Caracas Chronicles

For Wednesday, January 18, 2016. Translated by Javier Liendo.

“The OLP are back stronger and with more love,” Nicolás said in yesterday’s cadena. Two hours talking about what he thinks is a new brilliant proposal for public safety, omitting the failure of all previous plans from his narrative, as if the PSUV hadn’t been in charge of the country for the past 18 years. Perhaps the OLP’s recent massacres inspired him to rename this important Human Rights violation plan, which will be called OLHP from now on. No, the “H” doesn’t stand for its history of abuse (Hijo de puta,) it’s a far bolder attempt at including a word to justify its crimes, that’s why it will now be the Operation for People’s Humanistic Liberation. If the OLP can be humanistic, Nicolás can be a Statesman.

Six lines of action

By relaunching the Plan Patria Segura (Safe Homeland Plan,) they admit they haven’t solved the issue of security, in Nicolás’s own words: “We haven’t approached it properly,” adding that these are offensive lines for peace -spot the mistake there-. This effort, which supposedly brings together integral policies for public safety, includes: uplifting the Movement for Peace and Life (plans to support sports and culture); reactivating Patria Segura (police deployment on the streets); establishing new Peace Sectors (which they want to increase from 1,119 to 2,300); strengthening the People’s Protection System for Peace (SP3) which also includes increasing the amount of cooperating patriots (informants); redefining the OLP and, lastly, establishing houses of justice for conflict resolution. Nicolás wants twenty thousand more officers by July 15th: ten thousand National Guardsmen and ten thousand National Policemen.

State policy

It’s tremendously cynical for him to state his concern for Miranda’s “disastrous” crime figures, as he stands beside Tareck El Aissami, executive vice-president and also governor of Aragua, a state that had the highest murder rate in the country in 2016, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence

Crime has soared immeasurably in recent years. It’s absurd for Nicolás to talk about security without mentioning the events in Guárico where members of CICPC (scientific police) and local policemen were attacked by criminals armed with rifles and grenades. It’s tremendously cynical for him to state his concern for Miranda’s “disastrous” crime figures, as he stands beside Tareck El Aissami, executive vice-president and also governor of Aragua, a state that had the highest murder rate in the country in 2016, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence. Nicolás blamed the media for violence, three days after holding a cadena where he played with a rifle and promised thousands of them for the slums. He also believes that social networks have a negative effect on children and promote violence, so he demanded a study on the matter. The real message here: he could censor social networks with the excuse of crime.

The promise

On January 4th, 2015, Nicolás said in Miraflores: “I say: the only way I’d use my presidential authority to release [Leopoldo López,] is putting him on a plane to the United States, leave him there and exchange him for Óscar López Rivera; tooth for tooth, man for man, it’s the only way.” This Tuesday, barely three days before leaving the White House, president Barack Obama pardoned Puerto Rican separatist Óscar López Rivera. aged 74, sentenced in 1981 to 55 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and then sentenced to another 15 years in 1988 for attempting to escape. Without this pardon, López RIvera would’ve been in prison until 2023, aged 80, but now his prison sentence will expire on May 17th. And now, Nicolás, will you get Leopoldo López on a plane on May 16th, tooth for tooth, man for man?

Regarding lawmaker Gilber Caro

An indelicate way of confirming that Caro’s case is just one among many, that his condition as a legislator grants him no particular relevance

Ombudsman Tarek William Saab issued a statement today regarding National Assembly lawmaker Gilber Caro, arrested -in violation of his parliamentary immunity- along with his girlfriend Steyci Escalona. Presumably, his physical integrity and the respect for his Human Rights were verified, but this statement is far from satisfactory: “We’ve informed his family and his lawyers that our appointed official in Carabobo was able to visit lawmaker Gilber and his partner in Naguanagua, in the Círculo Militar where he’s held (…) they were interviewed, an Ombudsman Report was made, and we’ll do whatever we need to do so that this case remains within the boundaries of the law, like thousands of other cases of citizens deprived of freedom.” An indelicate way of confirming that Caro’s case is just one among many, that his condition as a legislator grants him no particular relevance.

To the National Pantheon

After remarking that if the National Electoral Council hasn’t called for gubernatorial elections yet it’s because the opposition called for a referendum, Diosdado Cabello claimed that the opposition continues to advance a golpista agenda and that: “There won’t be general elections here, the president won’t resign here, the only thing that we’ll have here is revolution.” He added that the mortal remains of Fabricio Ojeda -politician and guerrilla man- will be taken to the National Pantheon on January 23rd. Despite the fact that the National Constitution establishes that the National Assembly is responsible for granting these honors “to illustrious Venezuelans, who had been of significant service to the Republic,” Diosdado believes Ojeda to be some sort of memorable martyr and that’s why the decree for transporting his remains will be published on Official Gazette today, adding. “We don’t persecute or disappear anyone.” If I were SEBIN, I’d print that phrase on a banner and hang it on El Helicoide’s entrance.

By the way

Once again, the Wall Street Journal’s legal counsel requested the Court of New York’s Southern District to dismiss the second amended slander lawsuit filed by Diosdado on May, 2016. The journal’s lawyers say that Cabello’s accusations do not reasonably argue the slander and malice allegedly committed by their client in the article published on May 18th, 2015, in which the paper claimed that Cabello’s being investigated for drug trafficking and money laundering by federal agencies in the United States. If the court dismisses this lawsuit, the proceedings end.

…

CNE authority Luis Emilio Rondón requested the discussion and approval of the schedule to call for gubernatorial elections within the first half of the year, to comply with the Electoral Calendar for 2017. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was expected to arrive yesterday to the country, and Mgr. Claudio María Celli and Ernesto Samper are expected today. The only statement regarding dialogue was issued by Timoteo Zambrano, saying that the mediators could meet separately with the government and the opposition by the end of the week.