Three and a half years, some rapes, beatings and a forced abortion later…

/ June 7, 2013

lourdes-afiuni…it looks like Judge María Lourdes Afiuni will be released later on this morning.

Calling what happened to this woman a “detention” amounts to lexical complicity in an ugly, ugly crime. In effect, she was kidnapped. By the police and the courts, yes, but kidnapped just the same.

In classic Luisa Ortega Diaz fashion, the blackest mark on chavismo’s human rights record ends not with a bang but with a tweet.

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63 thoughts on “Three and a half years, some rapes, beatings and a forced abortion later…”

    • Could be.

      Here is the deal:
      “1) we give you your Tracy
      2) I get a picture of us smiling to the camera
      3) Natacha y los carajitos visitan Disney (Syd dixit)
      3) we set Afiuni free
      4) you speed up that student visa for my niece”

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      • Uyyyy but oh how sovereign Chavistas are, so much for fighting against the evil Empire, Chavez death still hot and Haua like the Venezuelan modern Uncle Tom, “mande Mr. Kerry, mande mande” … and the gringos gave them the list for them to follow… pfff bunch of clowns… sorry but I have to laugh about so much sovereignty… lol

        Question why the abortion and rape comment? Was she?

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    • Come on,
      Let’s not forget when he met Obama. All smiles and fun. He even gave to the US Petty Island. Anti Imperialism my ass.

      Chávez was a military man. Treat like shit all those rookies under you. Those above you, be polite, smiling and unctuous.

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      • Guido: In almost every Venezuelan hierarchical organization (not just in the military) there are plenty of people who behave the way Chavez did , there is this whole tradition of sucking up to the boss which is almost universal . Met someone who knew Chavez in the army before he became a political figure, and he was just as you describe: an ingratiating boot licking toady with his superiors, dont know how he treated his underlings, probably not half as bad as he later treated his ministers , there is something about exercising absolute power that brings out the worse in people, that transforms them into obnoxious thugs. Chavez case was worse because he had his own personal demons to exorcise, He knew how to be charming to people whose good will he wanted to seduce and then couldnt help himself in mistreating his subrodinates just to show them who was boss, something he liked to do very much !!

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  5. I recall reading an interview with her that she said she would never get out of jail while Chavez was alive. She was right.

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  6. It can not be just coincidence a meet with Kerry, they release the “Gringo” in prison and now this. It is the American Way.

    I am happy for Ms Afiuni, but the question arises, can she get back to a normal life?, can we?.
    Now more questions are open, more doubts are cast on Justice in Venezuela.

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    • can she get back to a normal life?, can we?

      We are the sum total of all our experiences, both shadow and light. The objective, I think, is to make them productive, rather than allow them to excessively control us. A quote may further answer those questions.

      “Let everything happen to you
      Beauty and terror
      Just keep going
      No feeling is final.”
      ― Rainer Maria Rilke

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  7. As far as I can tell, she is being released from house arrest, but is still on bail, and still formally facing charges. The terms of the bail might prevent her from speaking to the press, and there might be other interference with her liberties, such as required weekly reporting, etc.

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  8. If a judge let a criminal in the US escape through their back door, they would be certainly in more than house arrest.

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  9. Imagine being such a clown that you STILL repeat the official bullshit on Afiuni, even after three years, rape, and an absolute failure to prove a single thing against her. It is typical of authoritarians, both of the fascist and communist varieties, that whatever the Great Leader says, must be defended, no matter what.

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  10. “Medida menos gravosa”, that’s a good one.

    gravoso, sa.
    (De grave, pesado).
    1. adj. Molesto, pesado y a veces intolerable.

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  11. Met someone who knew Afiumi at work . She was known to be strict and headstrong in her decisions , also closer to Chavez than to the opposition in basic sympathies . There is little doubt that legally speaking her decision was correct . Also little doubt that the person being held prisioner by the government had, to say the least, a very unsavory reputation . He was said to have benefited greatly from some sordid business dealings with Chavista bigwigs before having a fallout with them . He certainly had very deep pockets. There were apparently personal reasons why Chavez wanted him kept indefinitely in the brig. There was no justification of course for the very cruel inhuman treatment she was given whilst in prison . In a normal legal system he would have been judged and punished and not simply kept in prison . Expect that someday all the unknown details of this case will become public!!

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  12. I think I can safely say that Afiuni’s sympathies have not been with Chavez for some time. Many people–I was one–thought that Chavez might do better than the Cuarta Republica on several fronts, and the 1999 Constitution promised many good things. The proof is in the pudding, though, and Chavez’ pudding turned rancid many years ago.

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  14. Well since the judiciary is pretty much stuck in the 4th Republic what can one expect, along with many in the bureaucracy who play both sides for their gain.

    Can’t be too much of clown if some respond though and a get it hell from the bureaucracy and the wanna be’s also.So what else is new, eh!

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      • Chavista excuse #34 (thanks, hal9000): blame it on the 4th Republic. I’m sure CG’s oxygen-depleted little brain has more, eh!

