The curse of the Pharaoh

This time touching his beloved cult follower Sean Penn. First, he lost his Malibu home during the October fires, now he and his wife Robin Wright Penn (The Princess Bride), are filing for divorce.

Hmmm... it´s amazing that everything Pharaoh Hugo touches become a mess. The worst natural disaster in Venezuela, the Vargas tragedy, happened right after he became president. And what can I say about the country? With the biggest oil income ever, we are at the edge of a civil war.

I dunno... I don´t believe in witches but they do fly indeed!

The assassination of Ms. Bhutto

"Why is Pakistani politics so violent? One explanation is that Pakistan, unlike its neighbor and archrival India, has been mostly ruled by men in uniform. The army is large and powerful and sets the tone for a militaristic brand of politics, analysts say."

An interesting though to consider about the assassination of Ms. Bhutto, for South Americans, for us Venezuelans in particular, now that we are ruled by lunatic and power driven men in uniform. Are we getting on that road for how long? I am getting some uncomfortable chill down to my spine as I am writing this.

What they get assassinating Benazir Bhutto? Or any political leader of the world for this matter? I don't get it. The only thing that comes from this is chaos. Nothing good for the country of Pakistan. That's how the criminal mind operates.

"Ms. Bhutto came back from a very comfortable life abroad. She came back to fight these forces of extremism," said a tearful and distraught Farah Ispahani, part of Bhutto's political team. "She came back for this country. She was a real daughter of the soil of Pakistan."

Picts of her last moments and her assassination here.

I don't know to much about Pakistani politics, or how good or bad was Bhutto for her country. However, for this woman who became twice prime minister (first time she was 35! the youngest and first female of any modern day Islamic country) of a Muslim area infested with radical entities like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda speaks volumes of the material this woman was made of, although some accusations that during her government the Taliban picked up in Afghanistan. I don't know what to say since I don't know too much about the subject, however I admire her, and any Muslim woman who take public and important roles in their societies, only for that.

“I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger. People are worried. We will bring the country out of this crisis.”

- Benazir Bhutto

This is what I call a warm welcome

Communist Cubans arriving to Venezuela on Sat Dec 15, 2007 and been welcomed very warmly by a crowd of Venezuelans.

"Fuera", means GET OUT.



Link here.

Thanks to Alfonso for sending me this awesome link.

Misión Espiritualidad

Updated Th 20, 9:22 AM.

Since days ago, JM has been following the steps into the newest of Hugo's lunacies, "Primera Reunión Nacional de Representantes de Religiones, Órdenes y Logias de Venezuela" (First National meeting of religious, orders an loggias representatives), called Misión Espiritualidad (Espirituality Mission) by some. Or Misión "Espiritista" by others (Spiritist Mission)

I haven't heard a world about this from the Catholic church but the protestants are taking this very seriously. I think we all should though.

What would Medea Benjamin and all the first world liberal Atheist who looove Hugo Chavez would say about this?

The Evangelicals, nor the Catholics, the Jewish and the Baptist were invited. Hhhmmmm....

This is another news source in Spanish.

To be honest, I have no idea what to make about this news.

BUT, if we link this news, with this one, I ask myself if there's any coincidence of this religious meeting an Chavez's urgency to open Simon Bolivar's tomb.

Could it be he is planning to practice some Voodoo ritual since he couldn't make it on the electoral arena on Dec 2?

On the same news, Correfoc added this comment on Daniel's blog:

" I agree on the voodoo, part, an anecdocte, over thanksgiving break I met an antropologists, Venezuelan , of course, he was telling me the incredibly powerful influence that Ch, has got on the Maria Lionza cult, so much, that HE, has become part of the iconography of the aforementioned cult, the figures one has to pary to, that we know of were, Maria Lionza, Guaicaipuro, Negro Primero, Bolivar, and for 'retruque' Jose Gregorio Hernandez....the antropologist mentioned that the high priestesses and priets have include an extra figure, that of Chavez himself.. ths has a huge significance in antropoligical term on what the power of Chavez' will has ....and it all brings me back to the comment Daniel made a long time ago, that Chavismo is not a political movement is a Religious Cult..."

And, moreover, there's something else. Remember the Chavismo wanted to time change 30 min. backwards right? Well, they did it on Dec. 9 at 3 am in the morning. The question that I want to ask to anybody to please answer me is why in this world they pick 3 am to do the time change when usually the time to make it an official time change is 12 midnight, which is the beginning of the new day.

Now, if you know a little bit about occultism, you would know that 3 am is the time that Satanist choose to do everything, mocking the 3 pm time that Jesus Christ died.

And you know what, they move the time zone to parallel 66! (not parallel!!!! Meridian!! - Thanks Gerry and Tsviski for their complains!)

