Since it is anti-intellectual Monday I found the perfect way to ease my bewildered readers in the new week. I have been considering for a while writing a post on the latest insult that Chavez keeps throwing at anyone who does not agree with him: pitiyanki or Yankee lover. But procrastination pays as Romero or the New York Times published last Friday the complete account. Personally I could not agree more with Charito Rojas of Notitarde quoted by Romero: "If being pitiyanqui means loving liberty and progress, science and excellence, then I am a very Venezuelan pitiyanqui".
The amusing thing here is that Chavez is running out of bad words. That is, after having accused us of so many perversions he now must dig into more obscure words, and tries to make them sound like awful insults through his delivery. But it does not work well. The sycophants that surround him have long ago opted at repeating any silly or gross utterance from their leader, as is, without any effort at understanding. And us, well, we have learned long ago not to be vexed and instead take it as a badge of honor. That is how "escualido" eventually left the Chavez vocabulary. That is the curse of people who insult without property, and usually out of place: after a while people stop paying attention, or worse, find it quaint. You know, a little bit like the boy who cried "wolf!" story except that we already have the wolves running the streets of Caracas without Chavez doing a thing about it.
But while Chavez tries to be creative with words he also tries to be creative in much darker ways, such as strengthening his alliance with Russia who has been invited for military exercises in Venezuelan waters. Romero also informs us of that development. This Chavez announcement came a few days after Chavez supported Russia's action in the Caucasus establishing once and for all that some empires are more equal than others. Chavismo of course does not say anything about that, such as they say nothing about Nicaragua's Ortega rape of his step daughter. But we have already amply described here the abjection of chavismo, including its easy qualification of "genocide" for any order measure taken by a non chavista entity whereas real genocides as in Chechnya are totally ignored.
This at least gives us the latest best new word with real meaning when Pedro Llorens of El Nacional called Chavez pitiruso.
PS: "pitiyanki, y a mucha honra" honorable US lover (unless someone finds a better translation).
PS2: I might be a pitiyanki but my team is the Red Sox.
-The end-
Monday, September 08, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Venezuelan 2008 election: update 6- Shifting grounds?
The never ending wonder of elections is that they all have a dynamic of their own and the most certain result suddenly is not that certain, and not for the foreseeable reasons. Thus in the US late Spring almost brought us an early swear in of Obama. Today his lead is dangerously close to polls margin of error. In Venezuela also, early this year in spite of the December 2007 Chavez referendum loss, the opposition was given a good result by taking up to 8 governorships next November. Now it seems that odds are quite good for at least ten states and 8 only would start sounding as, well, under-achievement. Over the past two months two things have happened: chavismo administrative skills are seen as worsening; and the opposition manages overall a better unity than chavismo groups as the UNT/PJ show down seems to arrive to a term with a slight PJ advantage. In other words with two months left of campaign the panorama is improving for the opposition. But it is not something we should crow about: that improvement is due more to Chavez mistakes than any novel and brilliant strategy of the opposition. So, what else is new?
Chavismo problems
The highlight was the blackout of last Monday. If you are a NiNi and are forced to take everyday the overburdened Caracas Subway and you got stuck in it for who knows how long, as AC effect, weak already, faded fast, and as your 1.5 hour commute turned into a 3 hours road to hell, you are less likely to vote for Aristobulo Isturiz for Caracas mayor at large. It does not matter how happy you are when Chavez punishes the exploitative private sector in your name by having the state taking over increasing larger chunks of it: suddenly the realization that these takeovers are not going to bring anything good to you starts budding as you escape the subway station to face the crowds battling the scarce ground transportation, without any security service trying to put some order. The temptation to vote against Chavez's candidates in the local elections starts growing because you want, after 10 years of hot avenging air, your man to also deliver a few services. You know, just like giving him a gentle warning as you surely will vote SI in the next referendum anyway. Surely he must be told that revolution is not all that there is in life.
Even the Bolsheviks took great care to have a glittery subway system in Moscow.
