Today a mob of Chávez supporters attacked Plaza Altamira (where the rebel military officers are staying), they were repelled and didn't do much damage. But the events of the few days of the new year have make Chávez plans clear to most people. He wants to tempt the military to stage a Coup. Even if he doesn't defeat them he still gains, because, as Joseph Belloc Sobran would say:

"Everybody wants to be a victim.  And the paradox is that victim status accrues precisely to those who can acquire enough clout to make others afraid of them. Victimhood has become one of the fruits of power. Anyone can be an underdog; the trick is to be a registered, pedigreed underdog."

If that fails and there is no coup, then he will try to stop the referendum of February 2nd by any means necessary. Even decreeing an emergency state, which the constitution allows for a few days before asking the assembly to concur, in order to stop it. The problem is that this strategy will produce two results and immediate one which is a radicalization of the opposition, including all kinds of violence. And a long term one: it precludes leaving power, as the revoking referendum will do in August. So, they have to be planing in not holding elections ever again... What will happen next?

6:06:15 PM Google It! What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

Suicide bombers hit Tel Aviv. A double suicide bombing kills at least 23 people including two bombers in a busy area of Tel Aviv, Israeli police say. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

What can the killers expect to get out of these attacks? Is this the future of Venezuela? Of all humanity? Are we fucking blind?

5:34:10 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

Don't allow Chavez to ruin Venezuela.

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I had to put this article from the Baltimore Sun 0n my blog written by a US citizen and fellow Red Sox sufferer.

[The Devil's Excrement]

1:39:43 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

As the bodies of the victims of the January 3 violence were being taken to their resting place, the rallying cry of the chavistas was There are empty coffins for the metropolitan police. As usual, wherever chavistas have made their presence felt, the area is devastated, walls covered in graffiti and a building of Acción Democratica, an old party first destroy then, unfortunately, revived by Chávez and his followers' stupidity and blindness, was attack and all the glasses look shattered.

I doubt this strategy will work for the government supporters, this was an area were Chávez and his government had a lot of support in April, every time they do things like this they lose some of the support. Ironically, at least one of the two cops wounded yesterday was pro-Chávez, as were most of the officers assigned to that tiny station...

12:21:11 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

This story was confirmed by a neighbor with a perfect view of the events. The police were in a corner, far from the funeral home, and they were shot at (two were wounded), and the chavistas advanced against the station threatening to burn it... The police defended themselves with tear gas and plastic bullets.

Amazingly the government is not saying how many metropolitan police were wounded on friday (my sources say around ten). It seems the plan was to repel the opposition march and then gun down some policemen force them to respond and have some "deaths with a red shirt". This was expressed a few weeks ago in the permanent concentration the government supporters are holding in PDVSA La Campiña, but was dismissed then as crazy talk, I guess they have change their minds...

9:39:12 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

Venezuelan Minister Says Chávez Won't Give In to Strikers

"Despite the problems, the country is moving forward except for the oil industry, which has been hit the hardest," he said. "But the country is going forward. The stores are open. People are going to work."

[From The New York Times]

What lies! While it is true that some stores are open and that some that are closed may be just on vacation. It is absolutely false people are going to work. There is no traffic in Caracas, there is no industrial production, classes will not start next week (and it is irresponsible for the government to call for classes to star while violence is going on in every street). No, this isn't an oil strike and the only reason the government is not accepting the truth and negotiating is because they don't want to hold any more elections ever. That is the only plan that makes sense with their current attitude.

9:23:01 AM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []