THE SUFFOLK JOURNAL

Winston Churchill said it best...

2007-12-11T17:09:00.001-05:00

"...Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery ..."

Idiota no es cualquiera

2007-12-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

Tomado de Periodismo de Verdad, diario de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Idiota no es cualquiera Sr. Director:

Se necesita vocación y entrenamiento. Sea cual sea el empaque. Porque hay varias clases de idiotas:

Los invisibles y los que encandilan.
Los inodoros y los que apestan. Los insípidos y los que empalagan.
Hay idiotas con toga e idiotas con botas.
Hay idiotas de reciente cosecha y los hay añejados.
Hay idiotas por conveniencia y hay idiotas por convicción.

Todo idiota, sin embargo, tiene su equipamiento básico:

Una serie de rasgos peculiares que lo definen y lo separan del resto de la especie. El idiota típico, por ejemplo, no distingue colores ni matices. Ve el mundo en blanco y negro. Alimenta su discurso con dicotomías. Pobres y ricos. Patriotas y lacayos del imperio. Buenos y malos. Capitalismo y socialismo. Bush y el otro. El idiota practica el autoengaño. Cree que maneja a los demás... y los demás lo usan. Lo ponen, verbigracia, a dar insultos a un gringo en tierra ajena, mientras el anfitrión voltea su estrabismo para desentenderse. O algún analfabeto presidente, embutido en un poncho, le organiza un acto de adulación para vaciarle la bolsa mientras habla. El idiota no sabe lo que dice. Usa la lengua pero no el cerebro. Le rinde culto a la consigna. Llama a formar 'uno, dos, tres Vietnam', sin recordar el sufrimiento que un solo Vietnam le causó al mundo. O grita a todo gañote 'Patria, socialismo o muerte', como opciones alternativas de futuro. Como una amenaza enarbolada a los cuatro vientos, que deja sin espacio a quienes creen en la humanidad, la libertad y la vida. El idiota no sabe sacar cuentas. Se mira en el espejo y grita '¡Somos dos!'.

El idiota, en efecto, asocia a su país con tres países pobres y pequeños... y cree que el imperio está temblando. Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia y Nicaragua se embarcaron en esa aventurilla que es ALBA. Unidos suman unos 50 millones de habitantes. La mitad de los que tiene México. La cuarta parte de los de Brasil. La sexta parte de la población del imperio. Bush no se ha dado ni cuenta de que el ALBA respira. El idiota no sabe que los demás lo ven. Persigue al hombre de su vida (sino existiera Bush lo inventaría) por toda América Latina, y luego dice que aquél lo anda buscando. Monta un show de bostezos y de insultos en un pequeño estadio de un barrio bonaerense y luego va a dormir en el Sheraton hotel. Prédica y conducta por distintos rumbos. El idiota no tiene identidad política. En Argentina se proclamó hijo de Bolívar, de San Martín, de Tupac Amaru, del Ché Guevara y de Perón. Cuando visita Cuba es hijo de Martí. En Nicaragua es hijo de Sandino. En Perú, de Velasco. En la China, de Mao.

Esa mezcla de padres tan disímiles tal vez sea responsable del desorden ideológico que el pobre idiota carga entre verruga y ceja. El idiota prefiere lo parejo. Le tiene miedo a la diversidad. Por eso quiere un partido único donde todos complazcan sus caprichos. Y un pensamiento único que evite la comezón de la disidencia. Y un líder único y eterno, cuyo dedo decida el rumbo el país.

El idiota no asume responsabilidades. La culpa es siempre de otro. Del neoliberalismo. Del imperialismo. De la oligarquía. De los medios de comunicación. De sus ministros, incluso. Es un experto en el arte de lavarse las manos. El idiota se cree grande porque hay otros idiotas que lo aplauden. El idiota se cree tigre de acero. El idiota no sabe que el acero también se derrite.

RCTV is back on cable, welcome back ALTO PANA

2007-07-16T13:43:00.000-04:00

Jorge Olavarría warned us on his profetic speech of July 5th 1999, shame on us for not believing him!

