Count me in those who still doubt that there will be elections on December 6. I cannot see the regime going through elections unless it is certain that the opposition will not get more than 90 seats (about 55%). With that number it should not be too difficult for the regime to lure away enough opposition representatives to recover a weak majority within a year or two. Considering the complete control over everything else, the regime thinks that this is the worst case scenario they are willing to accept.
Unfortunately all polls indicate that 90 may actually be the opposition floor and that in spite of everything the opposition could reach 100 seats (about 61%). That number still far from the needed 66% majority to change things in the country is still high enough that the National Assembly could exert some controls and launch some damaging investigations. Investigations that of course the regime cannot tolerate, nor dodge. What is worse for the regime is that if the opposition gets 100 or more seats then it is not that unlikely for some chavista to defect to the opposition side if the parliamentary investigations become too spicy. After all Venezuelan politicians are not known for their admirable qualities of sinking with the ship. Their attitude is rather murine.
That increasing desperation inside the regime who justifiably fears for its privileges is sensed more and more. If the sentence on Lopez was a clear salvo, other words are equally telling.
For example the other day nobody less but Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, said that all of the opposition was suspect of plotting against the regime. She did not nuance much, for her there is no one worth discussing on the other side of the isle. Certainly Cilia being one of the worst offenders as far as nepotism is concerned knows for sure that her shenanigans would not be funded anymore under a new management. This is not a matter of fear for her, she is way too amoral for having such feelings, but rather mere technical points to keep her extended brood on tenure. For people like Cilia, the others simply want her job to cash in.
Her husband Nicolas goes further. He is now seeing conspiracy when people discuss among themselves the Venezuelan economic disaster and speculate how big would a rescue package be. Since Maduro is too dumb to understand, and worse, too unwilling to learn how the real world functions, then these people discussing serious matters are mere conspirators. That is why Lorenzo Mendoza is under threat of jail for having a phone call to Ricardo Hausman tapped illegally. I am quite certain that Maduro knows the risks in jailing Mendoza but if this can stop the election he may well be willing to take that risk. Soon attending a mere campaign meeting will be an act of conspiracy.
Of course, there are the constant and multiple insults from the chavista riffraff but I will spare you that. It will be enough with these two examples coming from the very top of the state to figure out what goes on under.
What is more interesting here, when you read the variety and quality of insults, is that it seems that there is a deep divide inside chavismo as to the election. Granted, all agree on maximum abuse against the opposition making this campaign already the worst in chavista history, a campaign that should have already been condemned internationally as it is.
On one side you have people like Maduro who is on record, as president of the nation, saying that the regime has to win the election at any cost, and that if that did not happen well, let's go and hit the streets and refuse recognition. We even have cute and ridiculous scenes where the regime offers a document that all parts should sign to recognize the result when that document was not discussed by anyone. And then of course attack the opposition as warmongers for not signing it.
On the other side you have a relative silence from the army and from some of the regime operators who abound in attacks against the opposition but try not to go overboard with these. It is all a matter of degree in histrionics.
My interpretation is that there are people like Maduro and Flores who are ready to suspend elections that they cannot win. Period. Come what may. On the other side there are chavistas that think not holding elections could be worse than losing them. They certainly cannot be vocal about it inside a regime permeated with spies all around. I would dare to go as far as putting Diosdado Cabello in that group. Why are these people willing to contemplate a loss? The Sandinista experience is a good piece of data. When they left Violeta Chamorro win they burdened the opposition with the management of the crisis they had left behind, and later they helped create a major division inside the opposition that allowed for their return. And now a divided opposition and Chavez cash have consolidated Sandinismo tenure in ways guns could never manage. Note: Sandinistas always kept control of the army.
Also, for chavismo who lacks an Evita, a little bit of opposition epic like Peronism had in Argentina could be of great help long run.
I the end, besides the army, what will decide whether elections are held, how much fraud is applied, what result is accepted, will be the result of the inner battle within chavismo. The battle is between those that want to null elections and those that are willing to take a risk. In the end, what is really at stake here is which group from chavismo will get its hands on the remaining riches, as those may be. The opposition is a mere distraction in that battle.
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
The banality of evil, Caracas style
Tonight I twitted this:
In English: Listening to {prosecutor} Nieves I keep thinking of Hannah Arendt and the banality of evil.
