Such a sad Christmas

This is the saddest Christmas I have ever seen in Venezuela. Admittedly Christmas may be sad for some according to family or health issues, but the country as a while still somehow manages to get into the spirit. But this year people gave up. They just gave up.

How could it be otherwise? People do not even have enough cash, literally, for shopping the Christmas essentials. In Venezuela that would be to build up an Hallaca, the Christmas dish. And even if you had enough banknotes, or a well furbished checking account, there are so many staples that cannot be found or are so far out of reach that many this year will have no hallaca on their plates. And many will simply have little on their plate. Period.

Last week was a frantic obstacle course for yours truly, combining a chimio session for the S.O. to buy enough food basics to hold out until January 15 at the very least. Thus I saw Caracas first hand.

Christmas decorations, to begin with, are limited to perfunctory ones in banks and the like. Rare are the private homes or appartements with any light hanging in front. In fact, in my street only one house has the full gaudy display. NO OTHER neighbor put even a light on a window.

But if you think that my choice of starting with decorations is frivolous, let me tell you that it is on purpose, to delay my writing on the other nasty stuff. The lines have been humongous all week, For food, for a few banknotes at the banks, What was worse is that the regime after stealing all the toys from the main Caracas importer has decided to also steal the clothes from EPK, a business on children clothes, etc. I cannot tell you how pathetic, how a feel-terrible experience is to watch hundreds of people standing in long lines to benefit of that loot. What a miserable populace this country has become.

Traffic has been almost as horrendous as in normal days. Few left on holiday. Few can travel over seas. Few will bother to travel visit their relatives as the food and services situation outside of Caracas is much worse than in Caracas. It would be an unfair imposition on your relatives. You'll have to do without family reunion this year.

Sadder still is the amount of people scavenging, everywhere it seems. The worst for me was when I stopped at a given pharmacy in the never ending search for this or that. When I came back to my car I was startled to see somehow sitting down at the opposite corner of my car. Having been robbed three times this year I was duly concerned. And then I realized that the chap, a late teenager, skinny but with a baseball cap and bermudas, was eating something he had found in the trash bags next on the sidewalk. I do not know how I did not puke. Maybe I was so angry, with such a need to cry that it cancelled....

This is really getting awful, and the "needs" of the season make you more aware of your everyday misery and the hopelessness that settles everywhere. Even the regime in spite of a continued stream of cheap propaganda with people dancing folk dances, I suppose to let us get used tot he idea that soon we will lose communication with the outside world, cannot convince "el pueblo" who looks the saddest. How is it possible that you spend December 23 in line to get, say, a liter of oil? That there will be nothing for the kids?  Not even food in some cases? What TV propaganda show can make up for that? How cynical the regime can get?

But Christmas is also a thanksgiving time for those of us who live outside the US.  I am thankful that I get to spend one more with my SO and that I ruined myself but was able to get him the curent chimio treatment. He will not join, yet, the list of those who have stopped treatment in a country where you cannot even find morphine to assuage your last days.

Not in Venezuela

I am thankful that my elderly parents are safe and confortable in France and got used to the idea that they will never be able to return to Venezuela. In fact, in their little Podunk they did manage to find all what it took to build the Venezuelan Christmas plate that so few of us will be able to have this Christmas. ALL INGREDIENTS in a country that prefers foie gras to exotic food for Christmas, amen of hallacas.

I am thankful that I still have family here though one niece left this year and a cousin family will leave early next year. In a little bit over an hour we will still manage to be 9, trying to forget a little bit drinking one of our three last bottles of French champagne.

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow

And my dog is grateful that the country is so bankrupt that there is no fireworks this year. All pets are thankful, for once.

The fates have reached us.

Still, for thus that are away, for the families, the hundred of thousands of broken Venezuelan families, for the faithful readers of this blog, may you have a good Christmas, make me live vicariously.

Alpha es et O

A letter to disapointed Clinton supporters aimlessly loitering

You are idiots. There was an election, you lost. That Hillary got more popular vote is irrelevant: it is a federal country, a union of 50 countries and thus the will of a majority of former independent countries is a must, like it or not. This is the reason of the electoral college and trust me, in a presidential system like the US you need all what you can to make it harder the election of a president and control him/her. Instead of rioting in the streets think about what else could you have done to get more votes for Hillary. Did you canvass enough? Did you offer to carry people to voting stations? Did you attend fervently Hillary meetings, or those from her surrogates? Did you at least make sure to let your family and acquaintances know that because you were gay/black/latino/etc. their vote for Trump would affect you directly? How long did it take you to shift from Bernie to Hillary?


Listen guys, I went through that. In fact I have been going on through 17 years of unfairly losing elections and being manipulated by people who are intellectually less advanced than me. Yes, I an owning what I just said. My current president is a true asshole. Compared to Maduro  Trump is a hardworking towering genius. Even the dumb rednecks that voted for him are better than the equivalent that vote for Maduro: rednecks do work and pay taxes, last time I checked anyway. Here not only they do not pay taxes but as long as they receive a free bag of something, even if it becomes a rarer occurrence, they keep supporting Maduro.

You do not like Trump ideas? That makes two of us. Protesting Trump electoral victory only helps him. Time will come to protest him, right now it is not only a disservice to your cause but it is a disservice to democracy. Or is it that things like Black Lives Matter who came to Venezuela to support Maduro are affecting the belief in democracy and making too many black people stay home and allow for Trump to carry, say, Michigan?

Now it is not the time to riot, it is the time for introspection. Since you feel so superior to the Trump voter (or the chavista voter as the case may be) do as Paul Krugman did or I did in 2006, write about it, think about it, understand why your side lost, allow yourself to be bitter, to think the worst of the other side, to grieve, but remain constructive. Then you will be able to do something about it. Do not be a spoiled brat. Trust me, Hillary is not going to join you in the streets. Nor is Bernie for that matter. Nor should they.

If you are still not convinced by my words, then be my guest, visit Venezuela and stay a while where you will be beaten by your government for protesting even though your elections were totally rigged, and with the public knowledge of that. Please, do not pass for victims. You had 8 years of Obama. If you did not do anything out of it, it is your fault, not Trump's. Or Hillary, or mine for that matter.

There goes to tell you that a Liberal can be as unpolitically correct as any.

UPDATED Asking for help in getting medical assistance

UPDATE: this entry will remain on top for the time being and be updated as needed. Poltical ones below as they appear.
#1 update

Since many people have asked many questions I will answer the general ones here and individual ones as time allows. But my gratitude is all the same.

MONEY: I am not asking for money. Asking for money is a sign of failure for me. I know, it is stupid in a time where so many people ask for so many stupid things, but I try to preserve my pride as long as I can.
The time I would ask for money would be if I need to travel suddenly as good prices are not possible when you travel on short notice. I prefer to keep my savings for the care of my spouse. I will let you know when the time arrives if I cannot find a decent deal. And in that case I would limit myself to the extra expenses. Meanwhile I thank very much those who offered and you are on notice :-)

SOURCES of medicine: This is the toughest to resolve. There is one in particular we need and I do not want to put it publicly. The company that makes it in the US so far has not been forthcoming but there are still ways to reach them. Meanwhile we are trying it from France, the USA or Colombia as the countries where I can travel the easiest if I need to do so.
If by any chance you are a doctor in your country, or you have contacts to cancer treatments only delivered through hospital pharmacies, let me know. For more common medicines, the ones delivered through normal pharmacies through normal prescriptions, I can get them from France already.

