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General Vzla. politics thread

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Comments

  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2015-12-10 02:01:18
    Two parts 'cuz the HTML code is long.

    I'm pleased to see that the MUD fared well in rural states, where for a number of reasons the government has a greater hold on people.

    That said, I'm not pleased to know that even amidst one of the biggest economic crisis in our history, the PSUV can still get over 41% of the popular vote (even if unfairly).

    Democratic Action did very well, while Popular Will didn't do all that well (disregarding primaries results, anyhow). The whites aren't my cup of tea, and the oranges are, so I'd have preferred it the other way around, but hey, they're both oppositors, so whatevs.

    Errata above, Tamara Adrian and Rosmit Mantilla (who I just checked really is openly gay) are deputee substitutes, not main deputees. I'm disappointed in learning that.

    Good luck to the winners, may you be a good asset to the country.

    Edit: And oh yeah, who are those Progressivist Movement of Venezuela peeps? Whoever they are, they did well, good job!

    As for updates:

    "Maduro is centered on claiming that things that weren't their fault for 17 years, are the fault of the National Assembly that hasn't been sworn in yet."

    Jorge Giordani and Hector Navarro (the former ministers who wrote open letters to Maburro) were holding a press release when a collective loudly irrupted and sabotaged the event, forcing the ex-ministers to leave.

    Provea (one of the human rights NGO) has denounced intimidation against public employees who might have voted for the MUD, including one case of a woman fired for not taking a picture of her vote.

    The PSUV has kept their conflictive rethoric on, with a few unconvincing token remarks about dialogue and stuff. This is familiar, it's 2013 all over again, which didn't do them any favours. They really seem unable to learn, which I'm not sure is a good thing for the country, but it's certainly a bad thing for them.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    The MUD has joined the gloating about their victory, like this. I'd really like it if they toned that shit down and leave the in-your-face banter to us random joes.

    Besides Ramos Allup, the other name going on for President of the National Assembly is Julio Borges, general secretary of Justice First. He's a very uninspiring politician who simply focuses on quoting statistics, but supposedly know how to move things internally, and how much the success of Justice First is attributable to him is anybody's guess. Ramos Allup is said to represent the Fourth Republic (the pre-Thugo Chávez era), and people might be reluctant to want him there, so Julio Borges might be a better choice. Another possibility is to have a rotation.

    Mayors Omar Prieto and Rafael Calles, both elected as deputees, have resigned their seats, preferring to stay in their municipalities.

    Somehow I missed this, but Nico had been giving out taxi cabs for their campaign.

    Judge Susana Barreiros, who you'll remember as the one who condemned Leopoldo, has been elected as magistrate.

    The new chavist meme is "but we have change", a play on "but we have homeland".

    Disociado revealed an audio where an unidentified person tells Carlos Hermoso Conde (general secretary of Red Flag, who you'll remember is no longer part of the MUD) about how they paid people to vote in some way. Hermoso claims it's a montage.

    Speaking of Godgiven Hair, he's now the vice-president.

    Liris Sol Velásquez (outgoing deputee) "Our people fall into deceit because of big media, the media, we still don't have the possibility of controlling private media, they still have a majority."

    Maduro: "The houses, I wanted to build 500,000 houses next year, right now I'm doubting about it. But not because I can't build them, I can build them, but I asked for your support and you didn't give it to me."

    (No worries, he wasn't going to do it anyways). Speaking of houses, the MUD announced a bunch of legal stuff they're going to do, including granting owner of state-adjudicated homes to their respective inhabitants. Reminder of what is imo the most bullshit thing the PSUV does: one of the govt's biggest project is their housing program, where they build homes and give away permits to inhabit them, but don't grant them ownership and can be removed on a whim, such that come elections day they can scare them about how if the opposition wins the new government would take away the homes the benevolent revolution gave them (and outside elections this presumably has an effect on how reluctant they are to publicly criticize the government). The best the MUD could do about this is promise that if they were in power they'd give them ownership instead, but it's just that, a promise. Can you blame someone for not wanting to take that risk? Anyhows, it seems like they'll be able to to make that happen anyways, or at least make the PSUV look really bad if they oppose.

    Besides that, there's also a review on the Law of Workers and Work and Law of Fair Prices (price controls). While they require a review and utter destruction respectively, I don't think it's a good idea for the MUD to even talk about these right now, since they're two things the PSUV has pre-emptively turned them into sacred stuff.
  • ZennistradZennistrad
    As someone with strong sympathies towards libertarian socialism I'm a little bit disappointed at how many of my fellow leftists are approaching this issue with next to no nuance whatsoever. Many people who I align with ideologically are taking this as some sign that "the revolution has been defeated", not understanding that political parties are not synonymous with revolutions, and not understanding that Maduro was not necessarily doing the best job for the working class.

    That's really all that I have to say on the matter, but I felt it was worth getting off my chest.
  • vandrovandro
    He who laments and can't let go of the past is forever doomed to solitude.
    What's  defeated, theoretically, is chavismo, not socialism. At least how I see it.
  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Zennistrad wrote: »
    As someone with strong sympathies towards libertarian socialism I'm a little bit disappointed at how many of my fellow leftists are approaching this issue with next to no nuance whatsoever. Many people who I align with ideologically are taking this as some sign that "the revolution has been defeated", not understanding that political parties are not synonymous with revolutions, and not understanding that Maduro was not necessarily doing the best job for the working class.

