Slow Erosion of Civil Rights in Venezuela

What to think of Hugo Chavez? Dangerous counter-revolutionary or harmless clown prone to overstated histrionics?

While the Bush administration has 'taken him seriously' over the last few years (about the the only thing they pay attention to in Latin America at the moment), my gut has always told me that even though he has managed to consolidate a enormous amount of power in Venezuela, he doesn't have the guts or the will to become a real dictator in the sense of Pinochet or Castro (i.e. he won't murder and torture to get what he wants). Again, this is just my gut feeling, and hopefully once oil prices stabilize, his bottomless pool of petro-cash dries up and his 'allies' realize he is full of shit, he will be seen as the buffoon he is.

That is what I used to think, but recent events have me thinking that his borderline dictatorial actions have now crossed over that proverbial line. The elections are less than a month away, and in the face of the toughest challenge yet to his presidency, Chavez has ramped up the intimidation and dirty play to new levels.

First is Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez recently threatening PDVSA employees with termination for opposing Chavez, which is clearly Chavez-approved political intimidation. To boot, this act was caught on videotape. Surprising? Not really, but what was shocking was that no one from Chavismo even tried to make an excuse for it. Like this behavior is now so pervasive among the Rojistas that they don't even try to downplay it.

Second, the Venezuelan Guardia Nacional has banned private television stations from having access to their microwave relay station in Caracas. The stations must submit a request 24 hours previous to the time of use. This effectively prevents Venezuelan private media (which is staunchly anti-Chavez) from broadcasting live events such as thousands and thousands of opposition supporters marching through Caracas. Again, this ban does not apply to government-controlled media, just private stations. Violation of free speech not to mention a gross abuse of government resources to influence an election campaign

Lastly, Chavez has 'recruited' workers at the Caracas Metro to essentially be spies looking for any sort of "sabotage" on the Metro in the weeks leading up to the 3 December elections. There are 5000 employees of the Metro. Are we assuming they all naturally support Chavez? Well, they do now I guess. Either that or lose their jobs.

Anyway, it seems that while Chavez' early tactics at erosion of democracy were more subtle (he very cleverly passed Constitution reforms that consolidated his own political power, using democratic referendums as the vehicle), he has now resorted to blatant bullying and intimidation, not even trying to make excuses for it.

Maybe he's dropped the whole 'democracy' guise altogether. Or maybe he's just scared that his opponent, Zulia Governor Manuel Rosales, is building a formidable support base. This may be the best shot to defeat Chavez since he took office in 1998. If Chavez wins, however, then look for further power consolidation. He will try and extend his mandate indefinitely, erasing term limits for the executive post.

Thus, his intimidation tactics should not be surprising. Just scary. And a bad omen for what Venezuela could be in store for the next 20-30 years if he manages to win on December 3.

Wanna Do Business in Latin America?

The World Bank recently put out rankings of nations who have made pro-business reforms. The results from a Latin American standpoint were surprising. Overall, seven countries jumped in the rankings and twelve fell. Mexico, Peru and Guatemala were among the top ten, with Mexico coming in third. On the ass-end of the scale, Venezuela took a hard dive, and now is 164th out of 175 countries.

What does this mean? Well, from a logical standpoint, developing countries should try and encourage the formation of new businesses. Entrepreneurship is a fantastic way to decrease poverty and create jobs. Governments should encourage this phenomenon by limiting the number of steps it takes to actually get a business up and running. Less permits, less time waiting in lines, less ministries to visit...all leads to lower start-up costs. Here are the criteria set forth by the World Bank as the "key steps" to successful reform:

1. Start simple and consider administrative reforms that don’t need legislative changes.
2. Cut unnecessary procedures, reducing the number of bureaucrats entrepreneurs interact with.
3. Introduce standard application forms and publish as much regulatory information as possible.
4. Improving how regulations are administered by using the Internet.

By these standards, El Salvador was one of the few countries worldwide to successfully implement all four steps. Venezuela has actually regressed, due to a repressive business climate imposed by the Chavez regime and an utter lack of transparency. By blurring the lines between public and private sector, Chavez has chased off both domestic and foreign business opportunities. This is completely ridiculous, given the insane oil revenues that Venezuela generates at the moment. The scary part is that (despite "official" government proclamations) poverty and crime in Venezuela are getting much worse. Imagine what will happen if and when oil revenues drop back down to reasonable levels. This country will face an unseen social disaster that it is ill-equipped to handle. For the good of all its citizens, just hope that some miracle allows for free and fair elections in December, and that Chavez is booted out on his ass...

Lesbian Barbies

Those fascists at Mattel are at it again, this time threatening to sue a Brazilian artist for her 'improper use' of Barbies in an exposition in Curitiba, Brazil, entitled Bárbaras Garotas. Various models of Barbie were arranged by the artist, Karin Schwarz, into erotic poses, then photographed. She then digitally enhanced the imagery using various filters, colors, etc. Check out all the photos here.

While I am too lazy to go out and research this, it seems to me that Mattel has unleashed the Barbie Gestapo on artists before. Just give it up! I mean, who hasn't arranged Barbies into erotic poses? Isn't that what you are supposed to do with them once you hit puberty? I suppose Mattel wants to maintain the wholesome image of its number one product, but honestly, Barbie has been sexualized for decades...it's a right of passage for a young lad, stripping off Barbie's clothes to get a peek at what lies beneath...

This artist is merely taking this common convention and putting in on display for all of us to look at and go, "I remember that pose!" or perhaps, "Wow, I never knew Barbie was so flexible!".

Anyway, I fully support the continued exhibition of Bárbaras Garotas, and plan to see it when its global tour hits Omaha (...umm...right).