-----------------------------------
I know this blog used to have personnel from the US foreign service reading it. These days it may not be the case but I need to try. Besides, other people reading may be able to help, even if not from  the US.

The situation  is that there is no more treatment available in Venezuela for the cancer of my life partner. And there will not be as long as Maduro remains president (or anyone sponsored by the regime). It is abundantly clear that the regime will not spend money on health care anymore besides aspirin and a couple of basic antibiotics. High cost medicine is simply not in the regime's agenda anymore. It has become a genocidal line at this point.

That would not be so bad if the regime allowed people to fend for themselves. But we are not allowed. Not only we have no access to USD, but even for those of us with some savings outside, it is difficult to ensure supplies unless we travel ourselves overseas. Under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking all couriers with pills are confiscated  (though surely those destined to higher up in the regime must manage some exceptions).

But there is an additional problem that was unexpected by us: many of the treatments for cancer are controlled medicines that are delivered only through hospitals, or extreme controls. I am finding that no matter what, manufacturers do not want anything to do with Venezuela, or demand that the patient be treated in the US. Which is nearly impossible without international health insurance that are, anyway, unavailable now in Venezuela.

Beyond the cost of the medicine we seek, which we could afford for a few months, the real problem is finding ways for it to be sold to us. Things we would need is support from the embassy in Caracas, be it from the US or other countries. Or perhaps support from an NGO in getting it. Or an adventurous MD who understands what we are going through and can maneuver the obtention of hospital controlled medications. My partner cannot travel but I can.

In other words anyone, or organization, that can vouch for the Venezuelan situation, that can report our case as a humanitarian situation can write privately to me to see how we can manage. No costs will be incurred to this generous soul as I have some savings that can tie us through for a few months. Though if some folks can help us purchase the medications, we would be immensely grateful since there are many more expenses we must tend to. But again, this is not a plea for cash, it is a plea for paperwork help in sorting the obstacles to obtain medications.

My address is danielinyaracuy(@)gmail(.)com , extra characters inserted for spam protection but you know how to remove them.

Since 2003 I have never asked for help, nor received any payment for this blog which in it's heyday was one of the main sources of information about the truth on Venezuela, at my personal al risk, by the way. Now I am begging readers to help me.

Tienes derecho a tu opinion pero tengo derecho a no respetarla

El régimen chavista ha trabajado mucho en alterar nuestro idioma para poder imponer sus ideas, debilitar nuestro pensamiento y afectar nuestra ética. Ya George Orwell nos explicaba ese fenómeno totalitario en "1984" o "Rebelión en la Granja".

Palabras abundan, como eso de "fortalecer" todo para esconder y justificar la erosión institucional. Otra es "libertario". O "apatrida". Etc.

Pero existe una expresión muy en boga ahora que ya no puedo tragar mas: "respeto tu opinión". Inclusive el periodismo la ha santificado a punto de olvidar lo que significan palabras tales como "hechos", "concreto", "seguimiento", "verdad".

Primero, está demostrado ampliamente que el chavismo no respeta nada, y menos una opinión. Preguntenle a Leopoldo López en Ramo Verde, el más dramático ejemplo. Piensen en todos los exiliados políticos.

"Respeto tu opinión" es en realidad una forma de decir con un mínimo de cortesía que tu opinión no sirve, no tiene sustento, no merece ser respetada, que la mía es la única que cuenta, la única con validez. ¡Una hermosura de dialéctica negativista!

Pero miremos hoy en dia todos los chavistas en el gobierno usando esa expresión.

¿Cómo puede tener validez la opinión de, digamos, el diputado Pedro Carroña Carreño? ¿No nos dijo ayer que las elecciones son un lujo prescindible? ¿Es eso respetable?

¿Cómo podemos respetar al vicepresidente Aristóbulo Istúriz cuando nos eructa que el abastecimiento va mejor porque hay menos colas? ¿No ve que las colas siguen? ¿Que si aparentase tener menos colas es que ya no queda nada que comprar?

Esto ya no es a nivel de propaganda política, ni siquiera de provocación y burla. Eso ya es a nivel de cuestionar el raciocinio del otro, de su capacidad de observación, decisión, pensamiento. Es deshumanizar al otro.

Así las cosas. Yo no sé lo que harán ustedes pero este aqui ya no respeta más las opiniones absurdas y sesgadas. El chavismo, y mucho radical de la oposición, tiene derecho a sus opiniones pero yo ahora recupero mi derecho a no respetarlas. Total, tienen años sin respetar las mías.

"Margarita follies": a cheap vaudeville in 5 acts

Prologue

PSUV tent city
Courtesy Elides Rojas tweet

In the fair city of Caracas, Henry Ramos gathers a few friends for a big party. Nicolas Maduro is not invited and he tries to sabotage Henry's party by complaining to the police for loud noise, and trying to hold a party of his own on a red shirt theme. His party is a bust: even people walking by Nico's party with red shirts take them off to go to Henry shindig.

Act 1 Nicolas at Pinkyville

Nicolas is furious at Henry and his friends, In particular those with orange shirts that accepted to don white ones at Henry's party. To get fresher airs he decides to go out of Caracas to visit a homestead where he is told lot's of people love him and would have gone to his party had he be willing to foot the cost. Lo and behold, when he reaches Pinkyville he finds his friends very pissed off at him because he took all of their food for his party in Caracas. Furious, they bring out a protest steel band of pots and pans to accompany their protest song. We will never now for sure but there may have been a exchange of more than just insults. Nico must make a quick exit and go back to Caracas swearing that all of these people have been sent by the folks of Henry's party.

Act 2 The revenge of the bitter

At Miraflores Palace Nico and his gang are sulking. They need to avenge themselves of so many humiliations even though the bard Vox Populi tells them that they asked for it. But she is a relative of Cassandra and everybody hates that bitch even more.

There is also the problem of that chic gathering to start soon next door to Pinkyville, where all the faded B list will gather to toast Nicolas who is paying for the drinks. Short of time, they decide to start taking on the orange shirts of Henry's party accusing them of street noise and killing kittens with farts. For good measure, to warn other people who attended Henry's party they send to the slammer Braulio who we learn apparently commutes back and forth from work with thousand of dollars in his car. It seems he did not know that such things go under mattresses,

Act 3 The neighborhood complains

All these people held against their will, with all sorts of made up excuses, manage a lot of noise. All sorts of neighbors complain, in particular Braulio's father who would like to know at the very least where is Braulio held. Nico's Friday girl Delcy vulgarly tells Chile Wine Export, the company of Braulio relatives to fuck off which not only infuriates further Braulio's Dad but brings out his uncle Almagro and the neighborhood watch HRF.

Some suggest that Delcy's therapist should not be his brother as it compromises the ethics of the trade and creates such unpleasantness and incompetency in such an insecure petty creature.

Act 4 Nico's fraternity bash

Considering all of this real and imaginary saboteurs, depending whom you ask, Nico's gang decide to lock up Margarita Island so nobody from main land could go to Pinkyville. Not even Henry who wanted to tell the guests that Nico stole his money to pay for the lavish party, money that was to be given to charity like taking care of children with cancer.

