Tag Archives: September 26

Oct
19
2010
Posted by
admin
Comments

VenEconomy: Expensive Massage for One Man’s Ego

This article was originally posted by The Latin American Herald

The humiliating truth that Hugo Chávez was forced to face on September 26 pushed him into going out to look for a nice international massage for his ego. So, on October 13, he set off on a tour of Europe and Asia, while his fellow countrymen were left wondering which countries he would actually be visiting.

The need for a boost to the president’s ego is easily understandable given that the loss of the plebiscite must have been hard to take for someone who dreams of hegemonic power. What is so frightening about the whole situation, however, is how much this massage is going to end up costing, plus the total lack of transparency, and absence of any specific goals to be achieved by the tour and the agreements Chávez is signing.

It is extremely difficult to figure out the cost, the significance and the consequences when the government doesn’t report on the deals made, not even those that, pursuant to the Constitution, must be submitted to the approval of the National Assembly and the country.

Through the media the Venezuelan people found out that Chávez is selling Venezuela’s 50% interest in the Ruhr Oil refinery to Russia for $1.6 billion. The deal was made behind the country’s back and nothing at all has been said about how this price was arrived at. According to Humberto Calderón Berti, former Minister of Energy and Petroleum and former president of PDVSA, Ruhr Oil is worth two or three times that amount. Nor, much less, has the country been told what the money will be used for.

The press also reported that Chávez has bought 35 Russian tanks that, according to experts in the field, are obsolete and of no strategic use to the country.

Read More

 
Aug
31
2010
Posted by
admin
Comments

Will Chávez steal parliamentary elections?

This article was originally posted by The Miami Herald

The situation in Venezuela is becoming dangerously tense. Ramón Guillermo Aveledo says that the Sept. 26 parliamentary elections may be the last ones in the country — ever.

Aveledo, a prestigious lawyer, writer and former president of Congress, is the executive secretary of the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, the umbrella organization for the united opposition.

What’s happening in the country? Possibly, Hugo Chávez could lose, so he’s looking for a way to tamper with the results. One month away from the elections, the most reliable survey — by Consultores 21, as disclosed by expert Joaquín Pérez Rodríguez — gives the victory to the opposition, 52 to 42 percent.

That fact is reinforced by another question that is even more revealing. When voters are asked whether they like or reject Chávez, 37 percent say they like him, 56 percent don’t.

Obviously, Chávez’s popularity has plummeted for at least five powerful reasons:

• The unbearable violence that has turned Caracas into one of the world’s most dangerous cities and all of Venezuela into a slaughterhouse with more victims than Iraq, as The New York Times has reported. Almost 120,000 persons have been murdered since Chávez came to power. Violence has risen fourfold.

• The whole of society detests the existence of paramilitary armed gangs in the service of the government. CNN called them “Chávez’s Guardians” in an excellent documentary that rattled the country. Their task is to intimidate and mistreat the population.

• The infinite clumsiness of a government that, despite receiving a torrent of petrodollars, is incapable of supplying markets, conserving food (millions of kilos rot in warehouses or vanish), maintaining the infrastructures or equipping hospitals halfway decently. With good reason, Venezuelans perceive that no other country in South America is as poorly governed.

• Venezuela’s uncomfortable occupation by Cubans and the donation of much of Venezuela’s wealth to Havana, Managua, Bolivia and the rest of the famished family of 21st-century socialism. With those subsidies, Chávez buys his international importance and fosters the highest level of corruption Venezuela has ever known — which is saying a lot.

Read More

 
Aug
16
2010
Posted by
admin
Comments

Judge jailed in Venezuela hopes a successful election sets her free

This article was originally posted by The Miami Herald

María Lourdes Afiuni’s campaign headquarters is six paces long and two paces wide. Visiting hours are Wednesday and Sunday, but guests risk being strip searched.

Among the hundreds of candidates in next month’s parliamentary elections in Venezuela, Afiuni is one of at least four running from behind bars.

The Sept. 26 vote is expected to give Venezuela’s opposition a chance to claw back power from the supporters of President Hugo Chávez who have dominated the parliament since 2005. But some are using the vote to shine a spotlight on a judicial system they say has been used to harass and imprison dissenters.

Tallies vary, but human rights groups say there are 25 to 28 political prisoners in Venezuela.

The independent party La Base Decide has drafted three of them into the upcoming race: Afiuni, a judge with a two-decade track record; José Sánchez, a former security chief for Zulia state and an ally of exiled opposition leader Manuel Rosales; and Otto Gebauer, a former army captain jailed for his role in a failed 2002 coup and who insists he was only following orders. A fourth opposition candidate, Belagio Pilieri, remains in jail despite being absolved of charges of misuse of funds.

Read More