Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The immoral revolution strikes again I could not believe my eyes when I saw this piece of news in today's El Universal:. The Minister of the Interior and Justice announced today with a very straight face, that "all of those officers that have been involved in abuses and disrespect of human rights will be pensioned off". Remarkable, no? Eighteen thousand oil workers than went on strike two and half years ago, using a right guaranteed by the 2000 Constitution, were denied pensions, severance pay, their voluntary pension funds were confiscated and their medical benefits were withdrawn. But criminal police officers who committed abuses and disrespect of Human Rights of Venezuelan citizens, a violation of the same Constitution, will be graciously and generously pensioned off. The immoral revolution strikes again! 8:24:25 PM    comment []

A new cynical theory of the Anderson assassination by our Attorney General One of the things that amazed me the most upon my return, was to learn that in my absence our illustrious Attorney General had advanced a new cynical theory for the assassination of Prosecutor Danilo Anderson, saying that it was simply a "practice run" at trying to kill Chavez. Once the assassins realized that they could not kill Chavez, they decided to go after Anderson. As usual, no proof was offered for this harebrained theory, it was simply established as a fact. Now, imagine this amazing conspiracy to kill President Chavez. The guys try and try and after realizing they could not kill the #1 guy in the country they go after # 1465. Can these guys be so stupid? Where did I get the 1465? I made it up, but if you say the Cabinet has 24 members, the Supreme Court 32, the National Assembly 164, there are some three hundred Generals, some 200 Mayors, 22 Governors, 400 judges and 1200 Prosecutors, it just does not seem as if Anderson would have been at the top of anyone's list. But the worst part is that the same Attorney General who promised seven months ago a prompt solution to the murder of Anderson now affirms with a very straight face that there was no economic motive for the assassination. Of course, he does not explain all of the property that Anderson had on his lowly salary as a Prosecutor, how he ate at well known restaurants daily and where did the half a million bucks in local currency found in his apartment come from. He also did not explain how the two people murdered by the police the day after the Anderson murder fit into the picture of Anderson being the second choice after Chavez. But Rodriguez imagination goes even further, he claims the whole point was to destabilize the country! By killing Anderson? Sadly, it does not matter in the end. This is the same cynical Attorney General that has done little for the rule of law in Venezuela in the last five years. Mr. Rodriguez may go down in Venezuelan history as the first Vice-President ever, but he will also go down as one of the most perverse, cynical and unscrupulous figures of this fake revolution. While he ignored the US$ 1.5 million given illegally to Chavez' campaign by Spain's BBVA, he goes after Sumate for receiving US$ 31,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy, financed by the same US Congress that has financed many trips to the US by Venezuelan Deputies from his party. But in the end Sumate is just one symptom of how sick the system is. The reality is that NOT ONE person has been prosecuted during Mr. Rodriguez' tenure for the disapearance of hundreds of common Venezuelans in the last seven years. Not ONE person from the Government has been convicted for corruption. Not ONE person has been convicted for ANY of the hundreds of murders during the many political marches by the opposition. (Joao de Goveia was convicted of killing people in Plaza Altamira in December 2002, but it has never been explained how one single person managed to kill three and injure 27 with a single Glock pistol) Such is the legacy of Mr. Rodriguez, devoted to the persecution of his political enemies, while protecting his cronies. Manipulating the judicial system rather than defending the law as mandated by the Constitution. A true sad figure which one day will have to pay for his crimes of action and omission, as well as his cynical and stupid accusations in the face of the murder of even his closest collaborators. 12:12:33 AM    comment []