Enrique also wanted to go to Margarita to visit his God Mother on her birthday. He was trapped at the airport by a gang of red shirts who even grabbed their junk in offering to Enrique. This one filmed it all and this may have been the first case of live fascist porn on Periscope. The passengers going along with him enjoyed the show and backed Enrique refusing to leave the place so much fun they were having. Soon the good people of Pinkyville was rumored to be on their way to the airport and thus the red goons decided to retreat protected from video cameras and steel bands by the Venezuelan security apparatus.

To avoid further surprises Nico's gang decided to be able to sleep tight in their luxury hotel by having a few hundred red shirts come over. Since they were service they were put to sleep outside, in tents with rudimentary hygiene on some dirt undeveloped property. That way they could watch them form their AC suites and call on them as needed.  Any similarity to slavery or indented labour is purely coincidental.

Act 5 What if you give a party and (almost) no one shows up?

So Nicolas launched his party without witnesses to which more than 100 head of gangs were expected. Apparently not even a dozen came and none of the stars, though plenty of underlings came to enjoy all sorts of amenities at Henry's cancer struck children expense.

And yet Delcy did all what she could to entice them to come, waiting for the few of them that came on the tarmac itself, with lots of hugs and offers to carry their bags and free them from customs duty. Unfortunately the luminaries that came where those that had no choice. Rouani came because he had to pass the bills to Nico from past bashes; Raul needed to get his monthly stipend; Rafael because he has nothing better to do and Robert, who is not invited to any other party around the World, would not miss that one.

While the bash took place another formal diner party was held elsewhere. The guests decided that Nico would not be welcome anymore to their parties because he cannot stop acting like a brat and never pays his bills. Jose from Brazil made it a point to underline that Nico had not met any of the obligations he was supposed to meet in order to join that southern club.

Epilogue

Back at Miraflores Nico and the gang realize that they are more lonely than ever, that even paying for people party is not enough to have them show up. Someone suggests to jail all of Henry's friends around Miraflores so that nobody would know about such isolation.

1S coverage by VN&V

Since last night post things got worse. A bevy of journalists have been barred from entry in or outright expelled from the country (useless unless they also expelled those that are already installed as fixed correspondents). Human Rights organizations count already 37 arbitrary arrests in the last 48 hours. Access to Caracas is nearly blocked. Threats from the regime have reached a new high pitch. Etc.

Still, I think that this is absolutely counterproductive and for anyone that will stay home scared, a newly pissed off one will decide to hit the streets tomorrow.


I, for one in a million, I hope for, will be there. But the sector where I am supposed to stand in the "taking of Caracas" is not the most glamour one, nor scenic. The objective of the event is to have a sea of people stand in the three main road axis of Caracas besides the main one, the central autopista. Mine from El Cafetal is the Rio de Janeiro avenue that follows the right bank of the Güaire river. Next to the smell of the open sewer that Chavez promised years ago to clean up so he could take a swim with Evo.

I supposed that one advantage will a be less crowded network usage so I may be able to post things real time on Twitter and Instagram.  In normal marches rallies closer to downtown some times you cannot even send a text! You have on the right side of this blog the links to both. Keep in mind that I am the last one of the historical bloggers still reporting from Venezuela in English. And who knows for how long...

Also if you have something to share send it to me. If I can download it and put it up I will. Or at night tomorrow.

That is all for tonight, going to bed hoping to forget for a few hours all the crazy going on,  including dangerous remarks by Maduro, remarks that by themselves would get him a spot on one the The Hague benches. It is that crazy for these creeps...

See you tomorrow starting sometime after 9 AM , maybe, depending on how the country wakes up.

Me and Hillary

Around US election time I allow myself a post where I express my opinion. I am of those who think that foreigners should have a say in the US election since we will all pay the consequences of that vote. But of course, there goes another utopia. Also, I get a lot of flack from such posts, mostly from right wingers that understand any critical view of Republican candidates as pure and simple communism making Chavez too good for me, and... (more follows from puffed red faces that I can easily imagine from the comments).

Not for me at this point in life to be deterred by such comments, the more so that blogging has become an occasional hobby for me. So there I go.


FIRST! Caveat! I was a Hillary fan in 2008 so do not expect me to have changed over these last 8 years. Search my blog or blog comments if you wish, it is all there, somewhere.

Yes, I know where Hillary does come from and I NEVER liked Bill. But she is not Bill and already in 2008 I thought she was one of the best prepared and more thoughtful candidate for the US presidency. Preparation matters unless you are like Reagan and are willing and able to surround yourself with people that know more than you do without taking umbrage.  Since politicians willing and able to run for the presidency are prime donne then I shall privilege preparation over character. They are all flawed anyway, and Reagans are rare, the US having had only two of those in the XX century. I suppose perhaps that coming from Venezuela the little pecadillos of Hillary do not mean much for me, or that my French half has learned long ago that dubious private life does not mean bad governance.

It may come as a surprise to you that at first I was looking with interest at Trump as a candidate. After all, he was a businessman, of dubious qualities perhaps but more businessman than any president in recent memory besides Bush senior. In a country with such a division or power and entrenched instituions Trump did not scare me. Then again, I was coming from the Venezuelan experience.

It was thus with a great surprise that I heard the vehement condemnation of my US friends who I visited days before the Iowa caucus. To the point that I did not even dare to express my surprise and preferred to remain silent, playing the ignorance card.  But they have been proven right and as far as I am concerned Trump would be an unmitigated disaster for the US presidency. People would miss Nixon and Carter after a Trump presidency.

I can say that because I have been following this primary cycle closer than the usual. Enough to be scared about what is going on in the US.

Bernie Sanders is a geriatric socialist that has appealed to a new me generation who think that everything is their due. Plus the assorted white guilty left of the Democratic Party. Fortunately the real left, the one that needs to mark time clocks at work and knows how hard things are did not follow Sanders and stayed with Clinton. Yes, Latinos and African American are the real social left in the US, not the Joe Kennedy type that happily deals with Venezuela or the intellectual fraud like Sanders who refuses to condemn the Cuban regime.

And then there is Trump.

I do not want to take the easy way and put Trump in the same bag as Chavez. Trump is more dangerous than Chavez but he would be less detrimental to the US than what Chavez was. What Trump and Chavez have in common is a deep narcissistic disorder. But each one is affected by it in a different manner.  Trump just wants to be president and have is face and hair carved into some mountain. Chavez wanted to change the world for his glory. I have no doubt that if by mistake Trump were to be elected, within 6 months enough in the GOP would unite with the Democrats to impeach him. Yes, I trust that much American Institutions.

The danger in Trump lies elsewhere, and I am not even thinking about the nuclear red button.  Trump is a demagogue who gets power form dividing society. He preys on the insecurity of people and he is dangerously gathering around him all the social resentment that exists in the US. If he were less tone deaf about latinos and blacks he would be already unstoppable the way Chavez was.  That is what they truly have in common, the capacity to unify behind their banner all the alienated sectors of society, all of those who want revenge rather than reform. Once this is achieved the damage is done, the society is fractured and healing takes decades. I know what I am talking about, I am living the consequences of it in Venezuela where the embers of chavismo are everyday more outspoken about the need to silence people like me.

