader of the opposition, risk ending up in jail as a martyr, and in the end prevail, or leave for exile.
The violence ahead. Of course, with a trumped CNE, a servile TSJ and no freedom of information, how can fair elections ever take place in Venezuela? How can political participation not cowed by the government abuse of power can take place? Not that democracy died today, for me it died in February 2004 when Chavez sent the army to shoot protesters. Today is only an additional step. But today marks possibly, unfortunately, the day in which violence becomes now the only option for more than just a tiny minority of the opposition. Violence is now the option for the chavista supporters who cannot express their complaints on a TV camera, a TV camera ONLY offered by RCTV or Globovision. Will these people stay home quiet when they cannot express their angst? I doubt it. The opposition is fast been redesigned, from the forced dissolution of PODEMOS and PPT, to the extreme military right plotting uselessly somewhere. That new opposition will soon find out that through normal channels it cannot express it self and thus it will take alternative paths, with all of their implications. What scares me is that this is exactly what Chavez want, excuses to tighten his grip and "eliminate" those who oppose him. He already killed them with words this week, it is just a matter of time for him to act on his words.
Conclusion. There were even more revelations through this last few months. But I am tired and I do not feel it in me to qualify what has happened in Venezuela. After all, when everything that is done is "so legal", adjectives become unnecessary.
The Venezuelan government manipulates. No surprise there of course, coming form a government who refuses to discuss publicly the constitutional change it wants. However what is becoming increasing revealed is the intense manipulation and preparation that the government has put into closing RCTV. This was quite a requirement as the closing is illegal. Not to mention that Chavez could not do it before the presidential elections of December 2006 and thus that closing HAD TO be done this year so that by 2012 people would have long forgotten about RCTV.
But the extension of the manipulation is only becoming apparent. For example I was watching Saturday a certain Mr. Bisbal been interviewed in "Que Fuente" and he was showing us an ad that appeared two days after the December 28 Chavez announcement. That advertisement appeared in most Venezuelan papers and in that time of year probably required it to be done BEFORE the Chavez speech so that it could make it by December 31. However, that ad was wrong since it accused RCTV to violate article 58 and 28 of the RESORTE law. Unfortunately article 58 does not exist and article 28 is an organizational matter that does not contemplate any sanction (if I remember well the numbers I heard then) . The ad was not published anymore, but it showed at the same time the preparation and the incompetence of those behind this crass maneuvering.
It is impossible now to pretend that the government of Venezuela is open to scrutiny, is open to discussion, is transparent, is considerate of the rights of minority. Minority rights have been violated more in Venezuela in the past 6 months than during all of the preceding Chavez tenure in office. The Venezuelan government has been acting more in the dark shadows since December 3 than at any previous period.
The judicial system has no independence and is servile to Chavez. We have also known that all along, since 2000 in fact. It has just become worse and worse, and now without any pretense to the contrary. But what has happened in the campaign to RCTV defies any accurate explanation or moral examination. Ethics is a word that must be definitively removed from the Venezuelan language.
But what astounds us is the direct complicity between the judicial system and the government manipulations to bag the RCTV case. In other words the TSJ knew quite well that it could not close RCTV and diligently it has paved the way through indirect means for the government seizure not only of the Hertzian range of RCTV, but also of its properties in transmission equipment and the land where it is placed (and perhaps even the studios?). This included all the judicial arsenal that one could think of: delays in some decisions, expediency in others before RCTV even could know that it was a party of a given decision, distortion of the law at will, avoidance of any solid decision pretending that some day RCTV could aspire to redress but AFTER TVes would have been solidly on the air for months or years, etc, etc...
It is impossible now for the observer to pretend to even discuss possible objectivity of the judicial system in Venezuela. Oh, sure, it is all perfectly legal, and so were the Nazi concentration camps.
The Venezuelan people are afraid, or even worse, indifferent. How else can one explain that with polls at 70 to 80% against the closing of RCTV you do not see spontaneous marches of protest everywhere? It is not a matter of been indifferent, or even of wanting to keep a job in the public administration. No, now the Venezuelan people are becoming afraid. There is less open criticism from the masses, more discretion. And the state through its selective criteria as to who gets what, and with his weapons shown whenever needed to intimidate the hoi polloi, is not afraid to scare people as much as needed. It comes from the president himself who cannot help but insult whomever disagrees with him in his now overwhelming TV presence.