If the blackout is the most startling example as it already happened twice this year, not mentioning all the other problems linked to the poor electrical grid, I could write similar chronicles using creeping food shortages, epidemics that government tries to hide, the insecurity that shows no sign of abating, the closing up of Barrio Adentro modules while hospitals show no sign of improvement, or describe how the morgues have become the latest scandals.
When I started writing this series I was thinking that the opposition needed to mobilize its base by joining to a “pothole” fixing platform a more general interest such as the constitutional violations. But now that chavismo is offering us daily proof of its incompetence and its obvious incapacity at solving anything I wonder if in fact the opposition campaign should simply focus and saying that they can do a better job than chavista candidates at picking up garbage. It might just be enough!
Opposition score settling
The main problem of the opposition remains the motivation of its voters as too many of its supporters are still threatening not to vote if this or that condition is not met, in particular the unity of all opposition behind single candidates. I will not go back on what is now just plain stupidity from people that are simply unable to see that the country is changing fast and the unity is in fact in better shape among us than within chavismo. The fact of the matter is that the opposition leadership could start forgetting about this decreasing vociferous minority as more and more NiNi are looking elsewhere to solve their daily problems. Opposition energies should be spent there, getting the weakening chavista voter that realizes Chavez cannot solve all, nor the people he appoints. In fact the recent lockjaw between Primero Justica and Un Nuevo Tiempo might indicate that this leadership is more confident and can actually afford to state its case more forcefully, being less afraid to lose voters by stern but discrete displays of disagreements.
UNT and PJ are both cursed with the Venezuelan politic disease: the search for the caudillo that will win elections for them (for that matter, chavismo is the poster boy group). In the case of PJ it is not too bad as Borges cannot impose himself charismatically, and because he also has some minor luminaries around him such as Capriles Radonsky who I saw warming up a room as no one else in PJ can do. But UNT was a vehicle to promote Rosales and when it embraced Leopoldo Lopez and the other PJ dissidents in 2006 it could never manage to get its bearings. In fact it is rumored that many inside UNT were not too unhappy when Leopoldo was banned from running as he was starting to crowd out Rosales… Thus, at least to me as an observer, it seemed that UNT had been out to reinforce its position by doing such last minute maneuvers as sending Ojeda at the time limit to register for Caracas mayor. This broke previous arrangements where if the first one at polls could not run the second one in opinion polls would become the “unity” standard bearer. Leopoldo subscribed happily to that as he thought, stupidly if I may say so, that he would be allowed to run. But when he was blocked UNT realized that the second in the race, Ledezma, was someone they could not stomach.
Did they not think of that before signing the unity agreement? Where they not aware that Ledezma was the only other viable option? Are they that irresponsible? But in my opinion it was rather infamous that Leopoldo chose to present himself as a martyr with no care for whom is the mayor of Caracas. Spoiled brat reaction if you ask me!
But the story is in fact more complicated because no one really liked Ledezma at either PJ or UNT. In fact PJ had been offering Ismael Garcia as a substitute but he was vetoed by UNT. So, what did PJ just did this week? It threw its support behind Ledezma, appearing a the same time the real “pro unity” guys and throwing a wrench at UNT. PJ also did a similar maneuver in Tachira, screwing Azocar of the UNT. And both maneuvers seem to be working. If PJ does not get additional unity candidates it at least makes sure that UNT did not profit from the inhabilitaciones crisis.
The surprising result of that UNT-PJ tug of war is that UNT could back down honorably, PJ looked good and the only guys that benefited form it are minor parties who were feeling taken for ride through the whole process. Apparently next week unity should be reached in Caracas and Tachira leaving only Bolivar and Yaracuy as the last messed up fronts (chavismo is messed up in Portuguesa, Guarico, Carabobo, Barinas, Yaracuy, and even Bolivar).
There is still the really embarrassing case of Chacao where the opposition fields three candidates (and it probably could field four and still win anyway). Though Chacao does not matter in the grand scheme of things, it is disproportionately bad publicity. But then again Leopoldo is to blame for that mess and as people start realizing this, they just lose interest for Chacao, as it should be. The funny thing about all of this is that Leopoldo self inflicted wounds might actually be favoring the opposition! Or, in other words, if he does not want to be left on the side he might want to consider to support energetically Ledezma soon.
