In 1999 a former military coupster was sworn in as president in Venezuela: Hugo Chávez. He immediately set out to radically change things, dismounting the institutions, creating ad hoc armed organizations that only answered to him, and all the while spewing hatred on a select sub-sector of the country’s population: The middle class. He accused …
The other day yet another Venezuelan Supreme Court justice jumped ship and fled to USA. Last week it was the president of the criminal court, Eliado Aponte Aponte. In 2006 it was Luis Velásquez Alvaray in the constitutional court. It has already become clear that president Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías himself is the drug kingpin, …
October 7, 2012, a presidential election will be held in Venezuela. Or will it? There is a lot that suggests that the process will be interrupted by a military coup. Hugo Chávez is dying in cancer (although he has claims to be recovering), and the politicians are preparing for what happens next. The opposition in …
The occupation of Wall Street, or actually a park a few blocks away, has shed light on the democratic deficiency in USA. The main reason is the corruption of the politicians. Nobody can serve two masters, says the Bible, but the Congressmen are expected to serve both the tax payers who are paying their salaries, …
It is hard to predict, especially the future. Nevertheless, there are some developments that seem to follow a pattern, so when a significant part of the pattern has played out, it is possible to predict that the rest will follow. One such pattern is that empires that rise also will fall. The only ones denying …
The CVR report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Honduras (Comisión de la Verdad y la Reconciliación) was released July 7, 2011. Their most serious error is in the apparent omission of the Trotskyist Cold War aspect, which has led them to draw erroneous conclusions. Although the report was released July 7, it is …
The chavistas have claimed that it was a coup d’état in Honduras in 2009, and that the new elected president, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, is a “golpista,” a coupster. However, a recent Venezuelan diplomatic cable reveals that the democrats in Honduras were right all along in being suspicious against Lobo, whose name means Wolf. It turns …
Harvard law professor Noah Feldman has, together with co-authors, written a report to the Honduran Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR from its Spanish name) regarding the constitutionality of the events before, during, and after June 28, 2009, when the president of the republic, Manuel Zelaya Rosales, was removed from office and flown to Costa Rica. …
The other day Honduras was readmitted into OAS, after deposed president Manuel Zelaya returned to his homeland on May 28th. The only detail left to be taken care of from the crisis of 2009 is the presentation of the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, CVR. So is all well now? Hardly. Hugo Chávez, …
This Crisis Group report on Venezuela is an important one, it recommends the use of democratic methods to get rid of Chávez. However, it was written before Chávez abandoned democracy with the Cuban package. It can be argued that the situation now is different than in 2008. Also, we have the precedents of Tunisia, Egypt, …
