Just before the late legislative
elections in Venezuela, October 2013, President Nicolas Maduro, with his lead
evaporating in the polls, promoted the massive sacking of electronics stores.
Under the protection of the National Guard, thousands of Venezuelans in
different cities, especially in Valencia, went into these stores, mostly owned
by Arab merchants who had been supporters of the government, and walked away
with TV sets and other goodies. As expected, this brutal decision increased his
votes among the poor and allowed him (so the government says) to obtain 200,000
votes more than the opposition candidate, Mr. Henrique Capriles, out of the
total 14 million votes counted.
This tactic was a replica of the
one used by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. In 2007 Zimbabweans were shopping like there's no tomorrow. With police patrolling
the aisles of Harare's electrical shops to enforce massive government-ordered
price cuts, the widescreen TVs were the first things to go, for as little as
£20.
Today, under orders from President
Maduro, jet fighters are flying low over the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas
in an attempt to terrorize the population, just as in October, 2013 military
jets had flown over Cairo to intimidate protesters.
The current government script is
being copied, on Cuban orders, from intimidation tactics tried in other dictatorial regimes where similar situations have existed.
The poor Maduro is not very original,
just a copycat. And he talks with a bird!
2 comentarios:
In more ways than one he is a copycat: many MANY were calling for peace long before Maduro tried to hijack the word as a government initiative; it is laughable reading and listening to some pro Left saying that all the trouble is the 'right-wing' opposition and why don't they follow 'Maduro's plea for peace'.
Maduro et al are more like a polecat than a copy cat -
a weasel-like Eurasian mammal (genus Mustela, family Mustelidae ) with mainly dark brown fur and a darker mask across the eyes, noted for ejecting a fetid fluid when threatened.
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