Dysfunctional Socialism

Dear Journalists,

I was just astonished seeing the attendees at Hugo Chavez’s funeral. Outside of Venezuela’s neighboring countries’ leaders, there were infamous world leaders like Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and profane Raul Castro from Cuba. The United States delegation was formed by Rev. Jesse Jackson, former U.S. Congressman William Delahunt, and others that may had received free money from Hugo Chavez. Also, attending were some of the heart loving Chavistas who had been seen in Washington, D.C. on expensive business trips that regular Venezuelan citizens cannot afford.

Further, out of Hugo Chavez’s four children only two attended the ceremony. The rumors say that one of his daughters did not agree with the ceremony’s arrangements, and did not go to the funeral. Who knows what happened!

Question to the journalists who attended the ceremony was Hugo Chavez already embalmed? Another rumor is that Hugo Chavez died in Cuba on December 30, and what was brought back to Venezuela was his already embalmed body. So, the death announcement was a farce. Who knows what happened!

The coffin that Chavistas cried and mourned carrying from the Military Hospital to the Military Academy was reported empty. A different coffin with the dictator’s body was at the Military Academy.

There are reports that Hugo Chavez amassed during his time in office two billion dollars.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/03/chavez_leaves_a_mess_-_and_a_fortune_for_his_family.html

As you may know, Venezuelan citizens suffer strict foreign exchange rules while the Chavistas travel and have access to foreign trade (Comisión de Administración de Divisas  http://www.cadivi.gob.ve/)

France24 reported mostly siding with Hugo Chavez. That is with the exception of the live broadcast during the funeral where two experts from each side discussed Hugo Chavez’s domestic violence, anti-semitism, and other infamous issues. Since France is a socialist government  some French citizens  think that Venezuela is also socialist. However, what exists in Venezuela is a dysfunctional socialism where a minority are loaded with money, and the upper and middle class’ quality of life has been reduced. This includes shortages of basic foods, and other products.

http://www.americas-forum.com/otto-reich-in-venezuela-plenty-of-oil-not-enough-food-wall-street-journal/

The worst situation is the violation of the Constitution as denounced by opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski as reported on my previous blog posting titled FRAUD.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, Governor of Miranda State, has denounced fraud by Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) (supreme court) on live television following Hugo Chavez’s funeral.http://globovision.com/articulo/capriles-radonski-hoy-me-siento-obligado-a-hablarle-al-pais

The International Court of Justice, busy at it is, should make time to prosecute Hugo Chavez’s thugs who survived him for abuse of power, fraud, and more fraud if the alleged algorithms and open violation of the vote are true.

Venezuelans need help from world leaders, and the International Court of Justice, to resolve abuse of power in Venezuela and restore democracy.

Cordially, 

Maru Angarita
My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com Twitter @maruangarita

F R A U D

Dear Journalists,

Henrique Capriles Radonski, Governor of Miranda State, has denounced fraud by Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) (supreme court) on live television following Hugo Chavez’s funeral.

http://globovision.com/articulo/capriles-radonski-hoy-me-siento-obligado-a-hablarle-al-pais

Mr. Capriles Radonski explained that while all the cameras were on the funeral watching the thirty world leaders, and others attending the ceremony, the TSJ nominated  Hugo Chavez’s unsworn vice president Nicolas Maduro as the temporary president until the new elections take place in 30 days.

Mr. Capriles Radonski accused Nicolas Maduro to be involved in abuse of power by not recognizing Hugo Chavez’s 1999 Venezuela’s Constitutional law.

Please keep in mind that half of Venezuela’s population supported Hugo Chavez, the rest of the population voted against him. Sadly, the crowd who supported Hugo Chavez are uneducated and have elevated him as a Santeria idol. Others supporting him seem to have an ingrained hatred for the United States of America, and/or were supporting him to keep their jobs.

Please check Twitter’s #fraudeconstitucional.

