Sunday, September 30, 2007

Not a great day for democracy and rights in Venezuela ---The Government expropriated the camp at Canaima, the national park which had been run by a private company for decades. The Government ignores and injunction by a Superior Court. Just wait a few weeks and maybe it will be as bad as the cable car has gotten n the short time it has been in the hands of the Government (They shut it down for the next ten days). ---Chavez threatened to take over private hospitals, saying he does not understand why Doctors charge and want to make money, they should be like soldiers. I guess he has not looked at Generals’ salaries lately; they make more than Professors and medical doctors. Why does the public sector pay for private coverage if private hospitals are so bad and run by such bad people? ---And the autocrat also threatened private schools, that if they do not use the “official” books, they will be nationalized. Next: Universities, according to the Minister of Higher Education in el Nacional who claims University Presidents (called Rectors) have “kidnapped” university autonomy. Funny, they have all been elected by the Professors and students and not one Chavista has been elected, I call that democracy, he calls it kidnapping. ---And a large banner posted by an opposition group (below) on the side of a local highway was confiscated by the Metropolitan Police. No charges have been made against the banner which had a quote from none other than Liberator Simon Bolivar who said: “The continuation of the authority in the same individual frequently has been the end of democratic Governments” in reference to Chavez’ proposal to be reelected indefinitely. I guess only Chavistas can quote Simon Bolivar or use banners with his subversive thinking. ---Chavez also said Hummer's should not get CADIVI dollars, but that is discriminatory, it only affects his supporters!!! 8:41:06 PM    comment []

A picture is worth more than 10,000 words #34: Oil prices do not corralate with oil income This graph, ripped off from Santander Investments, shows the low correlation between the Venezuelan oil basket and oil revenues as reported by the Venezuelan Central Bank (less than 0.25 according to Santander). This is a clear example of the lack of transparency and the lack of credinility of the numbers thew Government publishes. Imagine after the Central Bank is no longer 'independent"!!! 8:35:39 PM    comment []