My US predictions

[updated]OK, I figured out that if I am predicting Venezuela I should also expose myself to ridicule by also predicting the US. So there is is at Real Clear Politics.

I have assumed what I think it is the best McCain scenario and as far as I am concerned, Bradley effect or not, he cannot make it. I give Obama a solid 261 electoral seats with 48 leaning his way. He only needs 270 and thus he needs only Pennsylvania (21)or Virginia (13) to nail it. The two big ones that McCain needs to bag before he takes the ones leaning Obama are Florida (27) and North Carolina (15), more damaging for him to lose than if Obama loses Pennsylvania or Virginia.

I think Florida will go McCain because Cubans there are the only Latino group that will not follow Obama. So really McCain needs to nail North Carolina but the awful negative campaign of Dole there might cost him the state and end the story. Only Jesse Helms could get away with dirt in North Carolina. So Tuesday night those are the four states to watch: if Obama picks up Florida or North Carolina it is over for MacCain, you can go to bed early. If McCain keeps them and manages Pennsylvania and/or Virginia then it might not be a long night but you need to wait at least until Ohio and Missouri come out for Obama to make sure he wins.

Update

I have decided to put up the map because Real Clear Politics did not save it as expected. I also decided that I should put Indiana as leaning for Obama and not a sure thing. It really does not change much, Obama should win anyway as McCain has too many leaning compared to Obama. That is, if McCain wins it will be a replay of the Gore bush 2000 fiasco.

-The end-

Is there a state left in Venezuela?

When I look at what has happened today in Venezuela, in a single day, I wonder if there is a state left in Venezuela. There is also the option to think that Venezuela has become a failed state and we are about to become aware of that.

Let's start with the latest one. We just learned on TV that the grand daughter of ex-president Leoni has been found murdered in her apartment, possibly with her youngest child having witnessed it all, her mother near death next, both stabbed several times. The murder, by the way is in her Santa Paula apartment, a few blocks away from where I stay when I visit Caracas. A middle class neighborhood. What is the difference between Lorena and, say, any of the Chavez bothers? She had a small apartment in Caracas, he has large estates in Barinas. She had no body guard, he has all the body guards he can think of, taken away from the police corps, and thus away from the streets where they should be busy protecting the common citizen from crime, such as Lorena Moreno Leoni. Lorena is the grand daughter of a president that did not get rich while in office. She and her siblings have had to work all their lives for whatever they had as their grand parents left them only the family home. Another ex-president who died a simple man was Herrera Campins whom his friends had to help with his final medical expenses. The Chavez clan has become in ten years filthy rich, and let's not start with all the associates of the regime...

Or rather, let's start with these associates as the Miami trial is finally over and Franklin Duran has been declared guilty. Guilty as in guilty of being an undeclared agent of the Venezuelan government in the US. That is all, but it is much, much more than what it seems.

• It means that indeed Chavez regime is dispatching people to the US to commit actions that at the very least fail to meet the ethical label. In other words, Chavez agents in the US are up to no good, the more so when they are not registered.
• It means that the evidence presented at the trial demonstrates that the jury believed that corruption in Venezuela was at the root of sending such illegal agents. NOTE: the jury could not emit its opinion on corruption per se but the defense could not prove that the actions of Duran where not motivated by trying to cover up corruption in Venezuela.
• It means that the jury accepted that Venezuelan corruption is spilling over the US and as such should be stopped.

What are the implications?

Venezuelan government now cannot pretend the 800,000 dollars in the suit case just happened to be there. In fact, today, Antonini now free of the trial constraints talked in public for the first time, on CNN nothing less, to say that the money in the bag was for Cristina Kirchner campaign. Cristina and Hugo can chose to ignore Antonini declarations but the rest of Latin America who watched CNN "en español" now can wonder about the corruption in both countries (and in theirs if they are associated in any way with the bolivarian mafia). Well, they are not wondering, of course, as Argentina and Venezuela are considered quite corrupt even by our very lax Latin standards. No, they are going to wonder if these two crooks are going to do something about it. They will not have much of a choice anyway as in Argentina already the opposition is getting ready to cash in.

But in Venezuela, instead of investigating the huge corruption scandal of giving money to foreign campaigns, the Venezuelan mafia in charge uses law artifacts to remove one by one any opponent that looks to win at the coming polls. Yesterday it was Lopez, Mendoza and others. Today it was Lapi's turn. Tomorrow expect Salas Feo, Capriles and Rosales. That is the only way that chavismo can win an election, remove those who are running against them.