2007-06-14T11:18:00.000-04:00

1 out of 6

2 out of 6

3 out of 6

4 out of 6

5 out of 6

6 out of 6

Nation's pride: Venezuelan students don't fall into chavismo's trap and deliver a magnificent speech at the National Assembly

2007-06-07T20:21:00.000-04:00

¡Prohibido olvidar!

2007-06-04T10:48:00.000-04:00

Universidad Central de Venezuela leading the fight for our civil rights

2007-06-02T14:03:00.000-04:00

Globovisión owner Alfredo Federico Ravell challenges secretary of telecommunications William Lara to a debate and exposes his double discourse

2007-05-29T22:55:00.000-04:00

Hugo Chávez threatens to close Globovisión as student protests mount

2007-05-29T20:22:00.000-04:00

After two highly eventful days following the anti-constitutional closure of our oldest and most watched TV station Radio Caracas Televisión, dictator Hugo Chávez ignored our pleas to reconsider and today he not only stuck to his guns, he even threatened to unleash his fury on yet another TV station Globovisión.

I was just wondering how long it would take him, now that the mask is off!

His argument is based upon a conjecture carefully devised by his advisers to shift the media focus away from the mostly peaceful and nation-wide student protests in favor of freedom of expression.

After being hit with the magnitude of these civic protests, he was forced him to come out of hiding to bore us with his ridiculous tirades filled with empty threats!

This time the chavista administration claims that Globovisión is broadcasting subliminal messages eliciting people to kill the dictator; they have expressed deep concern about a segment within a popular live talk show aired a couple of days ago where they showed some footage of Pope John Paul II being shot, apparently it had an allegedly ominous musical background by Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades that loosely translates as “keep the faith, this won’t stop here…”

Now let’s get some background, I can barely stand “Aló Ciudadano” but even I know that its host, ex-ambassador Leopoldo Castillo often plays classic salsa music right before commercials; in fact, I’d go as far as saying that’s one of the show’s most recognizable features.

Also, as a token of solidarity with his former colleagues at Radio Caracas Televisión, Leopoldo Castillo was reproducing a few historic footage selections captured by them throughout 53 uninterrupted years of operation, the moon landing and the Pope’s assassination attempt were two of such excerpts, the coincidence of the musical background and the pope being shot as the image was fading to go to commercials, is just that: a coincidence

Plus who in their right mind would compare the Pope with Hugo Chávez, c’mon! Let’s not disrespect the memory of the Pope!

As a result, rumors are flying, it is being said that Globovisión will be slapped with a 72-hour suspension within the next few hours; I hope my sources prove as unreliable as chavismo’s!

By the way, I have never felt more pride of being an ucevista; it truly is "the house that conquers the shadows".

U-U-UCV!

Venezuela: No longer a democracy

2007-05-28T00:22:00.001-04:00

Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Article 333: This Constitution shall not cease to be in effect if it ceases to be observed due to acts of force or because or repeal in any manner other than as provided for herein.In such eventuality, every citizen, whether or not vested with official authority, has a duty to assist in bringing it back into actual effect.

Article 350: The People of Venezuela, true to their republican tradition and their struggle for independence, peace and freedom, shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or encroaches upon human rights.

Free RCTV - exposing dictator Hugo Chávez

2007-05-27T18:03:00.000-04:00

Dear readers of The Suffolk Journal:

I highly recommed you refer to FreeRCTV for additional info on the latest human rights violation by dictator Hugo Chávez, for those interested in leaving a record for posterity you may sign a petition (don't hold your breath).

But above all, try to get your family and friends to spend 7 minutes watching the video!

A sad day for what’s left of Venezuela’s democracy: RCTV goes off the air

2007-05-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is taking yet another step (this one packs a wallop) toward the complete and utter dismemberment of what little is left of Venezuelan democracy; this time he goes after a basic and inalienable human right: freedom of expression. As of today May 27th at 23:59:59 (03:59:59 GMT), our oldest, most influential and popular TV station Radio Caracas Televisión will cease to broadcast after 53 years of uninterrupted operations.

The crime is, of course, dissension.