    That's really all that I have to say on the matter, but I felt it was worth getting off my chest.



    Just to add my thoughts:

    Socialism is first and foremost a tool that is meant to engineer a better society for all of us. It is not incorruptible. Additionally, it does not need to be "pure" -- in my mind, it's completely acceptable to use socialism as part of a broader set of tools to engineer said better society. It can't be owned or represented by a single political party, or represented by a single set of policies. 

    I feel that a great problem on the socialist left is the view that socialism is an end rather than a means. As the world changes and we draw further away from the time of Marx and his observations, we have to reimagine the way socialism is executed in a world of increasing automation and environmental destruction. It's much like how some citizens of the USA use the constitution as an absolute source of argument, or how some religious folk use their respective texts as absolute guides on moral conduct. 

    We've been left with a set of guidelines from an astoundingly intelligent and visionary individual. But his observations are well over a hundred years out of date. We have more sophisticated technologies, a broader global support base, and a more desperate global situation than was the case in the time these theories were originally written -- just to name a few factors that have changed. That's why it's crucial, in my view, that socialists think in context of our current time period rather than cling to history. 

    All in all, I think our objectives can plausibly be met with sufficient support, represented by the right kind of individuals with the appropriate power. We would probably not call the outcome "socialism", however. It needs to be something modern, that takes into account what we've learned through the Keynesian golden age of capitalism and the post-Reagan era of neoliberalism. We've had two massive global depressions to learn from and probably a third on the way. We have new means of "revolution", that don't necessarily involve violence in the streets or destruction of assets. Our tools can be digital, and can be informed by increasing economic literacy.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    ^: That is true, socialism needs to reinvent himself. A bunch of them already did when they turned to social democracy, and it's about time for the remainder to see that the cold war is over and come up with something else. Preferably far away from here.

    ^^^, ^^: Neither socialism or chavism has been defeated yet, they can still turn this into a victory of shit and fuck up the future Assembly, which as a matter of fact is what they're currently doing there.

    That said, socialism and the PSUV can disappear, but I'm not seeing "chavism" going away anytime soon, the galactic corpse had the fortune of dying at the right time and leaving a bunch of scapegoats in control, so I'm guessing no matter what they do, worst case scenario in the future some other group can pretend to be the real-deal heirs of the roblution.

    As for updates:

    Correction: Godgiven Hair hasn't been made into vice-president, at least not yet. The new gabinet is still pending.

    Maduro has ordered members of the Armed Forces to step away from public administration and gtfo back to their quarters. This is one of the very few of his actions I like.

    Delcy Rodríguez (Minister of Truth), or whoever manages her Twitter account: "I've strongly noticed seeing colleagues who claim to be within the Revolution's lines blaming PSUV leaders and ministers." "Let's not look for the causes [of the election results] within the Revolution's side."
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2015-12-16 02:47:27

    Aristóbulo Istúriz, governor of Anzoátegui and vice-president of the PSUV, has left said vice-presidency.

    It seems that the way they're going to use to get rid of the 2/3 majority is to claim electoral fraud. 

    And finally, Diosdado has just set up a... uh... "National Communal Parliament".

  • ZennistradZennistrad
    edited 2015-12-16 05:12:54
    That is true, socialism needs to reinvent himself. A
    bunch of them already did when they turned to social democracy, and
    it's about time for the remainder to see that the cold war is over and
    come up with something else. Preferably far away from here.

    Probably only tangentially related, I'm actually really interested in the potential for the adoption of open-source software to open the gateway to further democratization of technology, which I believe could lead to a revolution of sorts that forces us to rethink the role of workers that create and share said technology.

    While I believe anarchist socialism is the kind of socialism to strive for, one of the major struggles is in just how the end goal of establishing a stateless and classless society can be attained through anarchist means. At some point violence will become an inevitability out of the simple fact that states always seek to preserve their existence, but because anarchism has such poor PR at the moment going around vandalizing things would only serve to drive people away from the cause, so instead most anarchist activism in the west is focused on nonviolent direct action and working to gain mass popular understanding and sympathy for anarchism.

    However, because of the vastly different way in which fighting happens in today's world, I think that a lot of people are going to have to rethink the very nature of revolution, and I think that the internet, software, and network technology will play a vital role in achieving a more meaningful social revolution.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    Probably only tangentially related, I'm actually really interested in the potential for the adoption of open-source software to open the gateway to further democratization of technology, which I believe could lead to a revolution of sorts that forces us to rethink the role of workers that create and share said technology.
    That's impossible. The vanguard of the proletariat must control all software (and hardware too, preferably) so that right wing fascist imperialists can no longer influence the working class through them. How can you maintain a revolution otherwise?
  • vandrovandro
    He who laments and can't let go of the past is forever doomed to solitude.
    Anarchism is anathema to my understanding of a functional society. Without the state, what incentive is there to fund space colonization?


  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    Stormtroper wrote: »
    That's impossible. The vanguard of the proletariat must control all software (and hardware too, preferably) so that right wing fascist imperialists can no longer influence the working class through them. How can you maintain a revolution otherwise?
     