What Trump is doing is try to unite behind himself the red necks, white trash, bible thumpers, creationists, chronic jobless, the envious and the frustrated, those that cannot associate their failure with their very own character flaws. For this last group Trump is particularly effective because he forgives their sins since all their troubles come from Muslims, Latinos, immigrants, etc, but never for their own errors. True, some of their problems are chronic to the US society, but not all. We need to be thankful that the US is a multiracial society and that no politician can truly unite behind himself all these groups of deep social resentment. Chavez was able to do it because Venezuela was a deeply mixed country that Chavez tried to turn into one of whites versus non white. He succeeded, until hunger came.

The Republican party had it coming. This is not anymore the party of Lincoln. Not remotely. The Jesse Helms and Southern Republicans have preached the me or you gospel and now the chicken Trump has come home to roost.  We are seeing under our own eyes how the Republican party is unraveling, how ethics are trampled everyday for the sake of expediency and a tidbit of supposed power. How easy it is to speak Benghazi instead of Wall Building!

But this post is long enough already. My only sorrow is that the US of A has been able to produce such a mediocre crop of presidential candidates. And do not let me start on people that I consider worse than Trump, like Cruz. I do like Clinton but this time I would vote for her because there is no other option. She is not free to set an agenda like she was in 2008: now she has to secure Obama inheritance whether she likes it being irrelevant. And Trump and Sanders certainly have saddled her with chains that will be heavy on her administration. At least I am certain that she is is going to be better for Venezuela and Latin America than Trump. By far since Trump at best only knows where the Miss comes from.

I did hear the Libertarian ticket formed by two ex republican governors, which indicates to me that Libertarians are trying to go mainstream now. Whatever. I liked them enough if truth be told. If I were voting I would vote for them once I am sure that Trump will not be elected. But as long as there is a chance for Trump to make it, I will be rooting for Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile I do hope that there are enough Republicans that will do the decent thing and at least cross their straight down ballots with Hillary or the Libertarians. Guys, you screwed up with your hysterical opposition to Obama, You even helped into creating a situation where Hillary had to go more to the left than what she would naturally be. Now it is time to pay the Piper and save what can be saved of your party, enduring for penance at least 4 more years of Obama and a Supreme Court locked in Liberal mode for at least a decade and a half. But heck guys, you have only yourself to blame for that. Try at least to retain the House and then learn to negotiate for everybody's sake. You can negotiate with Hillary more than you could ever negotiate with Trump, trust me on that one. I am coming out of 17 years of Chavez, I know a Chavez when I see one, even with a red wig. Narcissistic personalities never negotiate, they just gain time so they can screw you later, and better.

A letter to Brexiters who think they are on top

So you won yesterday by a hair thin margin on such a transcendental question. You got rid of Cameron and you probably will get "common man" Boris or Farage as prime minister in charge of dealing all the unpopular mess that is coming your way. But I guess the Sterling Pound today is already having a few of you wondering if they did the right thing. Heck! No more cheap vacations in sunny Europe for the time being.

But if somethings could well change, some others cannot, no matter what you may believe.


To begin with, Brexit is not done deal yet. There will be a tough negotiation and when the final package comes I bet the "agreement" will not pass the muster of a general election or even a referendum. And if it were to pass, my money is on the UK changing its name to Little England as there is no reason why the Scots should be dragged down into your folly. Let me put it this way, your feel good vote of yesterday may end up in a bitter disappointment as you try to effectively "change" things.

And for all your new born chauvinism there are things that cannot change. Let's take France, for example.

No major countries that I can think of have such an intimate common history than France and England. We made each other what we are today.

The invasion of French words into English language may only be matched by the invasion of English words into French.

You may have won the Napoleonic wars but France had won the Hundred Years one before, and courtesy of both wars England and France became true nations.

You may have kicked out France from India and Canada but the French made you lose the big enchilada of the 13 colonies.

You may disparage French garlicky concoctions but the French drink better tea than you do.

We may have been rivals for ever but our best and brightest elites always spoke French AND English.

Montesquieu wrote the main texts on separation of powers and civil society, but he wrote these because of the impressions England made on him.

You keep buying countryside homes in France but the French have truly made London their favorite foreign capital to vacation and live.

And let's not forget freedom for the world owes to France and England mixing their blood in two world wars and resolute unity on many crisis afterwards.

And you think that Brexit will erase all of this? Think twice.

Father's day

It has been a rough week for your truly. On Monday I was mugged with all the problems that this entails for the rest of the week. And the week ends on Father's day, with a melancholy.


What happened Monday is that I was bringing supplies to the S.O. who is in the mid of a bad chemotherapy bout. I was cornered as I was getting out of my car by two motor bikes with two people on each. One of them a woman. I did not stand a chance, happy that they did not kidnap me, or steal my car or shoot me for sport.

The what they took me is not really the matter. My aging smart phone is gone (but for some luck of destiny the night before I had downloaded all the pics at home). My bag had some very personal valuable items that are of no use for them, except perhaps for the knife I always carry with me as the good Frenchman I am. The bag with the supplies they did not even look at it even though it had 5 liters of very precious milk and a brick of 50,000 bolivares that I bring regularly to the S.O. so he does not have to stand by cash machines or bank tellers where his weakness could make him an easy prey, with a probable fatal denouement if he were to be thrown on the floor in the scuffle.

Rather what the event left me was a profound thoughtfulness. I realize that I was in a hurry and not quite as careful as I usually am. That is, in Venezuela today you cannot make a single mistake because dark forces are always on the look out. Always.

I compared myself with the forest floor small rodent that needs to get out and scavenge for something to eat. That rodent needs to think about a lot of things before peeking out its den. There might be a wild cat close by. Maybe it will cross the path of soldier ants that shall make mince meat of it fast. If it needs to go near a clearing some bird of prey might pounce fast out of nowhere. Of course there are the silent slithering snakes.

Same thing for me, in particular the red snakes.

The rest of the week was a scramble to get some ID papers back, to cancel credit cards, change my passwords, to buy a new smart phone, an obligation in this country if you still have a job with some responsibilities.  I had to be exposed to what were a couple of bolibourgeois buying in front of me a golden Samsung S7 Edge priced 6 times more than the more modest Grand Prime that I had to downgrade to after my  stolen S3. That S7, for your information, is worth 100, ONE HUNDRED times the MONTHLY minimum wage in Venezuela.  I do feel already embarrassed to buy a smart phone which already costs 18 minimum wages, but I have no choice if I wanted a screen big enough to read who calls me without glasses (another security concern). At any rate, the cheapest of smart phones start at 10 minimum monthly wage. So there, 17 years of chavista equality down the phone drain.

This morning I was hoping to find some solace. The S.O. informed that he was starting to recover a little. I was safe at home, café au lait in hand (a luxury by itself) reading the weekly Tal Cual edition which had a special father's day issue. And a sad one as it focused on the broken families that cannot celebrarte such dates together because of emigration. The most conservative estimates give 1.5 million Venezuelans gone into exile since Chavez was elected. Apparently there are Venezuelan communities registered now in 96 countries, from the mighty half million in the US to a few dozens in Podunkistan.

And I started thinking about those of my family and friends that have left. For a while my close family did manage to stick together, but that is not true anymore, and it is about to get worse. My parents are now unable to come back to Venezuela for medical reasons. They could travel, yes, but they would not get the adequate care they need here, never mentioning that they cannot stand in line for food. For the third year in a row a phone call had to do, and them calling me since now there is no more direct calling to Europe. See, Venezuela state phone company is so broke that the regime has decided to go back to operator assisted calls to most countries so it can charge more. Private mobile phone companies have simply stopped offering the service. and you need to dial dozens of time until an operator answers.