As usual the chavista administration tried to manipulate facts in their favor but they couldn’t even do that right. Hugo Chávez claimed on his most recent never-ending speech that this is a routine legal proceeding, he vehemently rejected the idea that a TV station was being closed, rather he described what goes on by endlessly repeating that “their broadcasting license is not being renewed and they could still operate via satellite or cable”. In fact, I just heard that news TV station Globovisión is being sued and threatened with a 72-hour suspension for referring to this episode as a "closure", evidently chavismo is very touchy about their choice of words.

Their argument is debatable to say the least; the radio-electric spectrum is owned and managed by the Venezuelan state (not the government, although under chavismo they are one and the same), licenses are given for a 20-year period under the previous telecommunication law, Radio Caracas Televisión received their license on 05/27/1987 so we are led to believe it should expire today.

Not so fast! The chavista administration released a new set of telecommunication regulations in 2002 with the intent to silence main stream media’s rampant criticism against their disastrous performance in government and whip them into submission, this action left the old telecommunication law without effect; in theory all broadcasting licenses should have been automatically renewed when the new law was adopted, but diabolical as chavismo is, they never produced any document reflecting this situation.

Had the law been followed to the letter, Radio Caracas Televisión would have been granted a license to use the radio-electric spectrum until 2022!

Furthermore, in a country where only 23% of the population has access to cable/satellite TV (mostly upper and middle class families), and given that Radio Caracas Televisión contents target a much less affluent demographic and in order to reach this audience they made massive investments in infrastructure and equipment that can only be used to broadcast in VHF frequencies; this non-renewal is tantamount to a closure.

I admit that given the mounting international pressure, the fact that conservative estimates say that no less than 80% of Venezuelans reject this move and the unequivocal interpretation of the telecommunication law I just explained, I naively clung onto the remote hope that our Supreme Justice Tribunal (roughly equivalent to the US Supreme Court) would put a stop to this madness; not only did they rule in the government’s favor but they also determined that Radio Caracas Televisión’s equipment be confiscated ("stolen" would be a more appropriate term for there's been no talk of indemnization!) and used by an improvised government-owned TV station that will take their place shortly after they stop broadcasting.

As a side note, I want to draw your attention to the fact that in 8 ½ years of chavismo rule, our Supreme Justice Tribunal has ruled in the government’s favor in all but five (5) human rights cases! facts are pretty eloquent here and reflect the sad reality of a judicial branch subordinated to the executive!

Gloria al bravo pueblo by RCTV

2007-05-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

Government debt doubles under Hugo Chávez's administration

2007-04-22T09:29:00.000-04:00

I guess we all heard an exhilarating secretary of finances Hugo Cabezas announcing the complete liquidation of all our financial obligations with the Monetary International Fund and World Bank; what he didn't tell you is that we only owed them about US$53 million and we paid a reasonable 3% interest on this debt; as it's become increasingly common practice we chose to pay off our debt with the IMF and BM only to later issue US$750 million worth of bonds (bonos del sur) at a 7% interest rate! Politics and ideology over reason: that's why we have seen our debt double in 8 years in spite of an unprecendented oil boom.

Now here's the kicker, the government just nationalized the leading publicly traded firms in my country: telecommunications behemoth CANTV and a regional power company Electricidad de Caracas, public expenditures and imports are on the rise and the financial tool of choice is to borrow internally; I fear a massive devaluation is in our future should oil prices begin to decline as would probably happen once a democrat wins the US presidency and withdraws their troops from Iraq.

Barbara Walters blows interview with Hugo Chávez

2007-03-17T09:24:00.000-04:00

I saw yesterday's interview to Hugo Chávez aired by ABC as a segment of their 20/20 investigative reporting series and I was left with the unshakable feeling that it caused more harm than good.

I truly believe that she did a much better job than Venezuelan ambassador Bernardo Álvarez ever hoped to do in portraying Hugo Chávez and his destructive revolution under a positive light, even if she didn't mean to.

Barbara Walters was no match for Hugo Chávez's communication skills and command of the camera, you see; this wasn't a two-way conversation with arguments and counter-arguments; it went pretty much like this: Barbara Walters would read a question and Hugo Chávez responded and he did so in such a way that if I didn't know any better (just as most Americans don't), I would question my preconceptions about this character. She was a poor choice for an interviewer and we may have been better off had ABC sent a clown like Stephen Colbert; I would certainly trade "funny" for "disturbing" without hesitation.

