The Ongoing Trainwreck Of Venezuela/The Tale of Joseph

A nation with every, and OS means every possible reason to succeed, is melting down on the far side of the Gulf of Mexico.

Venezuela has a great location in the world, great tropical coastlines and islands, incredibly rich natural resources, including oil reserves, universities, businesses, a large slice of the population that is educated and productive, etc. etc.

And, it has blown sky-high, as in 'Looosy--Wha' Happened' sky-high. A wealthy country suffering shortages of food and medicine. A government that thinks it will solve all problems by jailing the opposition and neutering the legislative branch.

A banana republic.

The wonderful blogger who (for obvious reasons) writes under a pseudonym at The Devil's Excrement has for years done a marvelous job recording this slow death spiral for the world to read and understand.

So, Loooosy. Wha' actually happened?

In brief, Hugo Chavez happened. He rode the spike in oil prices like a rented mule, spent the nation's wealth like a drunken sailor. Chaos ensued, and he loved it. Some leaders actually thrive on chaos.

Then he died, having believed he would live forever, which he didn't. Nor did he create anything resembling a plan for what should happen after he died, since of course he assumed he was immortal.

Then the price of oil died. And all the unspent money, grafted off, never spent on maintaining the oil fields, came back to haunt. Production dropped,  so Venezuela was well and truly....screwed. No one will sell them anything except for hard currency, and no one will lend them money. And their government has managed to piss off the entire world. It's a recipe for failure, plain and simple.

The Biblical tale of Joseph comes to mind. The Pharaoh had disturbing dreams, and heard that one of the Deplorables in his dungeon had the gift of interpretation. Joseph was hauled up before him and stated the obvious: 'Timez is goood your Pharoahness. Let's store grain and wealth now while we can, because famines happen, and you want to keep your head unseparated from your royal shoulders. Hungry populations get pissed off and take to the streets, and not even you can survive that.' So the Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the project. Sure as shootin' seven years of plenty were followed by seven years of drought (must have been global warming, right?). Egypt was sitting pretty, with grain to sell to the world, and prospered through the hard times. Joseph ended up as Prime Minister, because he exercised simple common sense, and he was by all accounts basically self-effacing.

So what happened to Venezuela? It was the abandonment of common sense, and the embrace of a charismatic leader who told people what they wished to hear. Now they are headed over the cliff.

It's what is known as a Cautionary Tale.

The book of Genesis ends with the Joseph story. The next book, Exodus, opens with the words to this effect: 'There arose in Egypt a generation that knew not Joseph'. The tale that follows recounts the wheels coming off one of the ancient world's most powerful civilizations.

It, too, is a Cautionary Tale.

32% Devaluation In Venezuela Spurs Panic Buying

Remember, dear readers, one and all:  Obama and Company really really really like Chavez and Chavismo.

OS shares this with you as a means of, well, mental preparation for what may yet transpire for us.

Five devaluations since 2003, 20% inflation, and it's oil exporting industry on the ropes. 

The sweet, cloying, aroma of socialist success. 

Forward!!

Venezuela Heading Over The Cliff, And The Chavista Voters Cheering Him On

Remember, ya'll... The Obama-ites really really really adore Chavez. Wonder what they'll be doing us?

Second devaluation since 2010...

It was the first devaluation to be announced by Chavez's government since 2010, and it brought down the official value of the bolivar by 46.5pc against the dollar. By boosting the bolivar value of Venezuela's dollar-denominated oil sales, the change is expected to help alleviate a difficult budget outlook for the government, which has turned increasingly to borrowing to meet its spending obligations. 

Does this sound familiar?

OS has seen this before, during his Mexican misadventure (don't  ask...).

Since the government officials and their bankster and political cronies know what's going down, they make damn sure all their assets are in dollars, pound sterling, Swiss francs--lots of liquid cash in hard currencies, or even gold and silver.

Devaluations always are announced on Friday evenings. On Monday morning, thousands of businesses open their doors as bankrupt enterprises, since their debts are denominated in dollars, and their income in the local currency.

In swoop the gangstas with their liquid cash, and snarfle up the assets of the nation at about .20 on the dollar.

Isn't socialism wonderful?

Hugo Chavez's Campaign Playbook: OS Wonders How Much Of This We Will See Between Now And November

HT Devil's Excrement.

Things are not going well in revolutionary Venezuela, and political opposition is growing from those who believe that freedom and might be a better approach than socialism.

Thus the Chavez regime published a list of '10 Commandments', techniques to employ to disrupt the opposition candidate's campaign appearances:

You can, for example (Commandment #1) coordinate sports, cultural or social activities to compete with Capriles’ visit.

Or, you can use Government resources to have a National ID campaign (Commandment #2) that same day, once again, the idea is not have people show up at Capriles’ rally.

Better yet, you can have an “open air” Mercal, selling cheap produce purchased by the Government (Commandment #3), as the text says: “This activity “captures” a large segment of the population”. Of course, people are scraping by in the revolution.

Then there is Commandment #4, which is somewhat cryptic: “Coordinate with the Francisco de Miranda Front (Chavez campaign organization) and with the Socialist Youth, “political agitation activities”. I am not sure what those activities are, but it does not sound like they will hold a mass or anything like that.

