The NO march in Caracas

UPDATED 8:00 PM

The NO group of the coming referendum is marching. And so far it seems to be a big success. I could nto go because last week end I had to be in Caracas. I can tell you I am sorry I am not attending. But on the other hand, clearly the opposition did not need me to fill up the streets ;)

Maybe that is why Chavez talked to Stalin yesterday, to try to claim some of the credit?

The wonders of Blackberry and such other mobiles. Readers are sending images.

Reader 1 from somewhere around Chacaito, starting the Solano I think


Reader 2 from the Solano at around 2 PM. The day PODEMOS joined opposition marches!

Reader 3 sends the Libertador avenue at 2:30 PM. The middle sunk lanes were off limit (though there is no traffic as all are marching!). But you can see the police helicopter overflying and you can guess which lanes will be shown on VTV news... For those new to this blog, the governement does not allow aerial pictures to be taken when the opposition marches. Security reasons they calim. Hiding the truth we say.

Reader 3 also sends me this MrT protest By the way, so much for the "white" opposition to Chavez. Looks like plenty of Uncle Toms are appearing. In the era of Obama, well, somethings will stop being cliches.Reader 1 apparently made it to the Libertador, and joined a group of students.


TV also is giving spectacular images. A march as in the good old days of the opposition activism in Caracas! Well, Globovision, VTV is another story....

It is over but if more readers care to send me pictures from home tonight I can add them.

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This picture from El Nacional should be enough to convey the success of the day, where more than half a million people are supposed to have marched.


-The end-

Chavez illegal referendum is declared constitutional forever

In a not surprising decision the subservient Constitutional Court (TSJ) confirmed what Chavez said barely 24 hours after he said it. He said that if the amedement was rejected on February 15 he could push it again next year, and the next, and the next until, we suppose, we get so tired of it that we'd vote Yes just to have him shut up on at least one item.

There were very interesting, and dramatic, implications to the decision of the TSJ two days ago.

First, the author of the decision was Francisco Carrasquero. What is noteworthy is that he was the Electoral Board president during the Recall Election process of 2003-2004, presiding over all the treachery committed then, from unjustifiable delays and Chavez favoritism to allowing the Tascon list. As a reward he was sent to the TSJ which is a better paid job and a less demanding one (TSJ judges get paid about the 500,000 USD Obama is allowing to executives who received Federal help; and they earn it much more than what the TSJ members do). From the bench he is rarely heard and when heard of it is to pen particular partisan and disgusting and incoherent decisions such as the one he signed this week.

Second, Carrasquero told us that an amendment trumps a constitutional reform. That is, if a constitutional reform is rejected, those who propose it can still get it piece meal through amendments, and with amendment votes repeated as frequently as needed until the vote is favorable. In other words, the system of measured constitutional reform has been jettisoned for a system where anything goes whenever it suits whomever. I ask: why bother with a constitution since as of this week it will be so easy to change it?

Third, apparently the TSJ has misplaced its Spanish dictionary as the meaning of "alternabilidad" does not seem to be clear for them. We all understand that alternative government means that a generation of politicians will not stay forever in power, Cuba style. It does not mean that Chavez must go for an opposition to replace him, it means that Chavez must go for another chavista OR and opposition to replace him.

And last but not least, fundamental aspects of the constitution can now be changed with a simple amendment. If the alternative form of government can be done away with a simple amendment, why not with a simple amendment redraw the Venezuelan map or return the Governors to the status of presidential appointees as it was done before or even, gasp, get rid of private property, get rid of the army for a militia or even do away with some civil rights?

Then again maybe Carrasquero wrote this sentence to maek sure that in the future he will have even less to do for his super-fat pay check.

-The end-

The Tascon list for Jews?

In one of the most perturbing aspects of the Caracas Synagogue attack we learned that among the stolen items was the registry of all Jewish families associated with Tiferet Israel and the Jewish community of Venezuela, including we suppose the amount of gifts offered by each to help sustain the Temple and diverse charities.

Now, in the country of the Tascon list, of the possibly highest crime rate of LatAm (if the government were to release reliable statistics) and of the highest ransom rates in the Americas second only to Colombia, what do you expect will be the use of that list? By the way, the article listed above establishes without a doubt the "professional" nature of those who were doing the night attack. My guess is on Cuban trained Venezuelan "security" personnel. Chavez is welcome to prove us all wrong at any time by bringing forth the real guilty party. I am not holding my breath.

But there has been one wonderful thing out of all of this: the extraordinary outpouring of solidarity by all the democratic sectors of Venezuelan society, namely the opposition because I have yet to see a chavista show any support of the victimized Synagogue. Nor am I holding my breath to see, say, Cilia Flores show up paint brush in hand at the Synagogue door. -The end-

The power of blogging

I had the pleasure to read that Aporrea does monitor Venezuela News and Views and that my post denouncing the Emilio Silva horrendous pamphlet has had an effect: they removed it. What is noteworthy is that they presented as reason for its removal the TWO paragraphs that I translated which albeit quite bad were not necessarily the worse of the lot (well, they were for me but we all have our brand of anti-antisemitism). I congratulate the board of Aporrea in removing that text and presenting apologies. I would have liked a stronger wording but in truth their condemnation is of better quality than the one from Maduro on Saturday so we must take what we can take.

Considering that Emilio Silva is at large, I will publish later in my Documents on Venezuela section his original article and the correction from Aporrea. Why? Because we need to know whether Emilio Silva is indeed a UBV "teacher" and if the UBV pretension at being a university are true. If they are we should see an official censorship of Emilio Silva as no serious campus in the world can permit such a tract to be signed by one of its members.

