Friday, March 11, 2005

The TSJ backs off This is important. I just read that the TSJ just decided unanimously to change their previous decision absolving the militaries involved in the events of April 11, 2002. I am no lawyer, but I see it as a dangerous precedent. It means that no final decision will ever be final. Jorge Arena 4:01:04 PM    comment []

News from a lazy ghost Dear readers, I am one of the two ghosts that are ready to blog in case there are some interesting news fromVenezuela. Some of you may remember me as a ghost blogger in Daniel’s blog. Since Miguel does not pay me as much as Daniel, I will not work as hard as the last time. If you have any complaints, you can address them to Daniel for recommending me and to Miguel when he comes back. So here are some news . 1.- A member of the National Assembly proposes that the CITGO sale be approved by a popular Referendum. He has doubts about the sale and claims that since CITGO is an asset for Venezuela, the people of Venezuela should be consulted before the sale. 2.- The president of Iran has arrived to Caracas for a formal visit. Note that it is Jose Vicente Rangel the one in the picture with Mohammad Jatami. Chavez is probably still in France (below). 3.- Meanwhile Chavez was still in Paris visiting Chirac after making some oil deals with the French company Total. BTW, in a French press conference described here by Daniel, he said that OPEC should not increase its oil production and he talked again about the plot to kill him. It has become his favorite theme. My French is quite elementary, but I checked the main pages of some major French newspapers and could find just a minor report that Chavez was in Paris . I checked le Monde (no news), le Figaro (one article) and Liberation (no news). Maybe the French speaking readers like Daniel can give me a hand here. I find it quite surprising that the French press would not be more enthusiastic about Chavez visit. 4.- And the government of Venezuela decided to get rid of the imperialistic Internet English abbreviation imposed by the IETF. According to resolution 240 of the Science and Technology Ministry, the domain “gov” (from “government”) will be replaced within two years by the more Spanish abbreviation “gob” (from gobierno). So I can sleep better tonight thinking that Chavez government is really having important priorities in Science and Technology. Jorge Arena. 7:43:29 AM    comment []