
From La Prensa, 12 May 2008
For the past nine days, Nicaragua has been undergoing a transportation strike. It may seem simple, but a mere convenience for those of us who live in the US, as we're often accustomed to getting around on our own in cars, but that is not the case for many in the hemisphere's second poorest country.
A few days ago I was on the phone with friends in Managua. They told me that gas prices are out of control, 100 Cordobas* per gallon, which is the highest in the region, despite the "generosity" of the mico mandante. There is no meat in the markets (both smaller as well as the supermarkets), and one is hard-pressed to find many other staples; if they can be found, they're extremely expensive. Inflation is right around 17 or 18%; obviously this affects the poor (48% of the country in 2005) more than anyone.
My dear friend la compa~era anticomunista and I had a very good conversation today --well, all of our conversations are very good, but this one was particularly enlightening for me-- and for your reading pleasure, I am going to republish translated versions of some of her comments.
On why the protest is taking place: "They are protesting so the government lowers gas prices...so the government says that they can subsidize the prices with funds from the budget. The Assembly says NO because the government must first be accountable for what remains of the Venezuelan oil, and with that money create the subsidies. (...) There has been one confirmed death, though rumors say there have been more. There is no public transportation to transport people between the municipalities. They are not letting private transportation carrying food into Managua pass through, and because of this shortages in the market are beginning." She later tells me that government will be subsidizing six cordobas on the gallon.
The fact that a government which is allegedly receiving highly subsidized oil, and subsequently earning money off said oil via the Albanisa arrangement it holds with PDVSA, one would think that the government would use those funds...but it instead will move to use funds from an already tight budget. I think my boyfriend Manuelito sums it up quite nicely, per usual, with today's political cartoon:
It doesn't stop there, though. I got e-mails from friends in other parts of the country, in which I got additional details which are worth mentioning. In San Benito, the transportistas were facing off with the police, and trucks were burned. Police chief Aminta ordered the police into the rural areas, despite their not being equipped to do so; this was done under the auspices to protect order --something with which I hardly take issue-- but as my friends cite, the police were nowhere to be found during the MONTHS of rioting in Managua with the people of Chureca.
All of my friends have mentioned that many of those angry on Channels 2 and 8 are from the CPCs, which are generally viewed to be more sympathetic to Ortega than the sorry excuse for an opposition. I don't know if this is the straw that will break the bachiburro's back, but I do know that, despite anyone's political convictions, if a person cannot feed their kids and cannot work (either because they are the ones providing transportation or they can only get to their place of employment using public transportation), things will not be good for the current government. This transportation strike is not isolated; it is taking place in 153 of the 154 municipalities in the national territory. I haven't been to Nicaragua in months, but my friends down there tell me that things have gotten so much worse, infrastructure continues to lag despite oil dollars flowing into the country. Prices continue to skyrocket: last week, 100 normal-sized oranges cost 120 cordobas; today, 100 small oranges cost 210. Just like in Venezuela, there is no milk and no eggs.
What does Borreguito do in a time of great despair? What any coward would do: leaves the country, this time to Peru.
*19 Cordobas = $1 USD
Colombia shows new rebel documents
Friday, May 9, 2008; 8:30 PM
BOGOTA, Colombia -- A newly disclosed set of documents that Colombia's government says were recovered from a slain rebel's computers indicate senior Venezuelan officials tried to help arm Colombia's main guerrilla army.
The electronic documents _ more than a dozen _ were shown to The Associated Press on Friday.
They detail alleged meetings between senior Venezuelan officials _ including that country's chief of military intelligence and interior minister _ and top leaders of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Some discuss the procurement of weapons, others rebel training for Venezuelan home defense forces.
Venezuelan officials maintain that Bogota is manipulating the truth.
"The whole thing is like a movie. Fiction is fiction, reality is reality," Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, said Friday.
The documents shown to the AP are among 11,000 that Colombian officials say they found in laptops, external drives and memory sticks recovered in a March 1 cross-border raid in Ecuador that killed rebel leader Raul Reyes and 24 other people.
Some 2,000 of the documents had been erased but were recovered through computer forensics, a senior Colombian official told the AP.
Colombia released several dozen documents immediately after the raid, and since then has periodically shown more to reporters. A Washington intelligence official vouched for the documents' authenticity, saying they were delivered to U.S. intelligence agencies in March.
The U.S. and Colombian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
The documents seen by the AP are all allegedly internal communications between FARC commanders, chiefly messages from Ivan Marquez, the rebels' main representative in Venezuela. Several discuss what Colombian officials interpret as an open-ended Venezuelan loan of at least US$200 million to obtain arms.
Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, has expressed ideological sympathy for the FARC, but denies aiding the rebels militarily. He consistently refers to "the supposed computer of Raul Reyes."
The peasant-based FARC has been trying to overthrow successive Colombian governments for a half-century. But since taking office in 2002, current President Alvaro Uribe has used a U.S.-backed military buildup to throw the rebels off balance.
At Colombia's request, Interpol has examined the three laptops, two external drives and three memory sticks and is expected to issue a report on them next week.
On Friday, a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal about some of the new documents suggested their disclosure would put more pressure on the Bush administration to add Venezuela to a list of state sponsors of terrorist groups.
Analysts call that unlikely because such a designation would mean economic sanctions _ and the U.S. relies too much on Venezuelan oil.
"There is not even consensus among the Republicans that it would be helpful," said Adam Isacson of the Washington-based Center for International Policy. "Also, having to get a special license for all Venezuelan oil sales to the U.S. would throw the fuel market in a bit of turmoil."
The price of crude rose above US$126 a barrel for the first time Friday as investors questioned whether the Wall Street Journal report could lead to a confrontation between Washington and Venezuela.
On Wednesday, Bush referred to Venezuela's alleged backing of the FARC in a speech.
"Colombia faces a hostile and anti-American neighbor in Venezuela, where the regime has forged an alliance with Cuba, collaborated with FARC terrorists and provided sanctuary to FARC units," he said.
Chavez called that a lie in a speech Friday, saying: "It's good that Comrade Bush is messing with us, because that means we're doing well."

![[Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez ]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-BK556_Farc_0_20080508173433.jpg)