And while all of this took place, while European Human Rights observers were barred form doing their job, while Lech Walesa was "convinced" not to come to Venezuela, Chavez appealed to the racial card to try to get a date with Barak Obama. The Spanish original carries better the idea that Obama is black, like us. Chaevz simple assumes that Obama is misinformed. A little bit more and Obama is XXI centruy socialism Uncle Tom, if Chavez knew of that image.

Can there be a state in a country where the president behaves in such ways, say such things, jail or bars whoever he wants? Can there be a state when the daughter of an ex president is fighting for her life because somebody stabbed her in her home while the same state gives away 16, SIXTEEN, luxury 4 wheel drive, armored vehicles to make sure that Evo Morales is not going to get mugged in La Paz streets?

There is only one explanation to make sense of all of this: Chavez plays deliberately at the destruction of the state, an encumbrance that blocks him from enjoying his loot.

-The end-

The Venezuelan 2008 election: update 14 - Lara, Falcon and Yaracuy: how to get and not to get united

[Urgent update]These three states, called sometimes "Centro Occidente" are not in fact a geographical region and their unity in the mind of people comes more from history than geography. As you will see below, when we look at how local politics play in each one we can see that each one is an island.


Falcon

This one is the easiest to start with because I found very little information on its politics. No polls, no good local papers on line. Thus I must rely on the little bit the national papers give, and my historical memories.

The first thing to know about Falcon is that it is at the same time one of the most backwards states of Venezuela while endowed with two areas of relative modernism. If you look at the Venezuelan geography, in particular its mountainous area you can see that Falcon is a rather eccentric state, in the geographical sense of being out of the main communication fares. Quite isolated in fact. The Spaniards landed there first because it sticks out in the Caribbean, but quickly moved to El Tocuyo in Lara and after that to the Andes and Caracas, leaving Coro as a haven for contraband and coastal pseudo surveillance.

The North of Falcon is almost desert and large areas inside are also very dry. Only the San Luis Sierra above Coro receives some water and the cattle area in the extreme Western corner which also has the touristic area of Morocoy. The dry shore lived because the Caribbean was the main communication highway between Maracaibo and Caracas and all boats sailed in front and needed to stop on occasion. Once roads were opened by Gomez to link these areas to Caracas avoiding Falcon, well, the state felt into oblivion. That is except for the Paraguana peninsula where Venezuela placed its largest refineries. The two districts which reached some modernity are thus the capital district of Coro and the oil industry one of Punto Fijo, Caribudana, which by themselves represent about half of the state population.

The other half of the state has been fertile grounds for chavismo. Long neglected, any tiny bit that a mision program could bring had major impact. Those are the rural areas where chavismo grew. On the other hand Coro and Punto Fijo were the seats of pitched battles during the 2003 strikes and even though chavismo sent a new crop of inhabitants to replace the fired workers, it has failed to lock up that area of Falcon. Thus amazingly the 2007 referendum was a tie in Falcon when we would have expected an easy victory, helped along by the fact that a majority of districts are held by chavismo. After all, Chavez did get 63% there in 2006

Will that change now? I doubt it. Chavismo has managed to unite behind the wife of present governor who cannot run again. It also managed to unify in most districts. In front the opposition did manage a unity candidate for the state but elsewhere division reigns, shamefully. Falcon should remain safely in the hands of chavismo although it was a state where the opposition had a chance to make some inroads. Only Coro and Punto Fijo could offer a late surprise, but not enough of a surprise to bar the road of Stella de Montilla to postpone her move out of the governor's mansion. Thus nepotism and backwardness will remain the lot of Falcon for at least 4 more years.

Lara

Lara is my neighborhood state and yet its internal politics could not be any different from Yaracuy. In appearance it is a bastion of chavismo but such appearances can be very, very deceiving.

Lara was traditionally a leftist state but in a different tradition than Aragua. There what we had was much more of an agrarian problem stimulated by the longest colonial history within Venezuela and some of the driest, if fertile, lands available. That Lara went for Chavez from the start is not a surprise. But Lara has always retained an independent streak, not surprising since it is a land of writers, politicians and artists. In my opinion perhaps the best music and folk art in the whole of Venezuela and that is no accident. There is such a thing as the Lara difference.