Hhmmmm.... now if you put all of this on the same soup, it start to sound very weird to me. Very, very weird...

I don't believe in coincidences, do you?

The Trillion Dollar Revolutionary

"And the teacher says, we have everything in this school right now. We are soooo grateful for what he has done. Right, children?

Children, tell Mr. Sweeney who we have to be eternally grateful for this... and the children replied : Hugo Rafaeeel Chavez Friiiiiaaasss"

Ugh.

Documentary by John Sweeney for the BBC. I don't know if the reader if familiar with his work, Sweeney is a very interesting investigative reporter. I always have enjoyed his work on Panorama (the little I have seen), as well as the rest of the team who participate on that show. I particularly enjoyed to watch Sweeney's excellent documentary about the cuckoos of Scientology that is worth to watch if you haven't yet. He has been sued, dig in Mugabe's Zimbawe and even helped clear a case in the UK in which some men and women were wrongly accused of killing children. In other words, I think this journalist has a name for himself already.

Now he comes again with this excellent documentary about another cuckoo, Hugo Chavez and his trillion dollar revolution. I love it because it shows the simple evidence. I must say this guy is a brilliant journalist. So effortless.

I always say, to understand Hugo Chavez revolution you don't have to read too much about what Chavez talk, only pay attention to what he does, and you will get it loud and clear. And that's what Sweeney did.

Sweeney has a funny quote about journalism: "There are three rules in journalism. First, find a crocodile. Two, poke it in the eye with a stick. Three, stand back and report what happens next.

If it's a sodden log you'll be quite safe. If it's a crocodile you've got a story."

And, I guess exactly that happened with Chavez.

In the documentary, you can see how he poked the eye of the beast when questioning why he was sending all this money to the public London transport system while the public Caracas transport system (and all of the country! for that matter) is a total mess. And he got his croc! Chavez told him on national TV that he wasn't gonna answer such a stupid question! Bravo Mr. Sweeney!

I still don't get it. According to Chavez, it is stupid to improve the public transportation system in Venezuela, and that would be because of...? He doesn't use it?

You gotta love the "Dallas" theme song at the beginning. What better song to describe this Gucci revolution!

Oh my Gawwd! Now, this video is even better. "La Hojilla" that little filthy propaganda shown that the Chavista state channel run, also dedicated time not only to post the whole show, but to comment about it!!



Scroll to min 28:23 (the beginning is the same documentary posted in the first video) and see Mario Silva and guest talking how come this guy (Sweeney) has to be declared persona non-grata for Venezuela. :)

I think "this" guy is not scared to been kicked out of a country by a 3rd tier military lunatic. He already has been kicked out of Zimbabwe and probably have death threats from the Scientology lunatics too.

I love when Mario Silva says, "well, this guy came from London with his little angel face and asked us permission for a documentary, AND BECAUSE WE HAVE OUR FRIEND MAJOR OF LONDON IN THERE, WELL JOHN SWEENEY HAS HIS MOVIE NOW!!!!!!!!"

Hold on, what is that suppose to mean? That they were expecting some type of editorial review from Ken Livingstone on Sweeney's journalist work? Mon Dieu!

The guest also commenting this video said that Venezuelans (or Chavistas, more like it) are very naive people! And he added that how come the Tupamaros (who is a violent branch of Chavismo) allowed this man to interviewed them just like that! What? Were they suppose to kill Sweeney?

Don't miss those comments after min 28... they are hanging themselves with their own rope.

Awesome! I wish I could have heard the whole show.

HA!

Chavistas making the ridiculous as usual, but this time since they are not in Venezuelan soil, they are getting arrested for their little show, this time at the San Francisco consulate on Dec 2, the day of the constitutional referendum.



BUAAHAHHAHAHA!

Caracas Nine

My cousin sent me this in regards of violations of human rights in Venezuela by the Chavista regime.



They have a website with detailed information about the case of Fracisco Usón and also violations against Yon Goicochea, respresentative of the student movement. They seem they are working the cases for the rest of the list, since they don't have in the website yet.

Vice president OUT... vice president IN...

Well, well, well...

Miguel just sent this obituary of the dad of brand new executive vice president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro...



"Entrañable amigo forjador de tantos sueños y esperanzas general en jefe Jorge Luis García Carneiro" meaning, "Dearest friend, builder of so many dreams and hopes, Chief General Jorge Luis Gracia Carneiro".

(!!?)

Good Lord.

So much truckling makes me sick of my stomach.

I hope you did you noticed who posted the obituary. None other that Carlos Kauffmann and Franklin Duran, arrested on Wednesday in Miami for acting as agents of a foreign government on U.S soil without notification to the attorney general.

So, what's the real difference between Jorgito Rodriguez and Garcia Carneiro?

