Ángel Rodríguez. Roy Daza. Walter Gavidia. Dalia Herminia Yánez. Carolus Wimmer.
Quick – what do all these people have in common?
…
Well, unless you’re related to them, you probably do not know. They are four of Venezuela’s representatives to the Latin American Parliament, a useless waste of taxpayer money if I ever saw one.
Look, I get it. The government has decided that Venezuela’s representatives to the Latin American Parliament will not be popularly elected, but will rather go through the National Assembly – although apparently the CNE has yet to make a final decision.
Some people are pissed about this. Voters are being disenfranchised (particularly those of us outside of Venezuela). It’s a blunt attempt by the government to save face. It is a tantrum by chavismo in response to opposition members of the Parlatino (as it is horribly called) going to Panama to stir the pot. And it personally affects some of my friends (José Ramón Sánchez, one of our representatives, is a friend).
But is this really something we need to get ourselves worked up over?
Some people say … yes!
One reason being given is that the Parlatin elections allow for a straight-up count on chavismo vs. opposition, and by eliminating said election, chavismos seeks to muddle who got the majority of votes. Another reason is that the Parlatino election allows the opposition political parties to compete against one another, so it serves as a way of measuring strength inside the MUD.
Both reasons fall short.
If the vote tallying is unencumbered, the answer to the question “who holds the majority of votes?” is going to be known in the Parliamentary elections no matter what. We don’t need a Parlatino election – that nobody really pays attention to anyway – to tell us that. Aside from that, the relative strength of the MUD can be determined via other means – for example, using the May 17th primary.
Is it really worth taking up valuable media space to make an issue out of a non-issue?
Well aparently so, according to Delsa Solórzano, Nelson Bocaranda, Timoteo Zambrano, Ana Elisa Osorio, the entire board of Un Nuevo Tiempo, and the usually unflappable José Ignacio Hernández.
Yes, the move is a hissy fit by Diosdado Cabello. It is grossly unfair. It is a dangerous step. But you know what? It also shows they are scared of losing big time, even in the Parlatino.
In a country where El Helicoide continues to be a beacon of injustice, where hand soap is hard to find, and where eight police men are killed each week … Henry Ramos Allup’s job security just doesn’t seem all that important to me. The Parlatino may one day be important enough to deserve fighting for it. Right now, it’s not.
We all pick our battles. I, for one, am staying out of this one.
Caracas Chronicles 
“It also shows they are scared of losing big time, even in the Parlatino.”
Right. And what a disgraceful Joke both the “Parlatino” AND the Venezuelan “Parliament” are..
As is we had separation of powers in Corruptzuela. What a shame, these “institutions” have become a putrid den of thieves, where a few honest people like MCM just get kicked out, physically.
Of course they will manipulate all “elections” even in these completely Corrupt ParlaPaja places. Anything fair and transparent would be an humiliation, would show the world how much most people disapprove of Masburrismo.
But most of all, it would give the opposition too much force and momentum going into the real Presidential elections, the only ones that matter in Corruptzuela. They would not be able to get away with Massive Fraud then, turning 80% anti-masburrismo into 55% a favor, to steal the elections again. Not after after losing the “Parliamentary” elections by a wide margin. Not even with Chavez’s Fraudmatic, not even with the Chinese and the Dead voting as always. Even with Obama’s list.. as an excuse for approval.
They will manipulate all elections, and, if they are not completely retarded, allow for a small “overall” defeat, yet manipulating the balance of diputados per region, and all that. Just to appear half-decent..
And then get ready to pull the Real, Massive Presidential Elections fraud..
BTW: this initiative makes lots of sense to avoid just that. Let’s do this the German way:
https://www.facebook.com/venezuela.voto.manual?fref=nf
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Leopoldo, a Harvard Educated smart dude, knows the only way out of Corruptzuela’s mess in through the International Community and through Fair elections. That’s why he has his wife and everyone advocating now for political prisoners and human rights. It’s starting to work.
