Caracas Chronicles

Quico says: I apologize for the hiatus on CC. Truth is, I can find nothing to post about. I thought about writing a suitably alarmed post about Seniat’s regal announcement that it will implement the Constitutional Chamber’s decision on Income Tax, despite the National Assembly’s call to ignore it. I wanted to pick apart the insanity of the situation we’ve reached, where it takes a public statement by a high official to announce things that wouldn’t need announcing in a vaguely functioning democracy. But I can’t really work up my juices. It’s too grim.

Just before last year’s election in Italy, Nanni Moretti released “Il Caimano” – a playful exposé of the mind-boggling shenanigans that brought Silvio Berlusconi to power. In classic Moretti fashion, it’s really a film about a film about Berlusconi. Rebutting his real-world critics – who were sure to dismiss “Il Caimano” as an attempt to influence the election – Moretti’s on-screen alter-ego smirks and tut-tuts:

“How could I influence anything? Everyone knows everything about Berlusconi. You don’t even have to read the script to know what’s in it. There’s nothing left to reveal. Absolutely everybody in Italy already knows; the ones who don’t know are the ones who don’t want to.”

I suppose that’s how I’ve been feeling over the last few days. I could try to work up some residual indignation about the dadaist extremes that our institutional decay has reached. I could tell you, for the Nth time, that when officialdom approaches court decisions as suggestions to be adopted or rejected according to their discretion rather than as binding orders, the whole basis for the rule of law evaporates.

Thing is, you already know all that…if you want to.

From the film: You cannot imagine how much I enjoy it. You Italians are so funny, so ridiculous: all you talk about is television and Berlusconi.

You are a nation trapped between horror and folklore.

Time and again, we think you have hit rock bottom, but no! You go on digging, digging and digging… and you go deeper and deeper still…you just keep digging!