None really. Chavez is trying to clean the dirty floor with a dirty mop. Ughh...

Soy Antonini, ¿quién habla?

Interview to Guido Antonini by Hugo Alconada Mon from El diario La Nacion from Argentina. The bolds in Bolivarian red are mine for the reader to take note.

Thanks to Kate for the link.

MIAMI.– Su voz suena más grave, más “abrumada”, si se quiere, que la otra vez, hace ya cuatro meses.

–¿Hello?

–(En inglés) Buenos días. ¿busco al señor Antonini?

–Soy yo, ¿quién habla?

–Hugo Alconada, corresponsal del diario LA NACION.

Entonces sí cambia al español: “Ah, hola, ¿cómo está?” Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson se encuentra en un lugar no especificado, bajo normas de protección tampoco clarificadas. LA NACION le pregunta sobre su situación, pero el ya legendario “maletero” de los 800.000 dólares prefiere callar y recomendarle a este corresponsal que hable con su abogada, cuyos datos aporta. Esboza una disculpa.

–Usted se imagina que mucho no puedo hablar… –dice.

–Sí, y le agradezco la paciencia que me ha tenido en todo este tiempo que anduve buscándolo por todos lados.

–Lo sé. Sé de qué me habla... –responde Antonini.

No pasaron ni 24 horas desde que la Oficina Federal de Investigaciones (FBI) y la Fiscalía Federal para el Distrito Sur de Florida dieron a conocer la investigación que vienen impulsando desde hace cuatro meses y por la que arrestaron a un uruguayo y a tres venezolanos. Dos de ellos eran socios de Antonini, además de amigos y compañeros de carreras de autos. Pero Carlos Kauffmann y Franklin Durán no dudaron en amenazar a sus hijas cuando se sintieron contra las cuerdas, según consta en una grabación del encuentro, en un restaurante. Un quinto acusado, venezolano también, continúa prófugo.

Antonini aceptó incluso portar un micrófono oculto y someterse a la devastadora presión de simular un doble juego: rendirse a la justicia norteamericana para evitar una posible condena en este país, a cambio de colaborar contra los eslabones que llevan hacia el poder bolivariano. Y, de paso, hacia Buenos Aires.

O como aclaró el fiscal federal adjunto a cargo del caso, Thomas Mulvihill, durante una audiencia pública y también ante el juez interviniente, Robert Dube: "El dinero estaba dirigido a la campaña de Cristina Kirchner".

El gobierno argentino replicó ayer de inmediato y con extrema dureza, acusando al gobierno de Estados Unidos -en particular a la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA)- de lanzar una supuesta operación (de lo que se informa por separado), pero Washington replicó con su propia línea tajante: esto no tiene nada que ver con las relaciones bilaterales. Es un asunto judicial interno dentro de Estados Unidos.

Eso se justifica porque acusó a los cinco que contactaron a Antonini de actuar como "agentes encubiertos" en Florida -por lo que investiga un posible delito cometido en este país- en nombre del gobierno venezolano de Hugo Chávez para ocultar la posible comisión de un anterior delito en la Argentina.

Ahora, las autoridades del FBI y la Fiscalía buscarán aumentar la presión contra los cuatro detenidos, según confirmó ayer LA NACION en esta ciudad.

Repetirán la dinámica que adoptaron con Antonini: advertirles que pueden colaborar con la investigación o recibir una condena de hasta 10 años de prisión cada uno.

La presión va en aumento. Estados Unidos congeló ya 7 millones de dólares que tenían depositados en este país, en una cuenta del American Express Bank, entidad que a su vez tiempo atrás -y con la misma Fiscalía- acordó pagar multas por 55 millones de dólares a cambio de evitar una eventual condena por lavado de dinero.

El abogado de Durán y Kauffmann, Michael Hacker, cree que sus arrestos y el congelamiento de la cuenta "están vinculados entre sí", pero defiende la inocencia de ambos en lo que concierne a su actuación en el estado de Florida y frente a Antonini Wilson.

Pero tampoco se mete en áreas que le son ajenas: "Si algún crimen fue cometido, fue cometido en la Argentina", planteó en la audiencia ante el juez Dube.

Le apuntó así a Antonini y aquellos exactamente 790.550 dólares que continúan bajo custodia en Buenos Aires.

"No es el momento"

"Prefiero no explayarme más porque los documentos disponibles hasta ahora son los que se aportaron ayer [por anteayer] en la audiencia", se excusó el abogado Hacker ante la consulta de LA NACION.

Unas horas después, Carlos Kauffmann y Franklin Durán le hicieron llegar un mensaje a este corresponsal: "Declinamos su oferta para hablar. Consideramos que no es el momento oportuno y toda la información debe requerirla a las autoridades".

