Chavez is doing a cadena with Correa. Well, carried on with emotion Chavez has announced that the 6 billion dollar trade with Colombia is over. That Colombian business in Venezuela will be listed and possibly bought out (taken over?) and that whatever Venezuela has in Colombia will be sold. Even the gasoduct of Guajira might be shut down.
My first comment, for those who have a car, go out and buy as many spare parts as you can as I was told that about 50% of Venezuelan spare parts come from Colombia. Do stock up on underwear too, the lion's share of the market is "ropa intima colombiana"... And let's not talk about food stuff.
Chavez is certifiable........
PS: I wonder, again, if Uribe would be alloted so much TV space to insult Chavez, simultaneously on all the Colombian media, all TV AND radio. I also wonder again if VTV will give 5 minutes to Uribe.
-The end-
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Prozac is starting to hit the spot
[Updated]
The good news today is that Ecuador and Colombia managed to negotiate an agreement at the OAS that both could endorse. Quite a feat. Even the US voted for it. The OAS does the first positive acting it has done in years.
All voted to criticize the interference in one country by another one. Of course they would: Latin America history is plagued from across the border raids. Even today, does any one think that, for example, Kirchner has never thought about bombing that paper mill in Uruguay that is causing him so much trouble at home. Of course he did, and of course Tabare Vasquez wondered if there was a way to knock out these pesky Argentineans blocking the bridges. But they would not do it and they would not support ANY country that would do such a thing because, well, that could bite them in the rear real quick.... That is why diplomacy was invented for, something that Chavez will never grasp. No matter how much, say, Alan Garcia approved of Uribe actions, he will never say so in public and received instead Correa with warm hugs. Instead Chavez would open his big mouth in a reverse situation (say, Ecuador rescuing FARC inside Colombia), and that is why he keeps running into more and more trouble and getting more and more isolated tot he attic, like those weird uncles we all have.
So, in spite of the fiery rhetoric, the OAS did what it is supposed to do: cool down the mood and set up a commission to check into the events. Then someday there might be a report to condemn someone, but it will done in an orderly fashion, containing the conflict to manageable proportions until some solution finally comes up. If North Viet Nam and the US managed the Paris talks, I am pretty sure that relations will reopen between Quito and Bogota sooner than what the MSM would like them to.
Another one who seems to have his Prozac function better was Sarkozy. He gave a press conference to Colombian media, something of course that Chavez would never do these days even though Sarkozy is hardly more palatable than Chavez over Colombia these days. In short, Sarkozy did not approve the Colombian raid but added that he certainly understood that Uribe had his reasons... I can imagine the pregnant pause that this must have caused in some LatAm chanceries...
But it got better: Sarkozy said that the FARC had no other option but to release Ingrid Betancourt ASAP if they wanted to preserve any hope to ever be recognized as better than a narco-terrorist organization. That is right, Sarkozy implied that there was no more 300 million payments to the FARC or retreats inside Venezuela and Ecuador: the solution of this whole problem was in the hands of the FARC. That he added that Uribe understood that the solution could not be only military was in fact a reinforcement of the message to the FARC: do the political thing and release Ingrid because if the FARC also choses only the military exit then Uribe might just win.
Update: Two for whom Prozac is not kicking in yet are Chavez and Correa who is visiting tonight. We have a cadena by the way. I doubt Uribe will have five minutes on VTV, but such is the concept of communication in the glorious revolution.... Anyway, they are using the cadena to mostly insult Colombia and treat all of its government of liars and up. Now, as I have expressed earlier, Uribe might be all these things and then some more, but the words of Chavez and Correa tonight raise more questions: why the OAS effort today to again undo it all tonight? why provoking incessantly? Is it enough to state your point of view a couple of times? Why such a sad spectacle where right now as I type I hear Chavez repeating for the nth time that Uribe is a compulsory liar? I mean, if we were doing a liars competition Chavez would be a front runner.....
Again, two ladies protesting way, way too much.... I must say that I am a little bit disappointed in Correa. I had never any positive expectations about Chavez, ever, but I thought that Correa who has been around the world, who has some real education, would understand that the spectacle he is giving tonight is not helping him a bit. As I type right now they are calling some Colombians psychotic and laughing at it as if it were a big joke. In other words, Correa might indeed be a "cachorro" of Chavez. Birds of a feather......
-The end-
The good news today is that Ecuador and Colombia managed to negotiate an agreement at the OAS that both could endorse. Quite a feat. Even the US voted for it. The OAS does the first positive acting it has done in years.
All voted to criticize the interference in one country by another one. Of course they would: Latin America history is plagued from across the border raids. Even today, does any one think that, for example, Kirchner has never thought about bombing that paper mill in Uruguay that is causing him so much trouble at home. Of course he did, and of course Tabare Vasquez wondered if there was a way to knock out these pesky Argentineans blocking the bridges. But they would not do it and they would not support ANY country that would do such a thing because, well, that could bite them in the rear real quick.... That is why diplomacy was invented for, something that Chavez will never grasp. No matter how much, say, Alan Garcia approved of Uribe actions, he will never say so in public and received instead Correa with warm hugs. Instead Chavez would open his big mouth in a reverse situation (say, Ecuador rescuing FARC inside Colombia), and that is why he keeps running into more and more trouble and getting more and more isolated tot he attic, like those weird uncles we all have.
So, in spite of the fiery rhetoric, the OAS did what it is supposed to do: cool down the mood and set up a commission to check into the events. Then someday there might be a report to condemn someone, but it will done in an orderly fashion, containing the conflict to manageable proportions until some solution finally comes up. If North Viet Nam and the US managed the Paris talks, I am pretty sure that relations will reopen between Quito and Bogota sooner than what the MSM would like them to.
Another one who seems to have his Prozac function better was Sarkozy. He gave a press conference to Colombian media, something of course that Chavez would never do these days even though Sarkozy is hardly more palatable than Chavez over Colombia these days. In short, Sarkozy did not approve the Colombian raid but added that he certainly understood that Uribe had his reasons... I can imagine the pregnant pause that this must have caused in some LatAm chanceries...
But it got better: Sarkozy said that the FARC had no other option but to release Ingrid Betancourt ASAP if they wanted to preserve any hope to ever be recognized as better than a narco-terrorist organization. That is right, Sarkozy implied that there was no more 300 million payments to the FARC or retreats inside Venezuela and Ecuador: the solution of this whole problem was in the hands of the FARC. That he added that Uribe understood that the solution could not be only military was in fact a reinforcement of the message to the FARC: do the political thing and release Ingrid because if the FARC also choses only the military exit then Uribe might just win.
Update: Two for whom Prozac is not kicking in yet are Chavez and Correa who is visiting tonight. We have a cadena by the way. I doubt Uribe will have five minutes on VTV, but such is the concept of communication in the glorious revolution.... Anyway, they are using the cadena to mostly insult Colombia and treat all of its government of liars and up. Now, as I have expressed earlier, Uribe might be all these things and then some more, but the words of Chavez and Correa tonight raise more questions: why the OAS effort today to again undo it all tonight? why provoking incessantly? Is it enough to state your point of view a couple of times? Why such a sad spectacle where right now as I type I hear Chavez repeating for the nth time that Uribe is a compulsory liar? I mean, if we were doing a liars competition Chavez would be a front runner.....
Again, two ladies protesting way, way too much.... I must say that I am a little bit disappointed in Correa. I had never any positive expectations about Chavez, ever, but I thought that Correa who has been around the world, who has some real education, would understand that the spectacle he is giving tonight is not helping him a bit. As I type right now they are calling some Colombians psychotic and laughing at it as if it were a big joke. In other words, Correa might indeed be a "cachorro" of Chavez. Birds of a feather......
