Category: Politics

 

I borrowed that Bolibanana Revolution tag from my good friend, Kate, I hope she doesn’t mind. But while the world and the media are fixated on Pakistan, violence and protests continue in Venezuela. From the Washington Times;

Four police officers were shot and wounded during student protests yesterday in the city of Merida in an escalation of violent demonstrations against President Hugo Chavez’s plan to scrap term limits and extend his rule indefinitely.

Antonio Rivero, head of Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency, told the Reuters news agency by telephone that the officers were shot while trying to break up clashes between opposing student groups in the Andean city.

Chavez is worried that movement aganst his reforms could gather steam behind the resignation of his chief military minister;

And opposition leaders seem wary of throwing their support behind retired Gen. Raul Baduel, a former defense minister who turned his back on Chavez this week to start a campaign against the constitutional reforms. Venezuela’s opposition has rushed to support defectors before _ only to see them return to the Chavez fold once it became clear he would keep the upper hand.

Chavez is “worried, and he’s got reasons to be worried because this could build and he’s smart enough to realize that,” said Michael Shifter at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. But he added that it’s “very unlikely that Chavez is going to lose at the ballot box because the opposition is still weak, divided and has a hard time coming up with a common strategy.”

Chavez and his allies are comparing the political atmosphere to agitation in 2002 and 2003 that culminated with a botched military rebellion and nationwide strike. The unrest left the opposition demoralized and allowed Chavez to consolidate his power over the oil industry and the military.

But it was Baduel who played a major role in returning Chavez to power during the 2002 coup, and his defection raised the spector of military discontent. Acknowledging Baduel’s words were like “gasoline,” Chavez gathered his military leaders this week to evaluate their possible impact.

Dallas Blog, quoting a Financial Times story, explains that the rift in the military has been brewing for a few months;

President Hugo Chavez created controversy earlier this year when he ordered members of Venezuela ’s armed forces to salute their superiors with the words, “Fatherland, Socialism or Death.”

The Financial Times reports that “it fueled debate in the military over its involvement in politics and civil society – long a sensitive issue in Venezuela , not least since the failed coup five years ago against Mr. Chavez, in which factions of the military played key roles both in deposing him and reinstating him.”

Kate translates from Venezuelan Maria Colmenares’ blog on the history of violence Chavez has used to against opponents;

The assassinations committed by the government on 11 April 2002 constitute the permanent and systematic modus operandi of the Regime. The objective of this video –aside from providing new information on the events of 11A– is to anticipate a new massacre which is being prepared by government sympathizers, with the end of stopping the protests against the constitutional reform. It is explains to the national community “and especially to the international community” that, for the government, “the Revolution is above the life of Venezuelans,” and that each time the Regime feels threatened, it resorts to assassinations –using irregular groups– as a mechanism of repression and intimidation. To justify and cover up their crimes, the line of the government invariably alleges that it is defending itself from a “coup” orchestrated by the opposition. We count on you, pass it along, post it on your blog, here is the link:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3fhme_la-masacre-del-11-de-abril-fue-plan_news

Reader Renwaa sends this link from Sultan Knish about the Shi’ite Venezuelan Deputy Justice Minister; 

When students protesting Hugo Chavez’s plan to make himself into a dictator for life protested in Caracas chanting “Freedom”, the riot police that smashed through their ranks were under the supervision of Deputy Justice Minister Tarik or Tareck El-Aissami.

In his early thirties Tarik El-Assimi is one of the younger men to have held such a post. His father Carlos el-Aissami headed the Venezuelan branch of the Baath Party, while his great-uncle Shibli el-Aissami was a close Saddam ally and served as assistant to the Secretary General of the Baath Party.

Before the invasion of Iraq, Carlos El-Aissami held a press conference in which he described himself as a Taliban and called Osama Bin Laden, “the great Mujahedeen, Sheik Osama bin Laden”. The son, Tareck el-Aissimi who headed up Venezuela’s visa department and now serves as deputy justice minister, began as student union leader supervising drug dealing and a car theft ring, while intimidating his rivals. He maintained links to terrorist organizations. With the rise of Chavez, Tariq El-Aissimi’s rise began as well.

It reminded me of the story from Jungle Mom about Hezbollah recruiting among Venezuelan indigenous population after Chavez booted the Christian missionaries out of Venezuela. All of this ties Venezuela to Iran. 