    What we've learned throughout history (and especially the beginning of the internet age) is that the young are remarkably swift in adapting to and dominating new technologies. As technology is in a constant state of progression, ever increasing in rate of development, the relative plasticity of younger minds will be better placed to adapt to and exploit them.

    We've also learned of some significant psychological and intellectual divides between the currently dominant boomer generation and the disempowered millennial generations: Many boomers live in a "post-truth" mental space where the liberal ideals concerning equality of opinion make interpretation the equal of analysis. Millennials are not nearly so prone to this. We're not happy with interpretive equality -- ours has to to be measurably present. As economically and politically disempowered as the millennial generations are, a taste for untarnished truths is a remarkable strength. 

    Between those two factors, you can see why I think a continent like Africa has a good shot at a brighter future. In most Western nations, the population is aging at a much quicker rate than it is reproducing, ensuring that the aged make up a political and economic majority in the pseudo-democratic West. This turns millennials into an inherent, silent minority, where the broader culture simply assumes they've got the better end of the stick. On the African continent, however, high birth rates and high interest in renewable energy technologies (to take one example) are going to create a majority youth population relying on renewable energy as an economic backbone. Unlike other regions with comparable population circumstances, such as China or India, most African nations don't have great competition from traditional industry.  

    The world is changing rapidly and drastically. No "proletariat" needs absolute control of software and/or hardware. Right-wing fascists risk self-destructing just as they take power. Developing nations, seizing new opportunities, prepare themselves for a future that has no place for fossil fuels. I'm not saying these changes will be easy, bloodless, or necessarily end happily. The world the "bad guys" are used to controlling is swiftly slipping from their grasp as it takes on a new form, however. Perhaps we'll have new villains to contend with during the next age of general stability, but for now, our opponents are losing their footing as alternatives they have little understanding of continue to develop. 

    Whether the left can learn to cooperate with itself and centrists sufficiently, in order to take advantage of this, is another question entirely. To bring up an old cliche, it is important not to make the perfect the enemy of the good. Most of our utopian ideals are historical, not current; joining forces with a willingness to compromise is key in taking advantage of global instability and building a better world. Not a perfect one, but perhaps we might read from a better blueprint, with clearer and more inclusive notions of what changes need to be made. 
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2015-12-16 18:14:53
    But younger persons are vandal terrorist non-students who are bent on disrupting the people's order and bring down the revolutionary government to restore their old oligarchic privileges. They don't understand what it was like before the revolution and are mere pawns of their masterminds in Washington. They must not be allowed to accomplish their objectives.

    Edit: For the purpose of having an actual conversation, let me make a non-buzzwordy point: Socialism is always rigid and reactionary, thus it will resist change coming from future generations.
  • ZennistradZennistrad
    Reactionary by definition means a desire to return to the status quo ante - literally "the way things were before." To define socialism as reactionary doesn't make a lot of sense when the entire purpose of socialism is to attain a form of society that hasn't ever existed before, at least not in the context of modern civilization.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2015-12-16 19:54:14
    Fine, let me rephrase that: Socialism is always rigid and conservative, thus it will resist change coming from future generations.


    Edit: Although it's not what I originally meant, for future reference let me state socialism is also reactionary. See Cold War above.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2015-12-16 22:07:47
    Yep, it's opposite world, they're going for fraud accusations. Liborio Guarulla (Governor of Amazonas) and his secretary of government Victoria Franchi were accused by Jorge Rodríguez, who also presented an audio (low quality at times, with obvious cuts, and nonsensical flow of conversation, although at 4:20 it seems like it could be legit), about vote buying (or something) and something about dead people. Anyhow, the SEBIN went on and arrested Franchi.

    (From now on, I'm using this shade of blue for Progressivist Movement of Venezuela and this one for A New Era.)

    Although they're throwing accusations, they haven't actually gone to the National Electoral Council to place their demands, so all this could be a public relations maneuver.

    Besides that, the USA is accusing one of the National Guard's chiefs Nestor Reverol of drug trafficking.
    They (who aren't students) don't understand what things were like decades ago before the revolution .

    You know, for about an hour or two after election results before seeing the     reds' reaction I thought that maybe there could be an honest dialogue between the MUD and government-senpai. In hindsight that was really naïve, but...
  • lrdgcklrdgck
    "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    Off-topical insert: I like how much Alex's analysis of the "millenial" (I understand this is about current young adults) mindset explains the rise of the right wing around here. Could serve as quite an apology, if you read only this paragraph and skipped the rest.
  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    It cuts both ways, for sure. Find the incorrect "truths" and you can end up with an absolutist ideology rather than an imperfect philosophy. See also: Radicalised youths. 

    That said, I find no particular reason that millennials should feel a need to apologise to older generations. 
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    Ciro Belloso, an activist close to Manuel Rosales, stabbed some guy to death.

    The price of oil has lowered and broke the 30$/b mark, currently at 29.41$/b, or approximately two calderas (not adjusting for inflation), the lowest it's been in more than a decade.

    Luis Motta Domínguez (Minister of Blackouts): "(...) we're going to radicalize! Today I'm gonna radicalize more than ever! Whoever is a scrawny (anti-oppositor slur), out of the corporation!" (Corpoelec, the national electricity public company.)

    Diosdado has mentioned twice how the current Assembly will work until the new one is up "unless they don't want to" swear themselves in.

