The Copa America has been another great opportunity to observe how chavismo, or at least its higher exponents, think that country belongs to them to do as they please.
His vulgar violent highness, Juan Barreto, mayor at large of Caracas
During the Saturday game where Mexico won the third place of the Copa America, there was a strange incident in the benches. The mayor at large of Caracas, Juan Barreto, was attending the game, his right certainly, For some reason he got into a scuffle with one of the people also attending the game, Marco Carillo, a faculty at the Catholic University. It is not clear why the scuffle started except that Barreto decided that he wanted to get the baseball cap that Carillo wore. This all in the middle of the crowd watching the game, in front of someone holding his child in his arms.
Now, whatever happened, someone holding a video camera filmed the whole scene and we can clearly see the different steps of the scuffle. Globovision showed everything, picture by picture, there is not much doubt possible.
Barreto lounges ahead. Barreto tries to grab the cap. Carillo stands backs and is forced against the handlebar. The military police arrives and tries to pull Barreto away. Barreto "crowd" arrives to help Barreto and attacks Carillo (the mayor said later they were "not his body guards, just sympathizers that support my management of the city", or something like that; I kid you not). One of the "friends" of Barreto hits Carillo as the Military police tries to stop everything. Another group of three "sympathizers" climbs on the outside of the handlebar to attack Carillo, one of them is seen having a gun on his belt, something hat was absolutely forbidden in the stadium or the grounds of the UCV campus where the stadium is located. And to top it off, the police of Barreto, la Metropolitana, tries to expel Carillo of the stadium but the crowd and the Military Police block their action.
Astounding! Barreto broke enough rules Saturday to be impeached fast by any serious municipal council. At the very least Barreto should be investigated. Yet, nothing will happen even though Barreto has been shown as the liar and violent he is, something that has been evidenced many times in his past and troubled/ing life.
But perhaps the very best is that he said more or less that it was thank to his actions that the stadium was renovated and that the people should be grateful. As if it were from his pocket money and not from tax payer money; as if it were not his duty to maintain sports installation in the city; as if his actions had been that good since the delays cost Caracas to lose one of the originally games scheduled to take place in Caracas. The psychotic dissociation of Barreto and his all out violence are truly deserving of investigation before he comes to kill someone with his own hands. Barreto is dangerous.
Meanwhile, for much less than Barreto a few students barely escape jail
Miguel reported on another "scuffle" that happened OUTSIDE of the stadium. Some students were passing fliers, something that happens in any stadium with any big game in any civilized country of the world. Well, they were arrested, got freed only because of public outrage and now are subjected to a judicial regime where they must present themselves to some tribunal every week. They also got a warning as not doing anymore what they were doing. This way we can assume that a new judicial "precedent" has been established and thus giving fliers at a stadium door might become a major crime.
So, these 4 kids, giving fliers met justice but Barreto who actually broke real laws might be steaming but does so in total freedom.
Besides, while an uncounted number of "security personnel" was used to arrest four dangerous students I am pretty sure that within a 2 miles radius of the place people were robbed, were murdered. How many people did die in Caracas of violent murder the last week end? 10? 20? As much as an average Iraq car bomb? But of course chavismo higher luminaries do not worry about crime. They are either robbing themselves public moneys or are accompanied by thugs, ooops!, I mean bodyguards everywhere like Barreto. He was with at least 4 "sympathizers", one of them at least with a gun.
By the way, the students were charged with "incitation to hatred". Barreto showed true hatred. But I suppose that practicing hate is not a crime in the bolivarian revolution; inciting it, yes. I suppose that if you are stupid enough to incite hate while not practicing it, then you deserve to be punished.
-The end-