But I digress, the point is that I cannot have my old parents anymore here, limiting myself to a yearly visit, as long as possible. But this summer I am losing two nephews who are graduating from high school and whose sad parents have to accept the financial sacrifice to send them overseas for college even though they have been accepted at one of the last decent private universities still operating in Venezuela. It is quite possible that they may never come back to Venezuela except perhaps for a brief Christmas stay as long as the parents still live here. My other nephews will follow the same path starting in a couple of years from now for the older one still here. Maybe in 5 years from now we will have all left.

That Maduro may fall this year does not change much the situation, the country has become a pit of red snakes.

I faced fascism

I have been the victim of a robbery. I am physically fine but morally deeply wounded. Not from the material loss, although my wedding band was stolen as my partner faces deadly cancer, which by itself is enough to send me to a dark place.

What truly did me in was the way it happened.


I was driving, exiting the Carcas main highway at the El Recreo level. To avoid a pot hole as I slowed down I swerved somewhat and I scared a motorbike that was passing me at full speed on the left. The guy honked pissed off and I had the misfortune to raise my hand (no flip) in a "what have you me do?" gesture. That was too much for him. He blocked me and forced me to pull on the side in an area which unfortunately has no pedestrian traffic.

He acted very much like a police officer and I thought that I was going to get a fine, or would have to bribe him. But something was different. The guy was dressed all in black, including gloves, kevlar like coat, with the thickness that bullet proof gives you. A helmet that looked particularly sturdy. And no badges on him nor plates on his bike. So the thought that this was something else crept fast.

He made me open the passengers window and the conversation that followed was all about terror. I just cannot remember exactly such was the impression but this is the content.

First he said that he was "un funcionario" which in the context means that he was some kind of guy working in state security. Then he said that he could shoot me if he wanted and asked me if I knew that, if I was truly aware of that..........

Three times during the conversation, for lack of a better word, he would remind me that he could shoot me at will, implying clearly that this would not affect him in anyway.

He tried to figure out who I was and what I did but I choked on words so afraid that he could kidnap me of threaten my loved ones.

Then he said, "you know what, give me your ring". All always with a monotone cool voice, with a good choice of words. The guy had some education, he was not just a "malandro" or a "colectivo". In fact, as I thought later, part of his terror tactic was actually to speak to me with respect as he threatened me.

He could have asked for my cell phone, a major source of robbery these days. Or taken the three packs of dearly bought powder milk that I had on the seat and was taking to my SO. Or he could have called a pal to steal my car.

No, he was thinking about a way to hurt me and when he asked for my ring he knew he had me as IMMEDIATELY I thought about my SO. I tried to mumble something, to negotiate something else as instinctively I realized that this was not about robbery. He just became sterner, more icy cold. I had to hand him the ring and then he extended his hand forcing me to shake it as if we were good friends.

Then he left. And my car would not start... Finally it did, I made my way to the SO place where the nervous breakdown took place as you may expect. Me first apologizing in tears about losing the ring, until I realized that was exactly what that criminal wanted me to do, to feel guilty. Which made me recover fast.

Now, this was what we can call a clear fascist act, of the most abject totalitarian nature. A brutal show of force, for the sake of it, through crafted psychological torture. I use deliberately fascist over communist because if in the end the terror and the pain are the same, in a commie torture there is always a hint of legality, a hint of speaking in the name of someone else. For example when the guy started to talk he could have said that I should be more careful about annoying a Representative of "el pueblo" and then do the same threats and steal the ring. Or add a plain "you do not deserve that ring, you escualido".  No, this was just a "I am pissed at you and I could do things to you just because I can and nothing will happen to me even if you were to be able to report me. You are mine, kneel. And be thankful that I will only do this to you today".

I will go one step further. Since Hannah Arendt the concept of totalitarianism has somewhat evolved in an era of mass communication which makes psychological manipulation easier. What I saw was how communism has morphed into a special type of fascism, perhaps the truest form of totalitarianism. This comes from the Cuban training, I have no doubt. This is what happens in Cuba for those that are willing to see it as it is, a fascist country where terror is the glue. It is also what happens in Burma, or in some African states through a dose of tribalism. This, I am willing to bet, is not how things were managed in Chile or Argentina. Again, the end result is the same, the victim is fucked up. My point I guess is that more than killing, the real terror is in the idea of the possibility of killing at will and no one will care.

No one.

Having people like me walk around, or luminaries like Yoani Sanchez able to talk a little bit only reinforces the point: we are there at their suffering.

Talking on blog talk radio

My erratic blogging over the past two years has removed the attention from the media. But some do not forget about this blog. Tonight I chatted with Silvio Canto and Fausta of Fausta.

You can listen here, it should be up in about half an hour from this entry time stamp. I hope I was not too exalted...

On Monday January 6 2003 this blog had its first entry

And that entry was from letters written through December 2002.


It has been 13 years and 4,338 posts. A ride if any.

If all entries had an individual page start I guess we would be talking around 6,000 pages. Maybe a few hundred more. Depending on the font chosen.

13 is my favorite prime number and apparently a kabbalistic one considering what is in store for next year.

And it is fitting that this anniversary comes one day after the opposition started on its way to liquidate the Chavez inheritance of corruption, looting and mismanagement.

A sweet and sour Christmas

It is time for the annual exercice to wish the readers a happy Christmas. At least to those outside of Venezuela who have nice odds at it being happy; unless you are Venezuelans with a split family between those who stayed (had to?) behind and those who emigrated to freer skies.

Here, for the first time since December 1998, I have listened to my Christmas music collection with real feeling. Chavismo has always made its duty to spoil Christmas for all of us, including its followers who were constantly summoned for the defense of the banana republic (1).  This year is no exception as the Maduro/Cabello combo has managed to force through the nomination of political judges on December 23. And we know they are planning further moves of the judicial coup under way for next week. There is no rest for the wicked. Christmas eve for them cannot be much more than getting plastered with 18 year old Scotch that they are the lone ones to be able to afford these days.

But for the rest of us Christmas will be a tad better this year, even if food shortages and prices make hallacas difficult to come by and presents for kids will be very limited. The election result of December 6 has opened ajar the door towards better days. The road to complete freedom is still long and the road to enough prosperity to be able to reunite families is probably longer. But for the first time in years we can perceive a road.

Thus my best wishes for Christmas to the readers that have followed this blog for so long. As a gift of sorts, the lone ones that can be brought through Internet, two videos from what may be my favorite Venezuelan Christmas tunes, so different and unique from the packaged music that seems to have become the rule elsewhere.  A guitar with "Niño Lindo" and Guanaguanare with the original folk composer.



And a version with words, not necessarily the best one but there are is none on YouTube that truly satisfies me.

This Guanaguanare has a deficient sound track, sorry



-----------------------------
1) The 1999 Christmas was spoiled by the natural disaster of Vargas, but that year the regime did what it take to ruin Christmas absolutely by not only refusing help for the disaster but by performing its first judicial coup in between Christmas and New Year just as the country was picking pup the death toll. From there we all knew that the welfare of the people would never be the major concern of the regime: politics and power first. Always.

