Thug-ocracy

/ September 25, 2014

1393099386_997841_1393101425_noticia_normalGood news, everyone! There’s a new military force in town!

Meet the Clash Force (Fuerza de Choque)! (It sounds like a Chuck Norris movie).

This week’s Official Gazette mentions the creation of this brand new force, which is put under the supervision of the Organizational Strategic Command of the Armed Forces (CEOFANB). Its mission? Fight alleged  destabilization plans against the country.

It will help with public security plans too. But that isn’t its main priority.

This would be the second force of its kind created in Venezuela in the last three months. Back in June, the Interior Ministry created the “Special Brigade Against Violence-Generating Groups”, which has more or less the same job.

So, why another force then? Well, that one is civilian … and the new one is military. Union civico-militar at work, I guess.

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36 thoughts on “Thug-ocracy”

    • You might refer to Sturmabteilung, since the term Sturmtruppen dates back to WW1 Wermacht regular soldiers. Sturmabteilung were actually the shock troops of the Nazi regime, better known as brown shirts, and these were definitely disgusting.

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      • I think you’re giving too much credit to the Sturmabteilung, who were the thugs of the Nazi part. The SA quickly lost relevance after Ernst Rohm was killed in 1934 on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, who then proceeded to build up the SS.

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        • I am not giving too much credit to them, I’m just extrapolating from Kepler’s comment that the best suited units for ‘criminal’ and ‘disgusting’ charges should go to units particularly responsible of handling political/internal affairs. Whatever can be said of the Wermacht during the war cannot be applied when dealing with German dissidents/citizens; that was a task reserved to the SS.
          Now, if Kepler or you are using the term Sturmtruppen in a generic way, excepting the German veterans of WW1, that’s ok then.
          In any case the whole thing about Sturmtruppen/Strurmabteilung is a bit pointless; isn’t it?

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          • Sturmtruppen were the infiltration shock troops, who took critical points of defense prior to the all-out assault. British called their equivalent Commandos and so on.
            These guys would best be described as SA.

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      • SA was not really military, but para-military. Hitler used SA to intimidate political opponents before he took power. Actually the leaders of the SA were put to death and the organization dissolved only 6 month after Hitler won the election, because their anti-establishment attitude did not fit anymore in the new plans of the nazi leaders.
        Analogy isn’t good, which doesn’t make this new organization less disconcerting.

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      • Well: the Sturmabteilung were paramilitary. The Sturmtruppen refers to any regular one. They are all a piece of shit, criminals.

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        • Kep
          That’s the thing, I am not quite sure you could apply the term criminals to those German troops of WW1. As nasty as the Sturmtruppen were, they were and still are highly respected tactically. They definitelly did not break the stagnation that the trenches war caused, but they set some important precendents. I don’t think any side could scape a close examination of what they did.
          What I understood from your comment is that these troops are kind of governmental bodies to supress dissent, that was a role assigned to SA, not to the Wermacht; at least not before the Ost front, and never against German citizens.
          In my opinion, once the Venezuelan FFAA wore that ridiculous bracelet (identfying themselves with the puochists) the became officially SA.

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      • We’ve been here before: Circulos Bolivarianos, milicias, reservas, GAP, colectivos, Unidades de Batalla and all that good shit…what this means is: “the regular army will not engage in running street battles with members of the opposition”…not even the National Guard has the stomach for the kinda of stuff we saw in February anymore…so, they come up with a new name, a new unit, oh shit, let’s see if this one scares them…but it will go the way of the units cited above: oblivion…

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  2. Is the idea of multiple goon forces under different chains of command a fail-safe measure to ensure that the troops will obey the order to fire?

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    • It depends on who these “private armies” answer to. In the Nazi state, there was the regular Army (the Heer), the Luftwaffe “field divisions” (controlled by Goering), and the SS (controlled by Himmler). In the Soviet state, there was the Red Army, and there were NKVD troops to watch the Red Army.

      The multiplication of police forces and paramiitary gendarmeries in Venezuela may be a similar development.

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  3. This is the kind of things I am really scare about. As I said it before, chavismo is silently building the force that will kill us all legally. Seriously, this really freaks me out.

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  4. Off topic, pero no mucho. Because the more “Clash Forces” are created, the more the people will flee:

    Venezuelan Diaspora in numbers:

    – 96 % de los venezolanos que emigra no tiene planes de regresar.
    – 1 de cada 10 venezolanos asegura estar buscando información o realizando trámites para emigrar del país.
    – 3 de cada 10 venezolanos tienen algún familiar en otro lugar del mundo.
    – 90 % de la emigración nacional es de graduados universitarios
    – 40 % tiene maestría
    – 12 % tiene doctorado.

    Un millón 600 mil venezolanos están fuera del país, lo que representa entre el cuatro y seis por ciento de la población nacional. De este grupo, un 88 por ciento – un millón 400 mil personas – armó sus maletas en los últimos 15 años.

    De acuerdo con un informe sobre Estimado de Migración del Banco Mundial (BM), para 2010 los seis primeros países receptores de venezolanos emigrantes fueron Estados Unidos, España, Colombia, República Dominicana, Portugal y Canadá. Cuatro años después la lista se mantiene, con agregados como Panamá, Chile, Ecuador, Francia, Italia e incluso Australia.

