Thursday, June 11, 2009

The whole blog HAS MOVED, no more Devil posts here Except for posts abut Orchids, I have moved all of the contents of this blog to: www.devilexcrement.com www.devilsexcrement.com or devilsexcrement.wordpress.com I will no longer update here. All posts in the almost seven years of this blog can be found there!!! Thank you! 1:20:28 AM    comment []

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Redirecting domains to wordpress For the last two months I have been posting here and in my new blog using wordpress. Today, I switched www.devilsexcrement.com and www.devilexcrement.com to redirect you to the new site. In two weeks, I will go away for a while and will blog only in the other site, where in any case I blog first nowadays. So, I recommend you switch your bookmarks there now and start commenting there. It´s faster and less quirky and soon, the only real devil around. My all orchid site will remain here for reasons that are too long to explain...Thanks to all. 9:23:50 PM    comment []

Thursday, January 01, 2009

An open letter to the critics of the HRW report on Venezuela An open letter to the more than 100 Latin American "experts" who criticized the report on Venezuela by Human Rights Watch Dear Sirs: We have read your letter criticizing the report A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela by Human Rights Watch and are flabbergasted by its superficiality and the same lack of academic rigor you unfairly attribute to HRW. In fact, its title alone is quite deceiving as some of the names signing the letter hardly qualify as "experts" on Latin America and it is quite clear that the common bond of those signing the letter is simply a blind support towards Hugo Chavez and his fake pseudo revolution. It is not based on any factual knowledge about what is happening on Venezuela and what you criticize of the cited report. On the issue of discrimination on political grounds, you are of course referring to the infamous Tascon/Chavez list, a perverse database of those that signed a petition to recall the mandate of Hugo Chavez, which has been widely used to discriminate in employment and providing services to Venezuelan citizens. You question the veracity of such discrimination, which Teodoro Petkoff has called an "apartheid" list, but maybe HRW should have linked this video from the documentary "The List"  (For a written summary of "The List", read here) where in minute 0:49 Hugo Chavez says "Anyone that signs against Chavez his name will be registered for history". Later in minute 2:17 President Chavez in his Sunday variety show Alo Presidente (#214) jokes about the Tascon list and the fear people have of being in it. Finally in minute 3:08 at a public Cabinet meeting Hugo Chavez says: "The famous Tascon list should be filed away. That is now over. Let the Tascon list be buried, it surely played its role at a certain moment, but it is now over" : What else could the Venezuelan President have meant when he publicly made that order to "file away" and "bury" that list? Bury it had a very clear meaning: Chavez knew and backed the list for a long time, never condemned it and just ordered that it no longer be used. He ordered it buried as local newspapers began printing dozens of cases daily of discrimination and firings using the Tascon/Chavez list. Many of these cases are well documented in "The List" But in the name of accuracy and rigor maybe you could all have simply taken the time to download the Tascon/Chavez database and played with it. This perverse use of technology represents and abominable example about what mankind can do in the name of ideology and politics. It classifies millions of Venezuelans as pro or against Hugo Chavez. Those in favor are called "Patriots", of course, and to insure that the appropriate pressure can be brought upon those against this empty revolution, it includes everyone's address, voting center and a powerful search function. Just think, you can spy on your family and neighbors from the comfort of your own laptop and know whether they signed against Chavez (if you are against him) or whether they have benefited or not from the Government;s direct assistant programs (if you are for him), creating a tool for division and hate for all Venezuelans Just its existence and elaboration by a Government that claims to be democratic is a violation to the rights given by the Venezuelan Constitution as well as the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And remember, Chavez ordered it buried, but never condemned it. Yes, Venezuela is indeed not a political model for anyone as clearly exposed by HRW and Jose Miguel Vivancos. The country is a signatory of these International agreements and declarations which you failed to take into account in your letter. But not knowing them is no excuse, particularly when you are asking for the rigor that an academic peer review process should have. And yes, in most cases it can not be proven that there was discrimination. When one of us was denied a passport, he was not given a piece of paper stating it was because he had signed against Chavez, but was told only verbally that was the true reason. This happened