Rayma’s carton dated March 8, 2013

http://www.eluniversal.com/opinion/rayma/

The International Court of Justice, busy at it is, should make time to prosecute Hugo Chavez’s thugs who survived him for abuse of power, fraud, and more fraud if the alleged algorithms and open violation of the vote are true.

Venezuelans need help from world leaders, and the International Court of Justice, to resolve abuse of power in Venezuela and restore democracy.

Cordially, 

Maru Angarita
My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com Twitter @maruangarita

Abilene Paradox and Groupthink at the National Assembly?

Dear Journalists, 

Former Ambassador Adolfo Taylhardat wrote in his columm Cinismo that Hugo Chavez’s officials seemed to had delayed the news of his death similar  to what took place with dictators Juan Vicente Gomez, and Joseph Stalin. Ambassador Taylhardat accuses the officials as cynics.

http://www.eluniversal.com/opinion/130306/cinismo

Personally, I am concerned about the behavior of the legislators at the National Assembly that seem to have fallen in to the Abilene Paradox and the infamous Groupthink.

Journalist Ezequiel Minaya of The Wall Street Journal reported that the former vice-president of Venezuela is taking over as a temporary president after the death of Hugo Chavez.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324034804578344102069416518.html?mod=rss_mobile_uber_feed

However, Hugo Chavez was never sworn in a president because of his illness, so the former vp does not qualify. The Venezuelan Constitution states that the head of the National Assembly, which is similar to the U.S. Speaker of the House, is who should be designated as temporary president until elections take place. However, the National Assembly legislators seem to have fallen into the Abilene Paradox, and are recognizing against constitutional law the former vp as president. Mr. Minaya reported that only a hand-full of legislators oppose this action. So, it seems that the legislators have also fallen into the Groupthink. The Groupthink seems to be promoting unethical behavior.  Mr. Minaya also reported that the Venezuelan attorney general said on television that the former vp was rightfully in line to assume the interim presidency while an election is called. The attorney general is the former vp’s wife.

Leigh Thompson  in her book Making the Team explains Abilene Paradox  as the desire for group members to avoid conflict and reach consensus at all costs. Further, Thompson explains that Abilene Paradox is a form of pluralistic ignorance (p. 170). Thompson further explains that a major reason for unethical behavior is promulgated is the belief that “everyone else is doing it” (p.178).

Thompson wrote  that Groupthink occurs when team members place consensus above all other priorities – including using good judgment when the consensus reflect poor judgment or improper or immoral actions. Groupthink involves a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgments as a result of group pressures toward conformity of opinion (p. 157). Furthermore,  Groupthink can lead to a culture of unethical behavior within a company where the groups lie when deception is a guaranteed to result in financial profit (p. 178).

The International Court of Justice, busy at it is, should make time to prosecute Hugo Chavez’s  thugs who survive him, for fraud if the alleged algorithms and open violation of the vote are true.

Venezuelans need help from world leaders, and the International Court of Justice, to resolve abuse of power in Venezuela and restore democracy.

Cordially,

Maru Angarita 

My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com Twitter @maruangarita

References:

Thompson, L.L. (2011). Making the team. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Minaya, E. (2013, March 6). Chávez deputy takes steps toward control. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324034804578344102069416518.html?mod=rss_mobile_uber_feed

Hugo Chávez (1954-2013)

The following are comments from Pedro Mario Burelli, Internationalist, Harvard University:

PMBComment | Hugo Chávez (1955-2013) will be eulogized - and even lionized, today, but his misdeeds will take years to mend. He was a rude divider and a reckless weaver of myth and chaos. Some will miss him dearly, many will not shed a tear. What group you fall into depends on your understanding of or stance on Venezuelan political history, on whether you were on the receiving end of his control-free largess or the butt of his relentless vitriol and vindictiveness, on your views of the necessity or the perniciousness of self-appointed societal or global avengers. It all depends. I have no doubt where I stand.

