While Christmas is taking more of my time and I am preparing my last posts for the year, I wanted to make a small parenthesis to visit the Antonini Maletagate case. Not for any new revelation that will shatter the innocence of the reader, no, not at all. But to point out to some curious phenomenon: the "any excuses is valid" syndrome for the eternal apologists of Chavez and his friends, currently the Kirchner couple who everyday looks more like the peronista family capo di mafia that peronismo in the end keeps proving to be.
Today the Washington Post has an article on the whole thing. The article will not tell you anything new. Thinking minds now know that Chavez has been financing the Kirchner campaign (and Correa, and Ortega, and Humala, and Evo and Lula -though maybe indirectly courtesy to the huge contracts to Brazilian engineering companies- , and X Y and Z). Chavez has a fat check book and he has demonstrated how to buy "friends" with it. The 800 K suit case (and other loaded cases now) has only brought us the proof. We all know that only Venezuelan justice could do anything against Chavez and we all know that it will never do anything against Chavez. On this regard in Venezuela we can only take a seat, relax and enjoy the show of watching Chavez making a total ass of himself defending what cannot be defended while his international standing keeps sinking.
No, what is interesting in that Post article are the comments, at least the first dozen of them: all defenders of Kirchner, all conspiracy theory supporters implying that Antonini was on the payroll of the CIA FBI BUSH. They cannot be that stupid. Or can they? If the CIA FBI BUSH links go so deep inside PDVSA to allow for example Antonini to get a seat in that fateful plane from the hands of high ranking Venezuelan and Argentinean officials, then how come no more juicy scandal has been uncovered? How come no more visible marks of corruption have been unveiled? And let's push it further: how come the Kirchners and Chavez are still in office if the CIA FBI BUSH can put moles at such high levels?
No, the only thing I can think to explain these comments (and those of journalists and officials that should know better) is despair at trying to hide the stinking pot. You can hide it but there is not enough Glade to cover the smell, no matter how many hired pen Chavez and the Kirchners can find. It blew on their nose due to their own stupidity. Had they fired the right amount of people in August 2007 they would not be today in the mess they are at. But see, for Chavez after 9 years of doing what he wanted, for the Kirchners who learned from Chavez the talk to do pretty much as they wanted in Argentina, it must be a rude awakening to realize that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. No matter how many paid or not sycophants grace the comment section of the Washington Post where they try to dodge all of the damming facts brought for by Monte Reel.
-The end-