Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

March 26, 2014 By Fausta

Venezuela: Slingshots vs tanks

A demonstrator uses a slingshot against the National Guard during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in San Cristobal, about 410 miles (660 km) southwest of Caracas, February 27, 2014. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

Venezuela’s Failing State, by Leopoldo López, jailed since Feb. 18,

For 15 years, the definition of “intolerable” in this country has declined by degrees until, to our dismay, we found ourselves with one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere, a 57 percent inflation rate and a scarcity of basic goods unprecedented outside of wartime.

Our crippled economy is matched by an equally oppressive political climate. Since student protests began on Feb. 4, more than 1,500 protesters have been detained and more than 50 have reported that they were tortured while in police custody. Over 30 people, including security forces and civilians, have died in the demonstrations. What started as a peaceful march against crime on a university campus has exposed the depth of this government’s criminalization of dissent.

Indeed. As the country goes up in smoke, the same government who claims to have been “democratically elected” is in full assault against elected representatives:

  • On Monday Diosdado Cabello stripped opposition Representative María Corina Machado of her seat in the parliament, and of her parliamentary immunity
  • Venezuelan Mayors Are Jailed Amid Protests, Enzo Scarano of Valencia and Daniel Ceballos of San Cristóbal on March 21, plus“later this week the government will denounce the mayors of Miranda “who encourage the barricades”.

And it’s also jailing the military:

  • Venezuela Generals Arrested

President Nicolás Maduro said Tuesday that three air force generals allegedly plotting to overthrow the government had been arrested amid antigovernment protests that have roiled the country for nearly two months.

While publishing Leopoldo López’s letter, the NYT did a “two newspapers in one” by sending two reporters to gather opinions about Cuba’s interference in Venezuela. Babalu explains,

But alas, this is the New York Times and the outcome of their so-called investigation had already been decided before the reporters were even assigned to the story. Of course the newspaper of record — the same one that has brought us so many honest and respectable journalists such as Herbert Matthews — found absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Cuba’s Castro dictatorship has infiltrated Venezuela. Instead, what they discover are “hardliners” who are “fixated” with going after Cuba. They even trot out Castro regime supporter Arturo Lopez-Levy, a former Castro-intelligence-agent-turned-American-academic who also happens to be a member of the Castro crime family to prove their point.

It’s not just Cuba; it’s also Russia. Back when he was alive, Hugo Chavez offered Putin the use of military installations as Russian bases. A Venezuelan general has even tweeted about it:
“SECRET ACCORD with Russia signed in 2009 when Chavez unconditionally offered Russia the use of the Orchilla Island military base.”

ACUERDO SECRETO Con rusos se firmó en 2009 cuando Chavez ofreció a Rusia sin condiciones el uso de la base militar de la isla La Orchilla.

— Carlos Peñaloza (@GenPenaloza) February 20, 2013

Related: Putin’s quiet Latin America play, and it’s not only Russia,

With the American presence waning, officials say rivals such as Russia, China and Iran are quickly filling the void.

Iran has opened up 11 additional embassies and 33 cultural centers in Latin America while supporting the “operational presence” of militant group Lebanese Hezbollah in the region.

“On the military side, I believe they’re establishing, if you will, lily pads for future use if they needed to use them,” Kelly said.

China is making a play for Latin America a well, and is now the fastest growing investor in the region, according to experts. Although their activity is mostly economic, they are also increasing military activity through educational exchanges.

The Chinese Navy conducted a goodwill visit in Brazil, Chile and Argentina last year and conducted its first-ever naval exercise with the Argentine Navy.

It’s slingshots vs tanks.


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Filed Under: China, Communism, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Vladimir Putin Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Leopoldo López, Maria Corina Machado, Nicolas Maduro

February 24, 2014 By Fausta

Venezuela: #24F Barricading the country

The opposition strategy today is to barricade every street and road in the country, on Twitter #24FGranBarricadaNacional (#24FGreatNationalBarricade), video in Spanish:

The video advises the resistance to stay united. I didn’t have time to translate with subtitles, but here are a few highlights:

  • Do not confront – wait until they leave, and close up the streets again
  • (1:47) There’ll be no transport, banking, or commerce
  • (2:29) Care for your life
  • (2:35) Don’t get closer than 50 meters
  • (2:39) Don’t go far from home
  • (3:10) Venezuela (3:12) will shake off (3:20) its tyrant!
  • (3:46) From the poster “in every road, in every town, form your own group of five and close a point”, in red: “YOU ARE THE LEADER!”

Brigadier General Ángel Vivas has issued an appeal on YouTube to the Venezuelan military to fight against the dictatorship, and now the government is after him.

Vivas opened and ended his YouTube with, “I am Ángel Vivas, General of the Venezuelan Army, the old Army, the one that threw out Fidel Castro from Venezuela in the 1960s.” As Mary O’Grady points out, Cuba is worried about losing 100,000 barrels of oil per day if its man in Caracas falls.