Left press review

On a slow Saturday night I decided to do what I have stopped doing long, long ago, to examine the misinforming to plain idiotic articles supporting the bolivarian farce. But two upset readers sent me these pieces and by sheer courtesy I read them and went ahead to comment below.

The first one is from CounterPunch. Since I do not read such pages I cannot evaluate how far left these people are. Nor I care for, taking the piece for itself as objectively as I could. It did not go far... All started well enough, pointing out the wish for the revolutionaries to fight back while acknowledging a major electoral setback. But then by the 4th large paragraph we were back in 2002... Really? It is OK that here, in Venezuela, they use that argument because they have no other one left, but overseas? Can't they afford to be a tad more creative in defending the revolutionary farce? Here the paragraph in full:

In April 2002, the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela staged a coup against then President Chavez in a desperate attempt to reassert their control over the country and extinguish the Bolivarian Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans poured into the streets of Caracas, with millions more in other parts of the country, calling for Chavez to be restored tohis rightful office, and for the coup leaders to be arrested. There was really no doubt that the U.S. was responsible for this attempt at forced regime change, with many mainstream news outlets reporting within days that high-ranking officials in the Bush administration were intimately involved in orchestrating the coup.

The US had sympathies but it was NEVER proved that the Bush administration gave a "go ahead". Apparently for the left it is absolutely impossible to conceive that actually there would be a strong popular movement against a leftist regime, a movement that does not need to be stoked on by the CIA. Sigh...  The good savage theory from the North Atlantic do-gooders....

As for the hundred of thousand in Caracas and the millions across the country, pictures please. Amazing how some urban legends that started with a small crowds of looters on Friday 12 and some protest gatherings in the name of Chavez AFTER it was becoming clear that the army may be returning Chavez to office ended up becoming throngs of freedom seeking folks who did all the work. Apparently the author was in Caracas and I wasn't.

You can gather by yourself that the rest of the piece read like an open propaganda pamphlet. No need to comment further, just to point out that the piece appeared first in Telesur. 'nuf said!

The other piece graced Huff Post, where you can find about everything if you are patient enough to set through it (I do not). It is written by Dan Kovalic who presents himself as an adjunct professor. And has his twitter avatar posing next to Chavez tombstone. So there goes academic objectivity.

At least, in a way, he is more honest: you do not need to wait for the 4th paragraph, you get it right in the face from the start.

Of course, given the fact that the opposition was able to win such an election, and that President Maduro and the PSUV are going to honor that election, is a true testament to what many of us have been saying for years -- that, despite the claims of the U.S. government and its compliant media (collectively, the U.S.), Venezuela under Chavez/Maduro governance is authentically democratic. Indeed, one of the great achievements of the Chavista revolution has been democratic reforms.

So right there you have it, before Chavez there was no democracy (how did he get elected, to begin with?). And poor Mr. Kovalic: he should have waited a few days before writing on the Huff: Maduro et al. are not "honoring" the result.

For the rest Mr. Kovalic reveals his true colors: the bolivarian farce is good and worth defending no matter what because, well, it is anti US.  Mr. Kovalic does in very broad strokes. Not for him to have read the 18 pages letter from OAS secretary exquisitely detailing all the electoral treachery BEFORE the first vote was cast. Nor for him either to take a calculator and verify that the minimum wage today in Venezuela is not even 20 USD a month and as such ALL social advances of Chavez, whatever those may be, are now voided, leaving people worse off than what they were in 1998. The rest of the note is thus quite predictable. As is predictable that both notes do not expand much on the reasons why people voted against the regime: years of waiting on line under the sun for food and medicine and sanitary items. Conditions that neither one would tolerate for a minute in the cozy countries where they live and from where it is so easy to decide what is best for Venezuela (even if it is OK to sacrifice it on the anti US altar).

The problem with people like these two authors is that debate with them is useless, It is not that they believe in what they write about, it is that they desperately want to believe. And against that, history, logic and facts are impotent.

May the dear readers do as they wish with this blog entry.

Starting Advent a tad late but...

This morning I dusted off my Christmas music. For the first time in over a decade I can enjoy it truly even though the feast will be meager this year.

I suppose I am late to start Advent but heck, I found this in Facebook so there you go, Christmas is all about sharing!

A vote for the times

What happened today in Venezuela is truly momentous, better than the wildest hopes the opposition could have ever had a year ago. In the last 3-4 months the objective of a nice victory was getting clearer, but tonight the preliminary result announcing a 2 to 1 victory in seats? No way, Jose!

As I type this I am half drunk with the bottle I drowned on my own over the excruciating long wait of the night. No, I am no lush, I did the pilgrimage for a last vote to San Felipe now that I live mostly in Caracas. I have not gotten around to change my district (next in Petare to help Ocariz). But I had kept that semi cheap Chilean champagne that I did not drink in 2009 keeping it for when chavismo would be ousted. It had to wait 5 years in my fridge and me alone but willing. My stupor is accompanied by the streets which are suddenly awake with caravans of opposition supporters in this very chavista state which may be getting back to old former governor Lapi days.

They are right to celebrate as this election marks the end of an era, at last. Chavismo cannot recover from such as stunning disaster that not even Cuban "expertise" could avoid. There are still 17 seats to be decided, too close to call, but the opposition already has secured the 3/5 supernumerary majority and by getting a few of the 17 it may not reach the fabled 2/3 majority needed for certain laws but it will be strong enough to offer a credible resistance against a desperate regime. The future of chavismo is bleak, and it certainly does not pass through its current structure and mood. Implosion is in the future and speedy internal reform is a must if it does not want to disappear, if it wants to remain a leftist option in Venezuela. Appealing crassly to Chavez memory was a mistake, they killed the idol. Now they are on their own.

There is no need to inquire deeply in the causes of the rout. Empty shelves and 200% inflation say it all. As I wrote often, in the last two years the regime has had the chance to take some economic measures that would not have avoided the crisis but made it less politically damaging. But it did not. The regime was hostage to utmost currency exchange arbitration abuse and drug trafficking, all protected by the upper army cadres. What happened in the end was that the populist government lost contact with the populi. And that was that.

What comes next is an exciting page in our history and renewed blogging fervor from yours truly. Only one thing can be more interesting to blog about than the downfall of a regime: the birth of a new order.

Make no mistake, the road is still flush with ambushes. A narco regime was stunned by a defeat they truly never believed could happen. But as the international penal law starts closing in there is no telling what desperate measures they could be willing to risk. Keep in mind that in spite of the disaster, a 40% still voted for the regime. A quick renewal could mean a quick return.

Yet, the economic disaster will kill political support for whatever system comes next and even that 2/3 potential victory will require for the opposition to reach out to chavismo to avoid the worst, something that could even include an increased civil war. Yes, the daily number of violent death in the country are already the signs of a civil war waged between drug and corrupt gangs for their turf, both against the common citizen.

But how to deal with that is best left for the coming days. Tonight we must celebrate one thing: el pueblo spoke and proved that freebies and promises of freebies are not enough. In the end maybe democratic values are not the decisive factors when voting, but accounting is. And demanding accounting for the rulers is where democracy starts. Let's savor that moment when Venezuelans put aside political polarization, artificially created class and race divides and went all together, from negritos to catires, from tierruos to sifrinos, to say that enough is enough, that equality is not standing all together in line for a little bit of milk.

