Piñata Alert

/ September 13, 2011


So, there will be a three-month lame-duck period between the October 7th, 2012 presidential election and the next innauguration on January 10th, 2013.  What could possibly go wrong?

In Nicaragua, they called it La Piñata: the massive grab for state and privately held property the Sandinista elite threw itself into after Daniel Ortega lost the 1990 election to Violeta Chamorros. The tiny, perennially broke country ended up having to pay out more than $1.1 billion over 15 years to settle compensation claims stemming from the barely disguised looting.

And they only needed two months to do that.

Related posts

22 thoughts on “Piñata Alert”

  1. If they lose I actually believe most will run for the hills, once we know they have lost the elections people will feel “guapos y apoyaos”, I don´t think people will back down and let their properties get taken away like they do currently. However, the national reserve is another issue, that iz gonna get raaaaaaped fo´sure…

    Like

    • lo han tenido que soltar en gobernaciones y AN por mucha trampa que intenten. ya nolia el gusano se fué corriendo a españa… las ratas desguazarán lo que quede pero abandonarán este barco. ya verás…

      Like

    • Si los dejamos, no lo sueltan…. Pero nadie a dicho que los vamos a dejar…. Ellos van a seguir amenazando que están armados, que son el pueblo, etc pero del dicho al hecho hay mucho trecho.

      Una cosa es decir que las FFAA son bolivarianas y que son fieles a la revolución, otra cosa es tener que disparar para cumplir esa “promesa”.

      Seguro que va a salir un loco a disparar y a matar, pero vamos a ver cuantos siguen a ese loco y cuantos dicen “ni de vaina”. La cuestión es no tener miedo y pensar que el sentido común, tarde o temprano, siempre prevalece, hasta en Venezuela, el país bizarro.

      Like

  3. Lucky that the power to rule by decree, granted Chavez by the lame duck National Assembly, will have expired by then. Otherwise, he’d be allowed to seize properties under the well-known lema that “if the President does it, it’s legal.”

    Like

  4. Nothing will stop them. Those with power will take everything not nailed down. So much for taking care of the “pueblo”.

    Like

  5. La revolución esta armada y ellos son el pueblo, así que aunque los venezolanos los boten con el voto, ellos tienen el mandato del pueblo soberano messmo, de dios y de los babalaos para seguir en el poder hasta el 2mil siempre!!!

    Sadly, here expecting blood or lots of looting

    Like

  6. Since we have “seen this movie before” we can alert everyone.
    This is when the military needs to stand with the people and
    not side with the chavistas, also. In fact- it would be great if
    the military awakened now. What if we carried signs=
    Military are traitors to Venezuela. Stop loyalty to Cuba.
    Stop corrupt involvement with drugs, etc.

    Like

  7. The MUD has put forward a “Transition law”, which will try to bind the current government into not “raspar la olla”. Of course, much damage has been done already, and the main rationale of this quasi admission of defeat, is that they want time to plunder as they go (and to fix their legal status for the future). Alas, the government might want to avoid a bleak fourth economic quarter and an angry December mood, as they cannot repeat the 2004 escenario.

    I’m sure the transition will become an electoral issue, as the negotations to introduce and pass the bill will reveal fears (and perhaps some deals and backhanded requests for “free passes” and “blind eyes”), even though Canciller Maduro has just called it “ridiculous and incoherent”. The primarias schedule remains in place (alternative plans were created -and are still in place- depending on a margin of dates), and all the regional boards are set, and the main candidates are OK with the date (it is Maria Corina Machado’s BD after all).

    Moreover, I wanted to address the rumor mill. The March date was put forward by those who wanted an consensual (as opposed to primarias-elected) candidate (possibly Eduardo Fernandez)… In view of the announced Sept. 12th meeting of the CNE board, Carlos Blanco, Rafael Poleo, Alberto Franceschi, Pablo Aure, all called for the moving up of the election date in recent press articles (because the economy is in the doldrums, because the president was not getting better, because there was a “power void”, because the young and popular candidates are feeble-minded and superficial, because there will be a coup, and so on…). Puzkas presented the date as a fact (then recanted), but Otero, Ravell and Bocaranda jumped on it… Anonymous mail cadenas were put forward requesting a cancellation of the primarias, because the country needed elections now and we couldn’t afford the expense. Miquilena brokered a Governor’s convention hosted by Morel in Margarita to propose a separate oppo comand, which seems to have floundered. In any case, the government had nothing to do with the March ghost…

    Like

  9. So, there will be a three-month lame-duck period between the October 7th, 2012 presidential election and the next innauguration on January 10th, 2013. What could possibly go wrong?

    Should read:

    So, there’s been a 12-year lame-duck period between 2 February 1999, and the next innauguration on January 10th, 2013. What could possibly go wrong?

    The Piñata, as far as I can tell, has been going on since Chavez came to power.

    Like

  10. Totally unrelated, but I was thinking it would be cool if GTA Caracas, but than I realized it would be totally redundant since from what I understand every day life in Caracas is already like GTA.

    Like

Comments are closed.