News of the Restless

Or, Yon-Yon’s mustard gaffe:

A couple of clips from La Hojilla (The Razorblade), showing what none of the opposition media want you to see about the kind of people THEY represent. Namely, that they are delusional, violent and even downright stupid at times. Namely, that they don’t have fuck-all to do with Venezuela’s real workers and unionists, who marched on May Day in peaceful, happy–i.e., typically Chavista–fashion. No, these guys marched to complain, as ever, about how repressed they are.

Yeah, right.

So repressed are these poor deluded dears that no one stopped them from marching. They were even granted a permit to follow a given route (how repressive!). But when they tried to diverge from that route and break into the National Assembly building under the pretext of “delivering a document”, then they came up against the Caracas police, who had set up protective barriers (which some punks in front promptly proceeded to break).

When asked repeatedly by journalist Jorge Amorín what the document said, the oppos got belligerent. They accused Amorín of being a spy, or shouted what appeared to be stupid slogans that had nothing to do with the subject at hand. One oppo leader, Ismael García, can be seen giving Amorín and his cameraman the finger–just for asking a few questions that he doesn’t want to answer truthfully. So civilized, these oppos!

If there was a document–which I doubt, as none was in evidence anywhere–what was so secret about its contents? After all, it was supposed to be “delivered” to a public institution–the National Assembly, that is, the chamber of Venezuela’s elected federal representatives.

Hey! I get it. There was no document. That’s right: THERE WAS NO DOCUMENT. This was a ruse! (smacking forehead) How could I have been so dense?

This was just another effort on the part of the oppos to recoup what they lost on April 13, 2002. Remember that? On April 11, they marched on Miraflores to depose a legitimate president; they had to commit murder and mayhem to get their way, but it only lasted 48 hours. At the end, the will of the people prevailed, the fascists fled, and Chavecito returned to his desk. They’ve been trying, ever since then, to try to get it right, and they haven’t succeeded yet. Always they keep coming up against the same thing: The people love Chavecito, and they want to keep him around.

But hey! Give these guys full marks for dogged persistence, anyway. They just keep trying and trying to impose themselves against democracy. So touching. And just think, if Venezuela were really a totalitarian state, as they claim, would these fascists have the freedom to keep trying for a coup d’état, with commercial media as their faithful accomplice?

Or for that matter, if there were no freedom of speech in Venezuela, would Yon “Playboy” Goicoechea be able to lie on TV about how the police used mustard gas against a march that he took no part in himself? (Item #1: Mustard gas has been prohibited by international law since 1925. Item #2: Venezuela respects and abides by all international laws.) There’s been plenty of joking (most notably by the Robertos, on their show “As You Can See”) about Yon-Yon’s mustard gaffe, and how what was really sprayed at the crowd was not mustard but mayonnaise.

All kidding aside, however, the police did have to use pepper spray, as the mob was breaking the barriers, attempting to riot, and showing no respect for public order. Pepper spray is legal; it’s nasty, but not deadly unless maybe you have an allergy to cayenne pepper. And in this case, it was dyed red, so anyone could see it coming and get away in time. It’s unfortunate that the cops had to use it, but if you watch both videos, you’ll see that they had good reasons for doing so.

Also, pay close attention to how the Globovisíon announcer claims there was no violence. Really? Then who knocked over those potted trees? Who set the garbage bin on fire? Who destroyed the PDVAL market? I’ll give you a broad hint: They weren’t wearing PSUV shirts or carrying a banner with Chavecito’s face on it. The Chavista march didn’t go that way.

Oh, those poor oppressed oppos. Can’t get their way, so they riot–and then they lose what little respect anyone else was ever willing to give them.

Including your humble scribe.