A Different Kind of Border Issue

Ever since 9/11, the Bush administration has been actively trying to link the Tri-Border region (where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet) with Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. The claim is that this historically lawless region of South America is used by groups like Hamas or Hezbollah as a cash cow, funding their terrorist operations in other parts of the world. The area is a haven for drug smuggling, money-laundering, pirated CDs/DVDs etc; it also has a vibrant Arab population made up of Lebanese, Palestinians, Egyptians and others that have been established there for more than 40 years. None of this adds up to proof that any terrorist cell operates here on a large scale. This, however, has not stopped the USG from leaning heavily on the three Southern Cone nations to do something about the "terrorist threat".

Last year, Paraguay allowed us to set up camp at Base Mariscal Estigarribia and train their troops in anti-terrorism threats. This was done despite vehement opposition from local NGOs and labor unions, who believe the U.S. is only interested in taking control of the Guarani Aquifer, the world's third largest source of freshwater. Frankly, this concern is puzzling to me. While I realize that modern means of transport have become increasingly efficient as well as complex, it doesn't make sense that we would want "control" of an aquifer for our own consumption purposes if said aquifer is thousands of miles away. What are we going to do, build a water pipeline between Paraguay and the U.S.? Maybe I'm just not as familiar with the logistics of moving potable water across oceans, so if someone else has any better insight into it, please feel free to set me straight...

Anyways, U.S. pressure over terrorism concerns in the Tri-Border region have compelled Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay to form a Regional Intelligence Center in order to monitor any possible terrorist activity. The Center will be located in Brazil, in the town of Foz do Iguaçu, home of some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The goal of this taskforce is not exactly clear; if they are trying to find corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, etc., then they are looking in the right place. The region, especially on the Paraguay side of the border, is essentially a zone of no rules or regulations as well as porous borders. However, this is well-established and has been known to the governments of all three nations for years. If it is an established presence of a Middle Eastern terrorist group they are looking for, then this may be harder to come by.

It is odd that Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay agreed to this arrangement, considering how recticent these nations have become to support any U.S. economic initiative for the region as of late...

BTW, the Tri-Border region is prominently featured in the recent Miami Vice movie, which I highly recommend. It does have its share of cheesiness, but the film is beautifully shot and the story is actually very compelling. Overall, it's not your pastel T-shirts and boat-shoes MV of the 80s...just a solid action flick that actually makes you pay attention and engage in the plot, not be spoon-fed the details like an idiot via mindless dialogue or dull background rehashes....

Mr. Danger

If you're ever bored and have an extra, oh say...6 hours of free time, then check out Hugo Chavez' Alo Presidente, his talk show that airs every week or two (or whenever he feels like it). They literally last 6 or 8 hours, but luckily there are those who sift through these epic, Castro-like diatribes and pull out the interesting parts.

One particularly entertaining episode occurred a few months back, (on a cattle farm somewhere in the interior of the country of all places) when Hugo went off on George Bush, calling him a donkey, an alcoholic and a mass murderer among other things. He even throws in a little English to spice things up.

All humor aside, these type of episodes reinforce my opinion that Chavez is not as serious a threat to regional stability as the USG makes him out to be. His influence seems to be waning, evidenced by the 'anti-Chavez' effect in last spring's Peruvian elections, and with the Venezuelan opposition finally getting its act together in the run-up to December's presidential elections, he may have to concentrate on domestic issues for the next few months instead of jetting off to Havana to dry hump Castro every other week...

I guess Charmin is somehow circumventing the embargo...

From the highly reputable Unión de Trabajadores de Prensa de Buenos Aires:

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Funny how I never got around to seeing this documentary about the April 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela before now. I remember it showing at the Ken in San Diego a couple years back, and I vaguely recall someone mentioning that it was slightly biased...HA! To the filmmakers' credit, they almost manage to show Chavez in a sympathetic light, but the leftist slant is way too apparent in this. In fact, the film website gives a timeline of US involvement in Latin America, and actually notes that the USG was in part responsible for the coup, as if this were an irrefutable fact.

In any case, if you haven't seen it, it's a very interesting perspective on the events that occurred around that period of time. The cameras had fairly exclusive access to certain meetings that took place during the street protests, the violence, and the ensuing removal of Chavez from power. The subsequent and triumphant return of Chavez less than 3 days later is heralded, but what is ignored is the bumbling idiocy of the opposition, who never really got organized and ultimately blew a golden opportunity to restore some sense of sanity to the nation...

Coincidentally, one of the main plotters of the April coup apparently bribed his way out of prison the other day... good to see Chavez has cleaned up the corruption down there!!

Welcome/Bienvenidos/Bem-Vindo

Wow, the blogosphere is massive and unruly! It takes some serious dedication and more than a casual interest in the world of blogs to really stay on top of things. I am simultaneously amazed and overwhelmed, and perhaps a bit intimidated to jump into it myself...(hell, it's been at least 10 years since I even kept a personal journal....)

Anyway, I would like to give this site an overall theme, but I hesitate because I know I will most likely veer off into all sorts of areas unrelated to a central topic....BUT....the main focus will at least attempt to be Latin American politics and general events in the Southern/Western hemisphere of the globe.

The title? Well, for now that is all I could come up with. I feel it represents a certain duality in how we as humans can never really follow a clear and central path....bla bla bla....it's actually the name of the street I lived on in Caracas. That sounded infinitely better than calling the blog "Golfside Drive", "4th Avenue", "113th Court", or "Rua Antonio Clemente" ( actually never lived on that last one...in-laws' address!!)

So, I guess I'll try and get out and advertise this thing...not really sure how to go about doing that quite yet. It's all new for now.