to thousands of Venezuelans who could not obtain a passport or an ID card for months after the 2004 recall referendum. As for employment or Government contracts, even after Chavez asked that the list be buried, it was used to get rid of the enemies of the state who worked at oil company Sincor when the Government nationalized it. The newly named President of that company left no doubt about it: "This is a matter of the State. There is a list being circulated in the press and it is real. It came out of here, we are investigating it and whoever leaked it will go to jail. It will be applied to key personnel which is within or outside the company". And yes the people were fired, so much for inaccuracy and hearsay, no? And there is the case of Rocio San Miguel and two other lawyers (shown in "The List") who worked at the Council for Borders, who just happened to tape 55 minutes of telephone conversations with their superiors, who explained to them they were fired for signing against Hugo Chavez and that the Venezuelan Vice-President directly approved it. That case is now in the Interamerican Human Rights Court. And while you correctly state the Government had the right to fire the oil workers for striking, you bypass the not so irrelevant fact that it not only did it illegally, ignoring Venezuela's strict labor legislation, but it confiscated severance pay (also illegal under Venezuelan law) as well as voluntary pension fund contributions and savings of all these workers without any Court order allowing it. These workers ranged from low level messengers to secretaries, to indeed, high level executives. Venezuelan Labor Courts have failed to process a single one of the appeals for these cases since 2003. If that is not overt discrimination and violation of due process and the rule of law, then what is? As for self-censorship which you so un-rigorously dismiss, you fail to note the dozens of reporters whose programs have been cancelled in the media outlets who decided to "follow orders" from the Government, in contrast to the illegal termination of broadcasting license and seizure of the property of TV station RCTV, which refused to obey the orders from highest levels of power in Venezuela. And it is absolutely laughable when you state that "The report even uses innuendo to imply that the government is to blame for attacks on journalists", when the Venezuelan Government has failed to provide protection to over 250 reporters as requested by the Interamerican Human Rights Court, within treaties of which Venezuela is a signatory. Finally, you question HRW from using a report by an "opposition blogger", calling him mentally unstable, for which you also have no evidence as no professional has ever declared him so, but you fail to question a single fact of the reference cited by HRW. You will find this very difficult to do, since that reference is a factual description of the Tascon/Chavez database and proof that the Electoral Board authorized the release of copies of all of the signatures to pro-Chavez Deputy Luis Tascon. And I do find it remarkable that you use as evidence that some people have called for the violent overthrow of the Venezuelan Government presided by Hugo Chavez who supported two coup attempts, violent ones at that, and who actually led one of them which left over 200 Venezuelans dead in the streets, including children. An interesting double standard you all have in the defense of human rights, to say the least. In the end you letter is a defficient attempt at discrediting HRW, which curiously defended Mr. Chavez in 2002 despite the deaths induced by the Venezuelan President against a peaceful march. Your letter fails precisely where you attempted to find fault with the HRW report, it lacks rigor, it is superficial and represents a terrible error for  you to sign such a partisan document. Meanwhile back in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez seeks his indefinite reelection despite a referendum denying it in 2007 and against the express prohibition by the Venezuelan Constitution (Title IX) to consider the same question twice in a single Constitutional period. Moreover, Hugo Chavez issued 26 Bills in July 2008 which contain provisions also rejected in the same referendum. This is the wholesale violation of the democratic rights of the majority of Venezuelans who voted against such provisions in December 2007   It has now been 10 years of the empty Chavez revolution. Venezuela has had revenues of over US$ 800 billion comparable to the rescue package for the US financial system. Despite this windfall, poverty numbers are barely improved, nutrition and health numbers are down, the Venezuelan hospital system is in shambles and crime has tripled under Chavez' watch. But the country certainly has a very modern arsenal of military weapons, and Chavez regularly threatens the opposition with the fact that his revolution "is armed", while corruption is so rampant that suitcases full of cash are flown in official Government flights and those caught red handed in the process describe how they made hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to their close relationship with Venezuelan Government