One of the top prosecutors in the Leopoldo Lopez show trial has defected to the US and is now saying that the whole operation against Lopez was a scam, that the intention was to put him away for the election of 2015 and more. In fact Nieves went as far as to say, more or less, that the order to arrest Lopez already existed before the events for which he was finally arrested in February 2014.
Franklin Nieves was tonight in the top CÑNe rating show of Fernando del Rincon. Mr. del Rincon rocketed from a CNNE anchor to his own nightly talk show, Conclusiones, as a consequence of his daring reports on Venezuela through the first half of 2014. He has become the journalist to go for any trouble in Latin America, and the specialist on Venezuela, much loved by the opposition, and much more reviled by the regime.
I am not going into the details of what Nieves said (for those who read Spanish you can visit my Tweeter time line of Tuesday night). In short, he stated that all the evidence against Lopez was fabricated, that he received orders to prosecute anyway on those fake evidences, that all knew about that in the regime, that Diosdado Cabello himself was supervising the first orders and that he fooled the Lopez family in making them believe that if Lopez surrendered nicely a deal would be reached. He accused directly Maduro and Cabello and some of the top officials at the state prosecuting office in such a way that the regime will have to do better than just using the worn out line "he is a liar, paid by the nemesis of the revolution" (which he may well be for all that I know, but that is not the point). There is a situation now that will make supporting the regime almost impossible for some of its allies.
No, my interest is elsewhere. First, let's us start with the one with easiest access: why is the US covering for all those defectors? Is it a strategy to encourage them to defect the regime so as to build a case against its corrupt narco officials? In that case, how come indictments and active prosecutions are not coming through faster? In short, why are the US giving some (minor) credit to some of the accusations the regime hurls at them? I am writing that because informed people know better, know that the regime is indeed a rotten corrupt system, that is not investigated by the US alone. But too many use the people's ignorance and misinformation, even inside the opposition, in such ways that it helps the regime case. I am also writing this so that readers realize that I am not in a blind rage as I type.
There is some confusing evil above, but there is real evil next.
What has struck me more was the composure of Nieves during the whole interview, even as del Rincon was trying not to break down under the shock of having all of his antidemocratic accusations against the regime thus validated.
That made me think of Hanna Arendt, the Eichman trial, the basic nature of totalitarianism the way she explained, creating "the banality of evil". At least Arendt was writing her seminal books based on people following orders. I suppose that concentration camp guards did not have access to Tweeter to get contrasting news to what the Reich told them everyday. Even if pathetic, the defenses of "I was just following orders" " I did not know" "Nobody told me anything, nobody knew" could make one doubt on occasion if the lines were pronounced then with an empty enough glance.
But with Nieves such excuses cannot apply. Nieves tonight told us he knew what he was doing all along was wrong, was a crime, was an abuse of Human Rights. He knew all along that the regime wanted Lopez jailed, found guilty while it figured out, I imagine, a final solution to the Lopez problem.
Nieves knew and yet he did. And I do not buy much his crocodile tears at seeing Lopez little girl go to the same school as the prosecutor's orphan maker girl being too much for him and making him decide to defect.
What was shocking tonight is that all the actors were following orders, indeed, but knowing full well that the orders were wrong. In the end it does not really matter whether Cabello is the one that gave the original order, what matters here is that the chavista regime has been a totalitarian regime for quite a while as the behavior of the people at the nation's prosecution office show. This is way beyond debating whether the regime can be described as a dictatorship. This is a neo-totalitarian system as I have long ago coined it as a tag for some of this blog entries.
In the end one is left perplexed in trying to figure which is the worst evil. The ones giving orders? The ones executing it? The ones confessing to them without much trouble? And thus it all becomes banal.
PS: interview now up for those who understand Spanish
Oyendo Nieves me la paso pensando en Hanna Arendt y la banalidad del mal. #ConcluFiscal— daniel duquenal (@danielduquenal) October 28, 2015In English: Listening to {prosecutor} Nieves I keep thinking of Hannah Arendt and the banality of evil.
One of the top prosecutors in the Leopoldo Lopez show trial has defected to the US and is now saying that the whole operation against Lopez was a scam, that the intention was to put him away for the election of 2015 and more. In fact Nieves went as far as to say, more or less, that the order to arrest Lopez already existed before the events for which he was finally arrested in February 2014.