-The end-
Chavismo problems
The highlight was the blackout of last Monday. If you are a NiNi and are forced to take everyday the overburdened Caracas Subway and you got stuck in it for who knows how long, as AC effect, weak already, faded fast, and as your 1.5 hour commute turned into a 3 hours road to hell, you are less likely to vote for Aristobulo Isturiz for Caracas mayor at large. It does not matter how happy you are when Chavez punishes the exploitative private sector in your name by having the state taking over increasing larger chunks of it: suddenly the realization that these takeovers are not going to bring anything good to you starts budding as you escape the subway station to face the crowds battling the scarce ground transportation, without any security service trying to put some order. The temptation to vote against Chavez's candidates in the local elections starts growing because you want, after 10 years of hot avenging air, your man to also deliver a few services. You know, just like giving him a gentle warning as you surely will vote SI in the next referendum anyway. Surely he must be told that revolution is not all that there is in life.
Even the Bolsheviks took great care to have a glittery subway system in Moscow.
If the blackout is the most startling example as it already happened twice this year, not mentioning all the other problems linked to the poor electrical grid, I could write similar chronicles using creeping food shortages, epidemics that government tries to hide, the insecurity that shows no sign of abating, the closing up of Barrio Adentro modules while hospitals show no sign of improvement, or describe how the morgues have become the latest scandals.
When I started writing this series I was thinking that the opposition needed to mobilize its base by joining to a “pothole” fixing platform a more general interest such as the constitutional violations. But now that chavismo is offering us daily proof of its incompetence and its obvious incapacity at solving anything I wonder if in fact the opposition campaign should simply focus and saying that they can do a better job than chavista candidates at picking up garbage. It might just be enough!
Opposition score settling
The main problem of the opposition remains the motivation of its voters as too many of its supporters are still threatening not to vote if this or that condition is not met, in particular the unity of all opposition behind single candidates. I will not go back on what is now just plain stupidity from people that are simply unable to see that the country is changing fast and the unity is in fact in better shape among us than within chavismo. The fact of the matter is that the opposition leadership could start forgetting about this decreasing vociferous minority as more and more NiNi are looking elsewhere to solve their daily problems. Opposition energies should be spent there, getting the weakening chavista voter that realizes Chavez cannot solve all, nor the people he appoints. In fact the recent lockjaw between Primero Justica and Un Nuevo Tiempo might indicate that this leadership is more confident and can actually afford to state its case more forcefully, being less afraid to lose voters by stern but discrete displays of disagreements.
UNT and PJ are both cursed with the Venezuelan politic disease: the search for the caudillo that will win elections for them (for that matter, chavismo is the poster boy group). In the case of PJ it is not too bad as Borges cannot impose himself charismatically, and because he also has some minor luminaries around him such as Capriles Radonsky who I saw warming up a room as no one else in PJ can do. But UNT was a vehicle to promote Rosales and when it embraced Leopoldo Lopez and the other PJ dissidents in 2006 it could never manage to get its bearings. In fact it is rumored that many inside UNT were not too unhappy when Leopoldo was banned from running as he was starting to crowd out Rosales… Thus, at least to me as an observer, it seemed that UNT had been out to reinforce its position by doing such last minute maneuvers as sending Ojeda at the time limit to register for Caracas mayor. This broke previous arrangements where if the first one at polls could not run the second one in opinion polls would become the “unity” standard bearer. Leopoldo subscribed happily to that as he thought, stupidly if I may say so, that he would be allowed to run. But when he was blocked UNT realized that the second in the race, Ledezma, was someone they could not stomach.
Did they not think of that before signing the unity agreement? Where they not aware that Ledezma was the only other viable option? Are they that irresponsible? But in my opinion it was rather infamous that Leopoldo chose to present himself as a martyr with no care for whom is the mayor of Caracas. Spoiled brat reaction if you ask me!