Ambos se encuentran alojados en una dependencia carcelaria federal. Están visiblemente demacrados y, como todos los demás detenidos, están vestidos con mamelucos. Pero ya no están esposados, como sí lo estuvieron durante la audiencia judicial de anteayer, unidos entre sí por las muñecas.

Tres fuentes norteamericanas, en encuentros por separado, le dijeron a LA NACION que podrían sumarse más detenidos en la siguiente etapa de la investigación, en la que se aportarían más documentos.

"Usted se imaginará que dada la gravedad de este asunto, no se va a impulsar algo que al final pudiera caerse en unos días. ¿Nos imagina pidiendo disculpas y diciendo que en realidad lo que dijimos no era tan así?", desafió una de las voces de la investigación consultadas por LA NACION.

A Antonini todo eso le importa menos que garantizar la seguridad de su familia. Por eso colaboró con Estados Unidos. Para evitar cualquier eventual riesgo en la Argentina o Venezuela.

- Lamento la amenaza a sus hijas , le dice LA NACION.

Por primera y única vez durante la charla parece oírse un tono de voz más sólido: "Le agradezco lo que me dice".

-¿Cree que alguna vez podamos hablar largo y tendido?

-Estoy muy seguro de que sí. Algún día hablaremos.

Venezuelan Chavista agents arrested in the US for voting plot

Updated Th 12:46 PST.

I seriously need to learn how to make a good Dulce de Lechosa.

OK, this is the news that is flying all over the internet, here from the Department of Justice, here from the Miami Herald.

And this a little bit of info about these guys:

From here and there sources I am not gonna mention. If you have something to add or clarify be my guest.

Carlos Kauffman is married to the sister (or sister in-law) of Governor of Miranda, Diosdado Cabello.

Kauffman along with Franklin Duran and Daniel Albornoz, are the owners of the oil and chemical company Venoco (Venoco was owned by HL Boulton and the Sosa Family who became in bad terms with the government after April 11, 2002, since Pedro Carmona was the President of this company). Venoco, now, is again in very good terms with the Chavista Bolivarian government and is a contratist of PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela).

Kauffman, along with Guido Antonini Wilson, have a armament factory in Croatia and have a lots of armament deals with the Bolivarian government of Venezuela, waaay back then.

Wilson, Duran and Kauffman, like the good rich boys they are, love racing cars and have been seeing around in races in Europe, driving shining and very expensive sports cars (expensive means $ 300,000 Ferraris, ok?).

Wilson, who is linked to Venoco as a partner, although Venoco says no, is also linked to Pedro Guerrero, contact of Armor Holdings in Miami (Armor Holdings, subsidiary of BAE Systems, is in the production and sales of military armament).

Moises Maionica was the man to whom Jorge Rodriguez, actual Vice President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, bought the capta-huellas (fingerprint id) machines for the 2006 electoral process, when he was president of the CNE. As a matter of fact, Moises Maionica was the legal representative of Cogent Systems in Venezuela, the company who made the capta-huellas machines. But the connection with Jorge Rodriguez doesn't end there. There's this talk that he also was the one who bought Jorge Rodriguez his exclusive luxury condominium in Altamira, Caracas (in the same apt building where Carlos Andres Perez used to live). Maionica is also very good pal with Julio Montes, which was a judiciary advisor for the Ministerio de la Vivienda (Housing Department).

Franklin Duran, who according to FT the US authorities had a recored tape in which he is mentioning that the money caught on Antonini Wilson in Buenos Aires "was intended to go to Ms Fernández's presidential campaign" has a website from his company (Ruibal & Duran) and a wikipedia entrance that everybody should see and judge for themselves. (The website of the company looks too Jukt Micronics to me, you know what I mean? This looks like a front company to me. Although, I found out later than Ruibal and Duran is the exclusive representative of Armor Holdings in Venezuela.)

Carlos Kaufman, Moises Maionica and Franklin Duran are in the same crowd (or family if you want to use mafia terms) of the one of Alex Del Nogal, detained in Italy for drug trafficking. Apparently, these guys are involved BIG TIME in money laundering.

My source also puts Maionica, Duran and Kauffmann as the guys who charge commission for depositing money from the state government in the banks. People say that the governor of Anzoátegui is up to his eyeballs in this guiso, as well as Jhonny Yanez Rangel and "ojitos lindos" Diosdado Cabello.

I don't know anything about Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez and Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello (Paciello is the Uruguayan of the party) but I am sure something will soon come out of the surface about this pair. I will keep ya updated.

More about this news, of course in the blog of Miguel and the one of Daniel (who hasn't published about this yet, but surely he will come with a great account of the facts).

One thing is for sure, Chavez is really, really happy that her friend Cristina Kirchner won the elections. Did he helped her to get there? And, why not if he is giving away money like it is Monopoly money.