Franklin Nieves was tonight in the top CÑNe rating show of Fernando del Rincon. Mr. del Rincon rocketed from a CNNE anchor to his own nightly talk show, Conclusiones, as a consequence of his daring reports on Venezuela through the first half of 2014. He has become the journalist to go for any trouble in Latin America, and the specialist on Venezuela, much loved by the opposition, and much more reviled by the regime.
I am not going into the details of what Nieves said (for those who read Spanish you can visit my Tweeter time line of Tuesday night). In short, he stated that all the evidence against Lopez was fabricated, that he received orders to prosecute anyway on those fake evidences, that all knew about that in the regime, that Diosdado Cabello himself was supervising the first orders and that he fooled the Lopez family in making them believe that if Lopez surrendered nicely a deal would be reached. He accused directly Maduro and Cabello and some of the top officials at the state prosecuting office in such a way that the regime will have to do better than just using the worn out line "he is a liar, paid by the nemesis of the revolution" (which he may well be for all that I know, but that is not the point). There is a situation now that will make supporting the regime almost impossible for some of its allies.
No, my interest is elsewhere. First, let's us start with the one with easiest access: why is the US covering for all those defectors? Is it a strategy to encourage them to defect the regime so as to build a case against its corrupt narco officials? In that case, how come indictments and active prosecutions are not coming through faster? In short, why are the US giving some (minor) credit to some of the accusations the regime hurls at them? I am writing that because informed people know better, know that the regime is indeed a rotten corrupt system, that is not investigated by the US alone. But too many use the people's ignorance and misinformation, even inside the opposition, in such ways that it helps the regime case. I am also writing this so that readers realize that I am not in a blind rage as I type.
There is some confusing evil above, but there is real evil next.
What has struck me more was the composure of Nieves during the whole interview, even as del Rincon was trying not to break down under the shock of having all of his antidemocratic accusations against the regime thus validated.
That made me think of Hanna Arendt, the Eichman trial, the basic nature of totalitarianism the way she explained, creating "the banality of evil". At least Arendt was writing her seminal books based on people following orders. I suppose that concentration camp guards did not have access to Tweeter to get contrasting news to what the Reich told them everyday. Even if pathetic, the defenses of "I was just following orders" " I did not know" "Nobody told me anything, nobody knew" could make one doubt on occasion if the lines were pronounced then with an empty enough glance.
But with Nieves such excuses cannot apply. Nieves tonight told us he knew what he was doing all along was wrong, was a crime, was an abuse of Human Rights. He knew all along that the regime wanted Lopez jailed, found guilty while it figured out, I imagine, a final solution to the Lopez problem.
Nieves knew and yet he did. And I do not buy much his crocodile tears at seeing Lopez little girl go to the same school as the prosecutor's orphan maker girl being too much for him and making him decide to defect.
What was shocking tonight is that all the actors were following orders, indeed, but knowing full well that the orders were wrong. In the end it does not really matter whether Cabello is the one that gave the original order, what matters here is that the chavista regime has been a totalitarian regime for quite a while as the behavior of the people at the nation's prosecution office show. This is way beyond debating whether the regime can be described as a dictatorship. This is a neo-totalitarian system as I have long ago coined it as a tag for some of this blog entries.
In the end one is left perplexed in trying to figure which is the worst evil. The ones giving orders? The ones executing it? The ones confessing to them without much trouble? And thus it all becomes banal.
PS: interview now up for those who understand Spanish
Monday, 26 October 2015
The cornerstone issue (election 2015 YV-1)
I have been away for yet another long period but I am back for a series of short posts on the December election. Thus the first one should be about the cornerstone issue (plus some minor that are directly implied with the main issue).
As informed readers are aware, the Venezuelan situation is going from bad to worse. As such, any potential "normalcy" that could be associated with the scheduled December election is done away with speedily. Fortunately this has a positive effect: the crudeness of the moment peels away layers of cracked political paint painfully plastered by the regime. Now we have one overwhelming issue for the election: who's gonna deal with the disaster as of December 7.
Put this way the result of the election becomes meaningless: no matter the winner there will be a mix of devastating adjustment measures with a high likeness of bloody repression. This will happen, victims may vary.