She then proceeded to go to Santa Cruz del Este (why not La Bombilla? or Petare?) where she visited a family in a barrio who proudly acknowledged the fact that they now have running water and a functioning toilet courtesy of the revolution, their rancho looked immaculate clean, it was indeed much nicer than my first apartment in the US.

Here's where I have to say "what the f*ck?" I feel it is my duty to inform my US readers that diseases we had long eradicated have returned with a vengeance under this administration precisely because fewer people than ever have access to clean water, let alone running water; I was appalled to see our barrios portrayed under such ridiculously Utopian light, I have no doubt this must have been staged!

Hugo Chávez didn't say anything new, I know this because I am a Venezuelan citizen who has endured the same speech over and over for 8 years, he tapped into his histrionic skills and made grandiose claims: "I have left my family to serve the poor" or "I would easily win at the upcoming US presidential election had I been a US citizen named Hugh Chávez because I stand for what most Americans want: respect for human rights" followed by his now traditional "The CIA wants to kill me"; we are sick and tired of these jokes but I concede they are highly effective when you hear them for the first time and let us remember this interview targets a US audience whose opinion on this clown is not well established.

For those who care enough, you may find a text summary of this interview here and the entire thing on a video-on-demand here, I'd recommend you take it with a grain of salt though!

Radio Caracas TV: tenemos con que

2007-03-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

Hugo Chávez, the Teflon president

2007-02-12T17:34:00.001-05:00

Hugo Chávez has accomplished what amounts to a reverse-miracle in the scant two months following his landslide re-election; he managed to single handedly do away with the favorable post-election climate that for a second got some of his harshest detractors questioning their oppositionist stance.

What baffles me is the fact that amidst the flow of successive announcements that unfailingly create nothing but fear and chaos, he has managed to preserve if not increase his popularity: runaway inflation, media outlets being closed, food shortages, gas price hikes, nationalizations and higher taxes don’t seem to register among my fellow Venezuelans. Hugo Chávez dismissed our parliament to the point of irrelevance and got himself granted unprecedented legislative powers and everything was business as usual.

I am still waiting for a massive outrage but it seems such an afront to democracy didn’t cause the average Venezuelan to even raise an inquisitive eyebrow.

That's my motivation for writing this post: what does it take to make people give a rat's ass? It really is like our president is made of Teflon, nothing sticks to this guy. I don’t know how he does it but I’d sure love to find out!

Is it possible that people didn’t know about any of this? Perhaps we are so saturated with politics and so overwhelmed by the prospect of yet another 6-year mandate that we decided to close our eyes and wish this nightmare away? It’s likely a combination of both, misinformation (if not disinformation) and apathy; we are back at square one and even I needed a couple of months off to get out of my post-election funk.

But I urge you to snap off too, why don’t we take a look at the past two months and see if we can get out juices going:

a) Inflation: I am not an economist so on this topic I defer to people whose opinions I value and respect; such is the case of Francisco Toro who runs Caracas Chronicles. Quico put together a foolproof powerpoint presentation that aptly illustrates the real dimension of our idiotic monetary policy and the pervasive inflationary spiral that both rich and poor (especially the poor!) must endure as a consequence.

b) Media censorship: If you were to look back at how things were in 2002 and contrast it with today, you will realize two radically different tendencies regarding media-government relations. On one side you have the likes of Venevisión and Televen that heard the government threats loud and clear and stopped their oppositionist editorial lines on their tracks and aligned themselves with the chavista administration.

And then you have media outlets such as Radio Caracas Televisión and Globovisión that have kept true to their ideals and interests and exercised their constitutional right of dissent. Well, as of May 28th 2007 RCTV will be off the air in spite of mounting local and international pressure to get the government to reconsider a non-renewal of their license to use the radio-electric spectrum owned by the state. Gone are the days when government officials could still claim we live in democracy because there is no censorship and freedom of speech is guaranteed!

c) Enabling law: it’s been a month and it still shocks me that this hasn’t shocked anyone, our parliament approved a law that concedes the broadest set of legislative powers ever granted to a democratically elected president in history, thereby rendering our National Assembly a useless, illegitimate, money-sucking appendix that in my opinion would best serve our democracy if dissolved.

