CARACAS – La Asamblea Nacional (AN) venezolana, dominada por el oficialismo, rechazó este martes investigar las denuncias contenidas en el audio que presentaron diputados opositores el lunes, en el que se menciona una presunta conspiración del chavismo contra el mandatario Nicolás Maduro, encabezada por el presidente del Parlamento Diosdado Cabello.

“El país quiere saber si es verdad que el diputado Diosdado capitaneó grupos de intereses económicos (…) Queremos que se investigue a fondo este asunto”, propuso el parlamentario opositor Andrés Velásquez.

Pero los diputados chavistas cerraron filas en torno a Maduro y Cabello, y se reafirmaron en la unidad del chavismo.

“Minoría evidente: negada”, aseguró el presidente de la Asamblea tras solicitar la votación de los presentes sobre la petición de la investigación del audio difundido por el opositor Ismael García, que reproduce una conversación entre el conocido presentador del canal oficial VTV Mario Silva, conductor del programa nocturno “La Hojilla” -especialmente crítico con ... Read More

JIM WYSS

BOGOTA – As a rabidly pro-government television host in Venezuela, Mario Silva often pillories the opposition by airing surreptitious recordings of their telephone conversations. On Monday, Silva became a victim of his own methods when critics released a tape they claim is the cantankerous broadcaster trash-talking the administration to a member of Cuba’s military intelligence.

In the recording, someone who sounds like Silva paints a picture of a chaotic and corrupt administration, where cabinet members are trying to steal as much as they can before the regime “crumbles,” and President Nicolás Maduro is being undermined by some of his closest allies amid rumors of internal coups.

On Twitter, Silva called the audio “rubbish put out by the Israeli Mossad and the CIA. We have proof!” He also said he would debunk the tape on his television show, La Hojilla, or The Razorblade, which is broadcast on state-run VTV television.

Even if the audio isn’t ... Read More

CARLOS EIRE

ABC Spain reports:

Globovision in Venezuela has released an audio recording that proves how much power the Castro regime has managed to attain at  the highest reaches of  the Venenozuelan government, and also shines a spotlight on the key role played by the Chavista news media in the Cubanization of Venezuela.

Those caught plotting all sorts of political shenanigans on the phone are Mario Silva, a leading Chavista “journalist” from Caracastan, and a Cuban intelligence officer, lieutenant colonel Aramis Palacio.

Among the more damning  items discussed:  election-rigging, and attempts at an internal coup within the Maduro government, pitting the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello against fraudulent president and dictator Nicolas Maduro. At issue:  who can best serve the interests of the Castro Kingdom.   The conversation also reveals eroding patience on the part of Raul Castro, especially over the rigged election, which Fidel’s little brother advised Maduro to scrap altogether.

Aramis Palacio ... Read More

The headline is as tendentious as it was predictable. The surprise is that it should appear on a mainstream site like that of ABC News and not some fringe outlet of the fevered left. Indeed, the headline is the holy grail for those legions of activists who have been egging on the recentconviction of former Guatemalan military dictator Efraín Ríos Montt on charges of genocide stemming from the country’s bloody civil war in the 1980s.

The activists claim that what they have wanted all along is justice for civilians who died in that terrible conflict, but it is clear their ulterior motive has been seeking an indictment of U.S. policy in Central America to resist Soviet- and Cuban-sponsored subversion. Now, in their minds, they have it. Guilty as charged: The United States, under President Ronald Reagan, aided and abetted “genocide.”

The charge is without merit. Here’s the real story: Ríos Montt came to power in ... Read More

JORDI MIRO

CARACAS — Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles, narrowly defeated at the polls by the late Hugo Chavez’s successor, said the Supreme Court will decide very soon whether a new presidential vote should be held.

In an interview Wednesday with AFP, Capriles warned that if the answer was no, he would bring his fight to “international bodies.” He insists the election was stolen from him.

“Within hours, we are going to have a decision on whether (the Supreme Court) accepts” the opposition’s bid to hold new elections, he said.

The Miranda state governor, who has not conceded the race, which the National Electoral Board says Nicolas Maduro won by 1.49 points, said that if the high court takes on the legal case, it should last about three or four months but the country’s court system is not known for its swiftness.

