Open letter to Jimmy Carter: Don't you have any shame?

http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/2014/02/open-letter-to-jimmy-carter-dont-you.html?spref=tw

President Carter,
somewhere Quixotic I want to forget in Georgia

I have just read that you are planning a trip to Venezuela sometime in April, depending how the rioting goes. Right...  I also learned that you have written to Maduro and Capriles, arguably the leaders in Venezuela. In particular I note this sentence to Capriles that was picked up by newspapers: "send signals of their willingness to alleviate the present state of tension"; though in all justice you also wrote the following: "It is difficult for elected officials from opposition parties to resolve differences when they feel threatened and persecuted".  However, that you assume that in Venezuela today the opposition has concessions it can make do betrays an extremely poor understanding of the situation. Or utter cynicism, your choice.

Please, desist from your trip: you have absolutely no credibility in Venezuela. Here is why.

Your last actions in Venezuela have had disastrous results for the democracy here. When these became obvious you remained strangely silent for years, and only suddenly you wake up again. I will summarize just three of them that would require from you the most sincere apology and attempts to make amends if we are ever to consider you seriously again.

You promoted in 2003-2004 a discussion table so that we would go to a recall election. We should have never had to negotiate on that since it is a constitutional right. But your "negotiation" gave in fact the ability to the regime to manipulate the conditions for that right as it pleased, resulting not only in electoral fraud but also into the Tascon List which it is still in application today. I have yet to read an unambiguous stern condemnation of the Tascon List from your part. In case your forgot, the Tascon List was the list with the names of the millions that signed for a recall election and who since have been actively discriminated against by the regime. Also, the members of that table that you were supposed to protect have done poorly since, without a word of protection from you. In short, your lenience toward Chavez then was a nice stepping stone for the abuses that came later.

You called very early, too early, the result of the recall election of 2004 as fair.  You always refused to look at the statistical evidence presented by many people that questioned the quality of the result. By doing so you gave an argument to Chavez supporters around the world that this was the "best" electoral system even though with time even the Carter Center has come to acknowledge some problems. Following this laxity we got an outright stealing of election in April 2013 that we are waiting, by the way, for the Carter Center to at least make a strong "exhortation". In short, your blind eye to early electoral violations have not only allowed for Chavez autocracy to consolidate but has allowed Venezuela to lose free and fair elections altogether.

A few months after the recall election you interceded so that your friend and noted narcissistic opportunist Gustavo Cisneros would not be hurt too much by Chavez after his initial opposition. Maybe you wanted to keep fishing pabon in peace with him? Whatever that meeting was it started with the political self neutering of Venevision network, which was followed by the closing of RCTV, its main business competition and little by little in the end of freedom of expression and information on the air waves of Venezuela. Have you ever expressed regrets?  Cisneros certainly has not. In short, you are in part, large part maybe, responsible that in Venezuela today we have lost freedom of expression.

Based on these three items I shiver at the thought of what future calamity your announced visit would bring to us. Maybe the validation of concentration camps so that protesting students could cool off for a few years while not endangering themselves or the community?

I can assure you that half of the country has no respect nor credibility for you and the other half thinks you are a mere fool that they can use and discard as needed.

I think that not only you should desist from your trip, but should never mention us again. You have cursed us enough as it is. We will appreciate your future silence since nothing good ever comes from your statements on Venezuela. Worry not, I am sure we will find more worthy mediators.

Politely,

Daniel Duquenal

Note: this does not apply necessarily to the Carter Center who could be considered for future elections as it has shown signs to finally understand how unfair elections are. They do not have credit or trust in Venezuela but they can still do amends if they operate together with objective organizations like the European Union observers.  But you, we do not want. If you were to persist in coming after this letter I promise to do my best to counter your visit, circulating petitions, picketing myself your hotel if needed, even if the Nazional Guard of Venezuela starts beating me up because of you.

Venezuelans go to the Polls for Change or Status Quo

We are voting for "Change"

RosalbaG.

You can read it at:

http://es.scribd.com/doc/135151249/Venezuelans-Go-to-the-Polls-for-Change-or-Status-Quo

4/11/2013

E D I T O R I A L and O P I N I O N

Venezuelans go to the Polls for Change or Status Quo

by Jerry Brewer

It would be very difficult to believe that the Venezuelan people would not seek this election date of Sunday April 14, 2013 to make a huge change in political direction to rid themselves and their nation from over a decade of misery, aggressive government control, and corruption.  Corruption and lies that have squandered billions of dollars in massive oil wealth without explanation or documentation. Those Venezuelan officials and rogue leftist leaders rewarded handsomely by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s generosity, can’t be expected to prop a financially strapped nation up by reciprocating gifts of money. The majority of those nations such as Cuba, still cling to their own sinking ship.

The likes of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Argentina’s misguided Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Castro brothers of Cuba, and other Chavez friends such as Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won’t be mailing in checks.

The Chavez legacy is shameful-rivaling Fidel Castro’s Cuba. It must be seen as one of the most corrupt regimes in the history of Latin America. With a once proud nation of over 30 million people, Venezuela now imports around 70 percent of its food.  Shoppers cannot count on routinely finding sugar to purchase from the shelves.

Hugo Chavez’s lies and deception for votes promised that Venezuela would be turned into a self -sufficient food-exporting power in the world. Venezuelans now find it hard to find milk and butter and now imports half of its beef. His socialist revolution expropriated farms forcing many of the poor into the cities. Massive weapons expenditures were the order of the day for the Chavez regime and continue to this day on an annual basis. Although there is no visible enemy even remotely threatening the homeland, the Russians and other wealthy nations get richer by Venezuela’s government‘s insane and reckless spending, while the people suffer. Another major concern are the assertions and accusations by many that Venezuela’s weapons acquired have little quality control or accountability. Venezuela’s murder rate alone is one of the highest in the world, with a reported 900 weapons recently taken from a Venezuelan prison.

How can the Venezuelan voters fail to turn out in masses to rid their homeland of over a decade of failures and a political system that has raped the Venezuelan homeland of much of its pride and dignity?

A clear reminder of the Chavez rule of Venezuela is Chavez having taken up the banner of Fidel Castro’s original failed revolution as his own for Venezuela; inheriting the legacy of atrocities, human rights abuses, shameful misery, and free-world ridicule. The true results of Chavez's leftist rule until death (1999-2013*) have been some of the most devastating in Venezuela's history, with the poor continuing to live below the poverty line, in squalor, unsafe homes, with little food and rolling blackouts of electricity, All of this with massive oil revenues that can’t be accounted for.  

Although the late Hugo Chavez refused to answer for or remotely explain his fiscal actions; nor openly debate rival candidates for office; the problem lives on and the rule of law is still lacking. The decision for Venezuelan citizens to force change or to accept much more of the usual is up to the min an electoral process that some believe lacks competent oversight.  A clear message to the current regime and those rogue leftist nations represented on Venezuelan soil- such as the 5,000 Cuban troops sent last year; should either welcome them or send them packing.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATES

United States of America

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 Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global threat mitigation firm headquartered in northern Virginia. His websiteis located at  www, cjiausa.org

TWITTER: @cjiausa