This means that Hugo Chávez can now rule by decree on almost everything and oddly enough (I can’t stress this enough) it only caused a minor commotion.

I recommend reading the articles posted by Aleksander Boyd at Vcrisis (click here) and Miguel Octavio at The Devil’s Excrement (click here).

I also read a most curious interview given by former vice-president José Vicente Rangel in Últimas Noticias (click here), what drew my attention was that this spawn of Satan would feel “concerned” about the prospect that the chavista administration will “...become what its adversaries have always said it is [an open dictatorship], if he [Hugo Chávez] is unable to control the additional legislative powers granted by the enabling law...”.

d) Nationalizations: Anyone my age or older will remember the enormous hassle that CANTV once was, when it fell in private hands back in 1991 it underwent a modernization process that set the basis for the telecommunication boom taking place back home. The same could be said about Electricidad de Caracas; while the rest of the country endures power shortages several times a week, often for hours at a time, our electricity supply in Caracas is more or less reliable.

Last week Electricidad de Caracas fell back in the government hands, its owner: US-based consortium EAS stood to lose millions of dollars but not as much as they had initially thought which drove their stock up in today’s session at the local stock market (before it was halted for some reason).

CANTV will soon follow, in his weekly ranting Hugo Chávez ordered his minions to seize immediate control of the telecommunications behemoth, and from the looks of it, I doubt this hostile takeover will be as amicable.

Interestingly enough, AES took its money and invested it in Mexico, it sounds like a taste of things to come.

Now why do we need these two companies in state hands? Will the government guarantee a continuous stream of investments or will they soon follow in the footsteps of its parent company Petróleos de Venezuela?

Expect them to become rojas, rojitas and a massive drop in quality of service!

e) Food shortages & gas price hikes: Did you know that the inflation index applied to food products was 4.2% in January? Or that you can’t find food staples such as sugar, black beans or meat (any meat) for less than twice its regulated price? And that's assuming you even find them at all!

The situation deteriorated so rapidly that they had to come up with a tax exemption scheme to try and lure supermarkets back into the fold.

Now it turns out the root of all of our problems lies in the speculative nature of our merchants, never mind that tight currency exchange or price controls are in place sucking out their profits and forcing them to face the dilemma of selling their product at a loss, these days it is downright unpatriotic not to accept bankruptcy in the name of socialism! now both INDECU and SENIAT (consumer defense and tax collection agencies) have teamed up to arrest and fine anyone that refuses to sell food for a price lower than what it costs to produce it.

And by the way… whatever happened with that gas price hike announced a few weeks ago? It seems that Hugo Chávez got a little carried away while improvising in economic matters (as he always does) and had to drop this issue when someone worked up the courage to remind him that’s exactly what led to the demise of former president and arch nemesis Carlos Andrés Pérez. He should thank his lucky stars!

f) Higher taxes: So far all I have heard are unconfirmed rumors derived from an order given by Hugo Chávez in his weekly TV & radio program asking to expand the list of items that would get taxed as “sumptuous expenses”, the definition is rather vague and it seems it will be implemented by charging a special 24% sales tax rate on these items instead of the traditional 14%

I read in different sources that carbonated beverages and a few dairy products such as chocolate milk and oatmeal will be included in this list. Can anyone confirm?

All this in two short months, bear in mind we have 70 more months left on this 6-year nightmare, can we stand to wait much longer to snap off this collective snooze?

How they see us: Memories from the Mexican presidential election

2007-02-12T13:47:00.000-05:00

Check out this advertisement paid by PRD and approved by Mexican president Felipe Calderón to expose the risk of electing PAN candidate Andrés Manuel López obrador

If Radio Caracas TV were no more

2007-02-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

As you may recall Hugo Chávez will be closing his first TV station on May 28th, 2007. Radio Caracas Television was the first commercial station to operate in my country and for better or worse it became part of our national identity.