To the readers of this blog: may this serve us as a lesson that such hateful speech should never, NEVER go un-denounced no matter what pressure we may fear from this denunciation. Caving in or pretending to moderation will always lead us to Munich, even if it is only a web based place.

-The end-

Teodoro Petkoff on the Caracas Synagogue attack

I will be brief and only translate the last paragraph of his editorial of today Tal Cual:

The assault to the Synagogue did not come from these groups. This was not La Piedrita or Lina Ron. This operation was done by a very, very professional team high a training level. It is enough to observe the expertise with which they broke into two safe boxes to be certain that we were not dealing with some street scum. It was not the spontaneous action of an intoxicated crowd through antisemitic speeches, but the operation of a group located into a hierarchical order that was not acting on its own but following precise orders. From where did these orders come? One day we shall know. For the time being let's ask a dumb question. Will the police investigation reach somewhere?

I would like to stress that in my first post on Saturday I was already writing these words: "They knew perfectly well what they were doing, they knew how to find the Torah and left taking with them the surveillance videos." Teodoro Petkoff who went personally to the Synagogue on Saturday was able to conform what already I guessed.

The whole story might even be worse than what we thought at first.

And Chavez is still not condemning this as a normal head of state should. Instead today he gave suddenly the whole country the day off, unleashed his Nazional Guard to force certain business to close down and he convoked to a big rally where all public employees where asked to go. Soon our own little Nuremberg stadium for fascist rallies?

-The end-

Teaching antisemitism in Venezuela

My mail box received a link from Aporrea, dated January 22 2009 (www.aporrea.org/ddhh/a70960.html). It is signed by a certain Emilio Silva, who claims to be a teacher at the UBV, the Bolivarian University founded by Chavez in 2003. As an antisemitic track it is a classic, perhaps even unmatched in Venezuelan history in that Aporrea did not censor such a piece of garbage. In short, it is a program on how to establish an anti Jewish policy in Venezuela where the only thing missing is a yellow star. If you can read Spanish it is a must. If you cannot I have selected just excerpts, almost at random, that I translate below.

_. Al respecto, como agentes tan capitalistas como estos hebreos sionistas les duelen más el bolsillo que cualquier otra cosa (incluyendo Jehová), es inapropiado comprarles sus productos y acudir a sus locales comerciales, como también a aquellos negocios, supermercados, restaurantes, etc., que tengan vinculaciones con ellos o sean de su propiedad (como Locatel y la marca láctea Carabobo), o donde vendan sus alimentos Kosher, como Unicasa y Central Madeirense. _.On this regard, as such capitalist agents these Hebrew Zionist hurt more from their pocket than anything else (including Jehova), it is not appropriate to buy from them their products and go to their shops, as well as their business, grocery stores, restaurants, etc... that have links with them or are of their property (such as Locatel and the dairy brand Carabobo), or where Kosher foods are sold, such as Unicasa and Central Madeirense.

That is right, not only Jews must be starved but also anyone doing business with the Jew. Stunning!

_. Emplazar públicamente a todo judío que se encuentre en cualquier calle, centro comercial, plaza, etc., a que tome posición vociferándole consignas a favor de Palestina y en contra del estado-aborto de israel. No es un gesto inmaduro de agresión psicológica, sino un acto de cuestionamiento contra la indiferencia, complicidad, simpatía o apoyo que esas personas sientan hacia ese estado-monstruo de Israel. _. Take publicly to task any Jew that is in any street, shopping center, square, etc.., to take position screaming slogans in favor of Palestine and against the aborted-state [??] of israel [sic]. It is not an immature gesture of psychological agression, but an action to question the indifference, complicity, sympathy or support that these people feel toward this monster-state of Israel [sic].

That is right, ask any Jewish person anywhere to submit to an instant show trial of the people (understood as the Chavez people?) so as to basically renounce his or her Jewishness on the spot. Note: they are not going to ask him or her their opinion on the state of Israel actions, they are going to demand immediate condemnation in a way that they are not even asking a gentile like me to do even if I walk next to that Jewish person. Now, I understand that this is written by a mad man. However it is signed and as such can be traced down. If the Venezuelan government were serious about its condemnation it could start by demanding Aporrea, that it finances, to take down such script and it could ask the UBV to verify if this guy indeed works there, and fire him on the spot. But Chavez is a racist and he presides a government of "forajidos" so nothing will happen to Emilio Silva, nor to the people who attacked the Synagogue. After all we know from the Anderson case that when people in the government are involved in such crimes nothing ever comes out of the investigation. --- --- --- --- forajido= outlaw, gangster -The end-

Chavez silent over Synagogue attack

Chavez who rarely misses an opportunity to open his big mouth has remained silent over the Caracas Synagogue attack yesterday. It has been over 24 hours already and so far Chavez, nor Miraflores Palace, have emitted a single declaration. At least as far as I can find on the web.

In any civilized country the head of state, independently of any diplomatic entanglement his or her country is embroiled in, will sternly condemn himself or herself an attack over a prayer site, a cemetery violation or the like. It is OK to send first a couple of ministers to condemn the attack, but 24 hours is just too long to step in as a head of state. It is so characteristic of Chavez who is often late in acknowledging natural disasters or human rights abuses. Then of course he is an uncouth soldier so what does he know or cares? Either that or we have ceased to be a civilized country.

-The end-