Thus it was a mistake when chavismo took Lara for granted. First, Lara went all the way for Chavez in 2000 because the local governor decided not to run again. He was himself a dissident of the MAS who managed to impose his folksy style in the state. Orlando Fernandez thus ensured an easy take over by Chavez close pal, Reyes Reyes. Soon enough Orlando realized he had done a major mistake. But it was too late: the abstention of 2004 cost him a humiliating defeat when he tried to retake the state, ending thus his political career. Chavismo was gloating, assuming that Lara was now a safe state. In 2006 Chavez even got 3% more than his national average.

And in 2007 the single most stunning result of the referendum came form Lara where the SI lost by 49%. What happened?

First, Reyes Reyes revealed himself to be an awful governor, in particular during his second term. He so lacks in personality and charisma that he had to resort imitating Chavez ticks. But if that were not enough, he tried to make his son the next governor. That did not go well at all with the mayor of Barquisimeto, Henry Falcon, one of the few chavistas that has understood that ideology is good, but good management also helps to win reelection. Falcon is regarded as one, if not the best chavista official in the country. That does not go down well at all in the ideological lumpen of chavismo as Falcon is accused of traitor and what not. But Barquisimeto district is more than half of the state and if to this you add dormitory and middle class Palavecino (Cabudare), whoever wins there is almost certain to carry the state.

When chavismo hinted at conceding the nod to Reyes Reyes son, Falcon calmly announced that he would run anyway creating an internal fuss at the PSUV who at first expelled him. But for once the PSUV acted in a pragmatic way and capitulated to Falcon. After all the 2007 loss was a clear sign that Larenses got tired of Reyes Reyes who was more preoccupied in finding ways to sabotage Falcon work than solving the problems of the state. The PSUV knew that Lara would go to Falcon or to the opposition if they kicked him out.

But if Falcon in the end carried the day and looks a sure bet to win in front of a divided opposition, the next mayor of Barquisimeto is not a sure thing for chavismo. Even though the opposition is still divided, there is a clear trend towards Ramos, a trade union guy from the area. He is helped by another mistake of chavismo, this time from Henry Falcon himself who tried to impose his own successor. The hard core chavista base is sorely tempted not to vote for Falcon anyway, or maybe punish him by not voting for his candidate. The politics of revenge they call it, and when you see that Chavez himself two days ago complained that Falcon did not want to sign an engagement to follow the directives of Caracas above those of his state you wonder if Henry Falcon will not bolt out of the PSUV before November 23, Chavez probably preferring to lose Lara before having a chavista with his own power base for 2012.

Thus my predictions for Lara. Falcon will win because part of the opposition living in Barquisimeto will vote for him. But Barquisimeto could go for the opposition in spite of its division, as well as Palavecino. If this happens it will not affect Falcon chances as cross voting is expected. The interesting district to follow in Lara is historical Carora, a modern rural district with lot of backwards areas. Chavista hold there is not that certain and a weak victory of the chavista candidate there will be full of bad omens for chavismo's future.

Yaracuy

Yaracuy is a mess and I will deal with it fast.

Former governor Lapi is in exile in Peru. Charges unproven and a travesty of justice jailed him without a trial and he had to escape from jail as his life was in danger (the jail had a famous bout of internal rioting and an "ooops" moment could have only to easily happened as Lapi could be caught in a cross fire). These shameless actions were directed by Gimenez who narrowly defeated Lapi in 2004. Gimenez a low life, vindictive, druggie, inefficient mayor of Independencia was unaccountably promoted by Chavez who had other options. Gimenez of course knowing full well that he could not manage Yaracuy as well as Lapi decided to eliminate him by jailing him.

Sure enough the rule of Gimenez has been so catastrophic that chavismo itself felt in the need to oust him from office!!! He is accused of major acts of corruption and yet he walks the streets freely and even threatened to run again!!!! Lapi, if he stole, stole much, much less than Gimenez but he is the one in exile.

Somewhat the CNE decided to allow Lapi to run for governor. This created a major division inside the opposition. There were those who considered that if Lapi were elected that would remove any charges against him and he could return safely to rescue Yaracuy. And there were those who pointed out that Lapi could be easily removed from office after his return giving chavismo the chance to appoint an unelected governor. Although I understand the pro Lapi point I think that it is irresponsible to act as such because the well being of Yaracuyanos should go first after the dramatic years of Gimenez who brought to Yaracuy crime and dirt and mismanagement and indigency not seen in bigger urban areas, such as next door Barquisimeto. An agreement with a front candidate engaging himself in working at clearing Lapi and promising to resign for new elections to allow Lapi back would have been an example of responsible politics.