    I wrote the above a couple days ago, but as a matter of fact, the Tribunal posted a declaration that seems to suggest that, in fact, the current Assembly can continue until the new one begins to operate.

    And finally, all those magistrates have been elected, disrespecting the due proceedures (so as to get them out while they still can) and lacking the 2/3 majority they require. Two of those new magistrates are Calixto Ortega and Cristian Tyrone Zerpa, newly elected deputies.

    Gee...

    The other day I learned that the malapportionment thing was actually not part of the shit they did to win the Assembly in 2010, but it's actually in the constitution. Maybe I should read it again?

    I also realized I've been spelling "deputy" wrong all this time.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-01 05:22:48

    Also, I must've missed something, because Maduro still has enabling laws permit, and has just used it to decree some stuff about taxation. Did such permit not expire a year ago, or did he get another?

    Capriles stirred a bit of drama after an interview when he criticized #LaSalida (Leopoldo's and María Corina's 2014 calling for protests), reviving the "collaborationists" vs. "radicals" debate from back then, and clashing with the image of unity they're supposed to be showing.

    Now Maduro is having those taxi cabs he gave out recalled. Gotta have stuff to give out during the next populist spree.

    (You know, there are many things to take from these elections, but my favourite is that it seems to be that people have internalized that thing where they accept the govt's free electoral shit and still vote against them.)

    And finally, the reds really are going for it, they're challenging the election of 9 deputies (for now). The MUD's response is to claim that the deputies' victory certificates have already been adjudicated by the National Electoral Council (which doesn't seem too convincing) and that the proceedure is going to be done by a Tribunal selected in an obviously fraudulent way and with obvious conflicts of interest. The MUD is going defiant about this, stating they and their 112 deputies are going to the Assembly to be sworn in no matter what.

    What a way to end the year. So yeah, that's it. Let's see... uh... this was the year oil prices plummeted, the year COPEI died for good and did so in a really unceremonious way (getting hijacked), and I guess this was also the year the last person I knew who votes red (or rather, anti-cyan) decided to switch sides.

    When the year started I expected nothing really big would happen, and if the year had ended with November I'd have been right (oddly enough the oil prices thing didn't seem to change things much), but after elections with the opposition gatecrashing into the National Assembly, well, that's important. One way or another things are going to change.

    Namely, it's the first time since about a decade that chavism doesn't control all state powers, and the first time in their entire 17 years of government that their opposition controls one (except maybe the National Assembly Congress during their first year, can't remember). As such, this is truly unprecedented.

    There are lots of good things the MUD can do now to help society and themselves (in fact, many are a constitutional mandate). Without thinking too hard about this, these are some of the things they can do: 
    • Grant amnesty to political prisoners. Check.
    • Make a law or something forcing the government to yield ownership of their giveaway homes. Check.
    • Revoke the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television, the law on media responsibility, which they've used to intimidate private television/radio into submission.
    • Keep the moral high ground and treat their rivals with respect.
    • Redecorate the Hemicycle.
    • Calculate budgets properly, and refuse to let Maduro to go in debt. This means it will not be as discretionary, and more money will be allocated to regional and municipal governments.
    • As with the above, decentralize the hell out of the state. Everybody loves decentralization.
    • Forfeit the moral high ground and get back on Diosdado.
    • Dismiss whatever key minister is convenient to dismiss, such as the Minister of Home Affairs or the Vice Minister of Supreme Social Happiness.
    • Force other institutions to obey demands from international organizations that Venezuela is part of. (Release Leopoldo, bring back RCTV, etc.)
    • Repair and restore the looting the outgoing deputies are about to do.
    • Elect members of the other public powers when their terms expire.
    • Open up investigations on public functionaries, and air their dirty laundry.
    • End Alba and PetroCaribe oil giveaways to foreign countries (if those still exist, anyways)... although imo if they want to further starve themselves from cash so be it.
    • Revoke the law banning violent videogames.
    • Audit the electoral registry.
    • Calling for a recall referendum without having to get signatures. For a number of reasons it's probably not a good idea to do this, but the fact that they can threaten to is useful in itself.
    • See to it that the law respects virtue and honor.
    Of course, as the previous weeks have shown, the MUD won't be unimpeded in this. The reds will do all in their might to prevent the MUD from dismantling their stranglehold on the state, but still, it's one new front that opens up, they'll be able to show what they're willing to do to improve things, make the government or their puppets look bad if they oppose good measures or force them to commit blatant abuse, as has been going on. So...
    • National Assembly
    versus
    • Presidency of the Republic
    • Supreme Tribunal of Justice
    • General Prosecutory of the Republic, General Comprollery of the Republic, and People's Ombudsmanship (spellings?)
    • National Electoral Council
    No items.
    Final Destination.

    I've mentioned a couple times that I post these things to keep track and maintain a perspective on things. Now that we have a non-rubberstamp parliament where the officialists are there to spout revolutionary nonsense and the opposition to repeatedly state the obvious, and will actually have an effect on things. I'm going to have to follow things more closely, and will likely end up updating more often, at least until something happens that definitely fucks up the new Assembly.

    Also, have some of Freddy Guevara's musical side.

  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-05 05:16:17
    The other day I had a very pleasant dream where I visited Caracas, including going to the National Assembly. Also there were Touhou characters involved.