officials under Chavez. And Hugo Chavez and his Government openly support the Colombian guerrillas. Remarkably, there are still those like you "experts" that have barely probed the surface of what is going on in our beleaguered country that continue to defend the indefensible, continue to support an outlaw Government which lacks the support of Venezuelan academia and students, but you have failed to even ask yourself why this is. Ironically, while you sit in the comforts of your offices supporting the Chavez revolution and working on your academic projects, your social science colleagues in Venezuela  receive meager funding and the annual social sciences award has not been given in the last two years . It is truly sad when in the name of academia a serious and very unique institution exclusively devoted to the defense of human rights is attacked for political purposes in such a low quality and superficial way. But it is even sadder and a shame, when the systematic and well organized violations of human rights by the Venezuelan Government presided by Hugo Chavez are ignored by those that claim to dream with and believe in the basic dignity and rights of all human beings. Miguel Octavio, Daniel Duquenal and Alek Boyd, bloggers Felix J. Tapia, Professor-Reseracher, Universidad Central de Venezuela Kensey Amaya, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Benjamin Scharifker, Professor of Chemistry, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Member, Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Diego Arria Maria J. Gonzaez Associate Professor, Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford Ohio Gioconda San-Blas, Individuo de Numero de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Jaime Requena, Miembro de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Claudio Bifano, Presidente de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Luiz Gomez C. Investigador, Cendes, Universidad Central de Venezuela Gustavo Coronel Balvant Rajani, Principal Research Officer, National Research Council Canada Alpha     http://free-opinion-venezuela.blogspot.com/ Kate  http://rolita816.blogspot.com Iruna Urruticoechea, Periodista Carlos Armando Figueredo, Profesor Postgrado en Derechos Humanos,Universidad Central de Venezuela Julia The end of Venezuela as I know it http://antipatrioticvenezuelan.blogspot.com Carlo Caputo, Investigador Titular Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas Grupo 400+ http://g400mas.blogspot.com Heinz R. Sonntag, Emeritus Prof. of Sociology, Reserach Fellow and Professor of CENDES-UCV, Universidad Central de Venezuela. Silvya de Puki, Interpreter, Translator, RECIVEX Denver Ignacio Iribarren, Miembro de la Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Humberto La Roche Nora Palacios, Systems Analyst, Department of Education, Victoria, Canad Dorindo Burgo, Hermano Marista Jose Felix Oletta, Profesor Jubilado, Escuale de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Central de Venezuela Carlos Walter, Investigador CENDES, Universidad Central de Venezuela Rafael Hidalgo, The Open University, UK Alvaro Rotondaro Gomez, Abogado Werner Corrales Leal, former ambassador to the UN and the WTO in Geneva; former professor at the Center for Development Studies (CENDES) in Caracas; Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Geneva Tanya Miquilena; development specialist in andean countries Cheryl Riera Isaac Nahon Serfaty, Professor, Department of Communications, University of Otawa, Canada Barbara Bessone Hayde Deutsch,Abogada, Mcs en Seguridad Social, Docente Universitaria, Presidenta de Fuerza Liberal Carlos Alberto Moros Ghersi, Medico, Profesor UCV, ex-Rector Universidad Central de Venezuela Jackie Hines J. Scott Barnard, blogger Rachel Chonchol, another Venezuelan Citizen Jorge Mostany, Profesor Titular del Departamento de Química, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Miembro de la  Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales Rosalba Guerra, Ingeniero Robert Bottome, Editor, Veneconomy Nathalie Brogan Soledad Gutierrez, Comunicador Social Adele Mondolfi, Abogado, Investigadora Artes Plasticas, UCV Luis Felipe Cabana, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Maria J. Diaz M. Clemy Machado de Acedo, Profesora Jubilada UCV Pedro Vaca Gonzalez, Ingeniero de yacimientos, ex-investigador de PDVSA-Intevep (despedido por razones poli­ticas). Rosalba Guerra V. J. Los Arcos Ayape, Journalist Mercedes H. Rosas, Investigador Ramon y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla Miguel Albujas Dorta, Profesor-Investigador del Instituto de Filosofia de la Universidad Central de Venezuela Paul Esqueda, Prof, of Engineering Penn State University Dorian Dyer Duke Banks Romero, Public Administration Specialist Andres Dominguez Burgos Roberto Rodriguez  Abreu, Fundacion Jardin Botanico, Merida Daphne Paul, writer Jerry Diaz Tomas Paez, Profesor Titular Universidad Central de Venezuela, Coordinador Observatorio PYME de Venezuela (If you would like your name added, please leave a comment or send me an email at devilexcrement@mail.com and let me know your name and how to identify you) 5:57:53 PM    comment []

