Venezuela and the Chavez Legacy

Jailed Venezuelan opposition leader charged with inciting violence.

As usual the Guardian comments section is full of "The US is to blame for destabilizing a democratically elected government." I guess they learned a lot from the Putin-bots.

They're probably real, tbh. There's a lot of lefty people who think Chavismo is the best thing since sliced bread.

Spain halts export of riot gear to Venezuela, Maduro goes apeshit. Backhandedly calls for Catalan separatism.

How do I diplomacy?

More like: "'Diplomacy'? Where do I find that in the dictionary, again?".

Venezuelan TV journalist abducted in Caracas.

...and the Guardian have an interview with Maduro. The protests are apparently a US plot to take Venezuela's oil.

edited 8th Apr '14 8:10:03 AM by Achaemenid

That's some editing they've must done to make Maduro sound almost intelligent in that article.

Though seriously, crime is getting worse and worse here.

So, this guy here from the PSUV (couldn't find an english article, sorry), says that the new motto of the "chavistas" should be "With unemployment and hunger, with Chavez I stay". I'm no making this up.

It's really irritating that those bastards can say whatever the hell they want without any comeuppance at all

This debate... Damn. The guy who spoke pure economics and numbers was just golden.

You're talking about Omar Barboza right? I agree, the fact that he put Rafael Ramirez in his place after he said that the economic model they were using was strong, using only BCV data to boot, was pure gold.

Ramos Allup was excellent too, telling every way the goverment had violated the constitution.

And I must say that, with some exceptions, the goverment where weak in this debate, the lowest point being that Tupamaro representative saying that Maduro should recieve a Nobel Price of Peace

I loved Allup's intervention, too, as well as Simón Calzadilla's (and Blanca Eekhout's for the wrong reasons), although it bothers me that nobody talked about state terrorism, and only mentioned repression and paramilitarism in passing.

It also showcases that officialists are stuck in the past.

Edit: Ah, right, Calzadilla did touch on paramilitarism. Not as throughout and firmly as I'd have liked, but it's something.

edited 13th Apr '14 1:59:30 AM by stormtroper

So, this guy here from the PSUV (couldn't find an english article, sorry), says that the new motto of the "chavistas" should be "With unemployment and hunger, with Chavez I stay". I'm no making this up.

Is this really new? 'Con hambre y sin empleo, con Chavez me resteo' was a longtime slogan during Chavez's period.

Well, aparrently is somewhat old, but until now I didn't know or hear about it, which is no surprise as that motto is incredibly stupid with unfortunate Implications. But my point was showing how cynicals these people are.

Prisons in Venezuela. A small documentary on a prison in Margarita and the general situation of how drug lords run them completely like a luxury hotel.

[Patria Intensifies]

edited 22nd Apr '14 7:20:52 PM by daltar

Chavez appeared in the new Captain America movie.

Wow, are chavistas and Ultimas Noticias that desperate?

Now Maduro will comment on it, and it will be embarrasing.

Every time he speaks is embarassing, so what's the difference?

So what now? The situation we're in is so ambigous that I can't tell what is the plan of the opposition with the protests and debate, if they had one to begin with, when the goverment haven't seen to much affected by it.

And now the right to protest is being attacked. In order to make any kind of protest it must first be presented and allowed by the Government...?

There's no plan. The solution is to get a plan.

(Easier said than done.)

Welp, that would explain why it feels that we haven't acomplished anything. At least Maria Corina Machado is avancing in whatever she 's trying to do.

The goverment is trying to introduce socialist indoctrination in public and private education. The amount of pro-goverment content in those books are high, the way Chavez is portrayed there is almost on par with Kim Il-sung (Sadly, I'm not joking, they dared to say that Simon Bolivar was only a precursor for Venezuela liberty, and that Chavez was the one who acomplished said task). As for educational cuality? When you express coitus interruptus as a eficient birth control method (disgustingly ilustrated, with the penis ejaculating and everything), well, make your own conclusions. (I hope this isn't the goverment pre-dealing with a posible future shortage of condoms, or we will be seriously fucked).

Maybe this is why they attacked the right to protest, so that they can implement this under the table. I honestly hope they don't get away with this.

edited 26th Apr '14 2:48:07 PM by eligram

I wouldn't say we haven't accomplished anything: awareness raising, education on non-violent conflict, the forming of civil resistance groups, the looming sanctions for boligarchs, miscellaneous. And hey, it's just starting.

As for a plan, on CEDICE Libertad's recent (and very interesting) conference María Corina mentioned the closest thing to a roadmap I've heard of:

• The consciousness raising stuff I mentioned above.
• Articulation between resistance groups and sectors of society.
  • Recomposition of public powers.
  • Liberation of political prisoners.
  • Raise awareness about viable alternatives to the PSUV.
• Transition.
  • National reconciliation.
  • Purging the armed forces.
• Democratic profit.

Ehh, it's not very clear to me, but I guess it's something.

They killed Eliecer Otaiza.

Who are they?

Who knows? If I knew, I'd have been more specific.

He used to be director of the Disip, now Sebin, an ally of the government and currently councilor of the Libertador district.

Apparently he was stopped by one of the roving bands of young criminals called 'Los Menores' forced out of his car, beaten, stripped naked, shot four times and then thrown off a cliff. They took his laptop, car, gun, clothes, money and cellphone.

Fairly standard procedure to say the truth, it's common knowledge that going through the highway at night is putting yourself in danger to be assaulted by these bands of modern 'highwaymen'.

According to the rumor mill he was probably killed because of PSUV mafia dealings.

(I didn't know who he was before all this. Was he that shady?)

Edit: On second thought, being a former DISIP director should answer that question.

edited 1st May '14 5:26:06 PM by stormtroper

Was he that unknown? He had made a quite infamous name for himself back when he was in that moto crash where his young companion died. There was quite a ruckus over it for... a couple weeks or so.