As it is Lapi decided to run anyway but also decided that he would not make any alliance with the rest of the opposition. That is he would launch his own candidates in EVERY district, counting on the disaster of Gimenez to take over ALL of the state. I do not know if his strategy will work even though I have heard many a chavista remember fondly the Lapi years. But the result is clear: the opposition is divided at all levels in Yaracuy and I doubt unification will arrive before November 23.

Fortuantely chavismo is equally divided as the PSUV imposed its own candidates, in particular Julio Leon Heredia a chavista who so far has lost any election he run into as he is uncharismatic, ideological and vengeful. Minor allies of chavismo are running anyway and that Chavez supported dismal Gimenez is a burden that Heredia cannot just wish away.

Yaracuy result thus cannot be predicted. As you can see from the table above San Felipe and Yaritagua are the only real urban areas and they are a minority in the state which remains a mostly rural place. The rural areas have been goign to Chavez but after 4 years of Gimenez and a city boy candidate as Heredia nobody knows for sure right now how pro Chavez they will go this time. I suspect that Lapi strategy will work in the end and signs of that are seen when suddenly new judicial actions are threatened to remove him from the ballot. We'll see.

Update. The electronic ink of this post was barely dry that the TSJ decided that Lapi could not run for office in Yaracuy. Thus failed his strategy. I am not surprised and in a way I am relieved that the suspense is over. In fact, I am relieved that Lapi's arrogance did not pay off. Sure, he is a victim, but is is also certain that his victimization is no excuse to make us victims too. What next? Well, the union will have to be made in a rush behind Edvard Capdevielle, the runner up of the opposition. Wisely he did not withdraw from the race waiting for something like today to happen. His foresight (obvious foresight perhaps but foresight anyway) makes him deserve the nod. Not to mention that if a primary had been held I woudl have voted for him.

Besides this update I do not really need to change anything else in this post except to say that the outcome of Yaracuy is now completely unpredictable. Lapi's victimization if handled well could create a tide wave against chavismo, but if handled badly could allow Heredia to sneak in. We'll see.

Conclusion

In these three states we see how unity benefits the side that manages it, but how disunion can wreck the electoral chances. Union, be it willingly as in Falcon or forced as in Lara, practically ensure the victory of the candidate if the other side cannot mount a coherent response. On the other hand when each side is a mess, caudillos prosper. Although I have no choice but to vote for Lapi's candidates, I do so under protest, knowing full well that I am choosing between two stubborn men, Chavez and Lapi. I resent it.


-The end-

Weil's satellite

The cartoon of Weil corresponding to the Chinese satellite launched in the name of Venezuela deserves further comment.



Woman: They just shot dead the neighbor's kid.
Chavista man: We have a satellite
Chavsita man: Shit! Power Outage!

This cartoon is brilliant because it addresses bluntly the inexplicable hold that chavismo has over a portion of the lower classes who after ten years still support him no matter what, no matter how little in reality their lives have improved. Note the old TV, it is not a flat screen. Note that its antenna is a coat hanger. Note that the people are, well, disheveled. Note the contrast in the eyes of the dark half.

The woman probably has doubts about Chavez now. The murder of her neighbor's kid (a female neighbor in the original Spanish) is reaching her. She knows that her own kid, following the empty gesticulation of his Dad might be next in line, or at least as soon as he grows old enough to hang out.

This cartoon raises the question as to what holds such people to Chavez. They have to deal with power outages for sure, when the president spends hundred of millions on a satellite that is really not a necessity for Venezuela except for the propaganda needs of chavismo. Could that money have helped solve the power problem in at least some areas? Is the ability to refrigerate scarce food less important than a f%!$%! satellite that will only transmit Chaevz speeches? What has done Chavez for this family? Do they have a steady job? Do they have running water? We know they have no security as per the neighbors misfortune, but do they have good medical care? How better off are they than ten years ago? Really, how much better? Was barrio adentro good enough to compensate for the lack of a real job which would have allowed them to at least have a proper TV antenna? As I have written often in the past, in some sectors of the population chavismo is just a religion and Weil demonstrates it here brilliantly as people prefer to eat crow but feel cheaply "patrioteros" with Chavez.

