The revolution will not be televised [exhibit 167]
By Aleksander Boyd
London 22.07.05 | For those of us who follow the events in and about Venezuela, this week has been remarkable. It started last Sunday with the statements of Cardinal Castillo Lara. The reaction of Hugo Chavez was swift, the failed coupster took it upon himself and lashed out at Castillo Lara to the utmost excitement of the sycophantic motley crew forced to watch, and laugh, every stupidity that comes out of the presidential mouth.
Cardinal Castillo Lara, according to late Pope John Paul II a honourable man, did reply to Chavez's remarks, very appropriately I should add, by saying something along the lines of "one does not respond to the utterances of incoherent people..." I think Chavez's ego is effectively bigger than his filthy mouth, for the man seems to be convinced that, us Venezuelan citizens, have lost the right to criticise him and his plan to cede our country to Fidel Castro, furthermore he must have forgotten, along the revolutionary path, that he is nothing but a civil servant. In any case I consider accurate and indeed pertinent the statements of Castillo Lara.
Then the circus moved to Quito, where Chavez was appointed as president of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN). Now I do not know what sort of consensus was reached amongst the presidents of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to have decided that Chavez, a man that has not been able to implement a coherent economic plan in his own nation after nearly 7 years in office, merits the presidency of the CAN. Nonetheless I am convinced that the offer of the creation of PetroAndina, yet another 'social mission' of international scope whereby Chavez wants to get "political will" -Chavez's dictum- in exchange for preferential oil prices, must have paved the way. In typical LatAm fashion everyone and its sister are out to see how to profit from the largesse of the Venezuelan pariah.
Opportunities to rant about the chavista revolution are not to be missed, hence Venezuela's misinformation minister arranged for a Chavez interview with Raul Vargas in Radio Programas del Peru. I must stress that in this programme -a jewel in my opinion- one can listen , from the horse's mouth, what sort of regional expectations Chavez has got and more importantly how his actions are perceived in the Andes.
Coming back to the Liberator's land, during the launch of another 'social mission' (the endogenous transformation of barrios), our featured star gave some startling declarations from Miraflores. In this instance it is worth mentioning two factors, for those who think that separation of powers, independence of institutions and presidential mental sanity still exist in Venezuela: speaking about illegal invasions that have taken place whilst property owners are on holydays Chavez commented;
...entonces me dijo Jessy "no que hay un señor por alli que, que es el que esta..." le dije bueno metelo preso. "¿Que anda con boina roja?" Metelo preso dos veces...
...and then Jessy [Interior and Justice minister] told me "there's a man out there that, that is the one... I said [to Jessy] throw him in jail. "that he's wearing a red beret [allegoric of chavistas]?" Jail him twice...
Sorry, I can't picture Tony Blair declaring from No. 10 that Charles Clarke is requestion his permission to imprison some illegal labour squatters... But as customary it got only better, for then Chavez started talking about housing; without compunctions he declared:
...si en dos semanas no llegan los recursos, tranquen la carretera...
... should funds -earmarked for building housing units in slums- not arrive in two weeks, block the road...
Chavez's speech took place in Salon Ayacucho, which was full of community leaders that normally make good Chavez's words. Is blocking roads the standard manner in which the leader of a democratic nation, where the rule of law is meant to be upheld and abided by, tells his supporters to deal with bureaucratic inefficiency? It seems that Chavez sees violence as the solution to every problem, does that surprise anyone? Not me... He emphasized that he's the leader "yo soy el lider..." [sic] sounds like Julius Caesar doesn't it?
To conclude the commentary I would like to express, yet again, my utmost admiration for the people of London. Londoners of all races, creeds and political ideologies stand resolute to keep on with their lives and defeat terrorism. The statesmanship and demeanour of Tony Blair has produced a positive consensus, across the political divide, vis-a-vis terrorism, its causes and the need to root it out. Tough times ahead for the Castro-Chavez marriage and the 'revolutionary' offsprings.
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