-The end-
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The war at home: Chavez against Venezuela?
I am not too sure whether some war actions are actually taking place on the Colombian border, but the war at home is certainly growing. Let's first start with the general mood, splendidly given by this Weil cartoon which was the front page of Tal Cual.
Mom: Take care of yourself at the border
Son: Don't worry Mom, I will write everyday
Mom: And if you can also send me milk, chicken and eggs
Because thsi is the real mood here, the real war, how to find ALL the basic food staples that you need and that are imported in increasing amounts. A couple of mines dropped by Colombia in front of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira and in a few weeks we are all starving. Because this is what keeping people awake at night, what line will they have to take to find X, what hospital will be able to handle situation Y, how they need to hide their cash and cell phone when they go around doing these activities (hospitals by the way are racked by common crime as patients lose everything if left alone for the night while doctors get mugged during their rounds). And let's not talk about the degradation of school quality, job quality, everyday life quality, things that cannot in any possible way get better through a war with Colombia. WE ALL KNOW THAT and that is why Chavez is seen as increasingly alone on this matter except for the red shirted flapping seals that surround his circus.
Elides Rojas, the director of El Universal, (HT C.) wonders openly about who will be distributing chicken and food stuff if soldiers are at the border; and how officers war on cholesterol and triglycerides will prepare them to fight against Colombia. It is supposedly a humorous piece but in fact it reads as a searing indictment of the Venezuelan army.
And the Tal Cual editorial that accompanies the cartoon is yet another indictment as its veiled implication is whether Chavez is in fact doing war on us, taking the opportunity to purge once again his entourage. It should be noted that as this typing, I am not aware of any new defensive measure that Colombia might have taken. Uribe knows very well that Chavez will not dare attack and that soon frontier circulation will start again as Venezuela will cry "uncle" without Colombia firing a shot.
For all practical purposes, even after the stupid communique of last night, the war is over, the one at home is just starting.
-The end-
Mom: Take care of yourself at the border
Son: Don't worry Mom, I will write everyday
Mom: And if you can also send me milk, chicken and eggs
Because thsi is the real mood here, the real war, how to find ALL the basic food staples that you need and that are imported in increasing amounts. A couple of mines dropped by Colombia in front of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira and in a few weeks we are all starving. Because this is what keeping people awake at night, what line will they have to take to find X, what hospital will be able to handle situation Y, how they need to hide their cash and cell phone when they go around doing these activities (hospitals by the way are racked by common crime as patients lose everything if left alone for the night while doctors get mugged during their rounds). And let's not talk about the degradation of school quality, job quality, everyday life quality, things that cannot in any possible way get better through a war with Colombia. WE ALL KNOW THAT and that is why Chavez is seen as increasingly alone on this matter except for the red shirted flapping seals that surround his circus.
Elides Rojas, the director of El Universal, (HT C.) wonders openly about who will be distributing chicken and food stuff if soldiers are at the border; and how officers war on cholesterol and triglycerides will prepare them to fight against Colombia. It is supposedly a humorous piece but in fact it reads as a searing indictment of the Venezuelan army.
And the Tal Cual editorial that accompanies the cartoon is yet another indictment as its veiled implication is whether Chavez is in fact doing war on us, taking the opportunity to purge once again his entourage. It should be noted that as this typing, I am not aware of any new defensive measure that Colombia might have taken. Uribe knows very well that Chavez will not dare attack and that soon frontier circulation will start again as Venezuela will cry "uncle" without Colombia firing a shot.
That the head of state sings, dances, insults or brags on television may be objectionable or laughable, as you see fit, but it is ultimately inoffensive and inconsequential. However it has never happened and should not be tolerated that an entire nation is to be put on alert, ordered to mobilize troops and nearly putting Venezuela on a war footing, through "Alo, Presidente". This time Chavez went too far. To take such a decision and made to hip-hop dance in front of the cameras does not prove anything other than a supreme irresponsibility on the part of those who govern us today.
The former defense minister, Raul Isaias Baduel, has arguments when he notes that Chavez interference in a matter that does not concern us directly and provoke the Colombian government to respond to his verbal attacks and military threats, is none other than one evil attempt to mount a media show.
The president intends to convert the Colombian government in the "enemy" because it desperately needs to appeal to nationalism to divert attention from Venezuelans from the real and urgent domestic problems and seeks to bring all together around him, as a figure of power.
But that formula, as Baduel said, does not work. First, because Chavez is no longer the messianic leader of the past to the masses who followed blindly. Second, because the idea of Colombia, the most brotherly of our neighboring countries, as a real threat and potential aggressor was discarded after the Bogota government reaffirmed its commitment to peaceful means and announced that it would not mobilize troops.
In this race messianic to promote conflict at any cost, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro chimed from the AN that the operation carried out the weekend against the FARC in Colombia equatorial soil was actually scheduled to be held in Venezuela in September 2007.
That same night, Minister of the Interior, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, told the joke of the laptop left by the murderers of Wilber Varela (aka Jabon) next to his body, so that the Venezuelan authorities could, a month later denounce connections the narco with Colombian officials. Silliness of this magnitude is conceivable only in the head of Rodríguez Chacín, an official with "impeccable credentials and operational military "from the slaughter of Amparo and who on political issues is a functional illiterate. Chavez meanwhile, watches from the stands the show that he mounted and keeps a prudent silence.
For all practical purposes, even after the stupid communique of last night, the war is over, the one at home is just starting.
-The end-
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
The world panics, Venezuelans and Colombia stay cool
The French love maps. Must be something from the Napoleonic wars. With a new little Napoleon in charge in Paris, one should not be surprised to see Le Monde put a map of the military campaign against Colombia.
It comes complete, with FARC influence areas (curiously quite close from the borders, no?), troops moving, and where Reyes was killed.
I am sure that somewhere in France someone must be looking for the next Austerlitz (or is that Waterloo?)
The only problem is this very same Le Monde article also states that the Colombian army is not moving, that it has nothing to fear, that basically it does not care, that they can move fast any time they want, that they prefer to spend time taking Chavez to international courts for sponsoring the FARC.
It does not say, but I can vouch for it, that Venezuelans are going around their everyday business as if nothing. If there is a war atmosphere it is in the mind of a few hysterical chavistas. There is no "union sacrée".
(Hat Tip Kepler)
-The end-
It comes complete, with FARC influence areas (curiously quite close from the borders, no?), troops moving, and where Reyes was killed.
I am sure that somewhere in France someone must be looking for the next Austerlitz (or is that Waterloo?)
The only problem is this very same Le Monde article also states that the Colombian army is not moving, that it has nothing to fear, that basically it does not care, that they can move fast any time they want, that they prefer to spend time taking Chavez to international courts for sponsoring the FARC.
It does not say, but I can vouch for it, that Venezuelans are going around their everyday business as if nothing. If there is a war atmosphere it is in the mind of a few hysterical chavistas. There is no "union sacrée".
(Hat Tip Kepler)
-The end-
The lady does protest too much: Venezuela and Ecuador should rein their mouths some
[updated 1 and 2]
As expected, Ecuador broke relations with Colombia and nowhere were the Venezuelan army to be seen in larger numbers at the Colombian borders. No excitement by the way in the streets. At least in San Felipe there is ZERO war fervor: Chavez is alone on that one. Actually today many were reproaching Chavez to have kept a minute of silence for Reyes when he barely bothered about the 43 people who died in a plane crash in Merida a few days ago. Not to mention the hundreds who are murdered every month in Venezuela.