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Maisanta database download For some reason, probably not innocent, all public files with the Maisanta program online end up corrupt or useless. So, here is another try. I have placed the file over here, it is called santaines and it is about 300 MB. It is an .exe file. You download it and run it and it will install the Maisanta database in all its infamous glory on your PC. No Mac version available. I tried it, it takes about an hour with Cantv ADSL (ABA) and it works! 2:08:39 AM    comment []

Sunday, October 28, 2007

News from around the fascist robolution... Getting ready to watch the Red Sox game, so in short you should learn about these events driving news in the fascist robolution:: ----Human Rights organization COFAVIC, warns that it is the poor that has been affected the most by abuses when a state of exception has been called in Latin America’s history. ----Imagine how bad things must be in terms of corruption and drug trafficking in Venezuela, when former cheerleader of the revolution reporter Juan Forero writes this piece in today’s Washington Post. Just think, revolutionary military officers like border postings because they can get rich and drug traffickers have credentials from the intelligence police and the Ministry of Finance. God help us form robolutionary destruction! ----And how about funny man the Minister of Culture, who incensed because actress Fabiola Colmenares opposes the Constitutional reform and has joined students demonstrations, thinks that maybe, just maybe, people like her should not be hired by the Government. Calling her “a minor personality of criollo fascism” because of her dissenting position, the Minister proposes having a discussion as to whether people like her should be hired in Government cultural projects. Jeez, who is the fascist here? Does this remind you of Tascon/Chavez database? Of course, its is the same discriminatory policy from a well-known fascist Government. ----And since we are visiting the Ministry of Culture, how about Vice-Minister criticizing the violence associated with the destruction of the monument to honor Che Guevara? Wasn’t he the one that twenty years ago was part of the guerrillas and was part of the group that kidnapped William Neihous and was captured when he attempted to collect the ransom? ----And the Minister of the Interior and Justice joins the fascist chorus as he tells us that the only way of expressing dissent against the Constitutional Reform is through the vote on Dec. 2nd. And threatens dissenters that “his pulse will nor shake to stop those that are promoting violence, civil disobedience and the altering of the normal and harmonic order”. Where should I start? First of all the violence is coming from pro-Government groups. Second, has he read Article 350 of the Venezuelan Constitution? It seems to call for civil disobedience precisely against his type of authoritarian, fascist non-democratic behavior. Finally, what are we supposed to vote on if the Government makes no effort to discuss what is in the proposed Constitutional Reform? After all, the original 33 articles are now up to sixty-something, with most of the new ones being added and discussed by small groups in smoke filled rooms. Additionally, the Constitution is being violated in the way the reform is being done. Shouldn’t the people have the right to do that? But his best phrase had to be referring to the students:"They had the gall to challenge the authority of the State" Yes, when the State takes away your rights, you have th RIGHT to challenge its authority, you fascist! ----And Chavez did not hold his Sunday variety show “Alo Presidente” today for the second Sunday in a row because of health reasons. I guess this is one case where I do not wish someone a speedy recovery… 7:52:27 PM    comment []

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Sincor President admits existence of discriminatory list and says it is State policy It is still a mystery how well the heavy crude partnership of Sincor will work under the "new" management of PDVSA, but what we do know, is that discrimination will be the rule of the day under the Presidency of Chavista Ysaac Donise, from what Tal Cual relates today about the meeting last Friday of the company's workers with the old employees. Said Donis: "I am here. Anyone that wants can ask me." Those present began questioning the veracity of a new listing based on the infamous Tascon/Chavez database, in which people were rated as "apt" or "not apt" to work at the company. Donis removed any doubts they may have had when he said: "This is a matter of the State. There is a list being circulated in the press and it is real. It came out of here, we are investigating it and whomever leaked it will go to jail. It will be applied to key personnel which is within or outside the company" Said one worker: "He told us that at Sincor there are new guidelines: If on Fridays you have to dress in red, you do it and that's it. It is an order from above. If you have to register in a "mision", you do it and if someone does not like it, we will see about it" Four engineers in the "Not Apt" category have already been fired by Sincor. These are the words of one of the useful idiots of the revolution, known as commissars at other times and in other places. By the way, shame on French company Total and Norwegian company Statoil, who are partners in the Sincor projects and allow these policies in their company. In fact, they chose to stay as partenrs of Sincor, with a 40% stake between the two.This would be absolutely unthinkable in their own countries. But that is something I have learned in the last few years, most companies and politicians are willing to tolerate orders of magnitude of abuses more in Venezuela that they would allow in their own countries. I guess, we now have an "upgraded" Tascon/Chavez list ready to discriminate and persecute Venezuelans on the basis of their political ideas and foreign companies are participating openly in making money out of these operations. 10:12:12 PM    comment []