Note: There is also another Maletagate incident in Bolivia, that didn't create that much of a scandal, but another man was fund with another suitcase full of cash in Bolivia, on board of a military plane who curiously was stoned by an angry mob of Bolivians. Western Hemisphere Policy Watch has an interesting post about it.

Note 2: It is important to mention that Kauffman doesn't belong to the family who owns the Cementerio del Este. It's another Kauffman family who also have a man named Carlos in it. Not the same dude.

Are you having a laugh?

If you don't laugh and roll on the floor watching this video, you don't have sense of humor and you are probably made of wax.



I am very sorry that it is in Spanish. You need to understand the humor of Venezuelans to get this, I think. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I have no idea what it says in German ´cuz ich nein sprechen deutsche.

Thanks to Miguel for the link.

Venezuela, already very deep on the septic tank

And not precisely because of Hugo Chavez´s shitty speech. We are so close to a ´94 Rwanda is not even funny. I am telling you, nothing good will come up if Chavez keeps inciting violent among Venezuelans.

This is the letter signed by the Cardinal Urosa Savino to the archbishop and bishops of Venezuela in reference to a violent attack of anger he suffered in the center of Caracas. A group of violent Chavistas who like to harass any opposition they can spot on, and if it´s a personality like the Cardinal much better, attacked his car when he was exiting the Palacio del Arzobispado in the city of Caracas. He wasn´t hurt physically because he was inside of his car, but only by them hitting the car and verbally insulting the Cardinal.

A TODOS LOS EXCMOS SRES. ARZOBISPOS Y OBISPOS DE VENEZUELA:

Caracas, 7 de diciembre de 2007

Queridos Hermanos:

Reciban un cordialísimo saludo.

Espero estén muy bien.

Quiero informarles que esta tarde, a las 3:20, cuando salía del Palacio, en mi carro con mi chofer, fui violentamente agredido verbal y físicamente, aunque no recibí golpes, pues estos y las patadas se los propinaron al carro (Un Yaris de la Arquidiócesis de Caracas). Fueron unas 15 personas, de las que integran el grupo violento llamado “la esquina caliente”

Salía de la Puerta del Palacio, a mitad de la cuadra, hacia la esquina de Gradillas. Había poco espacio para maniobrar, por los peatones, y carros parados a ambos lados de la calle. Coincidencialmente (¿), en ese momento, un camión nos obstaculizó el paso. Poco a poco, y gracias también al apoyo de dos funcionarios de la Reserva, pudimos llegar a Gradillas. Tardamos unos 7 minutos para hacerlo.

No hubo protección por parte de la Policía de Caracas, apostada a las puertas del Concejo Municipal – al lado del Palacio. He dejado dos mensajes sobre el asunto al Ministro Pedro Carreño, quien no me ha devuelto la llamada.

Gracias a Dios, por esta vez salí incólume. Les informo esto para su conocimiento y gobierno.

Un abrazo. Unión de oraciones. Feliz Navidad.

+Jorge Urosa Savino

Jaime Bayly comments about Hugo Chavez's shitty mierda speech

Part 1


He says he is no Venezuelan but he is ashamed of the President and the military. Me too.

Part 2



This is great. Listen to this.

Hugo Chavez's future death squad members...

"Feathers McGraw, escualida, pa'l paredón!"

Do you think these people will blow my brains away only because I am not a Chavista but a escuálida?(*) It seems that madness is also a collective things inside the Chavismo. Scary, very scary.




(*) Escuálidos, (meaning squalid, filthy, skinny, emaciated) is the derogatory term that Chavistas uses to refer anybody who is against President Chavez.

About blood, human waste and low expectations MoFOs...

"La sangre is the blood of others which has been spilled in this nutjob's pursuit of vanity, la mierda;s the crap that filled the coward's shorts as he was captured hiding in the military museum after his coup failed."

-DBC, who writes on his own blog.

This is a response of this awesome video of micomandante Chavez that Quico picked up and commented about it. Daniel and Miguel have also excellent comments about this video. I wish I have a copy of it with an English translation.

Marianella Salazar has this pretty good interview with Dr. Psychiatrist Francis Delgado Senior, who has plenty of research about President Chavez's Narcissist personality disorder. Sorry, it's in Spanish. Two important things that Dr. Delgado mentions are: One, the personality of a human being is like the color of his eyes, it never changes. And second, this type of ill personality structure generate a visceral rejection from healthy, normal people. Hence, the reaction of horror from us when we see the guy and the lost of temper from the King of Spain, who never did had a hair out of control all along 35 years of public life.

Very important. Note the pathetic and miserables low lives who accompanied Chavez in the video who at the end shout "patria, socialismo o muerte". Don't they look like pathetic small and fluffy lap dogs waiting for whatever their master said to lick him on his mole?