What we have learned through this past few months is that the Venezuelan people has no democratic backbone in it, that it is is disposed to sell its freedom for peanuts, and that more dangerous for our future than the scared people, are the indifferent ones who sigh and look away no matter how much they dislike what Chavez does. And thus Venezuela will get what it deserves, the only way it can learn that happiness cannot depend on what our new Deimos decides to do.
Freedom of information is lost. The distinction is important, a mangled freedom of expression still exists in Venezuela, but freedom of information is already lost. Yes, I know, there is still newspapers, Internet and Globovision. But who can access them? Globovision reaches by cable only many areas of the country. Internet must be payed for by the people and they will rather spend their money in e-mail, porn and game pages, even more so now that they cannot enjoy games and soap operas anymore with RCTV who at least had the grace to be free. As for newspapers, outside of Caracas their information tends to be more limited to local matters and sometimes to local gossip. Besides how long until some of them are closed or neutered or bought out by chavista capitalists?
This had been announced for years by people such as your favorite blogger and no one paid much attention. My words are no impossible to deny. There is no more liberty of information and thus there will be necessary a decrease in the liberty of expression which is the natural outcome desire of an informed people.
A new leadership for the opposition. The strong and dignified defense of RCTV by Granier and his team is an essential event. When we put it together with the late coming defense of the opposition political leadership inherited from December vote (with the honorable exception of Petkoff who has defended RCTV from the start) and the accomplice silence of some sectors such as the Cisneros of the world (who know is seen as traitor by the opposition, sinking even further the Carter center if it were possible), we can see that all of these people are doomed to irrelevance as voices of the opposition. After the Granier presentation last Friday in Globovision, who do you want to speak for you? Borges? Rosales? Venevision? In the mêlée they all lost some credibility, if they had any left, and the one coming out with the oval ball is Granier.
Big time ahead for Granier. Now the government will brand him and seek to destroy him. He has managed to reveal to the world as no one else could before the vulgarly crass abusive low life cheap military that Chavez is. And Chavez cannot forgive that, nor his followers from having been exposed to be servants of such a low creature. It is Granier's choice, to become the leader of the opposition, risk ending up in jail as a martyr, and in the end prevail, or leave for exile.
The violence ahead. Of course, with a trumped CNE, a servile TSJ and no freedom of information, how can fair elections ever take place in Venezuela? How can political participation not cowed by the government abuse of power can take place? Not that democracy died today, for me it died in February 2004 when Chavez sent the army to shoot protesters. Today is only an additional step. But today marks possibly, unfortunately, the day in which violence becomes now the only option for more than just a tiny minority of the opposition. Violence is now the option for the chavista supporters who cannot express their complaints on a TV camera, a TV camera ONLY offered by RCTV or Globovision. Will these people stay home quiet when they cannot express their angst? I doubt it. The opposition is fast been redesigned, from the forced dissolution of PODEMOS and PPT, to the extreme military right plotting uselessly somewhere. That new opposition will soon find out that through normal channels it cannot express it self and thus it will take alternative paths, with all of their implications. What scares me is that this is exactly what Chavez want, excuses to tighten his grip and "eliminate" those who oppose him. He already killed them with words this week, it is just a matter of time for him to act on his words.
Conclusion. There were even more revelations through this last few months. But I am tired and I do not feel it in me to qualify what has happened in Venezuela. After all, when everything that is done is "so legal", adjectives become unnecessary.
A PodCast on Venezuela
Today we had a strange activity. Using modern technology Fausta (for Pajamas Media) organized a broadcast that included two Venezuelan bloggers and two activists in the US. It was a rather quickly organized podcast considering the current situation in Venezuela but I think that between all of us we did say the most important things. If you are curious and have one hour to spend you can visit it here.