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Tascon/Chavez fascist list alive and well at Sincor I have written extensiely about the fascist Tascon/Chavez list, which has been used extensively by the Chavze Government to discriminate Venezuelans according to their political preferences. The list has been used repeatedly by the Government to fire, deny contracts and benefits and only delusional fanatics of the autocrat/dictator continue going around denyin its use for political purposes. While some Venezuelans thought teh use of the list ended with Chavez' public recognition of its use and existence when he said on a Sunday Alo President quite a while ago, all evidence point to the opposite: The list is alive and well and continues to be used without scruples as not even the autocrat can now contain the hate and tools for hate he unleashed on those Venezuelans that are against his abuses. The latest example is documented in today's Tal Cual, when we are told about how four young engineers of heavy crude partnership Sincor were fired this week without explanation. Sincor is one of the projects in which PDVSA forced a 60% majrity on its partners on June 26th. and the company is now running the project. The four engineers, whose names are Andrés Pieve, Laura Atencio, Nataly Barcia Durán and Zully Álvarez were simply called and told they were no longer working at Sincor. Of curse, by now Chavista readers are saying they were probably fired for incompetence, bad manners or whatever and nobody can prove they were fired for opposing Chavez' autocracy. Except that Tal Cual got hold of a carefully elaborated list in which each employee of Sincor is judged according to whether they signed for the consultative referendum, for the recall vote or had their signature repaired. This list is shown here including the names of those fired. An elaborate system of X's next to each name and each referenda was placed next to each person's name to determine whether they were "apt' to continue working in the country's oil industry. The four fired recently are clearly marked with a V and they all signed against Chavez, failing to pass the loyalty grade. None of those considered "apt" has been fired and those not yet fired with X's next to their name are sure that they will soon join their co-workers in the ranks of the unemployed. And some fools will continue in denial, much like Germany during Hitler or when the McCarthy list was being used in the US to blacklist and discriminate. And when it is all over, they will also claim they did not know, but we will know better 11:30:27 PM    comment []

Sunday, April 23, 2006

A new black list exposes once again the indecent revolution In any reasonable society, institutions are there to preserve the rights of people, uphold the Constitution and provide the framework for grievances and appeals. Not in the Venezuelan "revolution" No sooner had I started reading local news when I found that none other than the members of the Venezuelan National Assembly, in cahoots with the current Electoral Board, have apparently conspired to violate the Constitution as well as the rights of those that aspire to become part of the new Electoral Board (CNE) being selected by that institution. According to a COPEI representative, five of those nominated to be part of the new CNE were explicitly asked why they had not voted in either the municipal or the parliamentary elections in 2005. This is a clear violation of the law and the secrecy surrounding the electoral processes in Venezuela, which guarantee that the information is secret. But, in the absence of the rule of law, this new abuse of power and violation of the law will obviously go unpunished as there are no longer institutional checks and balances in Venezuela. This obviously raises the question of whether the infamous "Maisanta" or Chavez or Tascon database or list (see category on the left) has now been expanded, updated and upgraded with the two most recent electoral processes that took place in 2005. This administration is very efficient only when it comes to perverse activities like this. There is also the possibility that this was a special "favor" by the CNE authorities to the Assembly. In either case, this represents another violation of the law and the rights of Venezuelans that aspire to be part of the new Electoral Board. In any decent country, those members of the Board of the CNE who reportedly want to be ratified in their positions should simply be disqualified for allowing this abuse to take place under their noses. But there is no decency in this obscene revolution. And this nw "black list" simply exposes, once again , the lack of respect for their fellow citizens that most members of the Chavez revolution and its institutions have. 9:37:57 PM    comment []