Election day 2015 post

0:46

Tibisay spoketh. It ain't pretty for the regime, a 2 to 1 victory for the opposition. Still 17 seats in play that will decide whether a 2/3 supernumerary majority is reached (and the end of the regime as we knew it). Maduro bitched but accepted with lame references.

Meanwhile suddenly San Felipe is awakening.

And this concludes our election day post. Next? Governor elections December 2016 or... earlier presidential.

11:58

In two minutes we are "the day after"



11:47

Tic-tac, Tic-tac.....

10:54

An insisting rumor is that the opposition would have got 2/3 of the Assembly! 113 seats!

If this is indeed true it not only goes beyond our widest hopes and expectations but it will create a speedy downfall of the regime. Buuut.... leaving all the mess for us to fix with all the political consequences.....



10:23

JUST BREAKING!

BREAKING NEWS! Blog Venezuela News and Views calls the election! pic.twitter.com/TUczynRDYu

— daniel duquenal (@danielduquenal) December 7, 2015

9:56

It is getting more difficult for the regime to hide the opposition victory. As usual, when compared to, say, recent Argentina elections, the Venezuelan electoral system is pathetic.

On the good side, if rumors I get are confirmed my predictions may turn out to have been good. Note: I would not mind at all being wrong and that the MUD gets 2/3. :-)


9:35

Nothing to report. The CNE does its usual waiting game while they try to cook up the results so as to make not looks so bad for the regime.

At least some figures of the opposotion have gone to twitter to claim victory. We put pressure whichever way we can.

San Felipe is quiet and I am at peace. Few fireworks and coming from different places than usual. Maybe a good omen.


7:19

Looks that there will be a solid victory for the opposition. Maybe I should change my predictions to case 3? Or make up in a hurry a case 4? With 25% spread and a 2/3 majority?


7:11

And there is this.

A fetish/cursed bottle since 2009 in my fridge. Is this the night? pic.twitter.com/oEviAGEAAB

— daniel duquenal (@danielduquenal) December 6, 2015

7:10

The illegal voting hours extension is creating quite a scandal. Best admission that the regime lost the election.


7:02

Apparently in some Zulia districts the PSUV forces people to vote "assisted", being nice enough to push the buttons for the voter least this one pulls a muscle or something.

6:57

Got back in service an old modem and got some Internet. My normal provider, Intercable, not only killed my Internet but also killed my phone! And TV while at it. And no, I did not forget to pay for the service.

Right now the usual ruckus on illegally extending voting hours even though most centers are done with voters. The usual bring in the vote despair and those voting that should not be doing so.


6:06 pm

Made it safely to San Felipe. Roads near empty. Saw one of the "mobile CNE" voting center for poor or distant or hard to reach areas. Big line, red shirts, a PSUV red tent right in front. No pressure...

Voted fast. But next voting station had a huge line. Voting machines down, no permission to start voting manually yet.

No Internet at home. Down many areas of the country. Need to update through my cel phone. A big pain you know where

9:47

To try to go around the news blockade and censorship the MUD did a few things, such as a Youtube channel devoted to election day incidents and results later on. So do particulars with new portals in the provinces. This one from Margarita.

9:41

About to leave Caracas. So far nothing too far fetched as far as I can tell.

But there are illegal things like this:

En La Alta Florida, Caracas pic.twitter.com/rXMsE6GE5E

— Iruña Urruticoechea (@urru_urru) December 6, 2015

Observe the intimidation tactic of the chavista in that illegal PSUV "information tent" too close from a voting center, taking a picture of the one documenting the abuse.

7:20 AM

There are traditions, but....

In 2013 I wrote what I was hoping to be my last election day post. Today I am not going to write down what had become a tradition of sorts for this blog. Since that fateful April 2013 my life and moods and priorities have experienced dramatic changes. It has been for me a significant effort to write down that recent series of YV-X articles on the election held today (YV is the international code for Venezuela). As a consequence of erratic writing and unrestrained bitching all my blog parameters have gone down (to the levels I had in 2010, which were already respectable nevertheless).  The secret of successful blogging is regularity in publication and mood, if possible. And that I have not been able to provide. Yet these election day posts were usually my top visited posts of the year, which makes me feel a little bit guilty toward faithful readers.

In addition this year I have not left for Yaracuy to vote. yet. The thing is that I am basically living in Caracas now for many, many reasons, from personal security to having to take care of my SO (now spouse, by the way). During part of today I will be travelling so as to reach San Felipe before polls close. I thought about not voting but I learned that the San Felipe district had become competitive and I would hate myself if we lost it for a single vote.  Also, after years of losing elections, for once I could place myself on the winning side.........

I will try from the road to Tweet or Instagram things if I come across noteworthy moments. And hopefully after 5 PM I may be able to cover some and update this post. But it is open so that readers who may want to share electoral information can go ahead in comments if they please as I will not be able to purvey then. Because with the arrest of Lopez and exile of others and my own changes I have lost track of my informants and I am now just a spectator like you guys. O tempora..

La Marseillaise is back

Today there was a very moving tribute to those who died in the Paris attack of November 13. The chosen venue for its austerity and splendor, and security, was the yard at L'Hotel des Invalides, built by the Sun King and that is used without any remorse by La République. At the end of the ceremony the French anthem was powerfully sung by all the political participants from all crosses of the republic, all security forces and, I dare to venture, at least 90% of the victims relatives that attended.

Although not clear for non French national the tribune behind the president, all alone in front, included all relevant figures, from all ex prime ministers, figures from both extremes, high army officers mixed with civilians, and more. All freezing cold together in republican unity behind the figure of the state. You have to give it to the French for Republican restrained but telling pageantry, one that only the US may outdo. Republic is not an empty feeling.

(Mayors are the only officials allowed to wear the tricolor sash)

The values of the republic are obvious from those pictures, there is no need for me to discuss except to note that these values are cruelly missing today in Venezuela where such a gathering is today unthinkable.

I have refrained to discuss the terror attacks on Paris two weeks ago because I could not believe I would had to do such twice in a year. And then, the show of national unity moved me, made me proud of my French passport (a feeling I have lost about my Venezuelan passport circa 2009).

These days in Paris there is the palpable feeling that comes from the distinction between patriotism, the love of your countrymen, and nationalism, the hatred of what is foreign. And perhaps nothing shows it more than the revival of the French anthem, La Marsellaise.

I may be wrong about this but from my years in the US I met a lot of foreigners and as it turned out, a lot of Japanese colleagues. I came to think that Japanese and French were, curiously, cultures closer than one would expect a priori.  The point is that only Japanese seem as self assured of their cultural origins and "superiority" than the French. This seems so self-evident for us that we do not feel threatened by other cultures. We do not need to travel as some do with a bottle of ketchup or can "diablitos" if you come from Venezuela.

The paradox here is that this self confidence of the French make us have little attachment to some exterior signs of our nationality. If we live overseas, like I do, we are more likely touched by our anthem than those living in France, who may even consider it gauche and pedestrian to wave the flag or sing La Marseillaise in public. The terror attacks of November 13 may have put an end to this.

In the last two weeks there has been a rather extraordinary display of the "bleu, blanc, rouge" to the point that the government asked the population to try to display the French flag everywhere possible. This request would have been inconceivable on November 12, and even less coming from a socialist government. We are told that these days the French army is beating all records for new recruits, and beyond. And now most of us have no qualms singing La Marseillaise in public.

