viernes, 29 de mayo de 2009

How history is revised

East German Stasi Spy Killed Protester, Ohnesorg, in 1967 - NYTimes.com
This is the "iconic image" that launched a thousand protests back in the '60s [Note the Vocho in the background. It's still the coolest car on the road]. Now we find out the the "fascist pig" who took Ohnesorg's life was an agent of the East German Stasi, or spy service. The "violent unjust state" that the '68 Germans were protesting turns out to be the Communist state that they held up as avatars of peace. So now, the "iconic image" becomes the "ironic image" of the Communist dupe hippy generation.



Vargas Llosa, Castañeda y Krauze aceptan debate con Hugo Chávez

Vargas Llosa, Castañeda y Krauze aceptan debate con Hugo Chávez
Left to Right: Enrique Krauze, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jorge G. Castañeda


Vargas Llosa, the famous Peruvian novelist and politician, Enrique Krauze, the famous Mexican history and politics entrepreneur, Jorge G. Castañeda, the famous Mexican writer/politician/ex Secretary of State/son of an ex Secretary of State/interpreter of Mexico/Latin America for American audiences.

All three are "ultra right-wing" according to Hugo Chávez and most leftist writers here in Mexico for their defense of classical liberalism.

The three writers/entrepreneurs/politicians/gas bags are in Caracas for a forum on liberty, or something. Chávez called them out on his interminable radio show, Haló Presidente, while they are busy criticizing his regime in some forum on liberty or whatever.

Castañeda says Chávez is desperate: he's riding the wave of high oil pricesand expropriating businesses, closing down opposition media, and undermining the authority of elected officials.

Vargas Llosa says that Venezuela is becoming a Communist dictatorship, following Cuba. He spoke at the conference after being detained for ninety minutes by Venezuelan authorities and being warned not to say anything bad about Chávez.

I don't know what Krauze says about Chávez. It's probably something about democracy.

Chávez will never follow through. He can't stand up to these three gas bags all by himself. Nobody could. Still, it would be fun to watch the debate—for sure he'd pull all kinds of dirty tricks on the three intellectuals. Aside from one's contempt for Chávez, one's contempt for these gas bags is greater. It would satisfy my schadenfreude needs to see them blathering away as Chávez makes them look like idiots.



domingo, 17 de mayo de 2009

Massive prision break

An armed commando of about 80 men arrived aboard 17 SUVs with AFI (Mexican FBI) seals, with a helicopter flying overhead.

In the vehicles were traveling around 80 men armed with fragmentation and smoke grenades, tear gas, machine guns, AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles.

A small team of self-styled federal agents dismounted the SUVs and arrived at the door of the customs house (access to the prison for both prisoners and employees). They told at the custodians and the prison authorities that they were an AFI inspection operation. They believed them.

The Zetas went through the the regions that they were interested in and started to remove prisoners, 38 serving federal sentences and 15 serving state sentences. They lined the prisoners out, put them in the SUVs, and exited by the same door they came in by, without anyone attempting to stop them.

Meanwhile, the other team of sicarios guarded the perimeter of the penal in which more than 800 prisoners are held or sentenced on federal charges.