Radio Rochela is their longest running TV show, just think of a tropical version of Saturday Night Live and you will get the idea, it's the kind of show you love to hate and often fueled water cooler discussions with their hidden social commentaries. This ingenious sketch was aired recently in regard to their imminent closure.

So let's see: media shutdown, runaway inflation, food shortages, nationalizations... I don't think that's what 7.3 million Venezuelans voted for, so where's the love?

Ask the hundreds of displaced street vendors, they will tell you all about chavista love!

Is it worth it? Should I keep wasting my saliva?

2007-01-22T12:18:00.000-05:00

So the people spoke, those who think like me are the second minority in my country (chavistas being the first); And as it usually is the case when chavismo is in power, anyone that does not conform to their ideology is simply ignored at best and often repressed and silenced at any cost (RCTV, anyone?).

Some PSFs will argue (and rightfully so) that the reason why 40% of my fellow Venezuelans do not have representation at any level of government lies on the fact that we lost the presidential race, we chose not to participate in the parliamentary elections and our emotional nature demobilized us to the point of paralysis when the regional authorities were elected; I won't try to explain away these crystal-clear facts, but rather try to illustrate why our deeply flawed chavista brand of democracy does not leave us any choice but to win, nothing will be accomplished as long as we are a second minority.

Just look at the old CNE board of directors under the Carrasquero/Rodríguez administration or back when we controlled 40-something percent of the parliament; controlling less than half of any branch of government leads us exactly to the same place we are now: exclusion; chavismo does not believe in cooperation and tolerance but in steamrolling its detractors, destroying them if at all possible.

But my countrymen do not see this, they blindly support Hugo Chávez by the millions, such is the charming nature of this fellow that when you add up an undeniably democratic origin and a ridiculous cash flow derived from massive oil revenues, even the likes of Alek Boyd were in a trance for well over a month (I am glad he is back though) .

One day we will snap off from this collective nightmare, in the meantime I will keep voicing my opinions that aren't a scarce resource at all these days.

I did not give up, I just did not feel like wasting my saliva, but after a 2-month hiatus I realize I need this blog as an escape valve for myself and I need it regardless of how wrong or right I wind up being, so screw everyone else if they don't like it or won't read it. I am doing it anyway!

The Washington Post comments on Hugo Chávez's re-election

2006-12-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

Mr. Chávez's Victory

The most significant result of Venezuela's election is the reappearance of a political opposition.
Friday, December 8, 2006; A38

HUGO CHÁVEZ'S victory in Venezuela's presidential election Sunday was unsurprising, given the campaign that led up to it. The would-be "Bolivarian" revolutionary flooded the country with petrodollars in the months before the vote, decreeing a pay bonus for all government workers. He dominated the media, receiving by one count 22 times as much airtime as his opponent. He also freely employed intimidation, endorsing a declaration by the director of the powerful state oil company that its 40,000 workers would be mobilized for the president and that anyone who opposed this would be guilty of "a crime." Such tactics, along with the fact that many people who signed petitions in a campaign to recall Mr. Chávez two years ago have been subject to government sanctions, clearly had an effect: A poll conducted for the Associated Press showed that 57 percent of Venezuelans believed that voters who did not support the president might suffer from retaliation.

The real news of the election was the reappearance of a credible Venezuelan opposition. Manuel Rosales, a state governor, managed to unite the anti-Chávez forces and energetically barnstormed the country, drawing hundreds of thousands to rallies in Caracas. In the end he received 38 percent in the official count, preventing Mr. Chávez from getting anywhere close to the 10 million votes he set as his goal. On Sunday night Mr. Rosales formally conceded -- an important signal for an opposition that too often has resorted to self-destructive boycotts or other anti-democratic tactics. Though Mr. Chávez controls the judiciary and every seat in the national legislature, Mr. Rosales is now positioned to represent the millions of Venezuelans who oppose the president's drive to monopolize power.