No, what was interesting today was the difference between those who talked, too much, and those who retained some composure and sobriety.
Ecuador rattles
Correa of Ecuador started well on Saturday but since then Ecuador has become rather incoherent. It all seems to have started when the computers of the FARC were found by the Colombian army at the wreckage scene. One of the first revelations was that the Ecuador foreign minister was "in touch" with the FARC. He promptly admitted it but we had to wait today for details. I saw his speech, and I saw that he was a rather lousy speaker, not something to be expected from a foreign minister. Then again that he was caught in fraganti did not help, for sure. But what was worse is that he had the nerve to claim he was negotiating the release of 12, TWELVE, hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt. Yeah, right... The FARC were going to give to Ecuador twice as many hostages than they gave to Chavez including their top possession. Who does he think he is kidding with such a preposterous assumption? Gee, Ecuador government is even more naive than what I thought! Or more stupid. Your pick.
Correa gave an interview to CNN's Patricia Janiot where he tried to dodge the bullet. One of his claim was that the border of Ecuador cost 100 million a year to keep up and Colombia does not do anything on its side. Maybe, but that still does not explain why the FARC found easy refuge on that side of the border. The issue will not let go: Ecuador is perfectly right to protest against Colombia the violation of its own space but Colombia has also the right to point out the shitty job that Ecuador does of guarding its border. As long as Correa does not deal with that, he can break all the relations he wants with Colombia, he will be less than convincing. I can see from this that Correa is nothing more than a cheap politician with some charisma and lost of ambition who will not balk at anything to keep his hold on power even if Ecuador will be more hurt by a disruption of commerce with Colombia than Colombia would. At least that is what I heard from experts who say that for example 15% of electricity of Ecuador comes from Colombia.
Venezuela babbles
In Caracas things were hardly better. Apparently Chavez has been silent today, probably realizing that he shot enough his foot and that others should come to the forefront to fix things up some. Unfortunately once upon a time he had an operator like Jose Vicente Rangel who could not fix much inside Venezuela but who at least could present some more credible image to the foreign observers. Now Chavez has only Maduro and Rodriguez Chacin, a failed bus driver now foreign minister and a thug now Interior and security minister.
Maduro went to the National Assembly. He made a cheap chauvinistic act, criticized the Venezuelan opposition for not rallying the way the Colombian one was doing around Uribe (I kid you not), spoke of all sorts of things that seemed like coming from Cliff notes from the Cuban staff in Venezuela (they were that dated), and climaxed announcing that Venezuela had asked all the Colombian embassy staff to leave the country. Not a complete break up but same difference.
Rodriguez Chacin presentation was even worse. Not only the man looks even more of an ignorant thug than ever, but he freely qualified the Colombia government of fascist. I mean, even if it is true you do not do that. How can he pick up the pieces later? Is Uribe calling Chavez in public a commie? Well, I suppose not since Chavez acts much more like a fascist than Uribe...
But the highlight was when Rodriguez Chacin pulled out a computer form a manila envelope (I kid you not) and said it was the one from 'Jabon', the infamous narco killed a few weeks ago in Merida. He said that in this computer he got as many convenient proofs against Colombian officials than what they were saying they found in the Reyes lap top. To a stunned audience he told that he did not reveal anything before, because of his "ethics", leaving the audience even more stunned. I mean, what ethics are we discussing here, those between two narco groups supporting each other and having rules of engagement, or the ethics that a chief security officer should have about the Venezuelan populace? Because if Rodriguez did really had such evidence for quite a while, it was his duty to warn Uribe of his staff dealing in drug trafficking. Unless Rodriguez was collabrating with the US or something in order to expose a major drug cartel. Of such a possibility he said nothing, just "ethics", even when a Colombian reporter asked him again why he did not reveal such crucial information. Yeah, right, the ethics of the mafia mob.....
Colombia remains focused
Colombians know a good thing when they hold it, they are forging ahead, revealing what they know, and not getting at all in the ridicule tit for tat that the other guys want to drag them into. No matter what tantrums Chavez and Correa throw, and what the rest of Latin America might hold in particularly fake crocodile tears, the Uribe staff is in control. Well, maybe they are getting into some tit-tatting but they are definitely much less hysterical than their neighbors.
So Colombia calmly said that they would not be mobilizing anything to any border and that instead they will go tot he OAS to protest the protection given to the FARC by Venezuela and Ecuador and the implication for the OAS raison d'être that is . In other words, Uribe is going to call the bluff of Venezuela at the OAS and might be the one wrecking the now totally useless body. I bet you that Insulza must be having cold sweats at the prospect of seeing himself ridiculed just when preparing to launch his candidature to Chile presidency. Oh well, too bad for the most insignificant and enabler chief in recent OAS memory.
Meanwhile, an instant poll revealed a Uribe floating at a stratospheric 84%. The opposition rallies and only a few voices pray that Uribe will not use this to seek a third term.
France confesses before it is caught
Perhaps the amusing detail of today was the admission by Kouchner that France was in direct contact with Reyes. Probably they preferred to mention it before the Colombians had the time to announce to the world that France was doing behind the back dealing with the enemies of the Colombian state. I suspect that foreign minister Kouchner will not be received any time soon in Bogota as the French now have also lost any credibility in the whole business, Ingrid being now reason enough for them to flout any convention, at the risk to destabilize gravely whole countries. France has been so reckless, so inconsiderate of the problem that it is simply astounding! Heck! Kouchner with total lack of diplomacy said that Ingrid should be released first.
Conclusion? Watching all of these people today, just on gut feeling, I trusted more the Colombians than anyone else. For starters Colombian officials speak in whole constructed sentences. Second they are composed. Third, the arguments of the other side are too numerous and too contrived. Maybe Colombia is a liar, but the ones that look like jerks are form the other side.
Besides let's not forget one thing, after decades in the jungles, a bitter Reyes might have started fantasizing in his own computer so everyone might be a liar. However, "el que se rasca es porque algo le pica", those who scratch themselves it is because they have an itch.... I will leave it at that....
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Update 1: This Tuesday morning I had the pleasure to read Tal Cual while I was drinking my morning tea the editorial of Teodoro (ins Spanish here). Not only he confirms a lot of my interpretations above (see, you do not need to be a rocket scientists to find it weird that Chavez and Correa are shouting so much) but it insists a lot on why the FARC was in Ecuador as "Pedro por su casa". Teodoro, an ex guerillero himself, pertinently asks where has anyone seen a guerrilla sleeping in pajamas.....
If Chavez was hoping for Venezuela to rally to the flag, well, it ain't happening.
Update 2: and of course Weil had to chime in. Legend is "Do not get into my territory". no comments needed.
-The end-
As expected, Ecuador broke relations with Colombia and nowhere were the Venezuelan army to be seen in larger numbers at the Colombian borders. No excitement by the way in the streets. At least in San Felipe there is ZERO war fervor: Chavez is alone on that one. Actually today many were reproaching Chavez to have kept a minute of silence for Reyes when he barely bothered about the 43 people who died in a plane crash in Merida a few days ago. Not to mention the hundreds who are murdered every month in Venezuela.
No, what was interesting today was the difference between those who talked, too much, and those who retained some composure and sobriety.