Capriles has filed two complaints: one over the electoral process in general and ... Read More

BY MARK FRANK

Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial soon, sources close to the cases told Reuters.

The arrests, part of a broad government campaign to stamp out corruption, sent shockwaves through Cuba’s small foreign business community where the companies were among the most visible players.

Until then, expulsions rather than imprisonment had been the norm for those accused of corrupt practices.

The charges against the executives involve various economic crimes and operating beyond the limits of their business licenses on the communist-run island, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous and who include a close relative of one of the defendants.

Some of the foreigners are alleged to have paid bribes to officials in exchange for business opportunities.

Dozens of Cuban state purchasers and ... Read More

El pasado 23 de abril, el espurio venezolano, Nicolás Maduro, designó a Calixto Ortega como su nuevo representante diplomático ante los Estados Unidos. Su intención dijo, es la de “mejorar” las relaciones diplomáticas con EE.UU.

Es difícil creer que Maduro realmente crea lo que dice cuando sus acciones simbolizan lo contrario. Un día después de la designación de Ortega, Maduro anunció la captura de un supuesto “espía” estadounidense al que acusó de planear acciones desestabilizadoras en contra de su gobierno y de querer provocar una “guerra civil”. Timothy Hallett Tracy es un cineasta que estaba documentando la elección en Venezuela. Su injusta captura es una señal más de la desesperación Cubanomadurista.

Si queremos ser congruentes con nuestros principios, debemos pedir la liberación inmediata de Timothy Hallett Tracy y negar la visa diplomática de Calixto Ortega.  Aunque Tracy sea liberado no podemos otorgar una visa como si esto fuera el pago de un ... Read More

BY ALBERTO DE LA CRUZ

On the Friday of the last weekend in February, Cuban dictator Raul Castro caught the news agencies covering his island nation by surprise when he dropped a hint that he was thinking of retiring. Later that Sunday, at a meeting of Cuba’s communist National Assembly, Castro went much further and announced that he would step aside at the end of the five-year presidential term to which he had just been “elected.” Adding fuel to the fire was the announcement that Miguel Diaz-Canel, a relatively unknown 52-year-old communist party apparatchik, had been appointed Castro’s second in command—and would thus theoretically be next in line to take command after the aging dictator’s exit.

Naturally, journalists, analysts, and so-called Cuba experts immediately began to explore the possibilities and ramifications. Many of them proposed the Western Hemisphere’s bloodiest and longest-running dictatorship was now possibly just five years away from its end. ... Read More

BY HUMBERTO FONTOVA

On May 2, the FBI announced a $1 million reward for “information leading to the apprehension” of Joanne Chesimard, also known as Assata Shakur, who they named a “most-wanted terrorist.” Chesimard is the first woman to make the FBI’s list. The New Jersey State Police then added another $1 million to the reward pot.

Convicted cop-killer (of a New Jersey state trooper) and “domestic terrorist” Chesimard has been living in Cuba since 1984 as a Castro-coddled celebrity of sorts. And it’s not like bounty hunters can operate freely in a Stalinist country. So the $2 million may be symbolic. As in the U.S. Justice Department putting on a game face and saying: “Look, Castro, we’re serious here.”

In the early 1970s, Chesimard belonged to a Black Panther offshoot known as the Black Liberation Army. “This case is just as important today as it was when it happened 40 years ago,” according to a recent press release from Mike Rinaldi, of the New Jersey State Police. “Chesimard was a member of the Black Liberation ... Read More

BY LAURA PAZ

Cuban reporter Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, freed in April after six months detention without trial, has spoken of his time in prison, and the poor conditions suffered by fellow-inmates.

Martínez Arias, who reports for the independent news agency Hablemos Press, was arrested in September while investigating allegations that an imported shipment of medicines contained faulty items. He was then accused of a serious offence – insulting Cuba’s past and present presidents, Fidel and Raúl Castro. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience.

No trial date was set, and he was released on April 9, the same day a group of foreign journalists were allowed a rare visit to the Combinado del Este prison where he had been held, although by then he had already been transferred to another jail, Valle Grande. (See Freedom for Detained Cuban Journalist on his release, and Cuba Grants Prison Access on Own Terms on the visit.)