These people should follow the Miami trial rather than the satellite launch. Then they will now why the neighbor's kid got murdered.


-The end-

In praise of Punto Fijo and why is Chavez is so afraid of a Punto Fijo "bis"

Chavez mind is littered with prejudice and fantasy from which he tries desperately to construct a mythology to justify his pseudo-revolution. No wonder it has not been working well for him. One of these pseudo myths he tries to establish was that the famed "Pacto de Punto Fijo" was pure evil, from the day it was penned. Nothing further from the truth. That the famous pact eventually was gutted from any meaning to allow the establishment in Venezuela of a fake bi-partisan democracy is true, but it happened at least 15 years after the fact.

What was Punto Fijo? Below I have lifted parts of the editorial of Veneconomia in English which cannot be linked directly.

On an October 31 fifty years ago, Rómulo Betancourt, Rafael Caldera, and Jóvito Villalba, the leaders of Venezuela’s three main political parties, signed the Pact of Punto Fijo, which made it possible to consolidate democracy in the country and guide it for four decades.

The Pact arose in the days prior to the first elections held following the fall of the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. These three great leaders and their party organizations undertook to defend constitutionality and respect election results based on a national united-front government with shared responsibilities and a minimum common program.

The core motive of this pact was to create the conditions for establishing a plural, free democracy. Another factor that determined the signing of the Pact was that the democratic leaders fully realized that, if they did not join in a common cause, the country would fall, once again, under a military boot.

That was it. Nothing else but a pact where democratic leaders agreed not to tear each other apart until a democratic system were set in place, solid enough to withstand the normal democratic battles and bruises.

And Veneconomia also brings us an explanation of why Chavez attacks the Punto Fijo tradition. He did so, by the way, ruthlessly, amid lies and historical rewriting in his cadena last Friday.

Today, as yesterday, Venezuela is threatened by the phantom of totalitarianism from a president who, despite having been elected under the laws of democracy, has unrestrained hegemonic aspirations and seeks to implement a country project called 21st Century Socialism, which has a clearly fascist overtones.

However, today, unlike yesterday, the country’s democratic leadership seems to be in disarray and looks far from synchronized. The urgent task before this leadership is the coordination of a vision of the country shared by the majority of Venezuelans to confront the fascism that is in the making.

Also unlike 50 years ago, the country’s leadership seems not to have taken the true measure of the destructive potential of its adversary that is capable of finishing off Venezuela’s democratic system once and for all.

Of course, Chavez might be the ultimate liar when he describes Punto fijo, but he does so because he knows quite well that the day all democratic sectors of the country finally wake up and see him for what he is, he will be toast. He has a big advantage that Perez Jimenez did not have: he is in office when the price of oil allowed him to spread the utter corruption, financial and moral, that a fat checkbook allows to spread in a country which is ill educated. Perez Jimenez did try that, but those were different times where even if you were corrupt you still believed that a certain efficiency in government would help you retain power. Chavez is not bothered by efficiency in an age of media where raw emotions and hate are better tools to carry the day. Up to a point anyway.

So far the opposition is not showing signs of clearly understanding what is at stake, in days where even the old Communist Party of Venezuela is somewhat sensing deep inside that chavismo is more akin to fascism as to Cuban revolution. We can see that very well in Bolivar state, or even in Trujillo and Barinas where supporting a dissident chavista would be enough to defeat the Chavez appointee. True, they are unpalatable folks that probably would try first to make peace with Chavez, but at least that would be the end in state of a knee jerk chavista response. Is it not worth trying if you are sure that you are not going to win anyway?

-The end-

Scary Europe? Banning Lech Walesa

Chavistas has been telling to whomever would listen that the vote in the European Parliament that condemned the "inhabilitaciones" and the expulsion of noted Human Rights activist Miguel Vivancos held no value and that they could not care less. Obviously the lady did protest too much.

Today we learn that a commission of European Parliamentarians was not allowed to visit noted political prisoners, and that Lech Walesa would be forbidden to enter the country.

So, Hugo, you care or you do not care about what the European Union says over your Human Rights record?