    Consulado de Colombia: no menos de 30 personas al día se acercan a preguntar los requisitos para obtener una visa que le permita vivir legalmente en el vecino país. Al mes pueden otorgar hasta 60 visas, entre ellas de trabajo, de residente, de estudio o para negocios.

    Consulado de Chile: atiende tres días a la semana, solo en las mañanas. El promedio de consulta de marabinos que se quieren residenciar en el país es de 20 al día, “todos profesionales”. Las visas de trabajo o de inversionistas son las más solicitadas.

    Consulado de España: al menos 10 personas se acercan cada mañana para conocer los documentos que necesitan para residenciarse en el país europeo; en su mayoría jóvenes profesionales.

    For more: http://www.nve24.com/2014/09/venezuela-se-que-sin-jovenes.html

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  5. It is a terrible sign that the armed forces are used to do “crowd-control”. The army, by definition, is there to fight the enemies of the state.

    The policie, by definition, is there to provide order and defend the civilian population.

    It is an evident sign that the government sees protesters as enemies of state.

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    • But the National Guard is a military force and it has been delegated with law enforcement duties for decades. Same with the Guardia Civil or the Gendarmerie. Both are technically military forces and have served Spain and France respectably with pride and honor.

      The problem, IMHO, is the civilian control of the military. The current regime is a military regime using military forces to oppress citizenry.

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  7. This is merely a sign that the regime is aware that the chances for massive civil unrest erupting as the crisis deepens becomes each day ever morey likely . All those protesting will be tagged as opposition terrorists bent on tumbling the regime regardless of their motives . Thus the need for a well armed specially trained repression apparatus . They can no longer rely on their lies and decepcions to keep people quiet , the pressure is growing and they are preparing .!! nothing more natural !!

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    • Yup! They know that the regular army cannot be counted upon to fire upon fellow Venezuelans. Therefore, it is necessary to create units whose loyalty is unquestionable. Bet you, the men selected for this unit are all single and without strong family ties.

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      • But creating a unit with all this media exposure and structure is just plainly stupid. A functional one will be secrete, well-funded and will not respond to another person than the presiden

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        • “… with all this media exposure and structure is just plainly stupid.”
          Even as we all know that chavismo is more than willing to slaughter millions to stay in power (And they demonstrated it in many times already), I’ll twist a tiny quote from a game to this situation:
          “They don’t need to use their guns, they just need you to know they CAN.”

          Remember, chavismo is a lot about propaganda, lies, deception and instilling fear, be it through hate speeches or be it through mass killings.

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          • Maybe, but an effective structure of political is the one that is not toothless. As an perfect example we have the stasi, everybody know that is existed and a good quantity of people suffered the prosecutionvof this agency, but not all the east Germany understand how it worked, who was a member of the stasi or how they handled the “enemies of the state”.

            My argument is: given the fact that is an structure already acknowledged by the public, we should not fear it and maybe we need to learn how other people avoided this kind of prosecution

            The real danger are those ad-hoc committees who really decide who’s an enemy of the state.

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  8. Crazy. No police officers to patrol Petare but more police officers to repress peaceful protests.

    There’s also a police unit named “fuerza de choque” in Puerto Rico Police Department. Their reputation? Well, let’s just say they’re pretty good at cracking skulls.

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  9. Follow the example set by Josneidy Nayarí Castillo, the bastard who beat the crap out of Marvinia Jiménez.
    Let’s see how long the protests can keep “peaceful” with the now legalized helmet bashing.

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  10. Is the revolution is reaching a turning point? As the country approaches bankruptcy, can increased repression and increased scapegoating of the opposition going to neutralize the increased dissatisfaction and disillusionment? I expect it might, but at some point their control can collapse all at once! There is a limit to how much and how quickly the regime can respond to civil unrest. There is no limit to how quickly civil unrest can escillate. A softening by the regime and a willingness for compromise would be much better for everyone, and if the opposition can somehow make compromise easier and easy enough, it could avoid a huge and painful catastrophe.

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    • Past a certain point a softening of the regime will only fan the flames of unrest. Once there is enough anger going around, reducing fear will only unleash more violence. You never know for sure when a regime passes this point, so most regimes err on the side of caution.

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  11. “Maduro es el desespero, la angustiosa lucha de mantenerse en el poder por el poder mismo, con un horizonte de futuro de horas, días, dispuesto siempre a sacrificar sectores enteros de la población o de la economía si eso resulta para él en unos minutos más en el poder. ”

    -Chúo

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  12. Can I propose an alternative translation to “fuerza de choque”?

    What about “shock troops”.

    or even “storm troopers”

    The multiplication of security forces, according to Hannah Arendt, is characteristic of totalitarianism and, contrary to popular belief, not directed to population control, but to disperse authority so central power can remain supreme. Divide and conquer.

    This is a move to weaken the military as well as to intimidate the opposition.

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    • It will not forego the disintegration of the regime from within, and it will not feed the hungry. It cannot be sustainable. Can it be sustainable?

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  13. Don’t forget that this new Fuerza de Choque includes new guns, vehicles, uniforms and other assorted war toys. Imagine the opportunities for delicious guisos and comisiones.

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