Baduel Paroled

/ August 13, 2015

IMG-20150812-WA0027General Raúl Baduel was granted parole yesterday after serving six years out of an eight year sentence on trumped up charges of embezzlement. Chávez’s one-time Defense Minister, and the man who organized his return to power by mobilizing the Parachute Regiment in his defense on April 13, 2002, General Baduel had been tried on transparently bogus charges shortly after going rogue and criticizing Chávez’s authoritarian turn in 2006.

His family thanked Ombudsman Tarek William Saab for pushing for Baduel’s release. Saab had also obliquely claimed credit, a day earlier, for the early parole of jailed San Cristobal mayor Daniel Ceballos, claiming – absurdly – that the measure demonstrates the strength of the rule of law in Venezuela.

Both Baduel and Ceballos will need to meet tough parole conditions to avoid returning to jail. Such conditions often include bans on speaking publicly.

What does it all mean? It’s hard to say. Could it be that Tarek William Saab is trying to steer the government to release high-profile political prisoners? Looks that way, doesn’t it?

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38 thoughts on “Baduel Paroled”

  2. An attempt will be made to make these measures appear emblematic and for them to be used by the regimes propaganda machinery to argue before an increasingly critical world opinion that they are really liberal and generous in the treatment of their political enemies allowing them more relaxed imprisonment conditions while in practice not allowing them to enter the political campaigns which are being waged againts the regime at this moment . its a white washing exercise to cover up part of the grime thats been building arround their reputation for harsh and abusive treatment of their political enemies.

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  3. This is a country in which the first question out of a staunchly opposition parent whose child has been kidnapped´s mouth is, “who do you know in chavismo that I can bribe into getting some cop to help me?. It´s also the country where political prisoners have to thank the government for excarceration.

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  5. My take: This is more circus than anything else. TWS is just an emissary of Maduro ordered move all the threads in our judiciary to release Baduel in order show our government is merciful, and yes with a strong system. I can bet Baduel will stay enpijamado in his house and will never be speaking publicly… He will probably leave Venezuela if he has his son released. I could never understand why some people in the oppo respected, even liked this guy. He is just another milico that probably stole more than the $3 millions alleged in the case…. Personally I think that the government should mantain the Armed Forces, but I would extend their role only to that, and shorten the amount of military to the fewest number possible…. That was one of the good things of the cuarta, when militarys had it very tough to appear in our politics life. No military in any key political positions we used to be. I now live in Colombia, and was impressed on how soldiers here are limited to just that, and how in the recent Colombian history there are not any ministers or such offices held by military… not even the Ministry of Defense…

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    • The presence of so many army generals in top official positions is evidence that the regime, having appointed more generals that they have jobs for in the army, must find a way of giving them something to do , even if that means appointing them to positions in the Civil Admiistration , also it helps butter them up to feel important and give them access to a bit of side money as a means of retaining their support .

      At the same time since there is such a dearth of Chavista leaders with any kind of qualifications to fill in the top official posts (you see this in the way the chavista leaders get rotated again and again to the same roster of posts) the military fill up a gap the regime has no other way of filling.

      Third they create an image that the regime is wedded to the military and can thus count on their loyalty to keep themselves in power , using military force if necessary.

      In a more modern system of governance the state as an institution creates organs thru which an elite of specially chosen group of govt officials with superior qualifications are chosen , trained , given a rising career and ultimately allowed to rise to the top official positions . This frees the state from having to depend on the improvization of lowly qualified people to occupy the most responsible positions.

      The creation and careful nurturing of this special top graded elite of govt officials is one of the features of the Singaporean and French system of governance (among other countries) .

      The US in the past has used the exceptional qualifications of certain top rated military leaders to buttress the managerial capacities of government , one outstanding example General George Marshall who held very high official positions in the admiinistrations of President Truman. including that of Secretary of the State Department .

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  6. I’m sad that they released Baduel, the guy that made all current chaos possible. He needs at least 20 years for what he did against the Venezuelan people.

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    • So let me get this straight. You are pushing for punishment of a general who organized the return to power of a democratically elected leader ousted by a blatant coup. Chavistas in power are scum, but people like you are in no way different.