The paradox comes from the motivations of the political sides. The opposition is trying to reach power to solve a crisis that it is not its fault, that will not provide them with any credit. In fact the opposition should wish to lose the election and let the regime sink alone. The regime on the other hand wants to retain absolute power when in fact it should wish for the opposition to take charge, or at least contemplate sharing power with the opposition so as to share responsibility. That sharing would work in front of an dumb Venezuelan public opinion.
Political wisdom should dictate that the regime and the opposition break a deal BEFORE the election for a power sharing transition no matter what the election results are. But this will not happen for a very simple reason: the regime is so corrupt, so compromised that it knows the only way it can avoid jail is to retain power at all cost. So the regime forges ahead in its electoral treachery while the opposition more aware of the disaster ahead of us has to try to win anyway so that we do not starve, even if it means assuming an undeserved guilt trip.
You need to understand this clearly if you are trying to figure out what is going on currently and what are the strategies to be deployed in coming weeks which could include suspending elections outright, to everyone's secret relief.
To this we can add other major parameters. One is the role of the army in the near future. Chavismo and opposition could well agree to let the blame for everything on the army and agree together in dismantling its current structure. Easier said than done, of course; but merely trying to do is scary enough for the current army extremely corrupt leadership (from cashing in to drug traffic large scale). The army will make sure that nothing happens from December 7 on that it does not approve. The question is who will the army support and that will depend in part on how the campaign unfolds.
Another parameter is that is is clear that there is a rift inside chavismo. On one side are those that are ready and willing to suspend elections or put to jail opposition leadership or something. On the other side are those that think some form of semi believable election should be held even if there is a real risk that the opposition may prevail. Both sides agree only on one thing: whatever opposition victory takes place, this one should be minimized through any mean, even if it risks trouble with international actors.
This being said and well understood in coming posts we'll go into more details.
-----------------------
PS: do to personal situation I do not see in the near future me coming back to the regular to hectic blogging of the past. If ever: my job is basically done, the world knows. However I am slowly getting into Instagram and I am more active on Twitter since there is free time available for this in all the waiting rooms of doctors and public administration long lines. Links to the accounts on the right. I am even trying to get a little bit better at being interactive with those willing to write, something hard for an Introverted INTP.
As informed readers are aware, the Venezuelan situation is going from bad to worse. As such, any potential "normalcy" that could be associated with the scheduled December election is done away with speedily. Fortunately this has a positive effect: the crudeness of the moment peels away layers of cracked political paint painfully plastered by the regime. Now we have one overwhelming issue for the election: who's gonna deal with the disaster as of December 7.
Put this way the result of the election becomes meaningless: no matter the winner there will be a mix of devastating adjustment measures with a high likeness of bloody repression. This will happen, victims may vary.
The paradox comes from the motivations of the political sides. The opposition is trying to reach power to solve a crisis that it is not its fault, that will not provide them with any credit. In fact the opposition should wish to lose the election and let the regime sink alone. The regime on the other hand wants to retain absolute power when in fact it should wish for the opposition to take charge, or at least contemplate sharing power with the opposition so as to share responsibility. That sharing would work in front of an dumb Venezuelan public opinion.
Political wisdom should dictate that the regime and the opposition break a deal BEFORE the election for a power sharing transition no matter what the election results are. But this will not happen for a very simple reason: the regime is so corrupt, so compromised that it knows the only way it can avoid jail is to retain power at all cost. So the regime forges ahead in its electoral treachery while the opposition more aware of the disaster ahead of us has to try to win anyway so that we do not starve, even if it means assuming an undeserved guilt trip.
You need to understand this clearly if you are trying to figure out what is going on currently and what are the strategies to be deployed in coming weeks which could include suspending elections outright, to everyone's secret relief.
To this we can add other major parameters. One is the role of the army in the near future. Chavismo and opposition could well agree to let the blame for everything on the army and agree together in dismantling its current structure. Easier said than done, of course; but merely trying to do is scary enough for the current army extremely corrupt leadership (from cashing in to drug traffic large scale). The army will make sure that nothing happens from December 7 on that it does not approve. The question is who will the army support and that will depend in part on how the campaign unfolds.
