Baron Porkface fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Dec 25, 2016

Chuck Boone fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Dec 26, 2016

Chuck Boone fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Dec 26, 2016

fnox fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Dec 31, 2016

• The Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia [Venezuelan Violence Watch] is an NGO that tracks crime statistics. They tallied the number of homicides in the country in 2016 at 28,479, which is up from the 2015 count (27,875). If accurate, the 2016 figure would put Venezuela at the number one or two spot in homicides per capita (at 91.8 per 100,000 residents), depending on where El Salvador and Honduras come in. Caracas alone saw just over 5,000 homicides, but I don't have the link to that information right now. (EDIT: Correction: The one and only morgue in Caracas admitted 5,741 bodies in all of 2016. These figures include homicides, traffic deaths and suspicious deaths).
  
  Venezuelan authorities do not officially release homicide statistics on a regular basis, so what the OBV and other NGOs do is contact morgues, police departments and hospitals and get the information themselves. Aside from these types of figures, the government does release annual crime statistics, usually in the spring. The official government figures tend to be lower than those of OBV.
  
  
• The Venezuelan government took out a $5 billion dollar loan from a Chinese bank on December 29 without telling anyone. The loan is illegal under Venezuelan law, because article 132 of the constitution states that any public debt must be debated and approved by the National Assembly. This is for governance, transparency and accountability purposes. Because we don't actually know which entity took out the loan, it's really difficult to say who has it/for what purpose, although presumably the Central Bank is handling the money.
  
  The Latin American Herald Tribune points out that the loan was issued in the form of physical bearer bonds, which are unregistered and as I understand it, impossible to trace. If you physically have a bearer bond in your possession, then you own the money that the bond is for. The article points out that "most developed nations" no longer use physical bearer bonds, but that they are "a favourite of drug dealers, money launderers and others who seek anonymity". The article points out that you could move the entire $5 billion loan in just a briefcase.
  
  You might remember bearer bonds from the documentary "Die Hard", which is about a group of German terrorists headed by one Hans Gruber who attempted to break into the vault at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles to steal $640 million in bearer bonds precisely because they are anonymous, easy to move and untraceable.
  
  To summarize: Someone in the government just got $5 billion in untraceable money that is wholly unaccounted for and can be stolen with absolutely no effort or repercussions whatsoever.
  
  
• Leopoldo Lopez wrote an "end-of-the-year" message, so I'm going to share a translation of it here:
  

  quote:

  2017: Dictatorship or Democracy
  
  2016 has come to an end, and the crisis of which we have warned is growing more severe at an increasing rate, bringing with it unprecedented acts in our history. When it comes to the economic and the social, the shortages no longer affect only food, medicine, repair parts and basic necessities for the economy. Now there is rationing of currency, the very money of Venezuelans, something which set off lamentable events in diverse areas of the country. The high cost of living, as it does every year, has reached the highest levels in our history, placing us as the country with the highest inflation rate in the world. The same happens with violence, the other evil that plagues Venezuelans, which will similarly surpass the number of homicides from last year. These are enormously serious facts, but they are nothing more than the preventable consequences of an erroneous model and system, which if not changed will significantly worsen our people’s suffering.
  
  Venezuelans know that this crisis is the consequence of this model, and it fills me with strength to know that our people are growing more and more aware each day over the cause and origin of their political, social, and economic situation, despite the communication hegemony and propaganda that this same system has managed to deploy. Today, 70% of Venezuelans consider this to be a non-democratic government, one that has become a dictatorship, while 90% clamor for change.
  
  I am surprised to hear some say that the people do not care if we live in a dictatorship or a democracy, because what is important for the Venezuelan is that his problems be solved. My response to that is that the intelligence of our people cannot be underestimated. The Venezuelan has as many material and basic necessities as spiritual and liberty [as necessities]. Without a doubt, the Venezuelan people today are burdened by the most basic problems, but they are also asphyxiated by a regime that wants to control everything as a dictatorship, one that seeks to suppress our liberties and that crossed a line in 2016 that Venezuelan democrats and those abroad cannot tolerate: ignoring the National Assembly, the institutional dismantling of the rule of law through the total control of public institutions, specially the TSJ [the Supreme Court] and the CNE [the body in charge of elections], and, most grievously, the arbitrary elimination of the constitutional referendum that in essence suspended the right to vote in our country.
  
