In that case, they’re perfect for the job
I had to do a double-take upon learning that PDVSA had hired Bell Pottinger, the PR firm run by Margaret Thatcher’s former communications director to “clean its image.” Of course, no comment from the revolution, so we have no idea how much they (we) are paying for this, nor for what purpose exactly.
The part that stood out from the Bloomberg piece discussing this:
“The agency has worked for figures sanctioned by the U.S. including Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, as well as Russia’s state oil company OAO Rosneft, whose Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin is a frequent guest of Venezuela’s socialist government. It also represented the Pinochet Foundation during its campaign against the former Chilean dictator’s London detention, The Guardian reported in December.”
Dios los cría…
Caracas Chronicles 
Some famous charlie once intoned, “Tell me the rubbish you hire and I’ll tell you the kind of rubbish you are,” or words to that effect.
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Dios los cría…*
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Hysterical BBC parody show of this kind of firm: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007vb2j
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Tan mansitos!
So thats how bad they’re admitting things to be.
Do they even have enough money to do this?
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There is a saying in my old business, “One ‘Ah shit’ wipes out a hundred ‘Attaboy’s’.”
Meaning that, it doesn’t matter how good of a job Bell Pottinger does of convincing the world that the Chavistas are really just misunderstood reincarnations of Jesus Christ, Simon Bolivar, and Mother Teresa, all rolled into one. The very next time that they misbehave, and they will, all that money they spent will be for naught.
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Speaking about optics, Leopoldo is in Jail and Capriles is at the beach: http://sunoticiero.com/index.php/nacionales-not/60998-escapado-capriles-causo-revuelo-en-playa-parguito-fotos-video I understand that it’s healthy to clear the mind and such but this is flagrant and callous.
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I guess this is a Latin America trait: if one friend or relative of ours is in trouble, people around us get mad if we manage to have fun (or just become less sad) despite that. I remember when my mom was in hospital and my sister went to a music concert on the very same day. We all commented that she was some sort of insensitive psychopath. And she replied: “What do you guys want me to do? To stay at home crying and suffering? Do you guys really hate me, don’t you?” Lopez being in jail does not make Capriles a prisoner too. And it doesn’t matter how injustified and wrong was the arrest.
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I think it also goes along with that it doesn’t seem like he has done everything in his power to help Leopoldo. You could argue that he has no power but then there’s no point to anything he does. I don’t think this “trait” or point of view is particularly Latin American. I’m not even arguing that he shouldn’t go to the beach, just not be so public about it. People in my family that have the means to travel are voluntarily choosing to not travel until the situation in Venezuela changes. It’s unfair, but I find that residents of Venezuela that travel internationally to vacation seem like oblivious fools too blind to see the world crashing in around them (multiplied for Chavistas). Where’s the solidarity to the people around you that don’t have access to medications, food, housing, idk – I’ve been away too long, not used to third world inequality.
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“Where’s the solidarity to the people around you that don’t have access to medications, food, housing, idk – I’ve been away too long, not used to third world inequality.”
As a third-world citizen, I’ve been hearing this kind of approach for all my life. “How can you wear this, drive that or travel there when you are living in a country with a (insert low amount of dollars) GDP per capita?” And my usual answer is this: myself being miserable won’t help others who are miserable. Actually, I can help them more if I feel happy. Let Capriles go to beach in the fashion he wants to do it.
Do you remember van Gaal during the World Cup? He said: “I’m not a strict coach because I know that a happy Robben will play better than a sad Robben, so I let him sleep with his wife.” That’s the spirit.
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Whatever let’s you sleep at night.
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Likewise, going to jail makes a good martyr. Does a martyr make a good leader? I shows commitment!
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Flagrant and callous! wow!
Interesting that you did not mention Simonovis, Scarano, all the students and all other political prisoners. Just Leopoldo…
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Interesting that you did not mention those that were killed, the exiled, the victims of expropriation, the kidnapped… spare me, the list would be endless. I specifically chose Leopoldo because of the relationship they have together as undeniable leaders of the opposition, Lopez supporting Capriles in the primaries, mayors of Caracas buroughs during the same time period, members of the same political party at one point, peers etc.. This specific examples points to a larger problem of lack of empathy… now you can bring in all of your examples.
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