Now feeling “emotionally, ... Read More

BY RAUL LOTITTO

CARACAS – With the death of Hugo Chávez, Chávismo has lost its supremacy in Venezuela. It does not matter that so-called Chávistas still control Venezuela’s parliament, 17 of 23 provincial governments, and all key state institutions, including the judiciary. Nor does it matter that Chávez’s handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, has already assumed the presidency. All of the signs point to the decline of Chávismo and to the end of Venezuela’s role as Latin America’s populist core.

Between last October’s presidential election and the one held last month, Chávismo lost almost 700,000 votes to Henrique Capriles’ Democratic Unity Roundtable – a shift that many, including Chávistas, attribute to “Maduro not being Chávez.” This was the first presidential election in Venezuela that resulted in an almost even split among voters (and the outcome itself remains hotly contested). If Venezuela continues along this path, Chávismo could not only lose its majority; it could collapse altogether.

... Read More

As the facts behind Nicolás Maduro’s fabricated electoral “victory” on April 14 are disclosed, his legitimacy and ability to govern will be decimated.  Reams of confidential official documents obtained from Venezuelan sources reveal the existence of a sophisticated political machine – developed and managed by Cuban advisors – that gives chavista party bosses an unfair advantage in mobilizing their voters and manipulating election results.

This complex system was created in the last several years under the direction of Cuban advisors, working with Cuban-trained Venezuelan hard-liners associated with the “Francisco de Miranda Front,” and micromanaged by a database operated in Pinar del Rio, Cuba.  The Cuban electoral team is headed by Raciel Garcia Ceballos, who visits Venezuela on a weekly basis.  Here’s how the Cuban-engineered system works:

Using official data that is provided exclusively to the chavista party by the National Electoral Council (CNE), a database has been developed that cross references the list ... Read More

Traducción por IASW

A medida que se dan a conocer los hechos detrás de la “victoria” electoral fabricada de Nicolás Maduro, se ha ido desvaneciendo su legitimidad y capacidad de gobernar. Resmas de documentos oficiales confidenciales obtenidos de fuentes venezolanas revelan la existencia de una maquinaria política sofisticada- desarrollada y gestionada por asesores cubanos– que le da a los jefes chavistas una ventaja injusta en la movilización de votantes y en la manipulación de resultados.

Este complejo sistema fue desarrollado en los últimos años bajo la dirección de asesores cubanos que trabajaron con la línea dura de venezolanos formados en Cuba, relacionados con el “Frente Francisco de Miranda” y operados por una base de datos manejada desde Pinar del Rio, Cuba. El equipo electoral cubano está encabezado por Raciel García Ceballos, quien visita Venezuela semanalmente. He aquí cómo funciona el sistema diseñado por los cubanos:

Utilizando datos oficiales que se proporcionaron exclusivamente a ... Read More

By Guillermo I. Martinez

Slowly, a growing number of Venezuelan exiles living in South Florida are realizing it will be hard for Henrique Capriles Rodonski to peacefully get the government of Nicolás Maduro to accept a true recount of the vote count in the presidential election of April 14.

Capriles has the facts to back up the charge the government cheated to win the election.

He has pointed out that in 737 voting precincts his supporters were ousted by government thugs at gunpoint; at another 39 voting precincts Maduro got 100 per cent of the vote; and in 1,176 precincts; Maduro, whose ineptness as a speaker and leader has been acknowledged by many, got more votes than his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who had defeated Capriles by more than 1.5 million votes in last October’s elections.

Unfortunately where governments rule by force, being right does not mean those in power will play by the rules. ... Read More

Cuba‘s communist regime is like an ageing house on the verge of collapse, leading dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez said Thursday, insisting Havana’s timid reforms were a smokescreen.

“The so-called Raulista changes are superficial,” Sanchez told reporters, referring to President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother and 1959 revolutionary leader Fidel seven years ago.

“The Cuban model is like a house in Old Havana. You look at the house and ask how it’s possible that it’s still standing,” she said in Geneva, where she was attending a UN human rights meeting.

“Then the owner comes along and wants to change the door. He unscrews one screw, and with that screw, the whole house comes down. The question is, which screw is it going to be?”

She said Cuba’s ageing leadership faced a stark “biological reality”, growing public criticism, and political change in Venezuela whose oil wealth has kept Havana afloat.