This new found reverence for our anthem may be something that IS/DAESH did not anticipate and may be sorry for it.

It was not easy for La Marseillaise to gain status, no matter how exciting was its music. Napoleon dropped it and we had to wait for the third Republic in 1879 to have it as the national anthem, something that was not amusing for the monarchies controlling the rest of Europe then. In fact La Marseillaise was the revolutionary chant until finally others emerged like the Internationale.

The words of its first stanza sound even bloodier today than what they used to be; "bloody banners" "ferocious soldiers roaring" "slaughtering your children and women" "grab your weapons citizens" "drown your soil with impure blood". And yet, it survived and is even considered to have one of the easiest tunes to sing along, certainly a reason for its popularity.

But the Marseillaise words also remind folks that France has a warrior past that cannot be forgotten just because the country collapsed ignominiously in one single month of 1940, something that the ancestral enemies of France are fond of recalling. Even friends like the US...

What the terror attack has done, unwillingly, is to wake up this warrior past of France, forgotten since 1940 and the unwinnable wars in Vietnam and Algeria. The peacenick side of France has always been fashionable since the 60ies, and today it is questioned seriously. Of course that does not mean we are going to go to Napoleonic warfare again, times have changed fortunately. But I, for one, was disconcerted a little with how easy it was for socialist president to "declare" war on IS and get near unanimous support at home. Not even in the US Bush had it that easy. IS will be punished, it has been agreed on.

If the IS launched its attacks to shame France, to feed its internal divisions, right now it seems to have badly backfired. France is as united as it has been since WW2, with a patriotic fervor that goes without cheap chauvinism and without hatred. France is reawakening and I think the French may be the most surprised at it.  The problem here is mostly for the large Muslim community inside France who now will have to join in and accept that they are French in a secular state. Or? We will see, but we can be sure that this play is just starting.

I am leaving you with this video from today about La Marseillase alone. Enjoy and be thrilled. Aux armes citoyens, sing it aloud and feel

Paris

This is also my flag, and more so today. 

This is the flag that stands for a secular society ruled by law.

Tourism in Venezuela: at your own risk

So I was away for a few days of beach, sand and surf. Not quite.

Take out the water and it is pretty much like this

I have a time share for a yearly week in Margarita which is why there are occasional pics of the area through this blog. Considering that the S.O. does not like the beach and was OK in health, I risked leaving. Next, all the problems I had to endure for a meager 4 days break.

Preparing for the trip:

-. Get your reservation. Since I did not take my usual time slot the resort only confirms my change two weeks ahead. As a consequence since it is difficult to find airline tickets in such short notice, I already lost one day as I could not find flights for the day the week started. Plus, the confirmation coming so late, I had some unavoidable engagement that made me lose two other days. So form the start I had to pay for 7 days while being able to enjoy only 4.  I know, I know, little bourgeois disgust, but as you will read they keep piling up.

- Since a lot of taxis will be involved, since you cannot pay them with plastic, since there is no high currency note, then you have to get yourself a big bundle of bank notes of 100, the highest available. The shortest ride will set you back at least 500 VEB so you will need at least 5 banknotes of 100, if you can find them. See, the problem is that there is such a demand for 100 banknote (about 13 USD cents, that is, 0,13, barely a dime) that banks will not provide them that easily. Your best bet is frequent visits to ATM the week before, maxing out your daily withdrawal until you get the wad you need. In my case I estimated 20,000 in cab fair so I had to get 200 banknotes. TWO HUNDRED. An ATM run not from my bank will give me only 6. At my bank ATM I can get 40 (if available). Do the math. And then visualize getting out a wad of bills when you pay your cab and counting patiently dozens of bills......

- Of course, you have to pack very carefully as you do not know whether a missing item can be replaced at your destination. And yet it does not help: in my case my beach tongues broke and I could not find a replacement to my size so I had to get an overpriced pair of Crocs......

The trip:

- Mistakes abound and you cannot correct them easily. My airline screwed up on my ticket and I had to pay an extra 20% at the airport or else. Sure, I can appeal, but that meant I could not board....

- Creatures comfort are scarce. There is no bottled water. So it is a soda or Gatorade for your thirst. I was hungry and I got inside the fast food court aiming at "¡Que Arepa!" which looked clean and appealing. Except that there were out of corn flour so NO Arepa.

- Harassment in miscellaneous ways is present. The worst offender is that in Margarita you have an immigration check point for all. Allegedly to protect the island form the arrival of criminals and drug smugglers. Ask the natives if they feel any safer.....

- You arrive tired and hungry at your hotel. Yet relief is not there. The Caracas office screwed up and you have to wait half an hour until they can finally untangle part of the screw up and give you keys to your room. But since the screw up was big I had also to advance 50 banknotes so I could eat that night until next morning things got settled and I could enjoy my plan as planned (and get back my precious banknotes!!!!!)

The stay:

- So there we are and there is water but the toilet does not flush. So before I unpack I go to the front desk to report and change room. It turns out that there is a shortage of water in Margarita so they dropped the water pressure to save. Since the toilets are of the high pressure type, without reservoir, well, you can only flush in the few hours during the day where pressure is set to normal.

- Flushing my toilet off hours required me to fill up the paper basket with the thread of water from the shower and lug it to the john.  5 stars it wasn't.

- And after the second day the water was cut outright 20 hours a day, so there was not even a water thread.

- Food was actually not bad. Usually I do not get the food plan as I like to go out on occasion, and I eat munchies so as to spend the week dieting and exercising (there is a fridge in the room and I bring a water boiler). Considering the food shortages I decided that this time around I'd better get them to deal with it. But if food was not bad it was showing a total lack of variety. In short, 50% of the offerings were the same all the time and the other 50% alternated one day each....  After 4 days I had already enough of the cafeteria.

- Drinks were included but you'd better have a solid liver. See, over are the days of fancy liquor. Now what you have is basic rum and local made vodka and gin which are, well, at least for me, a fast source of headaches and hangovers. Still, there is also creativity at the bar. Bailey has disappeared in Venezuela as way, way overpriced. So the barman invented a "Margarita Bailey" which is Ponche Crema (kind of bottled eggnog) with a dash of Venezuelan made whisky and coffee liqueur.  Well, it sort of worked and became my night cap....

- Of course, with the water crisis you could not have your towels, bed sheets, etc. changed at will. Since the AC was way too cold and too humid you could not dry them properly. Within two days all started to have a weird scent.....

- I went only once out, to make an errand and get a beach thong replacement. So I had to go to a fancy mall (La Vela) where luxury stores exist except that they have a very limited displays and no customers inside anyway. I paid my Crocs three monthly minimum wages (about 40 USD at black market rate, 4700 USD at the official 6,3),  But a pair of solid thongs my size, not nice, just solid, would have set me back a monthly minimum wage anyway.  If I caved in and bought them is that by experience I know Crocs last more than three times what a pair of solid thongs can last...  The question here, of course, is not whether I can truly afford them; the point here is how the poor masses that voted for Chavez and live on minimum wage can afford to put anything between their feet and the dirt.....

Conclusion:

I 'll spare you more details, such as security, blackouts, etc.. I can only tell you that after 24 hours I seriously considered to go back home (the resort was rather empty, by the way). But the Caribbean is there and well....... even if the beaches are eaten up with oil pollution and look more like a Hawaiian volcano beach than a coral sand one........