Fausta's Blog

National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello is not content with not allowing the opposition assemblymen to speak (unless they recognize Maduro as “legitimate”, or so he says). Now Cabello unleashes thugs to assault and punch the assemblymen:

Exclusivo: Video muestra la golpiza que ocurrió… by Globovision

Female chavista representatives had the courtesy of being the ones beating up opposition female representatives like Maria Corina Machado.

More photos at Noticias24. One of the assemblymen even put on his motorcycle helmet.

As far as I could ascertain, the man in the jogging suit is not an assemblyman and has not been detained.

Opposition assemblymen Maria Corina Machado and Julio Borges

The opposition said at least 17 of its allies and five pro-government deputies were injured. One was hospitalized.

Cabello watched and laughed. The assemblyman who was speaking went on talking.

All of this was timed to coincide with a cadena, so the radio and TV media were tied up and wouldn’t have been able to report live, had they dared.

Workers later had to show their phones to see if they had photos or videos of the incident.

This is the outright fascism that Diosdado Cabello has been promoting in the National Assembly since Chavez died.

Two days ago, the Washington Post was foretelling,

The real danger in Venezuela is not that an Obama administration unwilling to provide leadership in Syria would make any serious attempt to prevent Mr. Maduro’s consolidation of power. It is that Mr. Maduro will follow up on his jailing of an innocent American with a full-scale crackdown on the opposition.

Venezuela’s democratic movement is being violently shoved into the kind of underground resistance it never envisioned for itself, never sought, isn’t well prepared to take on, and never actually wanted.

Today many May Day demonstrations are scheduled, with Henrique Capriles encouraging the people to participate. The melee at the National Assembly is only a warning.

Chavismo is sounding more hysteric every day:
Venezuela’s parliament launches probe into Capriles

Venezuela’s government-controlled parliament on Wednesday set up an inquiry into violence over its disputed election that authorities blame on opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

Chavismo Evolves Into Madurismo-Fascismo

And here is sweet Minister of Prisons Iris Varela, another fascistoid personality, telling Capriles not to worry that she has reserved a jail cell for him and to please stop using drugs. Definitely a worthwhile reason to hold a press conference and to have the station of the other half of Venezuelans cover it live:

In Spanish,

There are reports of blacklisting, in the new form of depriving of electricity households that took part in last week’s cacerolazo. Additionally, this post on a Noticiero Digital forum claims that the government is distributing shirts with Capriles’s name to prospective rioters, with riots planned for tomorrow. The plan is allegedly Diosdado Cabello’s, as a coup for which Capriles will be blamed.

“What I called for was a cacerolazo,” Capriles said during a news conference in Caracas. “How can it be a crime to demand a recount?”

Capriles continues to ask people to keep the peace, and is planning a demonstration on May 1,

Nosotros propusimos a nuestro Pueblo un aumento general del 40% y vamos a luchar por eso!El 1 de Mayo a movilizar todo el país!

— Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) April 24, 2013

Chavismo has lost any democratic character, not that it ever did.

Venezuela Vote Faces Review, namely, the CNE (the electoral council) will wait until after Maduro’s inaugurated, and

Details of the audit were unclear. Ms. Lucena said the revision would be electronic and wasn’t the same as a recount, which is what the opposition had demanded following the election. “This should not be interpreted as any sort of ‘scrutiny,’” she said in televised comments.

Which, from the looks of it, means that they’ll just go over some data from the electronic voting machines while ignoring the paper ballots, fingerprint data, and the voting location records.

Or something.

Do keep in mind that all Venezuelan institutions are 100% chavista-controlled.

Daniel Duquenal is equally skeptical,

I do not want to offer any opinion because it is a complex matter to evaluate how good the news really is. Capriles team seems happy with it so for the time being let’s roll. However I will note that the CNE is talking of 30 days of audit and who knows how many more for a final verdict. In short the regime is accepting an audit as long as it gives it time to come up with a better strategy to confront the opposition and smash it down before the result is out. At least that is my worry at this time as a one week audit should already generate enough info to see if it is worth going on.

Over in Peru, Chavez’s brainchild UNASUR stands by Maduro, which comes as no surprise.

UPDATE,
Or, is it a recount? Read the post and comments at Devil’s Excrement.

Hardly surprising,

Venezuela’s Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected calls for a recount of the country’s disputed presidential vote, even as the opposition submitted reports of thousands of alleged irregularities and the U.S. government reiterated its call for a new tally of ballots.

The opposition was given no chance to present evidence

And as the military has been pressuring Maduro to allow a recount, the Impostor-President had none other than the President of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, Luisa Estela Morales, issue her already formed opinion, once again without the legal arguments being presented at the time in her Court.

Over in Rome, Venezuela’s ambassador to Italy, Julián Isaías Rodríguez Díaz, posed for the cameras holding the Cuban flag,

Solidarity with Maduro, indeed.

Venezuela opposition fears crackdown, U.S. wavers on Maduro; says John Kerry,

“We think there ought to be a recount,” Secretary of State John Kerry told U.S. lawmakers. “Obviously, if there are huge irregularities, we are going to have serious questions about the viability of that government … I’m not sure that’s over yet.”

Meanwhile, Cabello’s cautioning the US to “hold its tongue,” and stay out of Venezuela’s business.

Charming guy, that Cabello.

