The video below shows toward the end the moment when he called the opposition victory of Sunday "mierda", shit, feces, but much harsher. See, in the US you can, for example, forget your presentation at home and when you reach work a loud "shit!" is allowed and understood as you have 45 minutes left to race back home and get your presentation before your clients arrive. It also works pretty much the same way in France with "merde!". But in Venezuela it does not work. "Mierda" is a very strong word, we prefer to use "¡Coño!", a word which translation in the US would not pass at all. It is a cultural matter, so to speak. I have got on occasion in trouble because my French background and my decade an a half in the US have desensitized me some to the scatological expression. When I came back to Venezuela I raised a few eyebrows.
Thus when the president of Venezuela uses at noon time on VTV a word that no network can show before midnight without a *bleeep* under serious penalty as for the Gag Law, you know that a new low has been reached. You know that Chavez is not accepting the Sunday electoral result. You know he will seek revenge. You know he is not a democrat. You know that deep inside he is just a fascist lout from the barracks.
The first mierda is at 56 seconds and you can hear three more later. You can hear clearly at 1:22 "Es una victoria de mierda" which I trust the reader does not need translation with that.
The scene is a staged moment where Chavez appears with all of his army chiefs to prove, I suppose, I was at work could not watch, that he is in control of the armed forces and that the article of Hernan Lugo-Galicia in El Nacional which made so much ink flow since its publication is a lie. You can read the account in the Queen's English at the Herald Tribune, from where I took the polite quote for the title of this post.
By the way, during this despicable performance Chavez lost much more than what he thought he would gain. Forget about the King of Spain "Por que no te callas", this is infinitely more damaging to Chavez, at least across Latin America and elsewhere if folks understand the subtleties that I explained above. Not only he threatened Lugo-Galicia but he threatened us by saying that he did not care about the result and that he would find ways to force the "reforma" on us. Some democrat, no?
Someone one should explain to him that democracy is more than just acknowledging defeat, it is also about understanding its implications and modifying accordingly one's conduct and action plan. I would remind the reader that the Quebec independence referendum, a much more important and democratic decision than what Chavez tried to impose of us had been rejected twice and that in spite all the arguments in favor, each time the losing party gives itself a breather of several years before even bringing the subject back. Or perhaps the European Union referendum lost in France and forcing French supporters of the European Constitution to accept the mandate of the people to negotiate a lesser treaty, to see France influence inside europe dwindle some, and Europe understanding that need, to wait for at half a decade before bringing the subject back.
True democrats, even when they are struck in something really close to them, know how to wait before they charge again. Chavez once again today demonstrated that he is not a democrat, never was, does not understand the concept at all except as a strategy to reach power and keep it through cheating and abuse. Sunday he found out that one cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
PS: Miguel posted a better quality video though longer.
-The end-