Some of the rest are somewhat lame, like placing women in places to tell Capriles they would vote for him if he had not “take over” the Cuban Embassy in 2002 (which is a lie) or if he had not participated in the “coup” against Chavez in 2002. Or to place people in strategic places to chant: ” Capriles Fascista, Oligarca Imperialista”

But the true Jewel in the commandments is the tenth:
“Provoke situations of political agitation with the security personnel and the bodyguards of the “majunche” candidate”

And then, there is the note:
“All of these activities will be backed by fellow countrymen of alternative media, independent reporters  (??)and members of the national public media (read: Government media). As well as intelligence organizations of the State which will be there dressed as civilians”

Hmmm...bread and circuses. Hire thugs to break up events (SEIU, Black Panthers anyone?) or hold violent rallies on the day, coordinate with the media outlets who have drunk your Kool-Aid and live on your dole. Use plainclothes law enforcement types to assist in creating havoc, all in the cause of 'maintaining order', you know. Shield the thugs, arrest the opposition supporters. 


Nahhh...this is America...can't happen here...

The Crackdown On Dissent In Venezuela Ramps Up Again: Alejandro Peña Esclusa Arrested Again

Things are not going well in Chavez's workers' paradise. The economy, frankly, sucks. Chavez is back in Cuba for more cancer surgery--that can't be good. There's a presidential election scheduled for October, and it appears folks can't wait to vote for someone else besides Chavez.

So, what's a harried dictator to do, poor chap? He can't escape to Libya, since his homeboy Mohamar came to such an unhappy end. Even worse, the pictures of how it all ended circulated widely--the folks at home could get uppity ideas about following suit, don't-cha-know. That hiding-out-in-a-drainage-culvert incident, just before the summary execution (with a bit of pre-execution torture thrown in for good measure) just doesn't sound like a good option.

Hmmm....what to do...what to do?

Of course! Ramp up a publicity campaign against 'enemies of the Revolution'! Damn, it's worked before, it's bound to work this time. After all, Fidel and his homeboys are eager to help, and we can round up people all over Latin America who think that life under Communism sucks, and are impertinent enough to talk about it in public!

Stage an 'extradition' to Cuba, with a 'stopover' in Venezuela, long enough to compose a 'confession' about local villains, and away we go!!!!

So, a North American reader asks, 'Why should we care? It's Latin America just being Latin America!'

Good question! The answers lie in the proximity and pattern of behavior.

Notice the silence in the media about this mess, taking place on the northern side of South America, where all sorts of bad actors like the Iranians and Hezboallah types are turning up? Notice the silence from the White House and the Secretary of State? A hostile state within reach of the eastern side of the Panama Canal could really create chaos.

Remember how The Left screamed non-stop about the ouster of Allende and the rule of Pinochet in Chile? For all its faults, Chile's stable and not broke. Why the lack of outrage from The Left, with Obama at the helm over Venezuela? Perhaps because they sympathize with him?

What might happen here, if things begin to go sour this late summer and fall, as they did in 2008?

What if we're next?


And, just for reference, you can read Peña's words from his previous imprisonment here.

Judge for yourself.

The Venezuelan Oil Pipeline Rupture: Plenty Of Tar, Now All They Need Are The Feathers And A Rail To Ride Chavez Out On

From The Economist, which tells the tale.

ON FEBRUARY 4th Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, held festivities to celebrate the anniversary of a failed coup attempt he led in 1992. He had busloads of public workers brought into Caracas for the occasion. Among them were high-ranking employees of PDVSA, the state oil company.

That same day, a pipeline carrying pressurised oil fractured in the state of Monagas. The crude soared 25 metres (82 feet) into the air and flowed for a full day. Anywhere from 40,000-120,000 barrels poured into a river that supplies drinking and irrigation water. Some 550,000 people now lack water at home. Although city-dwellers can fetch it from drums that PDVSA is leaving in streets, people in remote areas are going without. It may take months to clean the supply.

Venezuela has a presidential election scheduled for October...

And Now, A Word From Our Friendly Despot To The South, Mourning Ghaddafi's 'Martyrdom'

The chaotic images, with glimpses of the bloodied and dazed old man, sensing that he has run through his last ally, in the hands of those who despise him, and with just minutes to live, have flashed across the screens of the world repeatedly. It was a real-world re-enactment of the final minutes of Richard the Third, with the defeated king pleading for a horse to escape the inevitable: 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' As if, by that point, he had a kingdom to grant.

Not everyone, naturally, welcomes such news. The Russians bleated a protest about the illegality of it all. They were stone silent in 1988 when Mohamar sent his agent to blow up a PanAm flight with hundreds of innocents aboard, but OS digresses...

On a hunch, OS looked up references in the Venuezuelan press to the week's events, and he was not disappointed. Chavez, Ghaddafi's home-boy, issued a vigorous condemnation of his buddy's demise, translated below by Google.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday, counter to the majority of opinions around the world, Muammar Gaddafi's death was an "outrage" to life and said the ousted leader will be remembered as a Libyan "martyr. "

Gaddafi was killed by Libyan fighters he called "rats" for injuries suffered, some apparently after his capture at the Battle of Sirte, his hometown and last bastion of support.

Chavez, who on Thursday claimed to have overcome cancer that was detected four months ago, maintained a friendly relationship with the Libyan leader characterized by his military background, leftist economic ideas, antagonistic relations with the United States and membership in OPEC.

"A Gaddafi was murdered, is an outrage is more to life (...) remember him as a fighter, a revolutionary and good, as a martyr," Chavez said in the western state of Tachira, where he went to thank a picture of Christ for his speedy recovery.

"This story is just beginning in Libya because there's a village, no dignity, rule yankee (United States) can not dominate this world," said the president.

Gaddafi was overthrown by rebel forces on 23 August, a week before the 42 th anniversary of the coup that brought him to power in 1969.

Gaddafi's death itself became perhaps the most dramatic since the riots of spring that have toppled Arab rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt and threatening to the leaders of Syria and Yemen.

One has to wonder how well Hugo is sleeping these days, as he contemplates these images. He can keep the Gulfstream fueled, but there are fewer places to land with his buddy Muammar no longer available.