A strong opposition will be needed. Mr. Chávez has announced plans to follow his reelection by removing the constitutional barrier that would limit his tenure to six more years. He has also threatened to shut down private television stations sympathetic to the opposition, and his congressional followers say they plan to give him far-reaching decree power, so that he can personally order the seizure of private property. For those who trust that political pluralism will remain intact, Mr. Chávez had a message. "There is no room in Venezuela for any project other than the Bolivarian revolution," he declared last week.

In fact, Mr. Chávez's rule contains the seeds of its own destruction. His wild use of oil revenue -- government spending has grown eightfold during his eight years in office -- has gone mainly for consumption or foolish foreign adventures. Investment in the economy, and even in the oil industry itself, is paltry, and most experts believe Venezuela's petroleum production has declined. Crime and corruption are soaring: Murders are up 67 percent during the Chávez era. If oil prices continue to drop, Mr. Chávez's revolution eventually will be revealed for what it is: a populist fraud

We lost the election but it's far from over!

2006-12-03T22:16:00.000-05:00

As of 21:45 EST when I am writing this post, we only had partial results accounting for about 78% of the votes reporting that Hugo Chávez was re-elected president of our country by a 22% margin of difference (61-39).

These were the most heavily scrutinized elections in Venezuelan history, I know the oppositionist forces were present in most (if not all) voting centers and since Manuel Rosales is ready to concede; I can only assume we legitimately lost.

Not to mention that most pollsters and international news agencies predicted the scenario that eventually played out and international observers have only detected minor irregularities (let's wait until tuesday to see what they have to say though!).

I am still firm in my convictions but right now those who think like me are not the majority, and as unflinching democrats we must recognize our defeat, pick up the pieces and prepare for the next challenge.

We are in a much better shape now than we were 3 months ago when the oppositionist forces were demobilized and apathetic, we almost got 40% of the vote and that is a freaking political miracle, we once again took the streets by the hundreds of thousands; we must capitalize on this success and become the power to be reckon that we deserve to be!

According to preliminary results Hugo Chávez is unlikely to score over 7 million votes, I know it sounds downright comical to think about a recall election today, but unfortunately our country situation is likely to worsen and if we play our cards right we have a good shot in 2010.

Scoring 7 million votes in a recall election out of 17+ million projected voters is not outside the realm of possibility.

Perhaps a scant 3 years is all we need to convince that 60% that still trusts Hugo Chávez of the error of their ways, and being as I am certain that this artificial bonanza has its days numbered this "defeat" may very well turn out to be a blessing in disguise, if chavismo fails to defuse the ticking socio-economic bomb, this presidential period may witness their downfall for good!

In the meantime my message to my readers is: Hugo Chávez won, we made massive improvements over our performance in previous elections, even if the numbers only show a slight decrease; let’s stay calm and avoid an unnecessary bloodshed. Our country is not lost and the future looks promising if the cooler heads were to prevail.

I’ll wake up ready to tackle on this new panorama, for instance, just think of this: beyond losing an election we showed the world that 4 out of 10 Venezuelans have no representation at the National Assembly, that’s a good place to start!

This is not over!

Election report from New York City

2006-12-03T17:50:00.000-05:00

Even though I currently reside in Centerville, OH I still appear registered to vote in New York City; simply put I was much too scared to submit a change of residence request fearing I may somehow get relocated to a voting center in Hong Kong, this election was much too important to miss even if it implied additional traveling time and expenses.

So after taking two planes, a train and a bus, I arrived at my voting center at the consulate between 5th Avenue and 51st Street where I was surprised by the animated electoral climate that stood in sharp contrast from what I perceived everywhere else in the island of Manhattan, everywhere else it was a typical cold December morning where people were mostly concerned about their holiday shopping, in here the fate of 26 million was about to be decided and it showed!.

I guess it was a sign of the times, you felt as if that one block had been transplanted off from somewhere in eastern Caracas: there was a short line, certainly much, much shorter than what I saw when I voted in the recall election; at the opposite side of the street, right by the stairs that lead to the Saint Patrick church side entrance, there were two cordoned off sections holding off a handful of chavistas in one side and between 40 to 50 oppositionist supporters on the other side, as it so often happens back in the motherland they were actively provoking one another but fortunately there was a heavier than usual police presence so it all seemed well under control.