But the story is in fact more complicated because no one really liked Ledezma at either PJ or UNT. In fact PJ had been offering Ismael Garcia as a substitute but he was vetoed by UNT. So, what did PJ just did this week? It threw its support behind Ledezma, appearing a the same time the real “pro unity” guys and throwing a wrench at UNT. PJ also did a similar maneuver in Tachira, screwing Azocar of the UNT. And both maneuvers seem to be working. If PJ does not get additional unity candidates it at least makes sure that UNT did not profit from the inhabilitaciones crisis.
The surprising result of that UNT-PJ tug of war is that UNT could back down honorably, PJ looked good and the only guys that benefited form it are minor parties who were feeling taken for ride through the whole process. Apparently next week unity should be reached in Caracas and Tachira leaving only Bolivar and Yaracuy as the last messed up fronts (chavismo is messed up in Portuguesa, Guarico, Carabobo, Barinas, Yaracuy, and even Bolivar).
There is still the really embarrassing case of Chacao where the opposition fields three candidates (and it probably could field four and still win anyway). Though Chacao does not matter in the grand scheme of things, it is disproportionately bad publicity. But then again Leopoldo is to blame for that mess and as people start realizing this, they just lose interest for Chacao, as it should be. The funny thing about all of this is that Leopoldo self inflicted wounds might actually be favoring the opposition! Or, in other words, if he does not want to be left on the side he might want to consider to support energetically Ledezma soon.
-The end-
Friday, September 05, 2008
Unenlightened Venezuelans
I was going to write last night a fascinating post about the battles between UNT and PJ overt the control of local politics, but paraphrasing Laureano Marquez in Tal Cual today, the lights went out last night in San Felipe, for almost an hour. By the time light came back it was for me to stand up and turn off what I had missed, and back to bed. Fortunately Luareano's cartoon in today's Tal Cual gave me a fast post for your entertainment.
As a supplement of this, for those who read Spanish I will recommend an editorial of Gustavo Coronel in Petroleum World which will explain to you briefly why the electric distribution in Venezuela is so catastrophic now.
And I will refer you to yet another article of Tal Cual, the back page, where you can read Chavez explanation on why we are left in the dark, more and more often. (Note: lat night I was thankful because voltage went down for a bout 5 minutes before the lights went out, and thus I had plenty of time to get my torch candles and matches ready.) But since my readers are busy people and most do not have a Tal Cual access I will summarize: it is all the fault of the 4th republic as no new thermal plants has been built since 1984. What has Chavez been doing for his ten years tenure is a mystery for all, but it is certainly not because of his diffidence that we are left in the dark. Well, a few more outages by November 23 and we will see who is left in the dark this time.
Or as the cartoon above says, we ALL suffer from power outage, chavistas and anti chavistas alike, with special notice to those who must replace their appliances after one power outage too many. For all of us, hearing chavez saying that we should turn off our lights and avoid waste is just a plain mockery when our refrigerator is on the fritz.....
-The end-
As a supplement of this, for those who read Spanish I will recommend an editorial of Gustavo Coronel in Petroleum World which will explain to you briefly why the electric distribution in Venezuela is so catastrophic now.
And I will refer you to yet another article of Tal Cual, the back page, where you can read Chavez explanation on why we are left in the dark, more and more often. (Note: lat night I was thankful because voltage went down for a bout 5 minutes before the lights went out, and thus I had plenty of time to get my torch candles and matches ready.) But since my readers are busy people and most do not have a Tal Cual access I will summarize: it is all the fault of the 4th republic as no new thermal plants has been built since 1984. What has Chavez been doing for his ten years tenure is a mystery for all, but it is certainly not because of his diffidence that we are left in the dark. Well, a few more outages by November 23 and we will see who is left in the dark this time.
Or as the cartoon above says, we ALL suffer from power outage, chavistas and anti chavistas alike, with special notice to those who must replace their appliances after one power outage too many. For all of us, hearing chavez saying that we should turn off our lights and avoid waste is just a plain mockery when our refrigerator is on the fritz.....