Another parameter is that is is clear that there is a rift inside chavismo. On one side are those that are ready and willing to suspend elections or put to jail opposition leadership or something. On the other side are those that think some form of semi believable election should be held even if there is a real risk that the opposition may prevail. Both sides agree only on one thing: whatever opposition victory takes place, this one should be minimized through any mean, even if it risks trouble with international actors.
This being said and well understood in coming posts we'll go into more details.
-----------------------
PS: do to personal situation I do not see in the near future me coming back to the regular to hectic blogging of the past. If ever: my job is basically done, the world knows. However I am slowly getting into Instagram and I am more active on Twitter since there is free time available for this in all the waiting rooms of doctors and public administration long lines. Links to the accounts on the right. I am even trying to get a little bit better at being interactive with those willing to write, something hard for an Introverted INTP.
Friday, 16 October 2015
Weil sums up the Venezuelan situation
Cartoonist Weil publishes an extraordinary cartoon (and he has quite a few of them!)
In the background the symbol of the corrupt regime gangs fighting against each other for political control through colectivos, grenades, etc...
Further in front petty thieves stealing in hunger whatever they can (toilet paper, for example, how can that be any more pathetic?).
In front two items, paupers fighting over a chicken while someone is dead on ground through hunger, crime, whatever....
There you have it, Venezuela today. I am impressed.
In the background the symbol of the corrupt regime gangs fighting against each other for political control through colectivos, grenades, etc...
Further in front petty thieves stealing in hunger whatever they can (toilet paper, for example, how can that be any more pathetic?).
In front two items, paupers fighting over a chicken while someone is dead on ground through hunger, crime, whatever....
There you have it, Venezuela today. I am impressed.
Monday, 12 October 2015
Electoral scoundrels
No, this is not a post about the constant pro Chavez partisanship of the electoral board CNE. No, this is not a post about the government abuses on the campaign trail. No, this is not about the impossibility of the opposition to voice its political offer on any nation wide network.This is a post about the scoundrels that flourish under a neo-totalitarian regime like the one Venezuela called for and now suffers from.
Electoral campaigns can be a way to bring the best in people but in general it tends to bring the worst. I am going to detail two recent stories.
William Ojeda
The first one is for the turncoat supreme, William Ojeda. This lackluster character/journalist came to his 15 minutes of fame when he published about 20 years a go a book titled "How much is a judge", pretending to illustrate how corrupt was the judicial system before Chavez. That the judicial system has become infinitely worse since is not the point here, the point is that actually some of the tenets of his "investigation book" have been questioned since. That should have given pause to a few wishing to associate with him.
Whatever. At first Ojeda was with Chavez. When he did not get what he wanted, namely Caracas East mayor job (Petare) he went opposition to the point of entering fist fights with pro Chavez folks. He was eventually compensated by getting the nod in 2010 to be Petare's representative. So far so good. Except that for reasons that are not explained directly to this date he went back to chavismo within two years. This betrayal to the electors that voted him in has been a constant source of problems and resentments, the more so when Ojeda not only started voting some of the most unpalatable and anti democratic recent laws, but tried to lure through bribes inside chavismo more opposition figures. (1)
Needless to say that the opposition was not going to renew its name on its list. What is more curious is that the regime delayed until it finally gave him the nod. See, after extensive gerrymandering the regime has been able to take away 2 out of the 5 seats that the opposition has been winning in the greater Caracas. Ojeda previously elected in a two seat constituency is now running in a pared down district that albeit still including juicy portions of popular classes neighborhoods is considered as lost by the regime. Which certainly explains why the regime eventually relented and allowed Ojeda to run for "reelection".
The observant reader would say: so what? The so what is that that Ojeda is already on campaign even though this is not allowed. His district is now covered with huge posters like the one above I am forced to gaze at several times a week when stuck in traffic. All of them say that "Sucre deserves better" or "Sucre does not deserve this." Sucre is the official name of the district that includes the core of Petare's favellas and the tonier districts of North Eastern Caracas, Macaracuay, the Californias and El Llanito. So what, again?
The problem, for one, is that Ojeda is not running for mayor so blaming current holder Ocariz, who is doing a rather good job considering all the sabotage he has had to endure, is not only unfair but out reality. The second, and worse objection, is that Ojeda has been representing the district for 5 years and yet he has partaken in the effective sabotaging of Ocariz's rule even if that affected directly its constituency. That is, not only he betrayed his electors, but then he went on to screw them.