I was surprised to see a table set up by the CNE right outside the consulate where my sister-in-law could once again record her complain that in spite of having registered several times at the consulate, she still does not appear in the electoral roll, they even had a notary take a statement with me and my brother serving as witnesses and she was promised to have her problem solved come the next election.

Last but not least, you saw those that sought to capture some customers among the unusual and homogeneous gathering, real estate agents, Hispanic restaurants, even some oppositionist organizations were recruiting volunteers for their cause.

As I said the line wasn't long even though I voted at around noon time; when we inquired the cause for this, they said that most people had voted earlier and the line seemed to move much faster this time than it did in previous elections.

Once I entered the consulate and after having two agents check my cédula and tell me what my voting booth number was, they asked me to turn off my cell phone and camera. I passed through a metal detector that of course beeped as it always does but they just waved me in anyway, some security!

I waited inside the consulate for about 2 minutes while watching the government coverage of the election on a flat screen TV set they had hooked up to a computer playing Vive TV's real time streaming video, they checked my cédula against their notebook, handed me a voting sheet where I manually filled the Primero Justicia oval, they dunk my pinky in regular non-indelible ink (¿?), and then I came out and took some pictures of the unsurprisingly pro-oppositionist people still in line and the crowds assembled to express their support for the candidate of their choice.

It was a civilized experience that made me proud to be a Venezuelan but I noticed a much lower turn out than usual … Thankfully I saw none of the issues that are being reported in Spain and I was glad to see oppositionist volunteers guarding our votes.

Here are some pics!

Saturday, November 25th 2006: Gran avalancha tricolor

2006-11-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Lula Da Silva and Hugo Chávez: caimanes de un mismo caño

2006-11-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

I often hear people classify Latin American left-leaning leaders into two categories; one reserved for the orthodox and radicalized dinosaurs whose actions are inspired and reminiscent of the insurrectional movements of half a century ago, and the more responsible and attuned to these times of globalization and free-market.

It will come to no surprise to my readers that Fidel Castro and his lap dog Hugo Chávez are always identified with the former, but what blows my mind is that Brazilian president Lula Da Silva is universally held as a textbook case of a good leftist.

Now let’s get some background on this guy without the romanticism that usually comes with the story: Lula came from humble origins and like many children in his town, he did not even finish elementary school when he was forced to join the workforce as a shoeshine boy. Eventually his family relocated to São Paulo searching for a better life, there Lula held a few jobs before he became involved in union activities and took on increasingly important posts; from there he would be a stone’s throw away from founding his Partido dos Trabalhadores in 1980.

He worked hard consolidating his party which would eventually become a rat’s nest full of thieves and thugs, he unsuccessfully ran for president in 1982, 1994 and 1998; he became president on his fourth attempt in 2002 after beating José Serra on a second round and re-elected in 2006 after beating Gerald Alckmin also on a second round, so the idea that this guy is popular and well loved is not backed by the facts!

For a brief explanation of the corruption scandals that marred Lula’s first term, you may click here, it’s too long and convoluted to explain on this post, but you can see that from early on Lula’s accolades held little regard for democracy’s most sacred principle: voting as an expression of the will of the people.

But Lula’s dubious moral values should come as no surprise, note that he was founder of the nefarious São Paulo Forum; I will add links to an interesting series of articles posted at VCrisis and titled “São Paulo Forum: the backbone of communism & terrorism in Latin America”, just click here and here.

In light of all this, I can’t possibly conceive why so many people were surprised and expressed disappointment over the speech given by Lula at the inuguration of the Orinoquia bridge (see video here and you may also read parts of it here). I certainly am upset but not surprised.

This is hardly the first time Lula dismisses ethics and diplomacy to help a most profitable client, most readers will remember that Lula sent enormous quantities of low-quality gasoline popularly dubbed “gasolula” at over-inflated prices during the oil strike in 2002/2003, it is not a surprise that he would resort to unabashed adulation of his regional adversary even if it meant breaking our electoral law and stepping on the dignity of the proud Brazilian people as long as Hugo Chávez would toss a few coins his way.

And people call him a socialist! An opportunist jalabola and a chulo is what he is!