Well, we saw how Maduro sacked 74-year old Giordani, the North-Korea admirer and CADIVI-creator. Giordani saw that coming, so he got a letter published on Aporrea, the semi-independent Chavista-base site. And the Boligarchs were not amused.
Miguel wrote a good post about Giordani's letter. Giordani is an old communist responsible for a lot of the very unsustainable, corruption-promoting policies of Maduro. Giordani just tried to justify his past - for the record and to bug those who sacked him after he held so much power-. Now that the government is running out of money in spite of the continuing oil boom, Maduro needs pragmatists. Maduro probably thought Giordani would go quietly and later accept some embassy, but Giordani decided to nag in public.
Former education minister Héctor Navarro, another civilian and very much a lefty, came up now and supported Giordani. And he has been expelled from the Politburo.
The funny thing: the one person in charge of coordinating "party discipline" within the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela is Rodríguez Chacín, a military honcho friend of Chávez who was actually active during the hated IV Republic and was in the team of military that carried out the Massacre of El Amparo (Rodríguez was himself not present during the massacre but that was only because he had had an accident with the helicopter he was traveling in and was in a hospital when his comrades were shooting innocent fishermen). Rodríguez Chacín is also a big landowner who bought thousands of hectares of land around 2003, 4 years after Chavismo got into power.
In any case, in these days purges are not what they used to be. They are mild, they are more selective. They are just about removing people from power and/or money.
Former education minister Héctor Navarro, another civilian and very much a lefty, came up now and supported Giordani. And he has been expelled from the Politburo.
The funny thing: the one person in charge of coordinating "party discipline" within the Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela is Rodríguez Chacín, a military honcho friend of Chávez who was actually active during the hated IV Republic and was in the team of military that carried out the Massacre of El Amparo (Rodríguez was himself not present during the massacre but that was only because he had had an accident with the helicopter he was traveling in and was in a hospital when his comrades were shooting innocent fishermen). Rodríguez Chacín is also a big landowner who bought thousands of hectares of land around 2003, 4 years after Chavismo got into power.
In any case, in these days purges are not what they used to be. They are mild, they are more selective. They are just about removing people from power and/or money.
The PSUV's communist cadres should understand their Cuban big brothers already decided Venezuela needs a pragmatic fascistoid regime. This requires close alliances with foreign multinationals and Venezuela's business elite (remember Polar?). The end point will be a tough military dictatorship, practicing many of Mussolini's ideas. Maduro and friends will try to deceive the red cadres, but if necessary they will silence, jail or murder any communists who try to oppose them.
ReplyDeleteThe Cuban dictatorship has managed to establish a parasite-host relationship. The Cuban parasite does have the ability to control the host's brain.
You suggest that we be constructive....but after reaching the conclusion I outlined above, I'm not sure if Venezuela can pull out of this nose dive in one piece. It's easy for me, living in Europe like I do, to propose solutions, but I can't honestly say I would go to Venezuela and help. It's evident the middle class has to somehow join forces with the barrios and force the regime to change. Other than joining forces, what else could they do? Agree to copy a well managed country's brand of socialism (think Uruguay), and then have a general strike to force Maduro and the PSUV leaders to resign.