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| Leaving Buenos Aires |
Some of you if not in Venezuela might have noted that most South America countries are celebrating in 2010 our bicentennial. All have had great plans, prepared long in advance, except of course Venezuela who at the last moment repainted the few avenues through; which the official guest would travel the week of April 19. We did get a major, and majorly silly, military parade while other countries got new avenues, museums, parks, cultural centers and what not. Unless of course the 60,000 tons of food rotting in at least three locations were part of the ceremonies. But I digress.....
One of the very nice activities was a regatta around South America by the state tall sail ships which serve in any country with a large sea presence as a way to train its navy officers and future sea captains. Over a dozen participated in different legs, leaving Rio, going to every capital or main port they could reach and were early this week in La Guaira. From here they will travel a few more days until they end up in Mexico.
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| The US barque Eagle |
Nice, no? So, how come Venezuela also managed to fuck up something that has been a great success elsewhere? Very simple:
they did not give a permit to the US sail boat to sail into Venezuelan waters! As such out of Cartagena the barque Eagle sailed directly to Santo Domingo where it will wait for the other ships. Since it was missed in Venezuela I did find this picture which is nice in spite of the chopper hovering above.
A more complete note lets people know that of all the sail boats at anchor in La Guaira only one of them had any political content on board: the Simon Bolivar which welcomed her guests with a sign "
Patria Socialismo o Muerte".....
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| Ecuador's Guayas |
If the crowds were numerous I have no record of Chavez visiting or making anything useful out of that visit. After all he is an uncouth land lubber and he certainly cannot appreciate the beauty of these ships. Nor he appreciates the diplomatic relevance of such a regatta.
For example in Cartagena Uribe went on board the Ecuador ship Guayas to greet personally the Ecuadoran sailors, returning the courtesy visit that president Correa did in Guayaquil to the Gloria from where he phoned Uribe. A perfect way to keep mending the relationship between the two countries without giving the impression that anyone is yielding.
This was yet another perfect example of the utter lack of class of Chavez, his failure to understand how the world really work, and the idiocy his ignorance and bad faith generate among his followers....
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| Colombia's Gloria |
And yes, I know, I am a sucker for sail boats remembering one of my fondest memories the tall ship parade in New York for the bicentennial of the US Constitution. But I could not make it to La Guaira...