Venezuelans are saying that the violence is inspired by the chavistas so the government can seize the universities and end the opposition;

Higher Education Minister Luis Acuña, meanwhile, offered to send in troops to quell the violence, but university authorities quickly rejected the offer as an attempted power grab.

“We won’t fall into the trap,” said Eleazar Narváez, rector of the Central University of Venezuela.

Chávez’s opponents say the president has long wanted to end the autonomy of Venezuela‘s public universities, most of which are run by rectors associated with the opposition who defeated Chávez followers in campus elections.      

Of course, Chavez’ revolution is completely funded by oil revenues, so it’s no surprise the day after Brazil announces a huge find off it’s coast, Chavez offers them membership in his club;

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez invited Brazil to join his “Petroamericas‘‘ initiative that aims to strengthen a regional energy alliance on the back of surging world oil prices.

The initiative is seen as a rival to the U.S. economic influence, and it would integrate previous oil projects Petrosur, Petrocaribe and Petroandina, under which Venezuela agreed to sell fuel to other countries in the region on preferential terms.

Chavez has said the energy alliances will challenge U.S. domination in the region and distribute fuel directly to avoid costly intermediaries.

Actually, Chavez is trying to expand his influence in the region. He’s offered to build refineries in many non-oil producing Latin American countries to capture their support.

The Devil’s Excrement translates an article that points out that while Chavez plays at being a diplomat, his people are running out of staples;

There is no milk but there is yogurt. There is no sugar, but there is Splenda. There are no eggs, nor meat, nor rice, but there is caviar, salmon and all the things to make Sushi. What type of economy is this? Who are the geniuses that play politics in the name of the poor and the result is that all that is available are the goods for the rich?

The battle against inflation does not only consists in that article do no go up in price, it is also necessary for goods to be on the shelves. Scarcity is the hidden face of inflation. When you try to fir into a corset, not even the economy, but human nature itself, the senseless signs of communism or Bolivarian socialism begin to appear: there is no milk for the kids, but there are I ported crackers for pets The Government knows it and I suppose they must be surprised at it. But its reaction, its next economic measures will likely be even worse. The little understanding, when it is not ideological denial of the basic rules of economics will take them to make the disequilibria even more extreme.

And the English speaking Left still carry Chavez’ water – after all it’s only brown people suffering;

The corporate-owned media is at it again, spreading lies and distortions about the peaceful and democratic Venezuelan revolution led by the government of President Hugo Chavez. The catalyst for the international media campaign is the democratic process in Venezuela to reform the existing constitution.

The media ignores the content of the proposed reforms, which would significantly extend democracy and social justice. Instead, by taking a tiny minority of proposed changes out of context, they are present the reforms as a move by Chavez to establish himself as a “dictator-for-life”.

This media campaign coincides with a fresh offensive inside Venezuela from the privileged elite, who, failing to defeat pro-Chavez forces at the ballot box, have before resorted to violent campaigns to overthrow the government. Chavez has won 11 straight national election victories since 1998, most recently Chavez was re-elected president last year with the largest number of votes in Venezuelan history. 

I found this almost comical video of Chavez singing to his dying (dead) mentor last month in Havana. I say almost “almost comical” because the reality of the two subjects of the video make it impossible to laugh.

Speaking of Castro, Babalu Blog’s Ziva writes;

We know that Hugo Chavez is a dictatorial thug who intends to emulate fidel castro, and rule Venezuela for life. The violence the media reports as disturbing now, is less so than the unreported government sanctioned murder of 6 thousand Venezuelans, documented in IACHR’s 2006 Annual Report. The violence we are witnessing now is less disturbing than will be the inevitable “cleansing” of dissidents that will occur if this monster is not stopped.

Who knows the effect of dictators in Latin America better than the Cuban ex-patriots? We’ve seen it all before – so why are we so fixated on the dealings of our allies when there are much more dangerous people we should be watching?

As usual, Bloodthirsty Liberal puts a smile on my face after all of the dreary research.

UPDATE: Jammie Wearing Fool reports that the Spanish King finally did what most of us would like to do;

Spain’s King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday to “shut up” during closing speeches by leaders from the Latin world that brought the Ibero-American summit to an acrimonious end.

“Why don’t you shut up?” the king shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the president when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Proving Mel Brooks right – it’s good to be the King. Curt from Flopping Aces has the Spanish language video.