    National Assembly TV workers have denounced that the network equipment, antennas, etc. got taken away, and that they were being fired. The PUSv assured them they'd end up fired if the MUD won, and I guess technically they were right.

    The justification for why the reds don't want property titles to be handed out to homeowners is because it's a ploy for the oligarchy to scam would-be owners into selling their homes cheaply. That's... creative.

    Somehow I missed this, but General Baduel has been released under parole a few months ago (his term was almost up anyways).

    Yesterday the outgoing National Assembly passed a law to, among other things, allow the Executive to elect the president and directors of the Central Bank without passing through the National Assembly, and allows said president to hide information from it. For some reason I don't quite understand, a bunch of economists are calling this a road into hyperinflation. Also, they approved a huge additional credit, making what I believe is the fastest they've gone in debt in a year.

    There was things thing yesterday where a mob, along with the security manager of the National Assembly, prevented Ramos Allup from entering said Assembly (for some personal finances thing), yelled him into leaving and attacked the car as he was leaving.

    The MUD has elected the new parliament's boss. With 62 against 49 votes (one of the deputies had a traffic accident on the way), the new President of the National Assembly is...

    (That's Henry Ramos Allup, but more important than that is the fact that it's not Odiado Cabello)

    Alex, it's your task to analyze Ramos Allup's qualities as President of the National Assembly based on his choice of sword and armor.

    Anyhows, today (that is, in ~10 hours) the new Assembly is supposed to be sworn in. The MUD has convoked a march for the occasion, the PSUV and related groups have convoked theirs to protest. What'll happen?
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-05 21:48:56
    Ahh, the parliament will never stop being a place of confrontation.

    It all started mostly fine, the marches reached their destination just fine (although at one point some MUD deputies had to break through a Nazional Gorillarian Guard picket) and people gathered alright. At some points officialist deputies thought it'd be a good idea to start chanting "murderers!" and "fascists!", ignoring that they can now be simply shouted down by chanting "liberty!" and "yes we could!".

    The ceremony started. Omar Barboza's was good, Héctor Agüero (from the Communist Party of Venezuela) was sort of okayish (if only he could speak), Juan Guaidó, Hector Rodríguez, Americo de Grazia and some other PSUV guy had very confrontational speeches that I don't think were warranted for the occasion. All this time there were officialist hecklers in the spectator seats cheering for their side and obstructing the MUD's.

    (Although the National Electoral Council's webpage says the PUSv got 55 deputies, two are actually from the Communist Party of Venezuela. I think I'll be pointing out their party explicitly (PCV) rather than rely on a different shade of red.)

    The President and vice-presidents were elected (Enrique Márquez and Simón Calzadilla). At the time of electing sub-secretaries, Perro Carroña was given five minutes to submit candidates, which he used to give out an unrelated speech, so the MUD candidates won by default. Julio Borges started his speech to announce the MUD's legislative agenda (he's their parliamentary block leader), at which point Héctor Rodríguez climbed the podium to protest something (I'm not clear on this (it doesn't help that I was on the bathroom at the time), it was either the fact that there was no real election of sub-secretaries, or that Julio Borges was about to talk about something that wasn't on the parlieamentary agenda). The mood got tense, deputies from both sides climbed up to yell at each other, and eventually the GPP deputies left in protest.

    Ramos Allup gave a closing speech, quickly announced the members of parliamentary commissions (which will include members of the PSUV), and finally, much to everyone's hopes, he rang the bell (tl;dr).

    Anyhows, what I'll take from this is that, still, the reds won't stop their speech from stuff that was only relevant decades ago. And Henry Ramos Allup was majestic, both as representative and as moderator. And the sight of media outlets and journalists besides ANTV ones was a breath of fresh air.

    All in all, as long as I don't have to see stuff like this again, it's alright.


  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-07 02:24:56
    Whoa, this is long. Despite the fact that I updated yesterday my draft filled up and I'll have to do it again, in two parts.

    Unbeknownst to anybody, apparently deputy Héctor Agüero (PSUV, actually) above had suffered a stroke and that's why he had a slurred speech that got him lots of mockery. Awkwardness ensued.

    Today the Assembly had their first ordinary session. I got to watch part of it through the eyes (phone) of my deputy (by name) Nora Bracho :3

    Watching that stream I learned that the Hemicycle is a door away from the streets, where a collective was protesting at the time, shooting fireworks and shit. A security issue if I've ever seen one.

    First things first, the new Assembly said fuck all and swore the three Amazonas MUD deputies that had their elections challenged. 

    Later, they discussed, and passed, a Communications Agreement to allow media outlets into sessions, especially important now that ANTV is defunct. My favourite part was when Héctor Rodríguez claimed the agreement was null because the Amazonas deputies voted for it, to which Ramos Allup replied that they didn't vote for it because, as a matter of fact, they weren't in the building.

    Besides that, they passed an agreement to form a Tribunal Commission to investigate the magistrate's elections.

    Naturally, the GPP is going all the-Tribunal-has-the-final-word on these things, is accussing it of rebellion and has amped up the rhetoric of rebelling against it in turn.

    Héctor Rodríguez spoke like five times and went to Ramos Allup's seat to claim some stuff like fifteen times. I think they're trying to make him the poster boy for the PSUV's legislative arm.