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Maisanta List working link IF you go to the following page, there is a link to download the maisanta prorgram which works: www.maisantalist.com Go there, at the top you will find a link to an executable (.exe) which is 360 MB in size. Download it to your desktop and install it, it will generate a program and database which requires 3 GB of disk space. If you don't have at least a DSL connection, don't even try it. (It is quite heavy, many people trying to download it) If you have contacts at newspapers or human rights organizations, please show it to them, this software and database give a new meaning to the concept of violating privacy and rights of individuals by a so called democratic Government, as well as threatening those who are in it, on both sides of the political spectrum, whether pro or against Chavez. Very shameful indeed. (Thanks Bill for the effort) 6:46:29 PM    comment []

Thursday, December 01, 2005

The perverse and massive violation of the law and the rights of Venezuelans by the Government sponsored Maisanta software This post contains material that is not new or even original. Both Alek Boyd and El Universal have covered it. But it is quite different to read about the so called Maisanta software than to use it. Today, a friend got me a copy of the Maisanta software and database. After using it and playing with it for a while; it is difficult to express the outrage I feel. This piece of software and database demonstrates that we are living in a fascist state where the rule of law is non existent and where people are being discriminated against, blackmailed and their rights are being violated by those that are supposed to defend them and the law. Those that insist in defending this immoral administration should realize that all of this has no possible defense. This is facsim at its best. The President of the CNE, the Prosecutor, Chavez, The Vice-President and many others in Government have cheated, persecuted an violated the rights of all Venezuelans in a scale not seen since our last Dictatorship To me this implies that the following two Government officials, the President of the Electoral Board Jorge Rodriguez on the left and the Prosecutor General Isaias Rodriguez on the roght (no relation) should not only resign, but be jailed and charged with massive violations of the rights of Venezuelans and not following the laws, international treaties and the Constitution: The same should be applied to Chavez, Vice-President Rangel, Governor Diosdado Cabello and the members of the Supreme Court who have allowed for the laws to be violated in such fashion, simply for their own political gain. While I was shocked reading both Alek's account and that of El Universal's of this program, the dirty feeling and uneasiness you get when using the Maisanta software is truly remarkable. It all starts jokingly, people telling you their ID numbers to "check them", but very quickly turns into a tense situation. The software is flawed, has information that is incorrect, but additionally, it reveals people's very personal information from date of birth, to political preferences, to their electoral history. But I am getting ahead of myself. The Maisanta software was first designed in May 2004 as a tool for Chavez' campaign command to aid in getting the vote out. But in doing so, the gross and obscene violation of the law and the rights of the people implemented by these Government officials is simply incredible and absolutely shocking. The Maisanta database includes every single registered voter in the country. I am still trying to get the latest version, the one I obtained is from last year, but the point is the same. It is likely the newest version represents simply a deeper and more widespread violation of our rights. The software comes in a CD; you install it (3 Gbytes) and are ready to go. You don't know anyone that has it? Easy go to Plaza Bolivar in downtown Caracas and for Bs. 3,000 or 4,000 you have your own copy. (The Chavistas distributed over 35,000 of them last year for the recall vote and the regional elections). When it first opens, you get the following window, for which I have used the ID number of Isaias Rodriguez, our Prosecutor General, the man supposed to uphold the law, but who has turned the other way on the face of this very fascist tool: From this, we can have: his address, whether he signed or not to recall Chavez, his date of birth, address (sometimes with telephone), as well as the voting center that he uses. Additionally, he is "rated" as whether he is a good voter or not, based on his recent activity as a voter. Finally, the software is cross-referenced with whether the voter is a member of two of the Government's social missions, Mision Ribas, the program to graduate people from high school in a short time, and Vuelvan Caras, a "œscholarship" by which the Government gives people a monthly stipend to participate in projects to work against poverty and social exclusion You may wonder how I knew the ID number of the Prosecutor General? Easy, the software has a very cumbersome sequential search tool that finds all of the Isaias Rodriguez' of the country, if by chance you did not know his ID number. Imagine, if I was as unethical and immoral as them, I could, for example, go check everyone with my last name in the