Ecuador rattles
Correa of Ecuador started well on Saturday but since then Ecuador has become rather incoherent. It all seems to have started when the computers of the FARC were found by the Colombian army at the wreckage scene. One of the first revelations was that the Ecuador foreign minister was "in touch" with the FARC. He promptly admitted it but we had to wait today for details. I saw his speech, and I saw that he was a rather lousy speaker, not something to be expected from a foreign minister. Then again that he was caught in fraganti did not help, for sure. But what was worse is that he had the nerve to claim he was negotiating the release of 12, TWELVE, hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt. Yeah, right... The FARC were going to give to Ecuador twice as many hostages than they gave to Chavez including their top possession. Who does he think he is kidding with such a preposterous assumption? Gee, Ecuador government is even more naive than what I thought! Or more stupid. Your pick.
Correa gave an interview to CNN's Patricia Janiot where he tried to dodge the bullet. One of his claim was that the border of Ecuador cost 100 million a year to keep up and Colombia does not do anything on its side. Maybe, but that still does not explain why the FARC found easy refuge on that side of the border. The issue will not let go: Ecuador is perfectly right to protest against Colombia the violation of its own space but Colombia has also the right to point out the shitty job that Ecuador does of guarding its border. As long as Correa does not deal with that, he can break all the relations he wants with Colombia, he will be less than convincing. I can see from this that Correa is nothing more than a cheap politician with some charisma and lost of ambition who will not balk at anything to keep his hold on power even if Ecuador will be more hurt by a disruption of commerce with Colombia than Colombia would. At least that is what I heard from experts who say that for example 15% of electricity of Ecuador comes from Colombia.
Venezuela babbles
In Caracas things were hardly better. Apparently Chavez has been silent today, probably realizing that he shot enough his foot and that others should come to the forefront to fix things up some. Unfortunately once upon a time he had an operator like Jose Vicente Rangel who could not fix much inside Venezuela but who at least could present some more credible image to the foreign observers. Now Chavez has only Maduro and Rodriguez Chacin, a failed bus driver now foreign minister and a thug now Interior and security minister.
Maduro went to the National Assembly. He made a cheap chauvinistic act, criticized the Venezuelan opposition for not rallying the way the Colombian one was doing around Uribe (I kid you not), spoke of all sorts of things that seemed like coming from Cliff notes from the Cuban staff in Venezuela (they were that dated), and climaxed announcing that Venezuela had asked all the Colombian embassy staff to leave the country. Not a complete break up but same difference.
Rodriguez Chacin presentation was even worse. Not only the man looks even more of an ignorant thug than ever, but he freely qualified the Colombia government of fascist. I mean, even if it is true you do not do that. How can he pick up the pieces later? Is Uribe calling Chavez in public a commie? Well, I suppose not since Chavez acts much more like a fascist than Uribe...
But the highlight was when Rodriguez Chacin pulled out a computer form a manila envelope (I kid you not) and said it was the one from 'Jabon', the infamous narco killed a few weeks ago in Merida. He said that in this computer he got as many convenient proofs against Colombian officials than what they were saying they found in the Reyes lap top. To a stunned audience he told that he did not reveal anything before, because of his "ethics", leaving the audience even more stunned. I mean, what ethics are we discussing here, those between two narco groups supporting each other and having rules of engagement, or the ethics that a chief security officer should have about the Venezuelan populace? Because if Rodriguez did really had such evidence for quite a while, it was his duty to warn Uribe of his staff dealing in drug trafficking. Unless Rodriguez was collabrating with the US or something in order to expose a major drug cartel. Of such a possibility he said nothing, just "ethics", even when a Colombian reporter asked him again why he did not reveal such crucial information. Yeah, right, the ethics of the mafia mob.....
Colombia remains focused
Colombians know a good thing when they hold it, they are forging ahead, revealing what they know, and not getting at all in the ridicule tit for tat that the other guys want to drag them into. No matter what tantrums Chavez and Correa throw, and what the rest of Latin America might hold in particularly fake crocodile tears, the Uribe staff is in control. Well, maybe they are getting into some tit-tatting but they are definitely much less hysterical than their neighbors.
So Colombia calmly said that they would not be mobilizing anything to any border and that instead they will go tot he OAS to protest the protection given to the FARC by Venezuela and Ecuador and the implication for the OAS raison d'être that is . In other words, Uribe is going to call the bluff of Venezuela at the OAS and might be the one wrecking the now totally useless body. I bet you that Insulza must be having cold sweats at the prospect of seeing himself ridiculed just when preparing to launch his candidature to Chile presidency. Oh well, too bad for the most insignificant and enabler chief in recent OAS memory.
Meanwhile, an instant poll revealed a Uribe floating at a stratospheric 84%. The opposition rallies and only a few voices pray that Uribe will not use this to seek a third term.
France confesses before it is caught
Perhaps the amusing detail of today was the admission by Kouchner that France was in direct contact with Reyes. Probably they preferred to mention it before the Colombians had the time to announce to the world that France was doing behind the back dealing with the enemies of the Colombian state. I suspect that foreign minister Kouchner will not be received any time soon in Bogota as the French now have also lost any credibility in the whole business, Ingrid being now reason enough for them to flout any convention, at the risk to destabilize gravely whole countries. France has been so reckless, so inconsiderate of the problem that it is simply astounding! Heck! Kouchner with total lack of diplomacy said that Ingrid should be released first.
Conclusion? Watching all of these people today, just on gut feeling, I trusted more the Colombians than anyone else. For starters Colombian officials speak in whole constructed sentences. Second they are composed. Third, the arguments of the other side are too numerous and too contrived. Maybe Colombia is a liar, but the ones that look like jerks are form the other side.
Besides let's not forget one thing, after decades in the jungles, a bitter Reyes might have started fantasizing in his own computer so everyone might be a liar. However, "el que se rasca es porque algo le pica", those who scratch themselves it is because they have an itch.... I will leave it at that....
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Update 1: This Tuesday morning I had the pleasure to read Tal Cual while I was drinking my morning tea the editorial of Teodoro (ins Spanish here). Not only he confirms a lot of my interpretations above (see, you do not need to be a rocket scientists to find it weird that Chavez and Correa are shouting so much) but it insists a lot on why the FARC was in Ecuador as "Pedro por su casa". Teodoro, an ex guerillero himself, pertinently asks where has anyone seen a guerrilla sleeping in pajamas.....
If Chavez was hoping for Venezuela to rally to the flag, well, it ain't happening.
Update 2: and of course Weil had to chime in. Legend is "Do not get into my territory". no comments needed.
-The end-
Monday, March 03, 2008
A quiet Sunday afternoon in San Felipe: war with Colombia? what war?
[update 11:30 PM]
All is quiet this first real warm afternoon in San Felipe for the season. I mean, warm as in the heat we normally get the rest of the year instead of the breezy 27 ºC we tend to get from December to February. But this was about the only thing hot in San Felipe today: no sound of army rolling trucks on their way to the Colombian border, no caravans of people chanting their support to the beloved leader in preparation of a war with Colombia. Maybe elsewhere, such as the sitting public servants in Chavez's Sunday show, but in San Felipe nothing disturbed the peace of a normal Sunday afternoon (1). And not only I live inside the city so I would be aware of anything particularly unusual, but as it turned out I was seeking more pictures for my next follow up and that made me drive in front of the Nazional Guard command post of San Felipe, not knowing yet Chavez words. I can assure folks that the command post was as quiet as it gets. Obviously they have not gotten the phone call to pack and leave for the border.