-The end-
Thursday, September 04, 2008
The Palin factor
Sarah Palin was tonight's surprise. Maybe her speech was written by someone else, maybe she used teleprompter, but she delivered it with intent and gusto. She was great even though I will never be caught dead voting for her. Now, how much more objective than that can I get?
Palin sure showed a few democrats that they were a tad early in dismissing her so fast. A few days ago I thought that Obama had it all wrapped up, but well, maybe it is not that wrapped after all. You know, the thing about Palin's speech that knocked even occasional cynics like me was that all American quality of trusting oneself, of not doubting that it is worth trying the challenge. The woman is a small town mayor and a small state governor (population wise, of course), and yet she behaved as expected tonight, not intimated at all, though slightly endearing as it was cool to see her unable to sense her wonder at being suddenly projected to such a stage. She almost mangled the word Venezuela when she discussed freeing he US from the blackmails of you know what gang. This confirmed indeed that the speech was written for her as she probably had no idea where Venezuela was until two weeks ago. But that is the way politics are played, Obama did not know about Venezuela one year ago either but he also dismissed Chavez a few months ago. That is what happens in serious countries where state interests are more important than individuals and thus easily cross party lines. Something unthinkable today in Venezuela
And all of this is what makes US politics so fascinating, allowing us to watch any convention and enjoy the show equally, no matter who we plan to vote for. And for sure this electoral campaign is a heck of a campaign and luckily for us observers who cannot vote, the show is far form over.
With this post my coverage of US elections is over as I probably will not be able to watch the debates due to the busiest time of the year for me, and also the need to cover the local contest where not a single politician, not even Chavez, could give us a speech as crafted as the one Palin gave us tonight. And this was only one speech in a speech rich campaign.
Totally irrelevant and hyper-hypothetical note: I write this down separately because as I was observing Palin's speech I caught myself thinking that even though I disagree with her on many essential issues if she were to call me to ask for some consulting on some issues I would have no trouble sitting down with her. And yet if Chavez were to call me, a way more improbable event if possible, I would refuse. I suppose that until a couple of years ago I would have still accpeted a presidential invitation, but at some point during the 2007 referendum campaign I realized that Chavez is beyond reach for anyone and goign to Miraflores would be a perfect waste of time for anyone (unless of course you want to plug yourself in some sweet deal). Maybe it is the ability to have that feeling that you can still sit down with a political opponent, that it will not be a total waste of time, what makes real democracies tick.
-The end-
Palin sure showed a few democrats that they were a tad early in dismissing her so fast. A few days ago I thought that Obama had it all wrapped up, but well, maybe it is not that wrapped after all. You know, the thing about Palin's speech that knocked even occasional cynics like me was that all American quality of trusting oneself, of not doubting that it is worth trying the challenge. The woman is a small town mayor and a small state governor (population wise, of course), and yet she behaved as expected tonight, not intimated at all, though slightly endearing as it was cool to see her unable to sense her wonder at being suddenly projected to such a stage. She almost mangled the word Venezuela when she discussed freeing he US from the blackmails of you know what gang. This confirmed indeed that the speech was written for her as she probably had no idea where Venezuela was until two weeks ago. But that is the way politics are played, Obama did not know about Venezuela one year ago either but he also dismissed Chavez a few months ago. That is what happens in serious countries where state interests are more important than individuals and thus easily cross party lines. Something unthinkable today in Venezuela
And all of this is what makes US politics so fascinating, allowing us to watch any convention and enjoy the show equally, no matter who we plan to vote for. And for sure this electoral campaign is a heck of a campaign and luckily for us observers who cannot vote, the show is far form over.
With this post my coverage of US elections is over as I probably will not be able to watch the debates due to the busiest time of the year for me, and also the need to cover the local contest where not a single politician, not even Chavez, could give us a speech as crafted as the one Palin gave us tonight. And this was only one speech in a speech rich campaign.
