The day was rich of moments showing that chavismo knows full well that the water is rising around their neck.
Inflation is 3.4%
Well, that is in Caracas as now they want us to consider as equal the inflation in Maracaibo. Even though it would still be a whopping 3%, more in one single month than the inflation of many countries for a full year. Still, from January 2007 to January 2008 the accumulated "official" inflation is 24.1%. The provinces will find little solace in that this is Caracas number: in a few months it will be their number too, worry not.
The oops moment: the very red new planning minister said that the 11% goal for 2008 should be revised in spite the hopeful January result (hopeful because it is a little bit better than in December 2007, while being the worst January in 10 years). Just for that Al Troudi deserves an award as being infinitely more honest and upfront than his predecessor, disastrous Giordani. At least Al Troudi has a keen sense of the obvious....
Narco "Jabon" found dead
This famous drug trafficker, Varela, nicknamed "soap, jabon" from the biggest Colombian cartel these days has been killed. The USA offered 5 million dollars for his capture. I wonder what did the people who shoot him got...
Ooops moment? Killed in Venezuela, in Merida of all places!
Naaah! There is no link between Venezuela and drug traffic and narco guerrilla, it is all a media manipulation. I bet you Globovision paid more than 5 million just to have "Jabon" shot in Merida!
Judicial practices of Venezuela under close scrutiny at OAS organizations
The OAS court system hears cases once they have exhausted all the legal recourses in their respective countries. Then it decides if according to international codes of laws and ethics people got justice in a given state. Right now there is a case that is making its way in Costa Rica, seat of the court, a case referring to three judges dismissed in an arbitrary manner in 2003, according to a possible interference of the executive power (Chavez). Needless to say that if the ruling goes against the Venezuelan state it will be the first internationally accepted direct evidence for something that we all know in Venezuela: the TSJ of Venezuela, our high court, is just an instrument of the executive power.
The ooops moment was simple enough. Today Luisa Estela Morales (who I was discussing recently by the way) the head of TSJ, was busy diminishing the importance of the case, saying that the firing was just a simple administrative procedure. It seems to me that the hearings did not go well for the Venezuelan state envoys and she is already bracing herself for an unfavorable decision. Of course her argument does not fly very high: the Interamerican Court only takes relevant cases, anyone could have told her so. Here we have damage control before damage even happens.
Too bad for her, she will pay the broken dishes of her predecessors...
Vielma Mora leaves Venezuelan IRS
Vielma Mora, the SENIAT/IRS director was removed today from the SENIAT. He is perhaps the only chavista officer that has demonstrated to be able to manage something. An apparatchik is named to replace him: expect the SENIAT to decline fast and become a mere punitive agency while not been able to keep up the level of tax collection that Chavez requires to keep up his little foreign expeditions.
Ooops moment? Not too easy to figure this time. But there it is: Chavez is so afraid of losing Caracas town hall that he is willing to sacrifice tax collection to send what he thinks is his best candidate to replace truly awful mayor Barreto. Unfortunately if Vielma Mora is respected he is certainly not loved, and has no political experience, is very abrasive on top of a whinny voice. And the damage done in Caracas is so bad that I doubt any chavista can overcome it. Perhaps Chavez will know better and send Vielma to a more electable position such as Aragua or even Miranda. Because see, I doubt very much that the all the shopkeepers that have been crudely harassed by the SENIAT will vote for Vielma Mora. Even customers will not be pleased with Vielma: after all, no matter how many stores have been punished, there is still no milk on the shelves.
-The end-