-The end-

Crooks running for electoral office

We have seen first the "inhabilitaciones". Through an administrative decision a certain number of people were deprived of their political rights, which I must remember readers are also human rights. In any civilized country political rights can be restrained after a formal judicial decision. In Venezuela the word of the office of the comptroller of the nation is enough. That his word does violate the constitution, that the High Court decided that a law can go ABOVE the constitution do not change a thing about the violation of human rights we saw last summer in Venezuela. No one is fooled, not chavistas, not opposition, not even the European Parliament: all know that this was done to remove people that were very well placed in polls to stop them from running and henceforth improving the chances of mediocre chavista candidates that cannot run on their own record.

But this has not been enough for the regime of Chavez. Having eliminated 4 front runners in 4 states, the regime finds polls still very bad in the three largest states of the country. So, the courts are once again activated to remove these three front runners.

As soon as Chavez announced that he would jail Zulia's governor Manuel Rosales, who has been serving for eight years, the state apparatus moved in an unusual swiftness to collect "evidence" and process it. We will see if the nation's prosecution will move as swiftly when they examine the evidence against Di Martino deposed 24 hours later

As soon as the regime saw that its dismal candidate in Carabobo could not win whatsoever, they reactivated a suit already settled by the Electoral Board, CNE. In this suit Salas Feo inscription would be made illegal and thus he would be tossed from the ballot, probably AFTER the deadline that would allow his followers to replace him in the ballot. This way the chavista candidate would run "unopposed" which is the only way he could ever win. That Salas Feo accuses rivals from within the opposition to be the agents changes nothing: the pro Chavez courts are only too willing to accept a frivolous lawsuit that helps their guys.

As soon as the "inhabilitacion" of Mendoza in Miranda showed signs of not working as his substitute started gaining on the chavista running for reelection, a settled trial for murky events at the Cuban embassy was reopened. We are not talking here of double jeopardy, something already banned in civil societies, were are talking here of multiple jeopardies. Capriles Radonsky has even served several month of jail for events of which no court, no matter how controlled by chavista minions, has been able to declare him guilty of wrong doing. Videos and and all record coincide in pointing that the Cuban ambassador requested the intervention of Capriles Radonski, an intervention for which he was falsely judged and served unjust jail term for which he has not been compensated.

Meanwhile the Venezuelan judicial system ignores the corruption trial of Miami, with the general prosecutor of the nation, Luisa Ortega, allowing herself to make fun at the length of the trial in Miami. Yes, in a "desfachatez" that we did not think possible, the general prosecutor of the country forgets all of her failures about the hundreds and hundreds of cases that have been in the Venezuelan court dockets for years and years and makes fun of what has taken only one year from the investigation and arrest to the trial and eventual sentence.

Furthermore, notorious political cases such as the investigations of the Chavez family landholdings in Barinas, the massive corruption of the CAEZ, the expulsion of pro Chavez Governor from Yaracuy for corruption and a myriad other remain incomplete as the perpetrators of these alleged crimes walk free in the streets of Venezuela. Those opposed to the regime meanwhile fear constantly for their arrest, or are in jail or in exile, WITHOUT a court sentence or even a trial opening date.

The point I am trying to make here is not of the double standards of the regime judicial system: we all have known that for quite a while. the point I am tying to make is not about the honesty of some Venezuela politicians: I doubt that more than a handful have a clean sheet. the point that I am trying to make is not that the regime is afraid of losing the November elections: the regime is afraid of losing ANY thing and thus acts accordingly its anti democratic nature.

The point here is that all of these judges and lawyers that lend themselves to this maneuvers are making irreparable damage to the country, are allying themselves with moral corruption and thus are tying their fate to the fate of the regime. We can only expect more engagement form their part, more crass maneuvers and rights violations form their part as they feel the heat and their boss losing the grip. We must also as of now start seriously wondering what we are going to do with these people when the regime will fall as it will do sooner or later. Removing form their job will not be enough. Disbarring them form judicial work will not be enough. They will have to be brought to accounting if we want Venezuela to ever regain a semblance of justice. Otherwise eventually their successor will feel empowered to act the same way. We must be willing to assume the cost of what it will mean to put in jail Luisa Morales, Luisa Ortega, Isaias Rodriguez, German Mundarain, Clodosvaldo Russian and so many other in high positions. We can maybe forgive them from a jail term for national reconciliation but only after they have accounted for their abuses in a court of law. They have hurt too many people to walk free of blame once Chavez leaves office. We cannot accept the excuse of "I was following orders". A de-chavization of the government and law is now an imperative.


-The end-