country (all related) and have a clear map of the political preferences in my family tree. Is that perverse or what? Or think of people checking up in their neighbors, co-workers and the like. I wonder how many articles of the Venezuelan Constitution are violated just by this fact. I counted eight, but really did not feel like counting further. But note that in the above window, there is a button that says "Listar cedulas de mi Centro de votacion" (List ID numbers of my voting center). Press that and you immediately get a list of everyone that votes in Isaias' center (who happen to be his neighbors) as shown partially here (I ahve degraded resolution on purpose so that names can not be read): This window has lots of information to discriminate, harass, classify and label people near wher you live. You have the ID number, age, whether the person signed petitions against the opposition, against Chavez, whether the person is rated as "opposition", abstainer and in columns not shown, whether the person signed or not against Chavez and if his or her signature were rejected or not. Then in the buttons below, you can print, search, filter according to categories or simply click on the button labeled "patriots". Press that and you only see the true "Aryans" loyal to the process, those that signed against the opposition. These are your revolutionary, fascist buddies, ready to die or whatever for the revolution. In fact, if they are not on your side but they participate in any of the misiones, you can threaten them with removal of their meager perks, if they don't want to follow orders. Cute, immoral and perverse, no? You can for example search for all people who are named Jorge Rodriguez (below left) and find so many that you have to narrow the search (below right) only to get 18 names if you are looking for the President of the Electoral Board, with both last names Rodriguez and Gomez. Conveniently, the address of the illustrious Jorge Rodriguez Gomez (eigth from the top on the right farme), Head of the CNE, has been removed to protect and respect his privacy. Remarkable and appropriate, no? There are many more functions to this fascist and perverse software. You can look at all centers in the country. Your center. Look for last names nationwide, in your center, in your state. But let's look at the data it contains and where it came from. First of all, it contains all of the data in the National Electoral Registry, including addressesandf somes telephones. This is the same registry that should have been handed over to all political parties by the CNE, six months before the election but the CNE refused to do so and was only turned over a couple of weeks ago without addressees "to protect the privacy of the people". But how did the Chavistas get this copy? And they have received periodic updates too! And they turn it have cross linked it with the database of the Government's Misiones, which should also be confidential, as well as the death registry turned over by the identification office to the Electoral Board last year. Additionally, it contains all of the recall petition information and all of the recent election informations for each and every voter in Venezuela. This simply represents a massive violation of the rights of all Venezuelans, a violation of the Constitution of the laws, a tool created for the discrimination, persecution, repression as well as the blackmail of those that receive aid from the Government (those "poorâ" that this Government is supposed to care so much for), it indicates the absolute neglect in the part of the Government in protecting the data of its citizens and enforcing it and it clearly demonstrates that democracy and respect of others are not part of the idiosyncrasy of this sad and fake revolution. They have violated the very trust that they were given by the people when they were elected. This software was coordinated way at the top. After the failure of Chavez' command to stop the petition for his recall he named his closest confidants, Diosdado Cabello, Jose Vicente Rangel and Maripili Hernandez to the Maisanta command. He held a swearing in ceremony on his nationwide Sunday program. They are all responsible for this and will one day have a day of reckoning. In any decent country with the rule of law, each and everyone of these characters, fascists, liars, cheaters and abusers would be forced to resign and be charged with crimes against the people, including the man who is supposed to enforce the laws, the cynical Prosecutor Isaias Rodriguez. Instead, they arrogantly come on TV daily defending what they are doing in the face of perverse and fascist elements like the Maisanta program, designed to persecute friend and foe alike. (I really wanted to convey the anger and disgust I felt using this program. This represnts something that goes against the most basic feelings of respect and humanity that I can think of. I felt like a voyeur capable of peering into the lives of friends that were voluntarily given me their ID numbers as a joke but had not realized all that could be learned from it. In fact, until I sat down to write the post I did not know how I was going to show any examples without violating someone's privacy. The examples shown, do not tell us anything new about these cynical, sad and perverse characters of this stupid revolution) 12:11:17 AM    comment []