On his part, Maduro’s threatening to arrest Capriles (link in Spanish) for inciting rebellion. Let’s not forget that Venezuela has a law against anyone impeding the revolution.

Additionally, a source told El Herald that Maduro wants to charge Capriles for the murder of the seven demonstrators who died yesterday.

Over at Drudge,

Gov’t backers wreak havoc in Venezuelan town…

The situation is hazardous enough that Capriles urged people to only do cacerolazos (bang on pots and pans) and stay safe. His latest tweet,

Todos en calma,nadie caiga en provocaciones de sectores oficiales,mosca con infiltrados que andan promoviendo conflictos!

— Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) April 17, 2013

“All remain calm, don’t allow yourselves to be provoked by officials and infiltrators promoting conflicts!”

Has chavismo run out of gas? Not until it runs out of oil.

After I wrote this morning’s post, M sent me this,

Sectores militares presionan a Maduro y al CNE para reconteo 100%. Reuniones en desarrollo.

— Casto Ocando (@cocando) April 16, 2013

Sectors of the mlitary pressuring Maduro and CNE [electoral council] for a 100% recount. Meetings in development.

That’s Univision reporter Casto Ocando‘s tweet one hour ago.

Interesting!

Doral expects new wave of Venezuelan immigrants

After disputed presidential elections in Venezuelan, Doral can expect a new wave of immigrants from the South American country who could increase the population by 40 percent in the next two years, Mayor Luigi Boria said Monday.

The number of Venezuelans could jump from nearly 50,000 residents to about 70,000 by 2015, Boria said.

Tensions Surge in Venezuela After Vote
Chávez Successor Sworn In Despite Calls by Opposition, U.S. for a Recount

Tension in Venezuela rose sharply Monday after the government reneged on its promise to carry out a full recount of the bitterly contested presidential vote and declared acting President Nicolás Maduro as president-elect.

The opposition, pointing to irregularities in the election, said it wouldn’t recognize the result and began to demonstrating across the country, as the U.S. urged a vote recount.
…
Some 100,000 expatriate ballots haven’t yet been counted as part of the tally. In the past they have overwhelmingly backed the opposition.

Sunday night, after Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena announced Maduro’s victory as “irreversible”, Council member Vicente Díaz remained on the podium and requested a full recount and audit of the results due to “a number of irregularities” (video in Spanish),

Yesterday Vicente Diaz decided not to go to the proclamation of Maduro as president.

However, there can not be a recount, as ballot boxes have been destroyed, according to Venezuelan twitterers,

Esta la muestra de la democracia mas viva y vibrante de América: la quema de la prueba ” twitter.com/judithecb/stat…“

— Napoleón Bravo (@napoleonbravo) April 15, 2013

Diosdado Cabello, head of the National Assembly, has already asserted that “there will be no vote-by-vote recount; that’s just a whim of the bourgeoisie.”

One thing is clear from the election: Chavismo will not relinquish power through democratic means.

Related:
Caracas Chronicles lists the protests across the country.

Official results:

Maduro 50.6% @hcapriles 49.07% “These are irreversible results” #Venezuela2013

— Fausta (@Fausta) April 15, 2013

The electoral board announcement was pushed back over and over, with the TV anchors talking on and on. Venevision even showed their entire crew.

By 11:10PM (10:40 Caracas time), Globovision said that no announcement could be made until the number of uncounted votes was smaller than the difference between the candidates, which, at that late hour pointed to a close election.

Finally, almost at midnight, after repeated appeals for calm, the announcement, as I predicted.

The shameful silence of Latin America’s democracies on Venezuela’s election. A Wash Post devastating editorial washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-r…

— Moisés Naím (@MoisesNaim) April 13, 2013

Venezuela’s Cuban Election
The Castro regime wasn’t going to allow an easy victory for the opposition candidate who has pledged to stop sending oil to Havana.

And,
Over 370,000 null votes, and have not added overseas votes,

Hay + d 370 mil votos nulos y sin agregar votos del extranjero

— Diego E. Arria (@Diego_Arria) April 15, 2013

@NoticiasCaracol tweeted “Maduro got 7,505,338 votes, 50.66%, 234,935 more than opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, who got 7,270,403.”

Maduro logró 7.505.338 de votos, el 50,66% , 234.935 votos más que el candidato de la oposición, Henrique Capriles, que obtuvo 7.270.403

— Noticias Caracol (@NoticiasCaracol) April 15, 2013

Linked by Hot Air. Thank you!

Globovision’s, and the government-run Venevision’s, both in Spanish:

Globovision,

Globovisión En Vivo by Globovision

Venevision,

Former Ecuadorian president Osvaldo Hurtado writes in his book, Dictaduras Del Siglo XXI El Caso Ecuatoriano (21st Century Dictatorships: The Case of Ecuador), on how the self-named “leaders of the 21st century socialist revolutions” take over and destroy the democratic institutions in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

These 21st century dictatorships hold elections after instituting mechanisms, procedures and restrictions, and establishing advantages, which are all anti-democratic by eliminating the level ground for the election to take place.

As I have mentioned many times over the last 9 nine years, Hugo Chavez’s rule focused on concentrating all power on himself. After his death, Maduro became acting president, against the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution, in order for him to run as incumbent. That way he has full control of the entire electoral process, the media, and all Venezuelan institutions.

Keep that in mind tonight when you see the election results.

The faces of democracy in Venezuela (in Spanish), via Alberto de la Cruz,