    Worth noting is Diosdado's threat that the Executive could negate budget for the parliament and that it could refuse to print resolutions on the Official Gazette (echoed by Perro Carroña).
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    Besides the parliamentary session:

    In response to all the judicial bullshit that's been going on recently, this group of ex-magistrates and lawyers joined and formed a "Constitutional Block", to stand up against constitutional abuses.

    Ramos Allup has caused a bit of drama for videos showing him sternly against images of ugo chabesin the parliament as workers take them off, something that should go without saying, but it would be nice if he does it in a less confrontational way that the reds can't use as easily against the opposition.

    Remember the cabinet change Maduro announced nearly a month ago? Well, here are the new nomenklatura roles (sauce):

    Vice-President: Aristóbulo Istúriz (Governor of Anzoátegui)
    Ministry of Money: Luis Salas (some commie sociologist)
    Ministry of External Trade and Foreign Investment: Jesús Faría (dude who's been failing at economy for years)
    Ministry of Nutrition: Marcos Torres (former Minister of Money)
    Ministry of Industry: Miguel Pérez Abad (can't remember, some recycled dude)
    Ministry of Banking and Finances: Rodolfo Medina (apparently an actually competent economist)
    Ministry of Tourism: Marleny Contreras (still. Godgiven's wife)
    Ministry of Dutch Disease and Devil's Excrement: Eulogio del Pino (still, and still is president of PDVSA)
    Ministry of Inner Affaires, Injustice, Repression, State Terrorism, Paramilitarism, Peace and Love: Gustavo González López (still)
    Ministry of Militarism and War: Vladimir Padrino López (still. So much for the earlier conspiracy theory)
    Ministry of University Indoctrination: Jorge Arreaza (vice-president until now)
    Ministry of Indigenous Peoples: Clara Vidal (still)
    Ministry of Foreign Affaires: Delcy Rodríguez (still. Note that I previously called her Minister of Truth, but that was outdated info.)
    Ministry of Truth: Luis José Marcano (until now president of VTV, the main state channel)
    Ministry of Work: Oswaldo Vera (former deputy)
    Ministry of Borders: Izquierdo Torres (still) (uh, TIL such a ministry exists. What does it do?)
    Ministry of Communism: Isis Ochoa (still)
    Ministry of Transport and Public Works: Luis Sauce (President of Caracas's Metro)
    Ministry of Penitentiary Affaires: Iris "firecracker" Varela (still)
    Ministry of Improvisation: Ricardo José Menéndez (still)
    Ministry of Health: Luisana Melo (who?)
    Ministry of Culture: Freddy Ñañez (somebody who worked at the Libertador municipality's art foundation thing.
    Ministry of Youth and Sports: Mervin Maldonado (just-elected deputy)
    Ministry of Brainwashing: Rodulfo Pérez (still)
    Ministry of Habitat and Housing: Manuel Quevedo (still)
    Ministry of Blackouts: Luis Motta Rodríguez (still)
    Ministry of Ecosocialism and Waters: Ernesto Paiva (president of some public waterwork things) (huh, I think I'd heard about the Ministry of Ecosocialism, but thought it was a joke)
    Ministry of Caracas's Paramunicipality: Daniel Aponte (some deputy candidate)
    (New!) Ministry of Agricultural Production and Lands: Wilmar Castro (some militaryman)
    (New!) Ministry of Fishing and Aquaculture: Ángel Belisario (I dunno, some admiral) (do we have fish farms?)
    (New!) Ministry of... Urban Agriculture: Enma Ortega (some woman who worked at Aragua's governorship, new at the central govt.)
  • lrdgcklrdgck
    "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"
    That's a lot of ministries, looks like.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-07 23:13:42
    As the saying goes, there's no better way to satisfy the needs of a growing bureaucracy. But wait, there's more!

    Ministry of Women and Gender Equality: Gladys Requena
    Ministry for the Presidency's Office: Jesús Salazar
    Dunno if it counts as a ministry, but, Chief of the Insular Government with Rank of Minister: Jairo Quintero

    A large chunk of them are members of the Armed Forces. So much for Maduro's promise of reducing gorillism.

    Anyhows, reading back I did mock Mr. Agüero above for his speech, and I owe him an apology as well. Sorry!
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    Huh, I had another dream involving both Venezuela and Touhou the other day.

    Interestingly, the Chávez's portraits thing has caused yet another rift between opposition "softies" and "hardliners" but this time those who were softies/hardliners months ago aren't necessarily now (for example, me), it's like there's been a change in the way everybody sees things now.

    Last friday the oil price was at 27.87 $/b, dangerously close to the break-even price, somewhere in the low 20 $/b (rough approximation due to opaque PDVSA figures).

    The Legislative Palace will open up for guided tours soon. Why weren't there guided tours already?

    As they've said they'd do, the reds were working things out to have the Tribunal declare all of the Assembly's decisions to be null. So far the MUD hasn't done anything with their three challenged deputies for that reason. Aaaand, the Tribunal just gave them the a-okay, judging that those deputies must be deincorporated, that the Assembly is in contempt and that its previous and future decisions are null.

    The next session is today (Tuesdays and Thursdays). It seems like every session day is going to be eventful.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    According to this article, it's the first time since the XIX's century that an opposition holds a 2/3 
    supermajority. Sort of, see below.