Totally irrelevant and hyper-hypothetical note: I write this down separately because as I was observing Palin's speech I caught myself thinking that even though I disagree with her on many essential issues if she were to call me to ask for some consulting on some issues I would have no trouble sitting down with her. And yet if Chavez were to call me, a way more improbable event if possible, I would refuse. I suppose that until a couple of years ago I would have still accpeted a presidential invitation, but at some point during the 2007 referendum campaign I realized that Chavez is beyond reach for anyone and goign to Miraflores would be a perfect waste of time for anyone (unless of course you want to plug yourself in some sweet deal). Maybe it is the ability to have that feeling that you can still sit down with a political opponent, that it will not be a total waste of time, what makes real democracies tick.
-The end-
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
"only" 22% of the drug traffic goes through Venezuela?
In what has to be another great moment in sycophantic mediocrity, VEA, the official 
newspaper of the Chavez regime, had published this front page.
Yes, that is right, VEA says that 78% of the drugs shipped DO NOT go through Venezuela. Does that mean that 22% of the world shipments indeed do go through Venezuela? Or are we talking about local shipments? Of what drugs? Is this good enough a result to write home about?
Truly, in their desperate quest to ingratiate themselves with the government the low life sycophants of Chavez some times do real dodoos... (hat tip Tal Cual, "por mi madre")
By the way observe now the general paraphernalia that accompanies any public official event as the vice president and top brass must sit behind a red cloth covered table, red shirts and all. Only the army and those coming from it seem to escape that now dreary red. I suggest that they start drinking rosé wine instead of water, it would be a better color match and at the same time it will probably help along uttering the inanities now routine at such events.
-The end-
newspaper of the Chavez regime, had published this front page.Yes, that is right, VEA says that 78% of the drugs shipped DO NOT go through Venezuela. Does that mean that 22% of the world shipments indeed do go through Venezuela? Or are we talking about local shipments? Of what drugs? Is this good enough a result to write home about?
Truly, in their desperate quest to ingratiate themselves with the government the low life sycophants of Chavez some times do real dodoos... (hat tip Tal Cual, "por mi madre")
By the way observe now the general paraphernalia that accompanies any public official event as the vice president and top brass must sit behind a red cloth covered table, red shirts and all. Only the army and those coming from it seem to escape that now dreary red. I suggest that they start drinking rosé wine instead of water, it would be a better color match and at the same time it will probably help along uttering the inanities now routine at such events.
-The end-
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
No light in the attic: unenlightened chavismo and a lightless Venezuela
The news today is yet again another massive blackout in Venezuela. It is not clear how much of the country was cut off as amazingly government seems to be clueless. But I can say that San Felipe was more than 3 hours without electricity, some areas of Caracas are still not back up on the grid and Valencia was wiped out, hospitals only starting to get back some service around 5 PM. Maybe Gustav was bearing down on Louisiana but hurricane Hugo keeps in its never ending quest to destroy Venezuela.
Though I felt for those trapped in Caracas overburdened subway today, this massive blackout was a good opportunity to think about a few things and get back into posting mood. There was this very nice article by Roger Santodomingo this morning in Tal Cual, which I could read before the computers went out (here, for those without a subscription). The topic was the censorship that Maripili Hernandez imposes at Canal I. Some background is needed.
Maripili Hernandez is one of those chavistas that are presentable. She can say several full sentences in a row without being improper, something that Chavez himself is unable to do. She does have some knowledge of the world and some professional dedication, though in her case it does not seem to be very productive. She was on board with Chavez from the start but somehow never quite made it up to the inner circle. Or was dropped form it. Whatever. She was briefly foreign minister for North America, about the only chavista that could be sent there. On many an occasion I had the opportunity to expose her in this blog, in particular in such a stellar moment as her patriotic histrionics. Gustavo Coronel has also told her down.
But apparently she did something improper as she is the only chavista of some weight that was also inhabilitada by Clodosvaldo, that is, barred from seeking political office without a trial. But that is not big deal for her: she obviously is not into electoral politics and besides now she has her own TV network, Canal I.