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    • Seriously, either develop a statement that is valid and makes sense, or shut up. Throwing the blame back 14 years does nothing for the situation that we’re in.

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    • But Chavez went on tv, the day of her arrest, before any evidence was provided, to denounce her as a bandit, demanding the maximum penalty. Was this also the fault of
      the Fourth Republic?

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      • Thats not a Chavista excuse, thats a commandment

        “Thou should put thy knee unto the earth with trust in his word, for his word his sacred, his word is true”

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    • CG: Whatever you say doesn’t matter much these days.. The truth is the Bolivarian piece of sh*t is dead.

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  15. I sense that Chavismo tries to “counterbalance” some of their crimes from time to time. This could be an example of creating just enough to create “plausibility” to confuse those of us who are not sure how evil these people are.

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    • Chavismo might be something like an abusive spouse with episodic tantrums… but interrums of “that wasn’t really me!” in between.

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  16. There is a moral lesson in Judges Afiunis case , There are thos who have been involved in worse crimes than those attributed to Cedeño and whom the regime left off the hook. The difference with Cedeño is that he did something that personally offended Chavez and thus was unlawfully condemned to indefinite imprisonment to pay for such offense . If that personal offense had not intervened he would not have been persecuted th way he was . When Judge Afuimi freed Cedeño she became the substitute object of Chavez vengeful anger and thus his personal prisioner . Even if it were true that she had recieved money for her decision and proof had been offered of her crime , that was not what earned her the imprisonment and mistreatment she suffered . She was unlawfully mistreated and persecuted because her decision offended Chavez , what mattered was not whether she had committed any misdeed but that she had become the object of Chavez ire. This regime is indifferent to crime , to any kind of misdeeds , is generally uninterested in punishing criminals , it is only concerned with persecuting those who (in its eyes) commit the worst crime of all , offending the regime by challenging its rule , by denouncing its abuses , by crossing it plans for absolute domination . Judge Afiuni’s crime was that she challenged Chavez Will.

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    • Agree with you 100% bill bass. There are worse criminals running the government today that enjoy impunity, it is not a matter of doing something illegal or criminal that gets you in jail in Vzla, it is a matter of whom in the government you piss off that gets you in jail in Vzla, you piss the wrong “group of thugs” and you become an instant criminal….

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    • I don’t think I’ve ever missed the “thumbs up” disappearing from this blog as much as I do right now. +infinity, bill.

      Only the immoral and amoral can ignore this moral lesson. The punishment cannot be said to fit the crime, as both the supposed crime and the punishment were both crafted to meet the “real” offense, the one against Chavez.

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  17. Everyone who reads this blog knows who should be in prison and it’s not the judge. She is not the one that’s robbing the country. Neither is she the illegitimate.

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  18. So some banker ends up in detention for circumventing currency controls. He’s held for three years so it is obviously clear that “greater” powers are at play. Along comes a left leaning Judge and releases him because UN guidance says so.

    I would like to believe that but I would probably be wrong. In fact there’s more chance of me believing all the Maburro assassination stories.

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    • Juan : Your talents deserve attention , If I were the government I would hire you to give the right ‘innocent’ spin to their constant scandals. An ability to transform Vodka into Tap Water is rare. !!

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      • The sad thing Jeffry is that living in country were Institutions are normally corrupt or dysfunctional breeds cynicism , it takes an ‘act of faith’ to believe that Institutions can deliver justice . There is something in the culture too , In US court proceedings there is something known as ‘discovery’ where each party must disclose to its counterpart all the records which it has concerning the litigation , including those which are adverse to its own position !! Discovery is unknown in Latin American legal systems , because people figure that no one is going to disclose data which hurts its own cause . We have a lot to learn from the way things are done in more advanced Countries. Thanks for reminding us how important the presumption of innocence is to ensure the protection of civil liberties.

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  19. And Bill if you ever find yourself in a ‘delicate’ legal situation in V make sure you have your cash in two bundles. One to pay your lawyer and the other for your lawyer to pay the Judge. And if you can’t pay the latter,no matter how innocent you are, be prepared to cover your arse.

    Jeff, oh Jeff, naivety such as that which you display so valiantly is that which created the mess that exists in Venezuela today.

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    • Juan : Your advise noted , although you forgot to mention that sometimes the judges dont stay bought and will renege on their promises . Of course we both understand that there is a third way of getting into trouble (or scaping it) which has nothing to do with bundles of money or your lawyers talents, and thats where your personal or political connections either protect you or make you into a target for legal persecution. Thats the part that concerns people most when thinking of the Afuimi case , if you were Chavez own chosen ‘prey’ you were fuxxxed up whatever the law said . Jeff’s views represent a vision which we all respect and would someday want to see made into a living reality for Venezuela .

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    • Yes, Juan, certainly the mess that is Venezuela today was certainly created by the presumption of innocence. I guess that’s why Chavismo thinks it can be violated whenever convenient.

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