-The end-
-The end-
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The shame of Venevision and Televen
The other two private networks for entertainment, Venevision and Televen have not been supportive of RCTV. Maybe they are hoping to share in the spoils? Maybe they are grateful that the government will give for them what their program grid was never able to do?
But personally what I find worse than not supporting RCTV, is that they did not even have the courage to come out and support Chavez on that closing. For them nothing is happening, no network is closing. Venezuela is a peaceful and quiet country. Shame on them and their owners. After firing their top journalists, they settled for amiable mediocrity and now for abject complicity.
But that is OK. They might not know it but hey have it coming. Weil is not fooled (note the military boots of the "verdugo").
-The end-
But personally what I find worse than not supporting RCTV, is that they did not even have the courage to come out and support Chavez on that closing. For them nothing is happening, no network is closing. Venezuela is a peaceful and quiet country. Shame on them and their owners. After firing their top journalists, they settled for amiable mediocrity and now for abject complicity.
But that is OK. They might not know it but hey have it coming. Weil is not fooled (note the military boots of the "verdugo").
-The end-
Those exquisite revolutionary moments: expedient revolutionary justice or highway robbery?
Oh dear! Those moments succeed each other faster than what I can type.
As I am watching Marcel Granier extraordinary poise on Alo Ciudadano, the talk show host receives a communique just published on the web page of the high court of Venezuela, TSJ. This decision, signed by the head of the judicial power of Venezuela, Luisa Estela Morales, announces that CONATEL has the right to use as needed all the transmission equipments of RCTV. Not an outright expropriation, but basically one since CONATEL can give these equipment to the new TeVes, while eventually some sale negotiation takes place between the government and RCTV. Exactly as if your neighbor were suddenly allowed to use your car in some lawsuit matter before that lawsuit is completely settled in court.
In a way there is nothing that surprising in it: we were expecting some argument to that effect, a forced sale as we saw recently for the Electricidad de Caracas or CANTV or the oil fields of the Orinoco belt.
No, what is astounding is that the TSJ has replied to an unknown judicial petition deposed YESTERDAY in front of the TSJ. YESTERDAY.... meanwhile on the dockets of the TSJ of Venezuela there are dozens and dozens of HUMAN RIGHTS CASES that are not decided, that are not examined, and that since months if not years. But when the government interests are concerned, in 24 hours, Luisa obliges. Luisa, the new harlot of Chavez? Now, is anyone going to come here to try to demonstrate to me, to the readers of this blog that there is a separation of powers in Venezuela? No, this is totalitarianism already in action.
What we have just witnessed almost live on TV is highway robbery by the government with the judge and the police helping.
Added later: the link to the info in Globovision. El Universal also takes it up already.
-The end-
As I am watching Marcel Granier extraordinary poise on Alo Ciudadano, the talk show host receives a communique just published on the web page of the high court of Venezuela, TSJ. This decision, signed by the head of the judicial power of Venezuela, Luisa Estela Morales, announces that CONATEL has the right to use as needed all the transmission equipments of RCTV. Not an outright expropriation, but basically one since CONATEL can give these equipment to the new TeVes, while eventually some sale negotiation takes place between the government and RCTV. Exactly as if your neighbor were suddenly allowed to use your car in some lawsuit matter before that lawsuit is completely settled in court.
In a way there is nothing that surprising in it: we were expecting some argument to that effect, a forced sale as we saw recently for the Electricidad de Caracas or CANTV or the oil fields of the Orinoco belt.
No, what is astounding is that the TSJ has replied to an unknown judicial petition deposed YESTERDAY in front of the TSJ. YESTERDAY.... meanwhile on the dockets of the TSJ of Venezuela there are dozens and dozens of HUMAN RIGHTS CASES that are not decided, that are not examined, and that since months if not years. But when the government interests are concerned, in 24 hours, Luisa obliges. Luisa, the new harlot of Chavez? Now, is anyone going to come here to try to demonstrate to me, to the readers of this blog that there is a separation of powers in Venezuela? No, this is totalitarianism already in action.
What we have just witnessed almost live on TV is highway robbery by the government with the judge and the police helping.
Added later: the link to the info in Globovision. El Universal also takes it up already.
-The end-
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