I have been resisting myself writing on the killing of Raul Reyes yesterday. I really think it is irrelevant in some aspects, and I have already written a lot about the FARC lately. I think also that the post of yesterday is closer to the real reality, so to speak, of Venezuela, and perhaps illustrates the reason why Chavez is seeking foreign adventure so people do not inquire about how many homeless, squatters, shanty dwellers are still in Venezuela in spite of 9 years of social revolution. Besides I have written that a war with Colombia is suicidal for Venezuela and my opinion has not changed. If Chavez indeed enters a war against Uribe he probably will be booted out of office by its own army before he provokes its destruction.
And what can happen in Colombia? Will we see if Reyes was the real chief? Will we see again Marulanda who has disappeared for months? Will there be an internal war of succession? IS the FARC that powerful that it matters really who is the boss? El Tiempo in fact thinks that it is a chance for the more "moderate" wing of the FARC to take over the radical wing of Reyes and even is there a predictable violent reaction of the FARC in the next few weeks, the log term prospects have gotten better yesterday.
What we can be sure is that more hostages are going to die and not necessarily due to Colombian army bombs as inner scores are settled within the FARC. Ingrid might be released tomorrow or might not be released ever, or once dead. It is pretty much up to whomever is watching over her right now and I bet you that it crossed his or her mind that to surrender to Colombia's army offering Ingrid might be the best way out of the jungle into some form of normal life somewhere.
No, the real interesting detail yesterday, besides Reyes elimination, was the reaction of Chavez. Reyes might be important for Colombia but it is really a Colombo-Colombian matter even if he was shot on the Ecuador side of the border. The rest of the world, well, they might as well stop holding their breath and set down.
But Chavez of course cannot do so. Not only he is pissed at Lina Ron for stealing the limelight on hostage release day earlier this week, but this action of the Colombian army definitely puts into an increasingly distant background his FARC "humanitarian" successes. After all, once Ingrid is dead who is going to care in the world about any FARC hostages? Once Reyes is out, who can do anything about hostage release until the FARC sorts out its internal matters?
So Chavez pathologically needing to be the center of attention, unable to resit his butt-in tendencies declared yesterday that if Uribe were to attempt the same stunt inside Venezuela, there would be war, "causus bellis" [sic] it would be (2).
This is of course a grievous mistake on his part because his subconscious betrayed him: there must be indeed reasons for Uribe to order police actions on the Venezuela borders. With this simple menace Chavez in fact admits that the Venezuelan border is nothing more than the rest area of the FARC guerrillas and that these ones roam around in Venezuela. We already knew that, of course, and for memory just the case of Granda should be mentioned. But Chavez yesterday implied that the FARC operates freely in Venezuela and that he is protecting them and that he supports these terrorists and drug traffickers enough to go to war for them. I cannot underestimate the meaning of this, the real meaning that is, beyond the military flourish that Chavez would like the world to think.
He also asked whether Colombia was becoming the Israel of the region, which also betrayed his antisemitism: anti semites are experts at finding ways to criticize Israel but not Jews, with sometimes a certain justice one must say, at the drop of the hat, even if the analogy with Colombia is rather debased.
Anyway, I am not holding my breath on the prospect of war. It is showmanship, that is all.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Update: Ooops! It looks like the computer taken at Raul Reyes camp had information that would point out to a direct link between the government of Correa and the FARC, à la Chavez. That would explain the harsh position assumed today by Correa whereas yesterday he was behaving much more like a head of state. I mean, let's start from the beginning here, how come Reyes was in Ecuador? Don't they supervise their border over there? Or has Ecuador become equally a haven for the FARC as Venezuela is? Truly, if there is a smoking gun of the sort toward Ecuador current administration, expect trouble for Correa as his opposition is not as wishy washy as the Venezuelan one that could not even supervise the first scandalous shipments of oil to Cuba.
Suddenly the potential for major political trouble for the whole area has got up a big notch....
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
1) The video of today's new insults of Chavez toward Uribe is also quite fascinating. It comes from Telesur and you can appreciate at time the red shirts applauding hysterically the inanities of Chavez. It is short so even if you do not understand Spanish you can get the gist.
2) The video of the moment where Chavez attacks Colombia is fascinating, in particular the second half as taken from the state TV news. You can observe all the grimacing of Chaevz, all the manipulation, and how much he looks like any mafia Don, impressive. The "causus bellis" is at 1:06 for those who do not understand Spanish.
-The end-
All is quiet this first real warm afternoon in San Felipe for the season. I mean, warm as in the heat we normally get the rest of the year instead of the breezy 27 ºC we tend to get from December to February. But this was about the only thing hot in San Felipe today: no sound of army rolling trucks on their way to the Colombian border, no caravans of people chanting their support to the beloved leader in preparation of a war with Colombia. Maybe elsewhere, such as the sitting public servants in Chavez's Sunday show, but in San Felipe nothing disturbed the peace of a normal Sunday afternoon (1). And not only I live inside the city so I would be aware of anything particularly unusual, but as it turned out I was seeking more pictures for my next follow up and that made me drive in front of the Nazional Guard command post of San Felipe, not knowing yet Chavez words. I can assure folks that the command post was as quiet as it gets. Obviously they have not gotten the phone call to pack and leave for the border.
I have been resisting myself writing on the killing of Raul Reyes yesterday. I really think it is irrelevant in some aspects, and I have already written a lot about the FARC lately. I think also that the post of yesterday is closer to the real reality, so to speak, of Venezuela, and perhaps illustrates the reason why Chavez is seeking foreign adventure so people do not inquire about how many homeless, squatters, shanty dwellers are still in Venezuela in spite of 9 years of social revolution. Besides I have written that a war with Colombia is suicidal for Venezuela and my opinion has not changed. If Chavez indeed enters a war against Uribe he probably will be booted out of office by its own army before he provokes its destruction.
And what can happen in Colombia? Will we see if Reyes was the real chief? Will we see again Marulanda who has disappeared for months? Will there be an internal war of succession? IS the FARC that powerful that it matters really who is the boss? El Tiempo in fact thinks that it is a chance for the more "moderate" wing of the FARC to take over the radical wing of Reyes and even is there a predictable violent reaction of the FARC in the next few weeks, the log term prospects have gotten better yesterday.
What we can be sure is that more hostages are going to die and not necessarily due to Colombian army bombs as inner scores are settled within the FARC. Ingrid might be released tomorrow or might not be released ever, or once dead. It is pretty much up to whomever is watching over her right now and I bet you that it crossed his or her mind that to surrender to Colombia's army offering Ingrid might be the best way out of the jungle into some form of normal life somewhere.
No, the real interesting detail yesterday, besides Reyes elimination, was the reaction of Chavez. Reyes might be important for Colombia but it is really a Colombo-Colombian matter even if he was shot on the Ecuador side of the border. The rest of the world, well, they might as well stop holding their breath and set down.
But Chavez of course cannot do so. Not only he is pissed at Lina Ron for stealing the limelight on hostage release day earlier this week, but this action of the Colombian army definitely puts into an increasingly distant background his FARC "humanitarian" successes. After all, once Ingrid is dead who is going to care in the world about any FARC hostages? Once Reyes is out, who can do anything about hostage release until the FARC sorts out its internal matters?
So Chavez pathologically needing to be the center of attention, unable to resit his butt-in tendencies declared yesterday that if Uribe were to attempt the same stunt inside Venezuela, there would be war, "causus bellis" [sic] it would be (2).
