Caracas Chronicles

For Wednesday, June 22, 2016. Translated by Javier Liendo.

The second day of validation closed with 157,567 signatures authenticated, 81% out of the required 194,708 total. Every state reported more validations than on Monday. Five states already surpassed their validation goals: Apure, Cojedes, Guárico, Miranda and Trujillo. Five more states will comfortably do the same this Wednesday: Amazonas, Portuguesa, Vargas, Yaracuy and Bolívar. The three states with the lowest validation count (Anzoátegui, Carabobo and Monagas) already surpassed 58% of their goals.

Incoherence first

Nicolás insists on selling himself as the paragon of dialogue. According to him, he never doubted about calling for a dialogue of peace, one that respects “the historic moment we’re living” -caused by his predecessor’s incompetence and his own-. Despite that, and in obvious congruence with his own discourse, he demanded the opposition to cease their violent attacks, to solve the issues he’s created and seek the national unity that he blocks and pollutes every time he speaks. In fact, this statement was accompanied by another sign of polarization: the Committee of Justice for Truth’s commemorative event that would honor the fighters who disappeared in 1958 during the Pacto de Punto Fijo; which shows his poor skill at reinventing history. He also regretted Henry Ramos Allup’s refusal to accept this pantomime called dialogue, without daring to mention even one of the reasons given by the National Assembly’s Speaker for that refusal.

The guy who wants peace at any cost accused the opposition of keeping an obsessive and schizophrenic discourse. He repeated the stupidity about “bachaquero violence” and criminal gangs allegedly lead by members of several parties, but with special emphasis on Miranda -as usual- where groups are dispatched “to commit paid assassinations,” he said. He asked Freddy Náñez, Minister of Culture, to create a project for a museum of revolutionary martyrs, which lacks the budget but already has a location -Cuartel San Carlos-, saying that it must be “a great documentary center with the newest technology,” and demanding maximum creativity from the man who took pictures on top of the fresh cement used to repair Rómulo Gallegos’ tomb. Don’t complain if I call him an idiot.

And in the OAS

This Tuesday, the Organization of American States held an extraordinary session, requested by the Venezuelan government, so UNASUR’s commission of former presidents -allied with the Executive Branch- were able to speak about the non-existent dialogue. The Venezuelan Foreign Affairs minister used her participation to accuse OAS’s SecGen Luis Almagro again, for blocking the fictional dialogue, which the government decided to promote as their best barajita against the activation of the Inter American Democratic Charter. According to Delcy, the opposition doesn’t sit in the negotiation table because Almagro promised them the application of the IADC, convincing them that there’s no need for dialogue: “Let this dialogue process, if you really have a sincere interest in it, let it prosper, let it advance, let UNASUR’s former presidents do their job,” said the signature verifier’s sister, in a bout of inspiration.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero did no better. Admitting that he was there by the Venezuelan government’s invitation  -meaning, in service of their interests instead of the nation’s- he requested support for the fictional dialogue process and endorsement for the government’s peace offering, as they add more political prisoners to their record, block humanitarian channels for medicines and increase internal conflict.

The Democratic Unity Roundtable sent a statement to the OAS’s Permanent Council saying: “The Venezuelan opposition and the National Assembly have requested the activation of the Inter American Democratic Charter and in view of this, the Venezuelan government has called for a meeting (…) to attempt to sell the proposal for a “dialogue process,” which doesn’t exist to date, with the clear goal of blocking the application of article 20 of the Charter,” reminding the Council that they requested the activation of this mechanism due to the severe national crisis and the ongoing violation of the constitutional order, which makes it urgent to achieve a democratic, peaceful and electoral regime change.

I hope the Permanent Council finally realizes that, just like politeness costs nothing, the dialogue doesn’t have to compete with the referendum, it can’t happen by imposition as several PSUV members have suggested, or with unfavorable conditions for one of the parties. UNASUR’s mediation is partial, it responds to the Executive Branch’s interests and earns the government a time window that the population doesn’t have, because of hunger, illness, crime and impunity.

—

Our everyday depreciation: the Simadi exchange rate closed this Tuesday at Bs. 607 per dollar, up Bs. 2.12 compared to Monday.