Caracas Gringo writes about Vivas, One Man Against Tyranny

Maduro’s Sebin, DIM and National Guard goons tried to arrest General Vivas today (Sunday) at his residence. But General Vivas declined to surrender. Instead, General Vivas and his family have now barricaded inside their home.

General Vivas also took up his assault rifle and sidearm, donned his bulletproof vest, climbed out on his roof with all weapons hot and declared to Maduro and goons:

“(You) can have my body but you won’t have General Angel Vivas. I will remain calmly where I have always been, In Venezuela, in my home, with my wife and my daughters, beside whom I want to live and die. The Cuban pro-consul in Venezuela, complying with orders by Fidel Castro, has ordered my detention and then they intend to kill me. I will not surrender. I will not surrender to Fidel Castro and I recommend everyone do the same.”

Perhaps Maduro’s goons would have stormed the general Vivas home, or else a sniper might have shot him from a distance, but a standoff ensued when defiant officer’s neighbors poured into the street with their smartphones to oppose the regime’s heavily armed goons. Maduro’s goons finally appeared to withdraw – for now.

Update: Vivas requests that the opposition allow his lawyer to reach his home,

Le pido, por favor, a la #RESISTENCIA que le permita el paso a mi abogado, el Dr José María Zaa hasta mi residencia.

— Angel Vivas (@Gral_Vivas_P) February 24, 2014

I’ll post updates today as time allows.

Related:
Diosdado Cabello, and not Nicolas Maduro, has the power in Venezuela

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Filed Under: Communism, news, Venezuela Tagged With: #24FGranBarricadaNacional, #LaSalida, Brigadier General Ángel Vivas, Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, Nicolas Maduro

September 10, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: Can Chavismo last long?

Venezuelan bloggers are asking the question:

Miguel Octavio is not exactly Waiting For Venezuela To Bottom

Because about the only thing that Venezuela has hit bottom yet, is on the leadership. Maduro is really near bottom, he is no Chavez, but oil and oil prices and some reasonable decisions could keep him there for a long time, let’s say, all of his six years.

Daniel Duquenal asks, Can Maduro last long? He looks at the military, at the judicial system, at the beneficiaries of massive corruption, and at the massive inertia created by “the new normal”,

What is certain is that there is an unexpected inertia in his [Maduro’s] favor. Not love, but the next best thing for a politician, inertia.

Maduro may be counting on oil prices and inertia to keep him in office, but, as I have speculated before, Diosdado may get antsy.

My bet is that Diosdado, not the opposition, will succeed Maduro.

And no, that’s not a Boy Scout uniform Diosdado’s wearing.

————————————-

In other Venezuelan news:
Amnesty International blasts Venezuela for abandoning human rights instrument
Venezuela must immediately reverse its decision to withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights and make a commitment to truly protect all individuals, Amnesty International said on Monday. The Venezuelan government’s decision will take effect on Tuesday 10 September. The withdrawal will leave Venezuelan citizens without the protection of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Malaysia’s Petronas exiting Venezuela crude project

Maduro mulls relaunching ‘permuta’ forex system in Venezuela

UPDATE:
Linked by Sana Crítica. Thank you!


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Filed Under: politics, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, Nicolas Maduro

August 26, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: No bread, but they’ll build a circus

Mary O’Grady points out how Chavez’s Inflation Bites His Successor Nicolás Maduro needs a circus because there is no bread in Venezuela.

With the bolivar collapsing and prices spiraling higher, the government alleged this month that its No. 1 adversary, former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, is linked to a prostitution ring that was using minors in the state of Miranda, where he is governor.

Lest that not be enough to turn Venezuela’s socially conservative working-classes against the popular Mr. Capriles, a leading congressman from the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) used gutter talk on the floor of the national assembly to accuse the governor of homosexuality.

Don’t suppose for a minute that this mudslinging is merely about destroying Mr. Capriles. The ruling chavistas, led by President Nicolás Maduro, need a circus because there is no bread—and that’s not a metaphor. At times in Venezuela, there really is no bread. Earlier this year there was, for a time, no toilet paper. Mr. Maduro knows he is in trouble.

Indeed he is, so, lacking bread, Maduro’s coming up with a circus:

No, not that circus; a Pharaonic circus, all 630 acres dedicated to – who else! – Hugo Chávez.

Back in the Roman Empire, some emperors were deified. Since Hugo’s not going to get canonized, the next best thing is this:

The 1,600-acre park will include a 35,000-seat baseball stadium and a 55,000-seat soccer stadium, as well as many other expensive features, including a bus depot, a symphony hall, bike trails, and a 100-acre plaza (ostensibly for Fidelesque gatherings of “the people”). To top it off, the park will also house the campus of the new Bolivarian University. It will be the largest park in Venezuela.

Multiple-prize-winning British architect Sir Richard Rogers has agreed to design this eighth wonder of the modern world, the first in human history to combine a bus depot, bike trails, university, stadiums, and a concert hall as window-dressing for a huge plaza in which a dictator can berate hundreds of thousands of his subjects in the tropical heat.

