Sunday, July 07, 2013

Snowed in Caracas

I hope you will forgive me the bad pun of the title but this is a little bit the feel these days. Under the blizzard of news, most more ridiculous than the preceding one, I feel like I am trapped, unable to write about anything. Where should I start? The Evo non event? That we have no money to import grains but the regime finds money to import chicken? That the Nazional Guard made a "mistake" killing a mother, one her daughter and sending the two other daughters to the hospital? That no one seems to care about these issues, many more worried about the latest regime announcement that we may get an extra 3000 USD for our trips, albeit at a much higher value than the 6,3 current official exchange?

My level of despondency about the country seems to be reaching new marks.....

The fact of the matter is that I have been this week in Caracas and busy enough not to be able to sort thoughts before hitting the keyboard. Thus, I might as well start with Evo excellent adventure.

The only thing we know for sure is that the guy, coming back from Russia, was forced into an unscheduled stop in Vienna that lasted much too long considering the official excuses and motives. The man was in Moscow for a summit on world gas exporters because contrary to Venezuela that had Maduro attending and fussing, Bolivia DOES export gas. Then there was a rumor that Evo would smuggle spy Snowden to Bolivia and, I suppose, an international anti-something was activated, probably automatically through an idiot bureaucrat. As a result the air space of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal were closed to Evo's plane. That these countries happened to be in the flight path of Evo was after all an accident: the same thing may have happened if Evo had decided to go back to Bolivia via Turkey, through Africa. Nobody seems to be mentioning that. Nor that the Evo plane had a mechanical problem explaining better the over long stay in Vienna when in a couple of hours at most all restrictions would have been lifted and the plane refueled. After all, Evo did refuel later in the Canary islands which last I heard were still part of Spain.

Now, before I continue let me state that the European countries involved made an idiotic mistake as everyone would have been served better with Snowden going to rot in La Paz, eating chuños and cruising for pole dancing cholitas. That would have taught him a lesson right there. Which brings me to my opinion on Snowden: he is a jerk. A real whistle blower faces the consequences of his actions and do not run to the enemy. And furthermore, he does not contemplate seeking asylum in countries that have LESS privacy rights, LESS freedom of the press and LESS freedom of information than the country he running away from. His cause has a value, he has none.

This being said we were thus brought to the shameful spectacle of UNASUR rallying (not all apparently) around the slight made to Evo. Storming with harsh words was Maduro against Spain. Curiously this one said little against the other three, which coincidentally received him in his post election tour seeking outside the legitimacy refused inside Venezuela. And thus we got a double display of hypocrisy from UNASUR, selective in its condemnation of what is after all a fortuitous incident while sweeping under the rug real problems such as the electoral fraud in Venezuela. Definitely UNASUR is a crock of s**t.

This insult to the intelligence of a Venezuelan blogger would have been enough for a week, but alas, it would not be the lone one. At work I was told that all the plans of the poultry sector made with the regime came down crashing. The association had promised a steep increase in chicken and egg production provided the regime allowed for the imports of raw materials needed. As usual, political expediency and corruption took the day and the regime decided to restart imports of chicken from Brazil, more expensive, more subject to corrupt handling. We should always keep in mind that the only way el pueblo knows its food comes from the regime is by giving it directly to el pueblo, in red shirted Chavez decorated fairs, with imported chicken even if this one is of lesser quality than the locally produced one. The lessons from Chavez and the Cubans have been well learned even if this may put the chicken industry of Venezuela (44kg per capita) on the verge of bankruptcy while the regime will NEVER be able to import and distribute the 44 per capita required. In 1998 Venezuela was self sufficient and the way we go if we keep producing 50% of our needs in a couple of years we will be lucky, when not only we could produce everything needed, but export as we used to do.

There was also other stuff such as the wimpy to cowardly report of the Carter Center; or the big fuss about having an admiral female defense minister when in Chile the bridge has been crossed long ago all the way to the presidency and by a civilian woman. Amen of the lacerating question that why the f**k Venezuela has way more admirals vice-admirals and counter-admirals than actual serviceable ship in the pretend fleet.

To finish this outrageous post I will refer to the latest state crime. Apparently in Falcon state a detachment of the Nazional Guard confused two cars and by "mistake" shot 50 salvos in a small family car, killing the mother, one of her daughters, sending one critical to the hospital and leaving the last one with a life psycho trauma at the very least.  That the regime sent to preventive jail the officers in charge is of little comfort. Too many army personnel involved in such type of offenses have served perfunctory sentences. I am willing to bet that those involved in the crime will do no more than a couple of years in jail.

