Saturday, January 25, 2003

Zonageek has a very good set of pictures from the New York march today zonageek posted tonight a very nice set of pictures from the New York protest from 1st. Ave. with 47th. St. to Bolivar's statue in Central Park. It was cold there! At least we do it in the warmth of Caracas! 10:00:25 PM    comment []

Hugo Chavez going to the Social Forum in Porto Alegre Hugo Chavez will be travelling to Porto Alegre, Brazil, tomorrow to attend the World Social Forum. Interestingly, friends in Brazil (thanks David!) tell me that Chavez was not invited. The Social Forum is essentially a meeting of non-Government organizations that deal with social issues and they do not want famous political leaders to attend. In fact, most of these organizations in Venezuela are anti-Chavez....but he enjoys the travelling!!! 9:40:24 PM    comment []

The 24 hour protest When I first heard of the plan to hold a 24 hour protest I was dubious. The idea of filling 4 Kms. of a ten lane highway seemed too diffuse to work, thus I was pleseantly surprised to see how many people showed up this afternoon (top left), ready to protest, ready to stay till tomorrow sleeping in the highway (top right). (More photos inside in the Pictures section on your left) 9:10:31 PM    comment []

Too obscene to post in the home page I have posted pictures of the Panamco workers that were tortured by the National Guard on the day they took over the Distribution warehouse for Coke and other products. Those injuries were caused by electric cattle prods and the case has been presented to the Attorney General's office. He will do nothing and then it will be taken by COFAVIC to International Human Rights Courts. I really did not want to have them in my home page, but think they should be part of the documentation of my blog. (By the way, a First Circuit Court issued yesterday a precautionary order against the Government carrying out similar actions. In a curious note, the action was justified by the Government because the scarcity of the products was leading to speculative prices, the confiscated beer is being sold by the consumer protection  authorities with a premium of more than 100%. Long live the revolution!) 12:17:04 PM    comment []