Canal I was inaugurated over a year ago by one of those chavista groups that made millions in half a decade of chavista rule (William Ruperti is the face). It is meant to be the counter weight of Globovision but, well, it is having trouble as it is just too obviously pro Chavez, not to mention far from the professional standards of Globovision or even Venevision (heck, not even a working web page!). I did try to watch it a few times, hoping that perhaps I would get a more palatable point of view of chavismo ideas. But quickly I realized that I was better off reading directly Aporrea or watching Alo Presidente on Sundays.
At any rate, Ruperti did hire Maripili to direct the new network. That was a gamble form the start as Maripili presided over the downgrading of VTV early in Chavez term. I think, in her discharge, that she did not agree with the 24/24 propaganda nature of VTV and found a way out. But her tenure was considered a failure and her jobs hereafter were in the great chavista tradition of mediocrity and incompetence. Then again, if Ruperti did not want to get into trouble with Canal I, hiring Maripli was a good move I suppose.
So Roger Santodomingo narrates in his article today how Maripili fired one of her journalists, Mairim Unamo, because she wanted to do a piece on the Antonini trial starting in Miami this week, as Miguel is following closely. That is right, Maripili Hernandez, once a defender of free speech is now your ordinary censor once her political side is threatened by an exploding scandal which revelations would undo any normal government. It will not undo this one because well, there is justice in the US but not in Venezuela.
This poses once again several questions. One, is what are chavistas thinking? How long can they pretend that what is happening in Miami is just a media conspiracy? That the 800 000 USD bag did not exist, or was just Antonini pocket money for his Argentina vacation? There is a point where you can legitimately start wondering about the mental capacity of these people such as Maripili who in a previous life had still some self respect. Now, the more the ship sinks the more willing they are to sink with it it, or so it seems.
But the answer to this first question can come from the second question: what is their concept of democracy? We have already seen that often: for chavista hard core defenders the only democratic credential chavismo, and Chavez, need is to win elections. The more often they win them, the more they are allowed to trample minority rights. That when they were a minority their rights were not that trampled, witness of it that eventually they came to power, does not seem to cross their feeble minds.
But what can you expect from true understudies like Maripli when her real boss this week attacked the opposition once again in a totally undemocratic way? Apparently Chavez was sore because the opposition is collecting signatures to protest the 26 laws from the enabling law and to send that to the OAS (I signed, by the way, did you?). Why is the opposition sending that to the OAS? Because there is no justice in Venezuela and because the High Court already approved some of these laws BEFORE they were known by the public in general, or a legitimate debate took place in the country.
So a very miffed Chavez replied to the folks gathering the petition that they were ridiculous and that what he should do is to ask for a new enabling law and stick to them 26 more decree laws. That is right, he just spoke like the neighborhood thug he is ("clavarle", with a sexual connotation), imposing his will and only interested in finding ways to screw his opponents and control his turf. HIS, is the operative word here. Not an ounce of democratic talent here. So, why should we expect democratic talent from Maripili?
But they are not making good progress. For all the efforts to ignore the Maletin, for all the self-censorship we saw for too long in the Venezuelan media (with the notable exception of Globovision and some bloggers who never forgot the issue), we are seeing again articles on the coming up trial making it to the front pages. Maripili might have fired Mairim but it might not be enough to save some of her superiors. Then again, we could ask a third question: is she able to understand what is going on in the country? I doubt it, the light in those attics was shuffled long before the country went blank today.
-The end-
Though I felt for those trapped in Caracas overburdened subway today, this massive blackout was a good opportunity to think about a few things and get back into posting mood. There was this very nice article by Roger Santodomingo this morning in Tal Cual, which I could read before the computers went out (here, for those without a subscription). The topic was the censorship that Maripili Hernandez imposes at Canal I. Some background is needed.
Maripili Hernandez is one of those chavistas that are presentable. She can say several full sentences in a row without being improper, something that Chavez himself is unable to do. She does have some knowledge of the world and some professional dedication, though in her case it does not seem to be very productive. She was on board with Chavez from the start but somehow never quite made it up to the inner circle. Or was dropped form it. Whatever. She was briefly foreign minister for North America, about the only chavista that could be sent there. On many an occasion I had the opportunity to expose her in this blog, in particular in such a stellar moment as her patriotic histrionics. Gustavo Coronel has also told her down.