This is of course a grievous mistake on his part because his subconscious betrayed him: there must be indeed reasons for Uribe to order police actions on the Venezuela borders. With this simple menace Chavez in fact admits that the Venezuelan border is nothing more than the rest area of the FARC guerrillas and that these ones roam around in Venezuela. We already knew that, of course, and for memory just the case of Granda should be mentioned. But Chavez yesterday implied that the FARC operates freely in Venezuela and that he is protecting them and that he supports these terrorists and drug traffickers enough to go to war for them. I cannot underestimate the meaning of this, the real meaning that is, beyond the military flourish that Chavez would like the world to think.
He also asked whether Colombia was becoming the Israel of the region, which also betrayed his antisemitism: anti semites are experts at finding ways to criticize Israel but not Jews, with sometimes a certain justice one must say, at the drop of the hat, even if the analogy with Colombia is rather debased.
Anyway, I am not holding my breath on the prospect of war. It is showmanship, that is all.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Update: Ooops! It looks like the computer taken at Raul Reyes camp had information that would point out to a direct link between the government of Correa and the FARC, à la Chavez. That would explain the harsh position assumed today by Correa whereas yesterday he was behaving much more like a head of state. I mean, let's start from the beginning here, how come Reyes was in Ecuador? Don't they supervise their border over there? Or has Ecuador become equally a haven for the FARC as Venezuela is? Truly, if there is a smoking gun of the sort toward Ecuador current administration, expect trouble for Correa as his opposition is not as wishy washy as the Venezuelan one that could not even supervise the first scandalous shipments of oil to Cuba.
Suddenly the potential for major political trouble for the whole area has got up a big notch....
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
1) The video of today's new insults of Chavez toward Uribe is also quite fascinating. It comes from Telesur and you can appreciate at time the red shirts applauding hysterically the inanities of Chavez. It is short so even if you do not understand Spanish you can get the gist.
2) The video of the moment where Chavez attacks Colombia is fascinating, in particular the second half as taken from the state TV news. You can observe all the grimacing of Chaevz, all the manipulation, and how much he looks like any mafia Don, impressive. The "causus bellis" is at 1:06 for those who do not understand Spanish.
-The end-
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Squatting in Venezuela: worse than ever
Chavez celebrated his 9th year in office earlier in February. Grieving comes to a lot more folks around this fateful day. I was wondering what kind of comment I could write up to commemorate (?) such a date. But how do you reminisce about the date when Venezuela started its final road on becoming a broken country, a failed state if it were not for the thin glue that is still coming courtesy of high oil prices?
And then a couple of weeks ago I got an idea: discuss the squatting epidemic in Venezuela, 9, NINE years after Chavez reached office. Before getting into the why of the squatting pandemic, to enlighten the reader about this Venezuelan drama I will report on the two recent instances in San Felipe, which I managed to photograph without upsetting the natives who understandably are not too happy when someone comes to take a picture of their precarious living conditions. Note: the pictures were taken on two different days; click on them to enlarge for some of the worthy details.
The general set up
First, squatting rarely takes place away from central urban areas, or at the end of some dirt road. It is always on some worthy land, next to some major highway or some land suitable for housing projects. I will thus start first with a picture of San Felipe from Goggle Earth where I point out the two "invasiones" that I will describe today, invasion 1 offering the picture that introduces this post, with drying laundry included.
It is thus relatively valuable land, as close as possible from already established real estate, even if that real estate is for popular neighborhoods, as is the case for invasion 1. Invasion 2 is closer to a a middle class set up.
In the end an "invasión" is simply a blackmail to force the owner to shell off money to get back the land. If the owner does not have the money it is then expected that the municipal council will decide that it goes against the general interests of the community to let slums proliferate randomly. Again, blackmail. It has been reported often that some people have made a career of this: they invade an area, stick around for enough time and when some "compensation" will come they transfer their "rights" to someone else and go elsewhere to start the process anew. If it is a tragedy for some it is also a business for many.
Because this is the real problem that makes the situation so intractable: there is a genuine, dramatic, housing shortfall that has gotten much worse under Chavez. Mix with it a few unscrupulous low life adventurers and you get for a heady mix of corruption, violence, blackmail and human misery, while the state suffers from an increasing paralysis. It is important to note that the average housing construction under Chavez is below those of any recent democratic president.
The time table of construction
It always starts like that, a group of people set a few picket fences, a few plastic covers on top of 4 sticks. Even if it looks like it, it is not that random. This picture is on a portion of invasion 1, its current expansion toward the North. Now that the southern part is relatively settled, newcomers keep arriving and boldly creep toward the main avenue North. Note: this is the third try I remember on this very same piece of land which might be from a different owner probably as the one that finally took root, as we will see below. That is about the only explanation on why of two adjacent pieces of land one succeeded at first try and the other is still finding its ways.
Over a few weeks the settlement starts taking form. The settlement can be as primitive as log cabins (on the right side) to a mishmash of old zinc sheets, street signs, cardboard (on the left) to higher investment in new to semi new zinc sheets (in the middle). They are always one room at first although very soon a second room is added. Since it is Yaracuy and rains are heavy, they are careful from the start to build a slope on the roof. The one on the left is particularly interesting even though it is the one with the cheapest "recycled material": is is the one with the best engineering of the scene, with even a small open air area on the very left for people to spend the afternoon.
This next picture is a little bit further to the South and here you can see another example of log cabin on the left and a truly rag tag assembly of whatever from the right. Clearly, the background and means of these "settlers" can be quite different. Also note the log cabin one: think about where does that timber come from? Which land has been deforested somewhere? In case you do not know, in theory you need a permit in Venezuela to fall any tree, even in your backyard. If at my work place or a the family farm we were to cut down enough trees to build up a log cabin for the kids to play, the Nazional Guard would be immediately on us for a fine, or more likely for some baksheesh. These people, I am pretty sure, did not get bothered by the Nazional Guard, whereas the ex owner of these trees might be questioned about it about where his trees went..... Ecology under the bolivarian fraud is an empty concept.
The life style
Now, let's move on to the southern part of invasion 1. As you can see from this first picture it is more settled, more developed. People now are actually living in it whereas in the pictures above usually a single guardian stays the 24 hours in the "home". the reason is that since some authority or some thug group might come in the middle of the night and bring all down, the "claim" could be lost to either another "invasor" group, or to public authorities and even in some cases the owner. Yes, "invasiones" are not necessary an easy business, and can be fraught with risks.
But there comes a time where the owner for some reason cannot get the authorities support (usually because he cannot afford the lawyers and the right bribes) and the settlement can start to prosper, so to speak. In this picture below you can see a Saturday afternoon family scene where, stroller and all, the family retreats to their home. Shacks look bigger behind the grass, more densely settled with pickets to bring in electricity. Many, if not most, will by this stage have a TV and a refrigerator. The highway is a double road and in front you can see the well worn pass where the grass is topping to grow. There is now significant human traffic, and probably either a bus stop or some "bodega" not too far which justifies that folks go always through this 'pass'.
Because it should be clear that there is no service, no running water, no drains, no electricity. Water can soon be bought in by trucks (usually offered by the municipal social programs though purchasing them is faster and they can pull together resoruces) and all the settlers will soon acquire some large enough containers for water, stored INSIDE the shack because they are a prized possession and the envy of the neighbors. There is enough water so that folks can even do their laundry as the opening picture showed you clearly.