And, the worst of this story, is that the sissies of this video are Venezuela's military High Command.

At the end of the video you can see one of the lap dogs who give his hand to Chavez, and Chavez didn't even looked at him... what does it feel to be ignored like that dude? I only can tell you, bien hecho!, that type of things happen to people who don't respect themselves.

Uffff.... cannot stand men who doesn't behave like one. How disgraceful.

On the same line, DBC, also wrote this grrreat commentary about Mari Pili's totally disgusting demostration of truckling that you ever will see in your entire life. You have to read this.

Hugo Chavez´s democratic varnish falling at the speed of light

The thugs are plotting to disobey the will of the people, in a pure Mugabesque style.

WHAT PART OF "NO" THEY DIDN'T GET?

I knew the beast was gonna attack soon, but didn´t know it was gonna be literally the day after. This man doesn´t respect the will of the citizens of Venezuelans.

All the sectors of the society worked on getting a peaceful solution, but seems that Chavismo, who doesn´t have people anymore, don´t understand.

If this thugs want to continue with the reform plan, who was told to shut up and down apparently by far more points ahead (also here, here, here and here) that the results who the Chavista electoral council gave on Monday morning, then Venezuela will be at the edge of a civil war because of the totalitarian madness of this man in a NY second.

Why Venezuelans Turned on Chavez

"The majority here will vote No," 51-year-old Maria Negrin said after voting in Petare on Sunday morning. "I don't agree with giving all the power to the president." Others said they wanted to vote against Chavez's proposal, but felt obligated to vote "Yes" because they benefited from government social programs.

Poor voters unhappy with the proposed constitutional overhaul said they were more troubled about measures to abolish presidential term limits and facilitate state expropriation of private property than they were enthused by articles that could benefit the poor, such as social security for informal workers and popular participation in government. That begs the question: did Chavez sacrifice measures that could have helped the poor because he insisted on a political power grab?

(...)

Both Chavez supporters and opponents said in interviews before the vote that they didn't believe the No vote had a chance. Despite that atmosphere, and a persistent opposition conviction that the results could be fraudulent, the nascent student movement helped galvanize many detractors to vote. When students took to the streets to protest the forced shutdown of the opposition-aligned television station Radio Caracas Television earlier this year, the country had all but forgotten that the universities were one of the very few sectors of society left that was not yet controlled by the government. On that occasion, young people staged their largest protests after the TV station had already gone off the air. But this time around, they hit the streets in advance of the referendum, leading tens of thousands to protest in Caracas and thousands more in other cities throughout the month of November.

Indeed, some of Venezuela's poor hit the streets this week for student-led protests rather than pro-Chavez rallies. Luis Escobar grew up in Plan de Manzano, a poor clutter of homes that hang precariously from a hill along an old highway connecting Caracas with the Caribbean coast. He studies telecommunications at UNEFA, a university run by the Armed Forces that often drapes an enormous poster of Chavez over its main building. "People say UNEFA is 100% chavista, but that's not the reality," Escobar said. He attended the opposition's final march on Thursday sporting a university shirt, defying possible reprisals from school directors. "Many friends of mine told me not to put on the shirt because I was already threatened, because they could throw me out of the university," he said at the rally. "They're not going to tie me down or inculcate me with something I don't agree with."

The electoral defeat may indeed slow the president down, but he and his allies still have wide-reaching powers that include control over the legislature, the judiciary, the state oil company and nearly every state government. The students say they know their battle is far from over. "The student movement has said that December 2 isn't an end date," Ricardo Sanchez, a student leader at Venezuela's Central University, said on Sunday at opposition headquarters. "On the contrary, it's a beginning. It's a beginning point for the good things that can be coming for this country."

Jans Eric Gould
By JENS ERIK GOULD/CARACAS for Time.com

Chavez down

Photo via Noticias 24

Ommmmmmmm, ommmmmmm, ommmmmmmmmmmmm....

Visualise and you will get it, my dear little grasshopers...

The big inflatable toy is an image of Chavez, down, finished on his own terrain... :D

Too bad I don't know how to make a good papaya confit these days... I would have enjoyed it for sure... hmmm, maybe not as much as this picture.

One battle has been won, but not the war

Cartoon via Megaresistencia. The road is long... and arid...

"We have victory - a remarkable and definite victory...Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning"

- Winston Churchill

As any task one commit to accomplish in life, a diet to lose weight, a professional degree, get the job or your dreams or to win someone's heart, there will be many battles to fight in order to win the war.

Yesterday, the opposition against Chavez won a very important victory. Why this is very important?