In February of 1998, months before the election that he won as a result of the most unbelievable accumulation of errors on the part of Venezuela's exhausted political and business elites, I had a unique opportunity to meet Lt. Col. Chávez. He crashed a lunch I was having in my house with a close family friend who had crossed all sorts of lines to become one of the closest aides to the failed coupster. Uninvited, and to some extent unwelcome, he ended up staying 7 hours. At the time, I was a member of the Board of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Chávez was intent on understanding everything about oil despite the fact that it was clear he had made up his mind on these all-too-critical matters without concern for geology, economics or fact. After a tense start, the conversation evolved well, he was attentive and took copious notes, his follow up questions showed that he had assimilated information even if it went against his obvious bias.

Fours hours into our conversation, we touched on the subject of the December elections. Polls showed that two years after being graciously released from jail - without limits on his political rights - he had only 3% support (this in fact had been President Caldera's gamble when releasing him). He said that he expected to use this as a trail to be ready for a serious run in 2002, I ventured to say: "Hugo, you will probably win in December". He was shocked and said it was impossible. Let me tell you what I have seen in you during these hours, I said. "You are unexpectedly charming, very quick on your feet, you are endowed with what an uncle of mine used to call 'an encyclopedic ignorance' and you are totally irresponsible...and this Hugo, is an unbeatable combination at a time when many Venezuelans are seeking a break from what AD and Copei have become. Some will underestimate you, others will overestimate you and no one will be able to tell when you are lying - not even you!". He was aghast but pleased.

I continued, "The problem here is that if you win, which I am willing to bet will be the case, you will not be the solution to Venezuela's problem but the embodiment of them...your election will prove that forty years of democratic experiment has yielded very little as nothing reflects better the state of a country than its choice of leaders. So, if they pick you...you automatically win your own argument as to the state of our democracy". Interestingly he was not offended and actually teased his friend (who went on to high offices) "You see Colonel, Pedro Mario thinks we have more chances than you". "Indeed", I retorted "but keep in mind that we will then be left to rebuild our country over your dead body".

I never met Hugo Chavez again. I made up my mind on the spot. I warned many, some heeded the warnings, others did not. Over the last 14 years I have written and spoken profusely about the events as they occurred and the future they purported. There is no joy in having been right, I would much rather have been wrong, even very wrong. But that is not the case. We now enter uncharted territory, the sort Google Earth would do well to label "Here be dragons". That my dear friends is not a legacy, that is a tragedy. PMB

For more: www.pmbcomments.com

For 140 characters: @pburelli 

BREAKING NEWS

@France24_fr: [URGENT] Venezuela : Nicolas Maduro annonce le décès de Hugo Chavez
CNN  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday. He was 58.

BIG TIME MALARKEY

Dear Journalists,

Are you fed up already of all the nonsense and disinformation released by Hugo Chavez’s administration officials? Just imagine how Venezuelans feel with the constant malarkey that they are frequently bombarded with daily.

Rayma’s cartoon dated March 5, 2013 explains the nonsense:

http://www.eluniversal.com/opinion/rayma/

Otto Reich, Former United States Ambassador to Venezuela wrote a response to Hugo Chavez’s vice president after the infamous official called him “Mafioso”.

“Respuesta a Maduro” por Otto Reich

http://www.americas-forum.com/respuesta-a-maduro-por-otto-reich/

Ambassador Reich reminded the vp about the list of Hugo Chavez’s officials who are currently in the U.S. Treasury Department considered as drug traffickers and other crimes.

Hugo Chavez’s officials released a new video explaining that the infamous leader, who has not been sworn in as president, remains severely ill.  Maybe Hugo Chavez is at the morgue, and his officials are just buying time to sort out what to do.

http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2013/03/04/chavez-ha-sufrido-un-empeoramiento-de-su-funcion-respiratoria/

The International Court of Justice, busy at it is, should make time to prosecute Hugo Chavez, and his thugs who survive him, for fraud if the alleged algorithms and open violation of the vote are true.

Venezuelans need help from world leaders, and the International Court of Justice, to resolve abuse of power in Venezuela and restore democracy.

Cordially,

Maru Angarita
My blog is: http://maruangarita.blogspot.com Twitter @maruangarita