Thursday, May 15, 2008

Nothing new in Interpol's report that we did not know about Hugo Chavez' support for the FARC guerrillas The non-event happened today and Interpol told us that the documents that the material turned over by Colombian authorities that was found in the camp of guerrilla leader Raul Reyes were not manipulated. You can download the whole report here. Of course, even before the report came out Venezuela's Minister of Defense was saying the documents handed over by the Colombian authorities had no credibility and the Venezuelan "people" would know how to evaluate them. A strange statement given that this was a technical evaluation which according to the Interpol Director Venezuelan authorities did not even want to receive ahead of time. Chavez at least waited until the report came out and used his customary diplomatic and polite language to call the Head of Interpol a clown, a bandit, not noble (?), a tramp and shameless.The PSF's began coming out of the woodwork with the Venezuelan Information Office immediately issuing a report discrediting the Interpol report and urging Americans to write their Congressmen, while pro-Chavez computer experts paraded on VTV to explain that it was impossible to do the checks that the Interpol claimed to have done. The level of stupidity should increase in the upcoming days as idiotic arguments are used to discredit the material obtained from the computers found at Reyes' camp. Idiotic, because what is it after all that is being discussed? That Chavez sympathizes and backs the FARC guerrilla movement? Do we really need more proof of this or have people forgotten the eulogy Chavez dedicated to Raul Reyes the day he found out he had been killed and the outrage that it caused in the Venezuelan President who mobilize troops and got himself involved in a conflict between Ecuador and Colombia where he played no role? Chavez actually called Reyes, the second in command of the cruel guerrilla group, "a good revolutionary hero". Reyes was a man accused of hundreds of murders, cocaine trafficking, rape, sexual abuse. kidnappings, extortion and was found guilty in absentia in dozens of murders and kidnappings. In fact, he was sought by Interpol, the same organization that today presented its report at the request of the Colombian Government. But do we really need more evidence to prove what is out there for everyone to see? Why do the Colombians need to create thousands of new documents to prove that Hugo Chavez backs the FARC? In fact, you can simply look through official Venezuelan Government pictures and find this jewel for example: On the right is then Minister of Foreign Relations Jose Vicente Rangel, who at some point was Venezuela's Minister of Defense and also Vice-President. The picture was taken at the Foreign Ministry (called the Casa Amarilla). Notice the man on the left with the badly fitting suit? It happens to be none other than the good revolutionary Raul Reyes officially being greeted by the then Foreign Minister. Do serious law abiding Governments do that? Meet a known criminal, extortionist, drug trafficker, murderer and bomber with pomp and ceremony? And now that you ask, how did Reyes get to Caracas? How was he contacted? Why was he there? Of course, the imbeciles may argue that Rangel is not Chavez, but he was the Foreign Minister, later Minister of Defense and Vice President. But in any case, no matter what they may argue, there is this other very public picture and visit by Ivan Marquez to the Miraflores Presidential Palace, with big boss Hugo Chavez himself: Once again, a known murdered, extortionist, kidnapper, drug trafficker being sougth internationally is received by Chavez at his own residence as if he were a dignitary. Once again, how did Marquez get there, how did Chavez contact him, why wasn't he detained? Or I could remind you of the parody when the Venezuelan Government denied the FARC's Foreign Minister was in Venezuela, was registered in Venezuela and later it turned out he even had Venezuelan papers and none other than current Minister Rodriguez Chacin met him at the Simon Bolivar International Airport when he first arrived. There is also the now infamous video of Rodriguez Chacin telling the guerrilla members that turned over the Colombian hostages that "keep it up we support you". Can it be any clearer than that? So, do the Colombian authorities need to invent some 600 Gigabytes of material? There are over 200 thousand images for God's sake! Almost 40,000 documents! Because in the end what has been reiterated is that Chavez sympathizes with the FARc and has been trying to support them. But there is really no proof that anything came to fruition. Would the Colombians make up so much stuff and not include more damming proof that offers of assistance and the desire to work together? Seems far-fetched to me. What these images and the papers prove is that Chavez and his Government walk on the wrong side of the law, on the wrong side of terrorism and that they are willing to help these movements if it matches its political goals. However, the FARC papers also reveal that the guerrilla leaders do not like Chavez style. The papers have evaluations of the trends in Latin America and despite the success of Chavez of holding on to power, they express their concerns over his "Caudillo" style, which proves to me that while the FARC want to use Chavez for their own goals, they do not trust him and their interests are not aligned as Chavez has designs over Colombia too for his Bolivarian revolution. So all we really have is more evidence of what we already knew: That the Chavez Government openly supports a bloody guerrilla movement and has been in constant contact with it, ignoring international law and acting as the outlaw Government that it has always been. Not much new there! 8:04:20 PM    comment []

The bizarre virtual world of the Chavez Government The outrageous statements and accusations by Chavez and his buddies against the world may be considered ¨political¨in nature in nature, but they are getting weirder and weirder. But how do you explain outright lies or hailing projects that simply do not exist? Such was the case this week when Chavez signed the Sidor nationalization Bill into law and began talking about the area of Matanzas, where Sidor is, as the "City of Steel". Chavez began talking about a new plant being built to make "specialty" steels and high tech pipes, that will turn the whole area into this apparently virtual City of Steel. Because as reporters scrambled to find out about the project, it turns out that there is no such project in Matanzas, Ciudad Piar, Puerto Ordaz or Bolivar state. Not even in the planning stage. Such is the virtual and ever increasing isolated world that Chavez lives in. He still believes he eradicated illiteracy, poverty and soon inflation. All in his own peculiar world, where he is always right and the Hitlerian ghosts of imperialism hover over him. 9:13:41 AM    comment []