Because Chavismo realized they have lost a lot of popular support, and they couldn't carry on what they had in mind. Yes, a lot of Chavistas voted for the NO too and that helped the opposition to win, but that is also a defeat for Chavismo too, even if the voters keep calling themselves "Chavistas", maybe they are not in tune with Chavismo any longer, you know what I mean?. Also, a big chunk of Chavez supporters, the poorest of the poor, the people from the Barrio abstained to vote. Why? Could it be they are tired of so many empty promises?

What the opposition and in my opinion any citizen of Venezuelan need to focus now, is two things. First of all, realized that we were very close to be imposed a totalitarian constitution in our heads, and we also were at the edge of a civil war because of the madness of one. And, secondly, how we can implement a electoral council that can be transparent and trustworthy for all Venezuelans, regardless of their political ideas. The CNE is managed in his totality by Chavista partisans, and if we want clear elections and not a civil war, then we have to work on to clean it from partisans. This is the only way if we want to avoid violence in the country.

What happened yesterday wasn't a clean process whatsoever.

There are some points in this electoral process that I have noticed that are not satisfying at all. Moreover, that suggest that the CNE was into committing a fraud with the results, and they could't make it for the SI to win:



1) The results are not what they were expected. As you can see in this graph, made by fellow blogger Quico, you can see that the percentage of the NO was much higher according to the polls. It wasn't at all a photographic finish like Mr. Chavez was babbling yesterday in his conceit speech. Not at all.

2) International observers were taken their credentials out, like Mr. Jorge Quiroga, ex-President from Bolivia. Since he broke some "rules" from the CNE saying that he was invited from the No people. Oh too much partiality uh? But, when the Chavista partisans brake the rules with impunity, it's not a problem at all.

3) In the same line of Chavista partiality from the electoral council, the Partido Popular from Spain had made very important comments about it. Also, Luis Herrero, an Euro-representative from this party, said that Chavez manipulated the results for 4 hours before given the preliminary results, to accommodate a much softer defeat than the real one.

4) The delayed results and the impossibility of the representatives from the NO to inspect and observe the totalization room. The military stopped them to enter that room where the computers were tallying the results. This people had credentials to access any of the electoral council premises. As I was hearing it yesterday live on the radio:

"I am keep listening to the news. The agreement of total access to the representatives of the NO block from the electoral council (CNE), hasn't been met. There is a live discussion that I am listening live on radio right now, with this representative from the NO, and Col. Antonio Benavides Torres, who is the militar in charge of protecting the electoral council (CNE). This militar is preventing the representatives of the NO to enter the totalization room."

How come was that possible? What happened in there? We want to to know. We have the right to know.

The problem for Chavismo were two. One, the student movement. The Chavismo knew if they dared to give the SI a victory, as they had planned, they were gonna spark the student movement to move on and they wouldn't be able to stop them. My feeling is that part of the military would follow up too all along with the students. That would have been the end for Hugo. Por ahora, he avoided not going down the hill so fast. But, this is the beginning of the end IF the opposition, the political parties against Chavez, etc, capitalize this win for them and not let Hugo use it for his political sake, as he has done very successfully in the past.

Behind Chavez's Defeat in Venezuela

"Chavez had predicted that he would win the Dec. 2 vote by up to 20 percentage points and promised to step down if he lost. He also threatened to cut off oil to the U.S. if Washington interfered in the vote. He didn't comment on either pledge during the press conference on Dec. 3."

- Peter Wilson from Business Week.

CHAVEZ LOST

Question 1:

NO: 50.7 %

SI: 49.29%

Question 2:

NO: 51.05%

SI: 48.94%

44.11% Abstention.

Chavez is gonna speak right now. Will he conceit?

Ok, here we go.... Chavez starts talking. He said this was a photographic finish. HA!

Then, he is congratulating the thugs of the electoral council (CNE) that minutes ago didn't let the representatives of the opposition entering the computer totalization room. He is having the fresh face to say that this was a clear process. He is asking for confidence in the process.

No way! Confidence in a Chavista institution?

He is congratulating now about the people who won, the NO people. And he is telling them that elections is "the road". Get out. Isn't this the man who gave a coup to democracy in 1992?

He said that he had a dilemma, really? He is asking for the people to understand his heart. How ridiculous.

So far... he has talk for other 10 min and hasn't said anything worthy...

People are applauding the great hero Hugo now. Discounting.

Oh no, here we go, he, after congratulate the NO people said that this was a victoria pírrica (pyrrhic victory). And now, of course, the battle speech. He said por ahora he didn't make it. An people have the balls to applaud that commentary.

He said that he could not accept the results but oh how magnanimous!, he has descended from the Olympus he live in to say that he is accepting this minimum victory. Sigh... I wonder is he believes all the bullshit he speaks. I bet the NO won by much more points and he was advised to conceit because the majority of the Venezuelans voted for the NO and if this CNE didn't give the results that the NO won, there were gonna be a lot of bad things happening tonite.

