Chavistas en Inglaterra

Vamos a estar claros en una vaina: chavistas hay por todos lados. En Venezuela, evolucionaron de ser una masa acéfala de simples resentidos sociales -pre 1998- a tener una denominación, bien definida, enmarcada dentro del culto político-unipersonal establecido por el héroe del Museo Militar, tambien conocido como comandante presidente Hugo Chavez. Pero, yo creo que es un error pensar que los chavistas aparecieron con Chavez. No. Eso no es así. Estaban allí, con su reconcomio latente, con sus absurdas expectativas, "disenfranchised" como se define en inglés. Arrechos con el mundo, con la maldita vida que los condenó a nacer en familias humildes, pobres, ignorantes. Chavez llegó y aplicó lo que ha sido su estrategia politica más exitosa: darle voz a quienes nadie representaba, a quienes nadie escuchaba, a quienes nadie paraba bola.

Ken Livingstone in bed with Chavez and... with Gaddafi!

Colonel Gadaffi seems to the running out of friends [link]. His gross human rights violations of late [link] have galvanised all sides of the political spectrum, in their condemnation of atrocities in Libya [link]. There is, however, a small clique of thugs, and tyrants that are fully behind him: Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez [link]. Chavez's front man in the UK is Ken Livingstone [link]. In his capacity as President of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign [link], Livingstone is ever so eager to praise the "wonders" of the Venezuelan caudillo. For such task, he counts with the assistance of Diane Abbott MP, Tony Benn, Rodney Bickerstaffe, Bruce Kent, Caroline Lucas MEP and Ann Pettifor. The campaign, which he presides, seems to be run by Unite The Union, at least, that's the address given out in their solicitations for donations (link), though the phone number in the about page is that of the Trades Union Congress. Chavez, who thinks that Gadaffi is confronting a civil war [link] and has refused to condemn him [link], is trying to oxygenate is old chum, by making a peace proposal. This, coming from someone who got famous by leading a coup d'etat and has based his so called revolution on hatred and persecution, is risible. But Livingstone has not uttered a peep [link], about Chavez's association with Gadaffi, has he? So where does Red Ken stand on this issue? How about Unite the Union, and Ken's associates in the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign? And ultimately, what about Labour, what's Red Ed's position on connections of his man for London's mayoral race?

Smartmatic revisited

In June 2003, the Venezuelan government bought through an intermediary, Omar Montilla Castillo, a 28% participation in a company called Bizta R&D Software C.A. for 300 million Bolivares [link]. Bizta was owned by Antonio Mugica and the late Alfredo Anzola, and was part of a consortium of companies (Smartmatic, Bizta, CANTV or SBC) contracted by Venezuela to automatise elections.

Mark Weisbrot: Hugo Chavez's last propagandist standing

Mark Weisbrot in Caracas, fawning over Hugo Chavez and his 
Hollywood apologist Sean Penn. Photo source AP.

We already know that propaganda agents of Hugo Chavez resent being identified as such. From Gregory Wilpert, a once so called German - American independent scholar who was 'conducting research' in Venezuela, to Eva Golinger, who went fresh out of college in the USA to publish propaganda books in Cuba owing to her fanatic apologising for Chavez, these supporters of Hugo Chavez, are a bunch of foreign radical leftists that saw a window of opportunity with the Chavez regime, and are handsomely profiting from it. While in Venezuela, Wilpert married with Chavez's current consul in New York, therefore he's living a diplomat lifestyle at the Venezuelan taxpayer expense, and Golinger is becoming a household name as an 'advocate for social justice' in Russia, Cuba, Iran, Libya and Venezuela, for which she's getting princely sums. Unfortunately, for Wilpert, Golinger et al, the international media is no longer buying their line, or that of their paymaster. From Human Rights Watch, to the New York Times, fewer and fewer leftists are prepared to throw their lot behind Chavez.

Julian Assange prefiere a Lukashenko sobre medios de Venezuela

Existe un record de mi posición con respecto a Julian Assange, y su Wikileaks. Lo que no había publicado, hasta ahora, es que traté de hacer contactos con Assange, y gente de su organización, para obtener todos los cables relacionados con Venezuela y Hugo Chavez. Y mi intento fue motivado por un articulo de Pedro Burelli, titulado "Wikileaks y el desfalco venezolano", publicado en el diario El País. Cabe recordar que dicho diario fue uno de los 4 escogidos inicialmente por Assange para ir publicando, a cuenta gotas, los cables diplomáticos del Departamento de Estado.