Sewers you can forget for a while and I confess that I am not tempted to go inside and inquire. I suspect that they must dig latrines or walk to the wooded area in the back though this is snake country. Maybe they use the old fashioned basin system? Maybe they put it in plastic bags? 'Showers' might not be too much of a problem. Washing with a few cups of waters does not wet too much the soil, the water will not be too dirty and this being the tropics within hours all will be dry anyway. In Caracas it is less of a problem since the big slopes allowed for drainage in the middle of the 'street' to the 'quebrada' (wadi). But here in flat land I am a little bit concerned for the health of the folks.
Fortunately electricity is an easy thing to fix: steal it from the aerial lines across the highway. In this picture you can see how they place high bamboos or tree pickets to carry electricity inside the settlement. Guess who pays for that? Yours truly since the electricity charges are all split under registered customers who must shore up the burden of all the stolen electricity of the country. The government rarely cuts off these people. If hey did within hours they would restore the cables anyway. The rear pages of the newspapers carry regularly reports of guys dead from electrocution.
Unfortunately garbage is another matter. The municipality cannot charge them for garbage disposal and thus it is collected only on occasion, when it becomes a traffic hazard. The picture below speaks for itself.
Invasión 2
The second area, invasion 2 in the map above, is a very recent one. It is placed right next to a new development project, of course bringing down the value of whatever folks are trying to build there. It is also next to a potentially dangerous "quebrada" who could overflow someday (hence the wooden nature of the area, clearly seen on the satellite image, since humidity is not too far below ground. And to complete the whole picture it is next to San Felipe historical archaeological park, ruining the tourist attraction. This area should remain wooded and become eventually a new park of sorts. Now it is ruined, an ecological crime and will cost the municipality a lot to recover, if it can ever come around to do it. And of course, if the stream overflows and destroys a few "homes" and takes a few lives, well, tax payers will have to foot the bill for something that started illegally.
The picture above repeats what was described above, even though it is hidden from view by the trees and because it is below highway level.
And the picture below shows how the folks spend their Sunday afternoon, guarding their take over. You will notice that we are at the early stage, no real inhabitation yet, one of the shacks has its 'walls' made of black trash bags (on the right side).
Is it cold in Boston in February?
Conclusion: what Joe Kennedy does not tell you
The first thing that the reader must be aware of is that these pathetic scenes of human misery are everywhere in Venezuela. In San Felipe, with not even 200 000 folks, you can count at least a half dozen new squatting events in the last three years. In fact, it has mushroomed since the state house was taken by chavismo three years ago. In all fairness Gimenez has built a lot of housing, but then again he got the means that were always denied to Lapi. Thus he probably ended up attracting people from far away in their desperate hope to find a home.
"Invasiones" also happened heavily in Carabobo after the Salas were evicted three years ago. The Southern approach to Valencia is dotted with huge squatting settlements for hundreds and hundreds of plots. I even allow myself to suspect that such squats are a deliberate maneuver from the new chavista administration to change the electoral makeshift of some areas.
Thus when you drive from San Felipe to Caracas you could easily count a couple of dozen of squats in 3 hours drive. Impressive by any standard.
Since I am aware that it is a reflection of human misery, of an incompetent state unable to promote economic policies that would allow these people a better way to solve their housing problems, I am not mad at them at all. Even though I know that my tax money will be used some day to try to solve somewhat this huge problem, I feel pity for these people and wish I could help them. It remains that the best thing that could happen to them is for Chavez to go and for a new economical system to come up, one that creates real jobs with real wages and not a "Mision" dependency of failing social programs that allows people to survive in such settlements, making them support the local chavista apparatchiks least they lose sustenance and any meager hope they might have to hold to their land claim.
No, my anger is well directed at Chavez and the sycophants that leach from him. Because the pictures that you saw above were all taken this past month, NINE YEARS after Chavez came to power. What has he done with all the oil money he received and all the taxes the SENIAT has collected? How come that after NINE YEARS of rule we see MORE SQUATTING SETTLEMENTS than 9 years ago? Where do these people come from? What are they refugees from? Because this is what it looks like, that Venezuela is becoming a refugee center of sorts. Are we seeing a massive exodus of the rural population that is chased away from the extraordinary failure of Chavez agricultural policies?
But what irks me more is that with the oil money we give to Boston alone we could build a small and cheap house for all of these people, in better land that could be purchased at a discount price from any owner instead of staling it form them, and if we must keep the dirt roads we could at least provide every house with a single faucet of clean water and at least a central line of sewer. And heck, even a Barrio Adentro module could be tossed in. And I bet you that some money would still be left to build a sheltered bus stop and expand the nearest school from the settlement. And why not, even clothe, vaccinate, buy school books for the kids.
Meanwhile leaches like Joe Kennedy play politics with Venezuelan oil in Boston where none of the recipients of the oil aid would put up for a minute with the living conditions of the people you saw on these pictures.
Where is the Boston Globe sending a reporter to make a good study of these squatters in Venezuela and show Joe why he is such an asshole? Where are the Delahunt and other Chavez apologists? Where is the stupid Obama campaign worker with a Che poster in her nice Air Conditioned office with working toilets down the hallway?
These are the people that deserve all the contempt that I was feeling when I took all of these pictures.
-The end-
And then a couple of weeks ago I got an idea: discuss the squatting epidemic in Venezuela, 9, NINE years after Chavez reached office. Before getting into the why of the squatting pandemic, to enlighten the reader about this Venezuelan drama I will report on the two recent instances in San Felipe, which I managed to photograph without upsetting the natives who understandably are not too happy when someone comes to take a picture of their precarious living conditions. Note: the pictures were taken on two different days; click on them to enlarge for some of the worthy details.
The general set up
First, squatting rarely takes place away from central urban areas, or at the end of some dirt road. It is always on some worthy land, next to some major highway or some land suitable for housing projects. I will thus start first with a picture of San Felipe from Goggle Earth where I point out the two "invasiones" that I will describe today, invasion 1 offering the picture that introduces this post, with drying laundry included.
It is thus relatively valuable land, as close as possible from already established real estate, even if that real estate is for popular neighborhoods, as is the case for invasion 1. Invasion 2 is closer to a a middle class set up.
In the end an "invasión" is simply a blackmail to force the owner to shell off money to get back the land. If the owner does not have the money it is then expected that the municipal council will decide that it goes against the general interests of the community to let slums proliferate randomly. Again, blackmail. It has been reported often that some people have made a career of this: they invade an area, stick around for enough time and when some "compensation" will come they transfer their "rights" to someone else and go elsewhere to start the process anew. If it is a tragedy for some it is also a business for many.
Because this is the real problem that makes the situation so intractable: there is a genuine, dramatic, housing shortfall that has gotten much worse under Chavez. Mix with it a few unscrupulous low life adventurers and you get for a heady mix of corruption, violence, blackmail and human misery, while the state suffers from an increasing paralysis. It is important to note that the average housing construction under Chavez is below those of any recent democratic president.
The time table of construction
It always starts like that, a group of people set a few picket fences, a few plastic covers on top of 4 sticks. Even if it looks like it, it is not that random. This picture is on a portion of invasion 1, its current expansion toward the North. Now that the southern part is relatively settled, newcomers keep arriving and boldly creep toward the main avenue North. Note: this is the third try I remember on this very same piece of land which might be from a different owner probably as the one that finally took root, as we will see below. That is about the only explanation on why of two adjacent pieces of land one succeeded at first try and the other is still finding its ways.
Over a few weeks the settlement starts taking form. The settlement can be as primitive as log cabins (on the right side) to a mishmash of old zinc sheets, street signs, cardboard (on the left) to higher investment in new to semi new zinc sheets (in the middle). They are always one room at first although very soon a second room is added. Since it is Yaracuy and rains are heavy, they are careful from the start to build a slope on the roof. The one on the left is particularly interesting even though it is the one with the cheapest "recycled material": is is the one with the best engineering of the scene, with even a small open air area on the very left for people to spend the afternoon.