The source of all this mess is that the regime has been not only unable but unwilling to set a civilian security plan. When el pueblo complains too loudly and elections approach the solution is to send armed forces to the streets. Unfortunately they are woefully untrained for such tasks; though we hear that they are well trained to control harbor and commerce corruption. Having a professional police force trained to avoid such disasters require investment in personnel, a functional judicial system, jails, weapons and means, intelligence, etc, etc...  Here, the only intelligence that matters for the regime is the one used to spy on its opposition.

Now, tell me that all that I wrote above is not what you's expect to see in a dictatorship, a military dictatorship were the civilian president is a pasty/patsy.

10 comments:

  1. 1979 Boat People10:08 PM

    Would love to see Snowden picking coca leave for living in Bolivia.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Daniel, regarding the last word of your excellent post: pasty. According to thefreedictionary.com, the definition is: past·y 1 (pst) adj. past·i·er, past·i·est
    1. Resembling paste in consistency.
    2. Having a pale lifeless appearance; pallid: an unhealthy, pasty complexion.

    I believe the word you want is patsy (n. pl. pat·sies Slang; A person easily taken advantage of, cheated, blamed, or ridiculed. Also: 1. a person who is easily cheated, victimized, etc.
    2. a scapegoat)

    I'm pretty sure that this was just a typo. Please delete if you like.

    Saludos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both words apply in my mind but I suppose that readers prefer patsy so I ll change it.

      Delete
  3. Island Canuck11:07 PM

    Well the end to our troubles are nearly over.

    According to JVR the opposition now has 5 military planes on the ground in Colombia ready to save us all. I don't know if this idiot really believes this or it's just an attempt to divert attention from all the problems you listed above.
    http://www.noticierodigital.com/2013/07/jvr-cinco-aviones-militares-comprados-por-la-oposicion-se-encuentran-en-colombia/

    Also Miguel was reporting June inflation at 4.7% which means 10% in just 2 months with more devaluations coming in July. This is another time bomb.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dr. Faustus12:13 AM

    "Which brings me to my opinion on Snowden: he is a jerk. A real whistle blower faces the consequences of his actions and do not run to the enemy."

    Precisely. I very much enjoyed reading that post. Interesting stuff. Well done.

    This absurd situation with Snowden cannot last that much longer. There are all kinds of grumblings coming from the political folk in Russia. The 'jerk' has clearly overdone his stay. As a last resort, Putin himself may show-up at the Moscow hotel, rip his shirt off for the foreign press, grab the little whiny creep/punk by the gonads and fling him onto the next outgoing aircraft. Out! I give this 48 to 72 hours more,...tops!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ditto on the enjoyment factor of Daniel's post. ditto on thoughts of Snowden. A little twerp in my eyes. Way too much undeserved limelight. He belongs back in the US, where he can face the music and maybe become a man in the process.

      Delete
  5. Charly3:22 AM

    Barnum is in town.

    http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21580477-radicals-former-soldiers-and-cuban-spies-jostle-control-venezuelan-ring-circus

    ReplyDelete
  6. Daniel,

    Many people are despondent right now, which on first glance looks unfortunate, but upon greater reflection, provides opportunity.

    Sometimes I think that periods of despondency and or boredom confront us more with our own inner selves, from which we can better reflect, change, and form a new beginning.

    I am not surprised that things have arrived at this point because in my opinion the opposition has never acted appropriately for the situations that it was presented.The government has been at war with Venezuela from the onset, and the opposition has chosen a leader of peace, not of war.There are many ways of waging war, and not all of them are violent. The result of the opposition having seen things too late, and having taken only cowardly steps have led us to intolerable situation of tolerating the intolerable.

    But hope is always a possibility if we chose it.My hope is that new tactics,new emotions, and new leaders will emerge from the depths of this recent despair.firepigette

    ReplyDelete
  7. Traitor and coward Eddie Snowden claims he is doing US citizens a favor by exposing a surveillance apparatus he claims violates the US constitution. Aside from the fact no one appointed Eddie to be interpreter of the constitution, he is seeking asylum in a country that not only surveils dissenters (as opposed to terrorists who are surveilled by the US), it is quite open about it and even proud, since they broadcast the recording of Maria Corina on state TV.

    ReplyDelete

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