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      • So let me get this straight. You are pushing for the release of a general who rebelled against the a democratically elected leader, and could be planning a blatant coup? Chavistas in power are scum, but people like you are in no way different.

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        • The problem isn’t that Baduel had a part on returning the putrid mortadela to power, the problem is that he was jailed on false, asspulled charges, which can happen (and IS happening) with anyone in Venezuela right now.

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          • Ok, and that’s what the guys that Baduel went against in 2002 were trying to avoid. The 2002 coup was actually a countercoup.

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    • Marc,

      You got this one wrong. Baduel may have been misguided, but he acted on principle. Those same principles are what got him jailed later. He spoke out against Chavez and shortly thereafter was jailed on some trumped up corruption charge. You may argue about his role in the 2002 uprising, but his incarceration in 2006 was an injustice and should not be compounded by Oppo revenge.

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      • Yes, Roy, I know that. You are technically correct, and I should share your point of view. However, unfortunately, I don’t possess the same magnanimity that you do for people like Baduel, a person whose “principles” destroyed a whole country, and affected mine directly. Maybe in the future I can sort out this flaw in my character. Thanks.

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        • No problem. I get it. To understand the events of 2002, I highly recommend “The Silence and the Scorpion” by Brian A. Nelson. I have read some other accounts, but none of them provided the clarity that this one does.

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          • Anytime one tries to use that as a source to add or clarify information to the “April 11 Coup” page on wikipedia, an army of chavista fans or sympathizers try to block you at every turn. If you have a good case, and tons of patience, you can usually get what should be in the article in there. But I just didn’t have the time or energy to keep battling, hopefully others have done better than I have. I haven’t been there in awhile. It could be that, similar to my observation of comments under news articles, the number of people who defend Chavez and company has dwindled as the rotten state of the country is known all over the world and undeniable.

            It’s well known that some authoritarian governments have full time staff to monitor wikipedia pages of importance to them, I don’t know doubt this regime was paying someone to do the same.

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            • “…an army of chavista fans or sympathizers try to block you at every turn. ”

              More like “an army of full-time tarifados”, which are paid in dollars for sure, because what could be more important than to keep intact the most sacred lie in chaburrismo history?

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  7. Had to look up the intriguing term “Ombudsman” mentioned here.

    Fresh off my habitual morning meditation, I naively figured it might be etymologically related with with “Om”, a mystic syllable, considered the most sacred mantra, which appears at the beginning and end of most Sanskrit recitations, prayers, and texts.

    Nothing of the sort, of course. Unrelated to the King of Beers too, mind you, cheap boozers out there.. The mysterious concept can be traced back, as most recorded social and political phenomena, to the ancient Chinese Dynasties, or even the Turkish hordes. Then again, of course, the righteous Scandinavian Viking thugs had lots to do with it, as it happens to be an indigenous Swedish, Danish and Norwegian term.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman

    How about an entire, new world-record 34th Ombudsman Ministry, under the next MUDcrap corrupt government? Kleptozuela could really use such an ethical, independent, ancient institution.

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  8. Trabajé con un tío de Baduel, e hice muy buena amistad con ese tío. Oriental, zamarro; Baduel venía de visita por aca y lo mandaba a buscar para almorzar juntos y el no iba porque no estaba de acuerdo con su posición en el gobierno (el tío es de oposición, super).

    Recuerdo claramente cuando lo vi por primera vez luego del encarcelamiento del sobrino, y al hacerle mención del asunto me comentó “Bien bueno que lo pusieron preso; que siga de pendejo”

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  9. “Hey, look, we are forgiving your pathetic, meaningless lives, you non-in-our-party vermin! Now kneel and show us eternal gratitude!”

    Disgusting.

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  10. “Both Baduel and Ceballos will need to meet tough parole conditions to avoid returning to jail. Such conditions often include bans on speaking publicly.”

    2 completely different cases.

    The super-Rata General Baduel knows that he should just count his blessings, fly under the radar, keep the lowest of profiles, and, as soon as possible, sneak the hell-out of Kleptozuela with his stolen millions, as everyone else does. We might hear some vague rumors from him of his family years from now, spotted on some luxury vacation resort in Europe or Uruguay.