The next step is to go back to a manual voting system that cannot be stolen by the Dictaorship. As they do in Europe, for many, many reasons, and thus avoid automatic Massive Fraud with Chavez’s Smartmatic.
That’s when we can help as expatriates. Voto Manual, or we’re screwed and it’s Cubazuela ‘pal 2040.
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Fair elections are not happening, so you need international community + popular pressure. That’s the only way to change anything.
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check this out
Venezuelan science is not dead!
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/3/e1500183
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This is a very interesting paper. Thanks
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Great. Another thing to blame on westernization: homogenized poop.
Comrades, see the evil that capitalism brings!
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The MUD refused to make any effort to denounce Maduro as not being Venezuelan born as is constitutionally required, but they are making such a fuss over this. Should I be worried, or is it business as usual with these guys?
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I think we need to move away from the “Maduro es Colombiano” theory. If you don’t have anything real to support it will have the same sense as the magnicidio claims we get every other week from Maduro.
A picture published by Dolar Today or Maduradas.com is not good enough evidence to this allegation. Lets be serious and move into factual crappy stuff, like we don’t have other real shit to point out.
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If the opposition is so sure they will win the national assembly it means they will hold control of the parlatino candidates selection, right? Why to be afraid? Is there some information we are not aware?
If, for example, AD thinks it is against human rights not letting people vote for these parliamentary positions, why is not AD holding internal elections to select their own representatives?
Sorry if I picked AD but I just don’t trust anything that comes from Ramos Alup, he is the example of what was, is, and will be wrong with our country.
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Parlatino is nice for some of these nobodies because it pays in greenbacks. $_$
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“Henry Ramos Allup’s job security just doesn’t seem all that important to me.”
Isn’t he running for the AN, though?
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En el momento de escoger los candidatos para Parlatino en la última elección, había un nombre que destacaba entre todos los demás: Milos Alcalay. Tiene una experiencia impresionante en los campos parlamentario y diplomático, conoce a todo el mundo, habla todos los idiomas, etc, etc. Sin embargo los partidos de oposición lo desecharon para nombrar a personas sin ninguna experiencia internacional y que no han hecho nada desde que fueron nombrados. Así que ahora, aunque es una arbitrariedad lo que plantea el gobierno, a mi no me importa: la selección que hizo la oposición en esas pasadas elecciones fue tan mala como la que pueda hacer ahora Diosdado.
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Maruja, just in case you haven’t noticed, we are In this mess 15 years running in large part because of the opposition. And the opposition truly believes that by going to the lowest common denominator they will be able to win, when it’s probably the contrary. We should be aiming for excellence and not mediocrity. What we need are more people in the mould of Milos Alcalay, MCM, Leo Lopez, and not more troglodytes a la Ramos Allup.
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The fight is not insignificant because it brings to the attention of many people within and without Venezuela two facts , one : that the regime is not at all wed to democratic procedures as it claims to be and second that its electoral position is so weakened that it fears holding any election which will let the fact out , specially among their supporters , Venezuelan s love a winner , if you can let people not discover that your are now a loser then you are in better shape than if starts becoming obvious to all how much weakened you are , your aura of invincibility is lost and with it quite a bit of the support that you now enjoy just because you represent your self as the mayority.
Doesnt mean you have to fight it to the death , just enough to cause the regimes credibility some damage.!!
Its good publicity for the oppo , bad publicity for the regime.!!
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“Doesn’t mean you have to fight it to the death, just enough to cause the regimes credibility some damage.!!”
I agree. This battle is being fought on the international stage every bit as much as the national one. The regime needs to be stripped of their “democratic credentials” and this is one more nail in the coffin.
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(Damn unclosed tag!)
ITYM five?
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“…Henry Ramos Allup’s job security just doesn’t seem all that important to me. ”
Can’t care less about that guy’s next job could be, what I care about is that chaburrismo is testing the waters to eventually drop all the other elections to stop counting themselves, which is, as everything chaburrismo does, another punch in the people’s gut.
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