    That said, yesterday's session was cancelled as the MUD gathered to agree on a strategy in regards to the Tribunal decision. The result is that the three Amazonas deputies were "voluntarily deincorporated" "temporarily" from the Assembly to "attend their defense", for the trial that will probably never come.

    This means the MUD no longer has 2/3 of the total number of deputies (though they still have 2/3 of "present" deputies, required for some stuff). I hope they know what they're doing...

    As a consequence of this, Amazonas has no representation in the parliament.

    There was this act in favour of Demetrio Boersner, a recently deceased diplomat, and an accord for his commemoration, which passed unanimously.

    They also established the presidencies and vice-presidencies of parliamentary commissions. The PSUV refused to accept any. Their loss!

    Julio Borges presented the housing law for granting property status to govt-issued home inhabitants. On this, deputy Elio Serrano: "We ask the benefitted from Misión Vivienda [the main housing program] to mobilize against this law that seeks to turn them into proprietors."

    They also passed an accord to demand the border to Colombia be opened.

    As expected, there was a red protest outside the Assembly. The noteworthy thing is that they were throwing eggs and tomatoes (which have become expensive) at journalists, as if they were given to them by somebody *hint* *hint*

    Though still eventful, things were less hectic than expected, all things considered.
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-16 19:48:27
    News!

    The Assembly had another session, in which:

    • They made an accord to respect international human rights organization's orders.
    • Something something speech about the Divina Pastora Virgin thing, due to a celebration in Lara. Eww, state-supported religion.
    • There was also the creation of a commission to study the situation of our autonomous (public) universities, whose budget the govt. has heavily restricted, being the anti-government factories they are.
    • They also agreed to an homage to Hernán Gamboa, a musician who passed away.

    I know the virgin and homages thing doesn't take much time, but I think it'd be nice if they don't give the impression to give undue importance to these things rather than more pressing stuff.

    ANTV is back (the "A" no longer standing for "Assembly", but "Audiovisual"), with financial support from the Executive power, and using the equipment they took from the Assembly. Needless to say, that's illegal as fuck. I believe Dario Vivas is the directive's president (as with the old ANTV), and I don't think the legal property status is known (as with Globovisión and El Universal). Can the new Assembly do something about this?

    Speaking of which, back when it seemed that the opposition would control ANTV, I wondered if the opposition would respect neutrality on public media, or if they would do like the rest of state networks and broadcast propaganda (inasmuch as the rest of the state powers would let them). Judging from their shabby new Twitter account, the answer would've been more or less the former.

    Finally, the Central Bank finally released 2015's figures, up to September: 141.5% annualized inflation (according to a bunch of economists this figure is fake and gay), 7.1% GDP degrowth.

    Speaking of economy, Nico decreed a State of Economic Emergency. I guess he doesn't even want to bother trying to get shit done at the Assembly. Anyhows, it allows him to steal businesses (not that they didn't do it already), put limits on transactions (like the shit that wrecked Argentina's economy ~16 years ago), Executive control on extra budget credits, and some other stuff. Also as expected from our commie Minister of Coins, the decree itself is full of insomniac lefty buzzwords.

    According to this somewhat reliable journalist, part of our gold reserves are stealthily being transferred to Switzerland for a swap, to alleviate some debt obligations soon.

    Anyhows, yesterday was Maduro's Memories and Accounts, a yearly speech where the president has to answer to the people (through the Assembly) how's it going. There was much expectation about it, mostly from oppositors who thought our deputies could question Maduro about it. His reaction would've been hilarious, but that's not how it works. Anyhows, it was same old, same old (this is my Bingo card). The remarkable thing about it was that Ramos Allup got to speak afterwards (on national broadcast, even), it was a rehash on his 2014 speech during the Miraflores dialogue/debate, but it doesn't get said often enough. He also spoke in support of the property titles thing, some stuff about Bolívar's face (tl;dr: the reds made a dubious, slightly "zambofied" reconstruction of Bolívar's face, more similar to Chávez than the classic Bolívar, and gets used as a chavist symbol) which has come to attention due to Ramos Allup not wanting it within the Palace, how there shouldn't be Chávez imagery there either (or any other president's for that matter), and some stuff about the economy. A really nice speech, I guess that's why he got elected as Assembly President.

    Also, the Armed Forces forced most independent journalists out of the Legislative Palace, and were unable to report on stuff.

  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-19 23:32:14
    Somehow, disregarding the natural order of the cosmos, it seems that Ramos Allup in combination with the disaster that is the PSUV, is making it so that being adeco is cool again.

    As for the Assembly, this time either I missed it or it wasn't broadcast anywhere (although I did get to see a meeting between the parliamentary commission and the university professors' union. Anyhows, I believe this is how it went on:
    • The discussion on the health crisis (due to medical supplies scarcity) got delayed for later sessions.
    • The Assembly created a permanent commission to study Maburro's Economic Emergency decree. The presidents of PDVSA, the Central Bank and Seniat (tributaries) are invited to explain themselves. Better do it now before interpellations begin!
    • Something about security issues in PDVSA. I'm betting this has something to do with the fact that our largest refinery blew up a couple years ago, although if it is directly speaking about personal security, I'm going to stand for the govt. on this one and say that I think they're doing an okay job.
    • Something about water supplying issues in a bunch of regions, the lack of it, and that it's coming out polluted.
    • The PSUV raised an accord to reject some comments by Spain's president Mariano Rajoy about how Nicolae Madurescu should bring freedom and democracy to Venezuela. MUD deputies told them to fuck off.