As for the “Pharaonic” theme, my guess is that Maduro can’t throw bread to the crowds as the Roman emperors did, so he had to settle for an Egyptian theme.

Which may come back and bite him in the a**, if he lasts that long. After all, Diosdado has plans.

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Filed Under: Latin America, news, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, Nicolas Maduro

May 21, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: The Silva tape

The big news for the past day or two has been a leaked tape of a conversation between Mario Silva, the hardcore Chavista spokesman anchorman of “La Hojilla” [The Razor] (a TV show on state-run TV channel VTV), and Aramis Palacios, a lieutenant colonel of Cuban G2.

Caracas Chronicles paints the picture-by-the-numbers

In it, Silva suggests that the military – at the prodding of Diosdado Cabello – is plotting against Maduro.

Plus, in the scorecard,

100 points to Diosdado Cabello for being Darth Vader AND Hannibal Lecter on the same day. And then showing up at Miraflores just to mug for the cameras and rub it in Maduro’s and Silva’s face. Cue in Destiny’s Child “Survivor.”

And finally, a negative 857 points to the Venezuelan people, for if Diosdado gets his way and it’s true that he has, to quote Mario Silva, “all the power without being President,” we are about to enter a world of pain that no Cuban doctor can cure.

Caracas Chronicles concludes,

What’s clear, folks, is that Diosdado Cabello is untouchable. He is the pillar upon which “chavismo sin Chávez” is built. The evidence that Cabello is undermining the Revolution with his corrupt ways is staring Maduro in the eye just as clearly as that picture in the Museo Militar. When faced with the choice of throwing Silva or Cabello under the bus, Maduro chose Silva.

Indeed, Mario Silvia is off the air “for health reasons“, the Latin American equivalent of “spending time with his family.”

A couple of weeks ago, I said,

Most observers predict that Maduro’s regime will not last long. So here’s the question: Who will succeed him, Capriles . . . or Cabello?

The signs point in that direction.

Related:
“Fidel Told Me He Did Not Understand Why Commandante Chavez had Not Finished with Bourgeois Elections”


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Filed Under: Communism, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, La Hojilla, Mario Silva, Nicolas Maduro

May 4, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: 50 shades of crazy

Nicolás Maduro first said the yankis were going to kill Henrique Capriles, then he said the Salvadorans were plotting to kill Maduro, and now’s saying that Colombian ex-president Alvaro Uribe is plotting to kill him, too,

“Uribe is behind a plot to kill me,” Maduro said in a televised speech. “Uribe is a killer. I have enough evidence of who is conspiring, and there are sectors of the Venezuelan right that are involved.”

He did not provide details.

Maduro, as we know, talks to the birds, and placed an oath on anyone voting against him.

Yesterday Maduro also said he’d “willing to talk to the Devil for the peace of Venezuela”, while casting aspersions on the opposition (video in Spanish),

Rather than worrying about Uribe, Maduro ought to keep en eye on Diosdado, or he may get his wish sooner than he thinks.

Linked by Pirate’s Cove. Thank you!

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Filed Under: Alvaro Uribe, Cubazuela, politics, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, Nicolas Maduro

May 3, 2013 By Fausta

Venezuela: The Cuban perp?

After Tuesday’s shameful assault at the National Assembly, people are trying to identify the man who punched Julio Borges.


Opposition assemblymen Maria Corina Machado and Julio Borges

Nancy Asencio broke Maria Corina Machado’s nose in four places; that much is clear.

What’s not totally clear is the identity of the man who punched out Borges. Two men have been identified:
Michel Milán Reyes, Cuban who is currently a junior assemblyman in Venezuela while apparently also being president of a municipal assembly in Cuba,
or another man, a Venezuelan named Michael Leeroy Reyes Argote, who was identified in this photo,

Jaime Bayly named Milán Reyes as the perpetrator in his Tuesday show; the man who assaulted Borges stood behind a Chavista spokesman during the press conference following the altercation (4:05 into the video):

Milán Reyes is the favored suspect on Twitter.

Here’s the interesting part:
Nicolás Maduro is president now thanks to the intervention and support of the Cuban Communist regime. His praetorian guard, so to speak, is Cuban.

National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, who according to the Venezuelan Constitution should have been interim president, has plans. He won’t be content with the status quo forever.

If Milán Reyes actually is the perp, Cabello is telegraphing a message to Maduro: “I can get the Cubans on my side, too.”

Most observers predict that Maduro’s regime will not last long. So here’s the question: Who will succeed him, Capriles . . . or Cabello?

UPDATE,
Linked by Babalu. Thank you!


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Filed Under: Communism, crime, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fausta's blog, Julio Borges, Maria Corina Machado, Nicolas Maduro

May 1, 2013 By Fausta

Fascist Venezuela: The end of the National Assembly

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.


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Filed Under: Communism, news, politics, Venezuela Tagged With: Diosdado Cabello, Fascism, Fausta's blog, Henrique Capriles Randoski, Julio Borges, Maria Corina Machado, Nicolas Maduro

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