But apparently she did something improper as she is the only chavista of some weight that was also inhabilitada by Clodosvaldo, that is, barred from seeking political office without a trial. But that is not big deal for her: she obviously is not into electoral politics and besides now she has her own TV network, Canal I.
Canal I was inaugurated over a year ago by one of those chavista groups that made millions in half a decade of chavista rule (William Ruperti is the face). It is meant to be the counter weight of Globovision but, well, it is having trouble as it is just too obviously pro Chavez, not to mention far from the professional standards of Globovision or even Venevision (heck, not even a working web page!). I did try to watch it a few times, hoping that perhaps I would get a more palatable point of view of chavismo ideas. But quickly I realized that I was better off reading directly Aporrea or watching Alo Presidente on Sundays.
At any rate, Ruperti did hire Maripili to direct the new network. That was a gamble form the start as Maripili presided over the downgrading of VTV early in Chavez term. I think, in her discharge, that she did not agree with the 24/24 propaganda nature of VTV and found a way out. But her tenure was considered a failure and her jobs hereafter were in the great chavista tradition of mediocrity and incompetence. Then again, if Ruperti did not want to get into trouble with Canal I, hiring Maripli was a good move I suppose.
So Roger Santodomingo narrates in his article today how Maripili fired one of her journalists, Mairim Unamo, because she wanted to do a piece on the Antonini trial starting in Miami this week, as Miguel is following closely. That is right, Maripili Hernandez, once a defender of free speech is now your ordinary censor once her political side is threatened by an exploding scandal which revelations would undo any normal government. It will not undo this one because well, there is justice in the US but not in Venezuela.
This poses once again several questions. One, is what are chavistas thinking? How long can they pretend that what is happening in Miami is just a media conspiracy? That the 800 000 USD bag did not exist, or was just Antonini pocket money for his Argentina vacation? There is a point where you can legitimately start wondering about the mental capacity of these people such as Maripili who in a previous life had still some self respect. Now, the more the ship sinks the more willing they are to sink with it it, or so it seems.
But the answer to this first question can come from the second question: what is their concept of democracy? We have already seen that often: for chavista hard core defenders the only democratic credential chavismo, and Chavez, need is to win elections. The more often they win them, the more they are allowed to trample minority rights. That when they were a minority their rights were not that trampled, witness of it that eventually they came to power, does not seem to cross their feeble minds.
But what can you expect from true understudies like Maripli when her real boss this week attacked the opposition once again in a totally undemocratic way? Apparently Chavez was sore because the opposition is collecting signatures to protest the 26 laws from the enabling law and to send that to the OAS (I signed, by the way, did you?). Why is the opposition sending that to the OAS? Because there is no justice in Venezuela and because the High Court already approved some of these laws BEFORE they were known by the public in general, or a legitimate debate took place in the country.
So a very miffed Chavez replied to the folks gathering the petition that they were ridiculous and that what he should do is to ask for a new enabling law and stick to them 26 more decree laws. That is right, he just spoke like the neighborhood thug he is ("clavarle", with a sexual connotation), imposing his will and only interested in finding ways to screw his opponents and control his turf. HIS, is the operative word here. Not an ounce of democratic talent here. So, why should we expect democratic talent from Maripili?
But they are not making good progress. For all the efforts to ignore the Maletin, for all the self-censorship we saw for too long in the Venezuelan media (with the notable exception of Globovision and some bloggers who never forgot the issue), we are seeing again articles on the coming up trial making it to the front pages. Maripili might have fired Mairim but it might not be enough to save some of her superiors. Then again, we could ask a third question: is she able to understand what is going on in the country? I doubt it, the light in those attics was shuffled long before the country went blank today.
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Monday, September 01, 2008
New site
For those who can read Spanish there is a new site with comic strips made out of Chavez pictures mostly. It is quite fun on occasion, though ill named "opiniones". The episode on Chavez colitis is particularly hilarious and to the point. If you read Spanish, please support him to encourage to put more stuff up. And he can hit the opposition quite well too.
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