They are scared of Yon Goicochea and the student movement... This is the beginning of the end people. Hugo doesn't have people anymore! He is alone and naked. This is no time for the opposition to be caught off guard.

Well... I am tired to hear this man... will update a little later, or tomorrow.

Today Venezuelans cannot go to bed!

"Those who vote NO are doing a favor to George W. Bush. Our real opponent, our real enemy is the US Empire. On Sunday we are going to deal another knockout blow to the American imperialism. Nobody should forget that it is the backdrop of the battle."

- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez

Well folks, today is the day. If Venezuelans go to bed and don't defend their votes, anyway they can (Art. 350)... then, this is it. Hugo Chavez will take over the country "democratically" (but illegaly) thanks to this electoral process.

I am hearing the news on the Venezuelan radio over the Internet, and they are interviewing somebody from the NO block, and he says that 82% has been tallied and that he is happy with the results. But he said he cannot said anything because the electoral council (CNE) is the one who needs to speak right now.

Apparently, the news is that NO won. But, I must insist, if people go to bed tonite and don't stay alert, then tomorrow they will face a very sad day.

I, personally, didn't go to vote. I live very far away from my voting poll and if you read this blog often, you already have listened and probably must feel very tired of reading my point of view on why I wasn't gonna go to vote today. However, I have been very worried about this process, and what will be happening in Venezuela today. I was kind of very stressed and nervous all day long, so I decided to go to the movies to see "The Mist", great movie by the way. Now, I am glued to the computer trying to give an update in English to all the readers who like to visit my blog.

Other important news, following the antisemitic behavior of the Chavista regime, on a very important news that happened today, Gustavo Coronel reported that the "Hebraica" Jewish school was raid by the Chavista police due to a "tip"". Could this be related to Mario Silva's antisemitic campaign against the Jews? This is the second time that the Chavista police have raid this school.

Also, General Baduel suffered and attempt of murder.

And, in reference to the electoral process the Partido Popular party of Spain complained about the lack of neutrality of the electoral council (CNE).

TODAY, everybody needs to stay in their polls and defend their vote!!!!!!!

I am leaving for a moment while Manuel Rosales is talking paja on the radio... will come back again for updates. I am not going to bed tonite, for sure.

UPDATE:

Important news, I am listening to live Venezuelan radio on the Internet. 11:30 PM in Venezuela, and the CNE haven't spoke yet with any official result, not even one. However, the pro-Chavista news media Al-Jazeera has already given the results in the link of this news "Chavez wins venezuela's referendum": The news linked, however, doesn't have the same title, "Venezuela vote 'too close to call". Why they put this title? Do they know something that nobody knows in Venezuela at this moment? Hmmm...

This is the screen shot I captured tonite 7:34 pm PST, (11:34 pm Venezuelan time), no official reports from the electoral council yet, however note the title that Al Jazeera used to post their news:



Also, Skynews is already reporting that Chavez won:

"Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez is reported to have a won a referendum allowing him to seek re-election indefinitely."

Who is feeding then this news?

I insist, no official report from the Venezuelan electoral council (CNE) yet. This is what Reuters is saying:

"Three government ministers earlier said that exit polls and early counts by party members showed Chavez winning by between 6 and 8 percentage points, but government officials said that lead had narrowed."

Andres Velázquez picked on this Reuter news and totally discredited.

UPDATE 2:

Caracas, 1 am Dec 3. No official results yet. Not even a preliminary one. Apparently, voting manually is more fast and effective, how come this is possible? They have to know the results. It's 1 am in the morning of the next day. C'mon, are you gonna tell me that the thugs don't know any results? Enrique Marquez, a representive of the NO block, was enraged giving a declaration on the radio saying that THEY WERE DENIED ENTRANCE OF THE TOTALIZATION ROOM. NOBODY KNOWS WHAT'S HAPPENING INSIDE.

To me, this sounds that once again the Chavismo is trying to cook the results.

Time for 350. Venezuelans, don't want for a call from nobody. This is the time to defend your vote.

I am keep listening to the news. The agreement of total access to the representatives of the NO block from the electoral council (CNE), hasn't been met. There is a live discussion that I am listening live on radio right now, with this representative from the NO, and Col. Antonio Benavides Torres, who is the militar in charge of protecting the electoral council (CNE). This militar is preventing the representatives of the NO to enter the totalization room.

UPDATE 3:

Tibisay Lucena is talking right now. First Bulletin. Dec 3, 1:15 am. She is talking a lot of paja instead of giving the results.

She is asking to respect the results. Let's see...

Question 1:

NO: 50.7 %

SI: 49.29%

Question 2:

NO: 51.05%

SI: 48.94%

44.11% Abstention.

BULLSHIT. I am sure the NO won by far more points ahead.