    Although the Economic Emergency decree applies immediately, the Assembly (and the Tribunal) can within 8 days of its promulgation vote to dismiss it, so the question arose on whether it should approve it (so that the govt wrecks the economy and has nobody to blame) or not (so that it doesn't wreck the economy, at the cost of getting blamed for obstructing what they'll claim are necessary measures). I feel kind of silly that I don't actually know how these dilemmas are sorted out in normal countries. Anyhows, it seems that they'll reject it for the above reasons, but with emphasis on the fact that it takes away faculties from the Assembly (comptrolling), presumably one of the main reasons people voted for them.

    Officialist media has taken to refer the property titles thing as privatization. Heh, "privatization", I like that word. We should privatize things more often.

    A bunch of opinionists have pointed out how Godgiven apparently isn't as powerful as he once was. Most obviously, he can no longer use the parliament as his own headquarters, but also a bunch of his bros were dismissed from key ministries, and a couple other things the govt. does that seem to contradict what he wants to do. So.. Giordani is out, Rafael Ramírez is out and Diosdy is mostly out. High five!

    Nelson Merentes, former president of the Central Bank and sometimes regarded as one of the few govt people that more or less know about economic matters, had $300,000 stolen from his apartment (which in itself is almost certainly illegal to have) plus other valuables (including some pork), apparently by his girlfriend (who blames her cousin instead), who, as it turns out, is a minor.

    Lilian and Leopoldo's mother denounced that during a check for a visit to Leopoldo they were humiliated (stripped naked, by a man hurling insults, the latter in front of her grandchildren, etc.)
  • StormtroperStormtroper
    edited 2016-01-23 13:07:46
    Correction above: Nelson Merentes is still president of the Central Bank. Gee, I keep getting all these positions wrong.

    A bunch of the remaining parliamentary commissions have been installed and are up and running.

    The Assembly kept their work on the universities' situation, this time inviting student union representatives. It's the first time in ages that such talks get done before them having to stage huge protests first with lots of good gas involved. I'm sure it must've been a good experience as many of the current MUD deputies started their careers there only a couple years ago (off the top of my head, Freddy Guevara, Miguel Pizarro, Stalin González, Juan Requesón and Gaby Arellano). Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it due to the communicational mess the Assembly is in. Better sort it out soon!

    On Wednesday the commission for the study of the economic emergency decree began its work, inviting representatives from Conindustria (industries, duh), Unete (worker unions), Fadess (syndicates) and some other organization about small businesses. In short, the govt's economic policy and its decree is a mess, and all these sectors have to work together to sort things out.

    Yesterday the ministers that were invited to assist to the parliament refused to, as they didn't want media presence, and The Man claims that they must refuse to hand out the requested info (as constitutionally mandated) since they're "state secrets", and are crying bloody murder that the MUD is trying to make a show out of trying to make them accountable. The Assembly is looking into opening a process to hold them in contempt, apparently they were legally mandated to assist and weren't simply "invited" as I thought.

    Anyhows, this paved the way to state clearly, firmly, that they would reject the Emergency decree, which they did.

    Lastly, they elected the deputies for the Latin American parliament (Parlatino) and the South American parliament (Parlasur, which I didn't know existed until now). If you don't know what these parliaments do, don't worry, nobody knows either. Anyhows, the majority are MUD affiliated, but includes PSUV members (I wonder if the MUD got anything in return). For some reason, some of the elected were already Assembly deputies.

    On non-parliamentary news:

    The job of the Ministry of Urban Agriculture must be as hard as it sounds, 'cuz its Minister Enma Ortega just got dismissed and a new one (Lorena Freitez) got appointed. Enma Ortega is presumed to be part of the forthcoming Ministry of Rural Subway Stations.

    The oil price lowered to 21.63 $/b, about one Caldera (adjusted for inflation) and approximately its production price (although it's worth noting that some kinds of our oil are produced for considerably less). The reds are now cynically running with the we-should-stop-the-rentist-model-for-reals-this-time rhetoric.

    Ricardo Durán, a VTV journalist (the main state TV channel), has been murdered. As with most people, I didn't know who he was until now, and have no reason to believe there was a political motive behind it. Whatever the actual reason is, the PSUV is trying to turn him into a martyr.

    Diosdado revealed an (illegal) audio where Leopoldo and Lilian complain about their treatment in jail, and plot to disprestige Ramo Verde's warden (the one accused of humiliating her above) through public opinion to force him , which is, of course, patently obvious (it just sounds more sinister when said in private). Moreover, what I take that audio is that Leopoldo and Lilian truly believe they're being mistreated and it's not something they made up for sympathy. And that's how the PSUV reveals important information to the nation and not petty shit like our economic situation.

    Since doing it in only one country wasn't enough, Argentine president Mauricio Macri decided to have Chávez's portrait thrown away from their presidential palace (as well as Argentine Expresident Nestor Kirchner).

    Edit: Duh, I should've updated today instead. This day 58 years ago was the beginning of the worst of Venezuela's regimes, with the exception of all the others that have been tried.
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