Voters are not fooled and his nomination has faced significant criticism inside chavismo as can be read from its Aporrea portal directly. In fact, you can find elsewhere in Aporrea more complete criticism of Ojeda than I could hope to write up myself! Even in popular districts of Petare Ojeda is not only disliked but he is booed when he tries to pretend that he works for the community. There is a certain Shakespearean quality to Ojeda's plight except that I doubt an ethically corrupt mentality like his can notice. (2)
Jacqueline Faria
The second case is shorter to deal with. We are talking of Jacqueline Faria who is one of the biggest frauds of chavismo. Her main non-achievement was to clean up the sewer that runs through Caracas so that Chavez could go for a swim together with Evo Morales. Today when we cross any bridge over the open air sewer once known as Guaire river we can see that the millions assigned to her for that purpose have gone anywhere but. The problem with Faria is that she pretends to be for el pueblo when she is in reality a snob, rumored to even go from official position to official position with her personal cook in tow. I do not know how true that thing may be but we all know about her comfortable life as a highly inefficient bureaucrat who would never think of sending her child to a public school or public hospital. Milagros Socorro wrote a few days ago an excellent review of the main lies that Faria blurted out without any hint of shame or even self awareness.
Finally all caught up with her when she said that the long lines were "sabrosas" and that it was what Maduro ordered so we should just pick our shopping bag and go along with it. I kid you not, video below. To understand well in full what a mockery Faria did of all the chavista crowds standing for hours in line, under sun and rain, you should understand that sabrosa in this context is a concept word not directly translatable in English. Sabrosa means here highly enjoyable, very funny, to be sought for, to be done without any remorse. Needless to say that chavismo is not amused by Faria as can be read in Aporera, also. Oh, I forgot, Faria is also running for representative in an area where standing in line for hours has become a full time occupation for some, amen of being an area where buhoneros and bachaqueros hit particularly hard the locals with very high black market resale prices.
Ojeda and Faria mock equally the long suffering electorate, in different ways for sure, but cruel mockery it is.
So there you are, now you know, how chavismo has filed scoundrels to run for office since, well, no one decent would run on that record...........
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1) Ojeda barely used Twitter account as an opposition representative still exists. He cannot even get around to delete that previous account! I have saved a screen shot in case.
2) There is also another issue about the plastering of billboards in Caracas by Ojeda: who is paying for that? PSUV is not "directly" involved. It is never mentioned in any poster, nor the color red appears. In fact Ojeda uses blue mostly. The excuse is that a minor opposition party, MIN, has been hijacked through a judicial fiat. MIN color is blue and the new board, judicially appointed, seems clearly bent on sabotaging the MUD opposition unity (from which it was promptly suspended). MIN has named Ojeda as its candidate though no one knows how it is possible that suddenly MIN can pay for one of those billboards, never mind the dozens that sprung.
Sunday, 4 October 2015
2015: the lost year
It has been three weeks without posting. But in all truth what should have I written about?
That the regime has decided to become outright cruel, be it Leopoldo Lopez jail or the Colombian border disgraceful human rights abuses?
That new electoral cheating is performed?
That now criminal gangs are using grenades against police quarters, when grenades are supposedly exclusive property of the military?
That even Putin tries to explain to Maduro that the price of oil ain't going back up any time soon?
That Obama and the Pope and the West are only too happy to let Venezuela sink as long as it keeps financing a Cuban transition and an assortment of ungrateful shitty islands of the Caribbean?
That the Syrian refugee crisis is to be blamed squarely on the West for not assuming its full responsibility when it started applauding the Arab spring?
That Santos seem to have been defeated by the FARC and Cuba and chavismo when the battle was nearly won when he assumed power first, a victory where his participation was stellar?
You already get the hint that 2015 will be a lost year for a lot of people even though we are only on October 4.
That realization came to me a couple of days ago, that the regime had stolen from me 2015, that it has not allowed me to even try to achieve any modest goal. The year has been a constant reaction to try to deal with negative events in increasingly desperate situations.
I have been looking back and there is no joy, nothing positive for me.
