Caracas Chronicles

Hand it to Jorge Rodríguez: Comando Carabobo’s smear campaign is extremely well orchestrated.

The video, apparently made last June, shows close Capriles supporter Juan Carlos Caldera accepting a white envelope from a pixelated, voice-altered figure, then trying to arrange a meeting between the two “abroad” to avoid Venezuelan state security. With three separate hidden cameras, this looks like a Disip sting that Caldera just walked right into.

Idjit.

There are more questions than answers at this point: who is the intermediary? Who is ‘El Jefe’? What ended up on the Disip’s cutting room floor? What’s Caldera going to say about all this? One thing’s for sure: the visuals are grisly…

Still, what gets me is the way the Chavernment mobilizes the state’s security resources not to enforce the law, but purely to smear his opponents. There was never any thought given to using this as the basis of a judicial investigation – the entire operation is purely made-for-TV.

Capriles had little choice but to dump the guy in a major hurry, and that’s just what he did.

La función debe continuar, I guess.

So how high in the dirty-trick-o-meter are we now? 5 out of 10? 6 maybe?

Because make no mistake: we will get to 10 before this is all over.