Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Izarra reiterates that he did not know about Fidel's arrival El Universal and the MINCI report that the Venezuelan Information Minister reiterated that he did not know about the arrival of Fidel Castro to Venezuela. You know what? I believe him. And I find the whole situation very revealing and rich in possibilities. Here is my speculation list: 1.- Castro was expected by Chavez, but Izarra was out of the loop. 2.- Castro was not expected by Chavez and decided to make the visit at the last minute. 3.- Izarra is lying. 3.-Let us start with nr. 3 and assume that Izarra is lying, that he knew that Castro was coming and he felt the need to cover it up. Why there was such a need? I think that he had no personal interest whatsoever to lie knowning that the truth will be publically known so soon afterwords. Why risk his reputation? So that is why I believe him. 2.-Now, let us analyze number 2. According to this possibility, it was Castro that decided at the last minute that he would come, even though the Venezuelan goverment was not expecting him. The question again is why? We know for sure that the goverment was trying to present the visit in a low-profile fashion. Could it be that the Chavistas have realized lately that it was not a good idea to bring Castro to Venezuela? In that case, why did Castro decide to come anyways? 1.-Finally, there is number one. According to this possibility, Chavez and some high ranking goverment officials knew that Fidel was coming but Izarra was not in that group. What would that mean? First that Izarra was not in the high ranking clique and second that someone in that group wanted Izarra to look like a fool.... Of course, there is another simple posibility that I have not listed: Sheer Chavista Incompetence! The communication channels were not efficient and people were not advised of the visit when they should have. Jorge Arena 1:31:26 PM    comment []