The year has been spent in lines trying to find food and toiletries items and medicines, not even for me, but for my cancer stricken life partner (and other people when I can help). See, he cannot stand in lines for the hours required to acquire food. He cannot go to half a dozen of pharmacies in a row to try to find one that has the pain killer or the anti inflammatory, or the anti-whatever the doctors prescribe. Even nutritional supplements are hard to find and too expensive for his budget. That and other stuff I have had to start paying for, never minding that I have had to go to the black market prices because I also need to work and I cannot spend 2-3 days a week looking for stuff.
As if this ordeal was not bad enough, it has made me face to incredible cruelty of the regime, its immense stupidity to boot. See, those long lines under the sun are equal for all, a true socialist victory. Pregnant women, sick people, elderly with mobility problem, etc... all have to stand in that same line, no consideration whatsoever for any one, starting with the people in the line that have lost any decency in their search for basic items. Eat shit and die is the message.
But there is insult to injury, true injury from what you can get above. I have seen or heard from reliable witnesses how the Nazional Guards or other forms of "authority" help themselves first, or let go ahead of the line their friends or take payment to allow you to do so. The abuse of power is more obvious, more cruel when such situations arise.
And more insult to the intelligence as the system is a mess of confusion and inefficacy. Some items are by ID card end number, some items are "once a week", more and more stores demand finger prints from BOTH your thumbs, even if you buy, say, a bag of chips. That finger printing is ominous because it seems to be working better than anticipated even though lines to pay are twice as long as the process to pay is twice as long. The implications is clear: at any time through these machines the regime can restrict access to whatever it wants to restrict. And to whomever. Food apartheid in the making.
You may think that perhaps I can find solace elsewhere, like at work. But the situation is getting worse by the day. I have already detailed on occasion how difficult it is to manufacture things in Venezuela, to produce anything. The two main causes are the lack of raw material and the labor laws that not only make it hard to organize efficiency at work but are now creating havoc as you cannot fire the constantly missing workers that have to leave work to stand in food lines. Not that you would fire them anyway as you understand the situation but the "food shortage absenteeism" has become a source of new abuses.
There is also insult to injury. As your business is having a hard time to survive, you observe newcomers that seem to be quite prosperous. For example the Polar group is closing its detergent and soap plants due to lack of raw material. But there is a newcomer, "Clic", that is flooding supermarkets with pricey house cleaning items. They even run expensive TV ads! How do they manage to get the raw materials to assemble their concoctions? Why are they the only brand with such a complete and well packaged line of products? Because the packaging of other products trying to replace Polar products is dismal, for low quality products to begin with.
And yet that is not all. There is a new plague on business. Once upon a time corruption was expensive but some forms were preserved. For example to get money out of you they would use catch phrases like "the dockets are loaded, but maybe we could find ways to speed up processing your application to X". Now they ask you money upfront, without any shame. Usually assorted with threats that are not based on anything legal, just because they can threaten you as there is nowhere you can go for redress. The reason for this new bluntness that we have observed in recent months is very simple: bureaucrats know that their fate is sealed no matter what happens with December elections. See, even if chavismo were to win, there is not enough money to spread around anymore and many of them will be shown the door if they are on the wrong side of post December chavismo reshuffled leadership. So the time is now for a last push for corruption money. It is that simple.
How can you score any success in front of such a negative environment? Unless survival on the edge of bankruptcy is considered a success. Note that the latest business climate studies put Venezuela dead last, even behind Syria.
That is why I can write already that 2015 has been a lost. That no matter what happens in the last quarter the negativity of the first three quarters cannot be overcome anymore. I feel exactly in the same mood as I felt in October 2014: a sad mood with the certitude that next year will be worse.
That the regime has decided to become outright cruel, be it Leopoldo Lopez jail or the Colombian border disgraceful human rights abuses?
That new electoral cheating is performed?
That now criminal gangs are using grenades against police quarters, when grenades are supposedly exclusive property of the military?
That even Putin tries to explain to Maduro that the price of oil ain't going back up any time soon?
That Obama and the Pope and the West are only too happy to let Venezuela sink as long as it keeps financing a Cuban transition and an assortment of ungrateful shitty islands of the Caribbean?