This next picture is a little bit further to the South and here you can see another example of log cabin on the left and a truly rag tag assembly of whatever from the right. Clearly, the background and means of these "settlers" can be quite different. Also note the log cabin one: think about where does that timber come from? Which land has been deforested somewhere? In case you do not know, in theory you need a permit in Venezuela to fall any tree, even in your backyard. If at my work place or a the family farm we were to cut down enough trees to build up a log cabin for the kids to play, the Nazional Guard would be immediately on us for a fine, or more likely for some baksheesh. These people, I am pretty sure, did not get bothered by the Nazional Guard, whereas the ex owner of these trees might be questioned about it about where his trees went..... Ecology under the bolivarian fraud is an empty concept.
The life style
Now, let's move on to the southern part of invasion 1. As you can see from this first picture it is more settled, more developed. People now are actually living in it whereas in the pictures above usually a single guardian stays the 24 hours in the "home". the reason is that since some authority or some thug group might come in the middle of the night and bring all down, the "claim" could be lost to either another "invasor" group, or to public authorities and even in some cases the owner. Yes, "invasiones" are not necessary an easy business, and can be fraught with risks.
But there comes a time where the owner for some reason cannot get the authorities support (usually because he cannot afford the lawyers and the right bribes) and the settlement can start to prosper, so to speak. In this picture below you can see a Saturday afternoon family scene where, stroller and all, the family retreats to their home. Shacks look bigger behind the grass, more densely settled with pickets to bring in electricity. Many, if not most, will by this stage have a TV and a refrigerator. The highway is a double road and in front you can see the well worn pass where the grass is topping to grow. There is now significant human traffic, and probably either a bus stop or some "bodega" not too far which justifies that folks go always through this 'pass'.
Because it should be clear that there is no service, no running water, no drains, no electricity. Water can soon be bought in by trucks (usually offered by the municipal social programs though purchasing them is faster and they can pull together resoruces) and all the settlers will soon acquire some large enough containers for water, stored INSIDE the shack because they are a prized possession and the envy of the neighbors. There is enough water so that folks can even do their laundry as the opening picture showed you clearly.
Sewers you can forget for a while and I confess that I am not tempted to go inside and inquire. I suspect that they must dig latrines or walk to the wooded area in the back though this is snake country. Maybe they use the old fashioned basin system? Maybe they put it in plastic bags? 'Showers' might not be too much of a problem. Washing with a few cups of waters does not wet too much the soil, the water will not be too dirty and this being the tropics within hours all will be dry anyway. In Caracas it is less of a problem since the big slopes allowed for drainage in the middle of the 'street' to the 'quebrada' (wadi). But here in flat land I am a little bit concerned for the health of the folks.
Fortunately electricity is an easy thing to fix: steal it from the aerial lines across the highway. In this picture you can see how they place high bamboos or tree pickets to carry electricity inside the settlement. Guess who pays for that? Yours truly since the electricity charges are all split under registered customers who must shore up the burden of all the stolen electricity of the country. The government rarely cuts off these people. If hey did within hours they would restore the cables anyway. The rear pages of the newspapers carry regularly reports of guys dead from electrocution.
Unfortunately garbage is another matter. The municipality cannot charge them for garbage disposal and thus it is collected only on occasion, when it becomes a traffic hazard. The picture below speaks for itself.
Invasión 2The second area, invasion 2 in the map above, is a very recent one. It is placed right next to a new development project, of course bringing down the value of whatever folks are trying to build there. It is also next to a potentially dangerous "quebrada" who could overflow someday (hence the wooden nature of the area, clearly seen on the satellite image, since humidity is not too far below ground. And to complete the whole picture it is next to San Felipe historical archaeological park, ruining the tourist attraction. This area should remain wooded and become eventually a new park of sorts. Now it is ruined, an ecological crime and will cost the municipality a lot to recover, if it can ever come around to do it. And of course, if the stream overflows and destroys a few "homes" and takes a few lives, well, tax payers will have to foot the bill for something that started illegally.
The picture above repeats what was described above, even though it is hidden from view by the trees and because it is below highway level.
And the picture below shows how the folks spend their Sunday afternoon, guarding their take over. You will notice that we are at the early stage, no real inhabitation yet, one of the shacks has its 'walls' made of black trash bags (on the right side).
Is it cold in Boston in February?Conclusion: what Joe Kennedy does not tell you
The first thing that the reader must be aware of is that these pathetic scenes of human misery are everywhere in Venezuela. In San Felipe, with not even 200 000 folks, you can count at least a half dozen new squatting events in the last three years. In fact, it has mushroomed since the state house was taken by chavismo three years ago. In all fairness Gimenez has built a lot of housing, but then again he got the means that were always denied to Lapi. Thus he probably ended up attracting people from far away in their desperate hope to find a home.
"Invasiones" also happened heavily in Carabobo after the Salas were evicted three years ago. The Southern approach to Valencia is dotted with huge squatting settlements for hundreds and hundreds of plots. I even allow myself to suspect that such squats are a deliberate maneuver from the new chavista administration to change the electoral makeshift of some areas.
Thus when you drive from San Felipe to Caracas you could easily count a couple of dozen of squats in 3 hours drive. Impressive by any standard.
Since I am aware that it is a reflection of human misery, of an incompetent state unable to promote economic policies that would allow these people a better way to solve their housing problems, I am not mad at them at all. Even though I know that my tax money will be used some day to try to solve somewhat this huge problem, I feel pity for these people and wish I could help them. It remains that the best thing that could happen to them is for Chavez to go and for a new economical system to come up, one that creates real jobs with real wages and not a "Mision" dependency of failing social programs that allows people to survive in such settlements, making them support the local chavista apparatchiks least they lose sustenance and any meager hope they might have to hold to their land claim.
No, my anger is well directed at Chavez and the sycophants that leach from him. Because the pictures that you saw above were all taken this past month, NINE YEARS after Chavez came to power. What has he done with all the oil money he received and all the taxes the SENIAT has collected? How come that after NINE YEARS of rule we see MORE SQUATTING SETTLEMENTS than 9 years ago? Where do these people come from? What are they refugees from? Because this is what it looks like, that Venezuela is becoming a refugee center of sorts. Are we seeing a massive exodus of the rural population that is chased away from the extraordinary failure of Chavez agricultural policies?
But what irks me more is that with the oil money we give to Boston alone we could build a small and cheap house for all of these people, in better land that could be purchased at a discount price from any owner instead of staling it form them, and if we must keep the dirt roads we could at least provide every house with a single faucet of clean water and at least a central line of sewer. And heck, even a Barrio Adentro module could be tossed in. And I bet you that some money would still be left to build a sheltered bus stop and expand the nearest school from the settlement. And why not, even clothe, vaccinate, buy school books for the kids.
Meanwhile leaches like Joe Kennedy play politics with Venezuelan oil in Boston where none of the recipients of the oil aid would put up for a minute with the living conditions of the people you saw on these pictures.
Where is the Boston Globe sending a reporter to make a good study of these squatters in Venezuela and show Joe why he is such an asshole? Where are the Delahunt and other Chavez apologists? Where is the stupid Obama campaign worker with a Che poster in her nice Air Conditioned office with working toilets down the hallway?
These are the people that deserve all the contempt that I was feeling when I took all of these pictures.
-The end-
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