    “What does it all mean? It’s hard to say. Could it be that Tarek William Saab is trying to steer the government to release high-profile political prisoners? Looks that way, doesn’t it?

    You can only suspect the worst from Criminals and Mega-Thieves like the putrid Tarek.

    To me it smells of the ongoing secret talks with the Imperio, Obama’s Shannon agents, conducting their undercover operations, while the DEA sniffing dogs gather further narco-evidence for future raids. Shady deals with CapoCabello probably involved in the negotiations.

    I doubt they’ll release the real dangerous leader, Leopoldo. If they did, next year after the elections, we can certainly thank FBI, CIA, DEA…

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  11. Good for him. The real test is whether they will release LL. Not a chance in hell of that happening imho, as he is the jewel in their crown. But you never know with these people.

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  12. Forgot to say.. in Ceballo’s case, the dictatorship probably got him to promise to behave, but he can always talk through his wive. which he already did, and will continue to do. Las Ratas de Tarek and Cabello obviously knew that he would, much like Ledezma.

    They probably got something in return from the Imperio secret negotiators, plus it makes Chavismo “look” democratic and very judicial, doesn’t it..

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  13. Another political prisoner released “bajo libertad condicional”.

    There’s definitely something cooking now. Baduel, Ceballos and “Deivis”, 3 completely different types of political prisoners.

    We can be sure now that the Imperio Yankee is involved: Maybe they mistook him for a US national named Davis.. or perhaps his “alphabrutized” parents made a cute mistake when naming the dude.

    http://www.lapatilla.com/site/2015/08/13/liberan-a-deivis-oliveros-quien-estaba-recluido-en-el-sebin/

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  14. Siendo un poco abogado del Diablo, por mucha arrechera que dé que Baduel haya sido reconocido por “regresar” a la mortadela podrida a chimpanflores, hay que decir, que el tipo lo metieron preso como le han hecho a tanta gente en esta dictadura: En base a cargos falsos que nunca se han demostrado.

    El peo es que la gente que se opone al régimen se deja llevar por la arrechera y dice “bien preso que está, se lo merece por haberlo regresado”, cuando más bien deberían pensar “coño, si a este carajo, que fué el que lo regresó, le montaron una olla para joderlo, ¿Cuándo me puede tocar a mí?”

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    • Es precisamente por eso que jamas debió dejar a chavez en el poder ese dia.

      El mismo se enterró en la carcel.

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    • They have taken a bashing recently for their harsh mistreatment and persecution of their political rivals and they are interested in improving their image at a time of increased financial and political fragility so they release some to home imprisonment while imposing on them a status of political castration. Maybe they are preparing the ground for some outrageous measure and want to reduce their exposure to outside criticims !! .

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      • That’s plausible. We can be sure that it is not because they had some sort of moral epiphany and realized they were wrong.

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  16. A sop to the U. S. during behind-the-scenes talks–hopefully Obama won’t throw a lifeline to the Venezuela Rogue Regime, as he did to Cuba’s, in order to enhance his “legacy”.

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  17. What do you think the odds are of them releasing LL? I say almost zero. He’s simply too much of a threat of the kind the duferens in charge have no answers to. Amazing that he hasn’t already hanged himself in jail, or some other trumped up reason to oft the guy.

    JL

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    • Maybe they would release him if he agreed to stay quiet.
      Also maybe they already offered him that option
      and LL rejected it.

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      • You’re calling Ceballos and Ledezma wimps?

        I think they know LL is too dangerous, even more than MCM, and they can’t do more to her than they’ve already done.

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  18. here is is one out of the left field… Maybe is a condition to access FMI funds… les esta llegando el agua a los aparejos…

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    • Tomato´s comment is probably more credible than it sounds, in the end that´s likely the best option to try and get out of the mess they are in , but they probably dont have the cojones to attempt it , Some highly reputed economist are already looking at what has to be done to scape the crisis , that involves changing the exchange rate system , raising the price of gasoline, selectively reducing the subsidies etc and for that lots of money will be needed , money that prospective oil revenues wont provide and which the financial markets wond provide so unless the chinese are foolhardy enough to become knights in shining armor come to save the revolution only leaves the FMI to provide the money. I wager that some people inside the whale are already toying with the idea even if the obstacle to such move are very high.!!

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