That the Syrian refugee crisis is to be blamed squarely on the West for not assuming its full responsibility when it started applauding the Arab spring?
That Santos seem to have been defeated by the FARC and Cuba and chavismo when the battle was nearly won when he assumed power first, a victory where his participation was stellar?
You already get the hint that 2015 will be a lost year for a lot of people even though we are only on October 4.
That realization came to me a couple of days ago, that the regime had stolen from me 2015, that it has not allowed me to even try to achieve any modest goal. The year has been a constant reaction to try to deal with negative events in increasingly desperate situations.
I have been looking back and there is no joy, nothing positive for me.
The year has been spent in lines trying to find food and toiletries items and medicines, not even for me, but for my cancer stricken life partner (and other people when I can help). See, he cannot stand in lines for the hours required to acquire food. He cannot go to half a dozen of pharmacies in a row to try to find one that has the pain killer or the anti inflammatory, or the anti-whatever the doctors prescribe. Even nutritional supplements are hard to find and too expensive for his budget. That and other stuff I have had to start paying for, never minding that I have had to go to the black market prices because I also need to work and I cannot spend 2-3 days a week looking for stuff.
As if this ordeal was not bad enough, it has made me face to incredible cruelty of the regime, its immense stupidity to boot. See, those long lines under the sun are equal for all, a true socialist victory. Pregnant women, sick people, elderly with mobility problem, etc... all have to stand in that same line, no consideration whatsoever for any one, starting with the people in the line that have lost any decency in their search for basic items. Eat shit and die is the message.
But there is insult to injury, true injury from what you can get above. I have seen or heard from reliable witnesses how the Nazional Guards or other forms of "authority" help themselves first, or let go ahead of the line their friends or take payment to allow you to do so. The abuse of power is more obvious, more cruel when such situations arise.
And more insult to the intelligence as the system is a mess of confusion and inefficacy. Some items are by ID card end number, some items are "once a week", more and more stores demand finger prints from BOTH your thumbs, even if you buy, say, a bag of chips. That finger printing is ominous because it seems to be working better than anticipated even though lines to pay are twice as long as the process to pay is twice as long. The implications is clear: at any time through these machines the regime can restrict access to whatever it wants to restrict. And to whomever. Food apartheid in the making.
You may think that perhaps I can find solace elsewhere, like at work. But the situation is getting worse by the day. I have already detailed on occasion how difficult it is to manufacture things in Venezuela, to produce anything. The two main causes are the lack of raw material and the labor laws that not only make it hard to organize efficiency at work but are now creating havoc as you cannot fire the constantly missing workers that have to leave work to stand in food lines. Not that you would fire them anyway as you understand the situation but the "food shortage absenteeism" has become a source of new abuses.
There is also insult to injury. As your business is having a hard time to survive, you observe newcomers that seem to be quite prosperous. For example the Polar group is closing its detergent and soap plants due to lack of raw material. But there is a newcomer, "Clic", that is flooding supermarkets with pricey house cleaning items. They even run expensive TV ads! How do they manage to get the raw materials to assemble their concoctions? Why are they the only brand with such a complete and well packaged line of products? Because the packaging of other products trying to replace Polar products is dismal, for low quality products to begin with.
And yet that is not all. There is a new plague on business. Once upon a time corruption was expensive but some forms were preserved. For example to get money out of you they would use catch phrases like "the dockets are loaded, but maybe we could find ways to speed up processing your application to X". Now they ask you money upfront, without any shame. Usually assorted with threats that are not based on anything legal, just because they can threaten you as there is nowhere you can go for redress. The reason for this new bluntness that we have observed in recent months is very simple: bureaucrats know that their fate is sealed no matter what happens with December elections. See, even if chavismo were to win, there is not enough money to spread around anymore and many of them will be shown the door if they are on the wrong side of post December chavismo reshuffled leadership. So the time is now for a last push for corruption money. It is that simple.
How can you score any success in front of such a negative environment? Unless survival on the edge of bankruptcy is considered a success. Note that the latest business climate studies put Venezuela dead last, even behind Syria.
That is why I can write already that 2015 has been a lost. That no matter what happens in the last quarter the negativity of the first three quarters cannot be overcome anymore. I feel exactly in the same mood as I felt in October 2014: a sad mood with the certitude that next year will be worse.
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