Named by Time magazine as one of ... Read More

BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY

The Castro government’s easing of foreign travel restrictions on Cubans has not led to greater freedoms on the island, a leading dissident said on Wednesday.

Elizardo Sanchez said 19 opposition activists had been allowed to leave since a new exit policy was introduced on January 14. Dozens more would go in the next few weeks, he said.

But the Communist government, in power since 1959, was keeping strict control on dissident voices at home, he said.

“They calculate it will be freedom of expression for people outside Cuba but the voices will not be reproduced in Cuba. They control all communications, radio, newspaper, local and international television, and access to Internet,” Sanchez said.

A total of 92 political prisoners were currently held in Cuban jails, which the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been allowed visit since 1989, he said. A further 350 were held in short-term detention on political grounds.

Sanchez is president ... Read More

BY WILLIAM NEUMAN

Venezuela stumbled deeper into political chaos this week as legislators brawled in the National Assembly and government supporters and opponents took to the streets for rival marches amid continuing tensions over the narrow election victory of President Nicolás Maduro.

Government supporters and opponents held separate May Day marches in Caracas, the capital, on Wednesday that many had initially feared could turn violent. But the routes were changed to keep the rival bands apart — and attention focused instead on the violence that erupted in the National Assembly a day earlier.

Tensions have remained high following the April 14 election that Mr. Maduro, the handpicked heir of President Hugo Chávez, won by less than two percentage points over Henrique Capriles Radonski, an opposition governor. Mr. Chávez died in March.

Mr. Capriles and his backers claim that Mr. Maduro stole the election and have refused to recognize his victory.

In response, Diosdado Cabello, the president ... Read More

Se ha terminado la elección presidencial en Venezuela? Al parecer no. El ganador auto proclamado, Nicolás Maduro, se comporta como alguien que sabe que perdió el 14 de abril – usando la violencia para acallar la demanda de la oposición para que se realice un recuento de los resultados.

Al recurrir a la violencia, el ignorante de Maduro ha firmado la sentencia de muerte para la legitimidad del chavismo.

En varios videos que le han dado la vuelta al mundo se puede apreciar a soldados y a chavistas matones persiguiendo, golpeando y disparando contra manifestantes desarmados el dia de las elecciones el mes pasado.  Anoche, archivos de video de la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela mostraron como opositores eran golpeados mientras protestaban por una ley mordaza impuesta por el presidente de la asamblea Diosdado Cabello.

Los análisis post-electorales han demostrado que incluso muchos de los que apoyaron a Hugo Chávez se encuentran entre la ... Read More

BY JOSÉ AZEL

The succession from Fidel to Raúl Castro, programmed since the early days of the Cuban revolution, was efficient, effective and seamless. Gen. Castro now is orchestrating his own succession, but this one lacks the historical legitimizing elements of the 1959 revolution.

The recent appointment of Miguel Diaz-Canel, a 52-year-old party apparatchik factotum, as first vice president of the Council of State places him in line to succeed Raúl Castro in that state body. This, however, is not equivalent to being No. 2 in the regime as the international media seem to have concluded.

Article 5 of the Cuban constitution makes it clear that the Communist Party is “the superior leading force of the society and the state.” The 15-member Politburo of the Communist Party remains headed by Raúl Castro as first secretary, and by 82-year-old Machado Ventura as second secretary.

It is not often understood that Raúl Castro leads Cuba not because he ... Read More

While en route to accept Europe’s top human rights prize, the leader of a leading Cuban dissidents group spoke strongly against the Castro brothers to an exile community that received her message with enthusiastic applause.

“We want a Cuba in which liberty exists,” Berta Soler, co-founder of the Ladies in White, said. “Where there is democracy. And where there is respect for human rights. And also, we are fighting pacifically for a Cuba without the Castros.”

The wife of a former political prisoner traveled to the United States after receiving the Sakharov Prize with other members of the Ladies in White Tuesday in Brussels. She met with Cuban-American political leaders in Washington and spent Saturday uniting with exiles in Miami, where nostalgia for Cuba still dominates many aspects of daily life.

Her visit comes shortly after that of two other prominent Cuban dissidents, blogger Yoani Sanchez and Rosa Maria Paya, the daughter of ... Read More