  For more than three years we insisted that objects must be called by their proper names, and Venezuela is a dictatorship. Unfortunately, it has been long since we have been in a situation where the regime could correct itself. On the contrary, its intention is to strengthen its model. I have always believed that as democrats, if we do not have a clear and firm position about that which we are facing, we run the risk of allowing it to continue to cement its position and destroy the country. That is why I stress that the first step for any strategy shared by democratic forces is to recognize and know what we are facing.
  
  However, it is not enough to identify the origin of these problems and those responsible for them. It is up to us to define a goal and set out a common and unified path for 2017: TO RECOVER THE RIGHT TO VOTE AND MOVE BEYOND THE CRISIS. With this objective as our priority, I want to humbly insist on the following for Venezuelans and the whole of the democratic Unity [the opposition]:
  
  1. Political and Constitutional Responsibility
  
  Once the National Assembly beings its new session, it will be a necessary first step to move beyond the crisis to place political and constitutional responsibility for this crisis [on the regime]. The National Assembly must continue the debate that it began this year, and end with deciding over the political responsibility of Nicolas Maduro and the abandonment of his constitutional responsibilities and duties. There can be no doubt that the National Assembly is wholly legitimate [as it was given legitimacy] through an election. Our people trusted the opposition. Not a simple majority: the people trusted 2/3 of its members [at the National Assembly], a clear mandate for political change. We must exercise our majority, take decisions and call on our people to back [legislators up] on the streets. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MUST BE DEFENDED BY THE PUBLIC.
  
  2. Recover the Right to Vote
  
  The right of the sovereign people to vote cannot be revoked indefinitely, and this is why the second step that the National Assembly smut take is to assign rectors to the CNE [essentially giving the opposition control of elections in the country].
  
  3. Civil organization and mobilization
  
  Whenever the decisions taken by the National Assembly are ignored, the Democratic Unity [the opposition] must call on citizens to organize into citizen assemblies and large protests to support the declaration of political responsibility [against Maduro] and the assigning of the new rectors. We must be clear on the fact that victory and change can only be achieved with a leadership and a people who mobilize and pressure the dictatorship.
  
  4. From the Democratic Unity TABLE to the Democratic Unity MOVEMENT
  
  We’re not talking about a new organization: rather, we’re talking about the transformation of a unified organization into a new phase that will require the inclusion of different sectors and movements. The Unity Table [the official name of the opposition] appeared as an partisan articulation that has demonstrated its enormous efficiency when it comes to electoral matters. Now, in times of resistance and the conquest of democracy, and this struggle requires a wide audience. This is why we call for a shift from the table to the movement within the Democratic Unity, the central objective of which will be to recover the right to vote and defeat dictatorship to restore constitutional order and recover democracy.
  
  5. National Agreement
  
  Certain that Venezuelans will achieve change, it is up to all of to jointly define what it is that we want for the Venezuelan that we are going to build. For this reason, we must promote a wide and inclusive debate with urgency to define national goals and priorities in different spheres to allow us to reinstate the constitutional path, democratic coexistence, and to promote well-being through inclusive projects. The result of this debate must be a great National Agreement, which I am convinced we must not be afraid to submit to the citizenry via an electoral referendum.
  
  As 2016 comes to an end and with the utmost sincerity and accountability, it is necessary to say that difficult times await us next year. Despite this, I ask you to fill yourself with strength, faith and optimism, because in 2017 we will continue to fight with all of our will to achieve The Best Venezuela.
  
  We will continue to fight for all of you Venezuelans who believe in a better country without care for the sacrifice that must be made for a Venezuelan where all Venezuelans have all the rights, and we are convinced that the change that we all long for is coming sooner rather than later, because there are millions of us on this path and we will not rest until pushing all of the changes that our country needs forward.
  
  I wand to send a warm hug to every Venezuelan living in every corner of the world as the year comes to an end. The same goes to my colleagues at the Unity [opposition], my brothers at Voluntad Popular [Lopez’s party] and to all of their families, as well as my fellow political prisoners who have been separated from their loved ones only because they think differently and wish for a better Venezuela.
  
  Strength and faith, Venezuela
  
  Leopoldo Lopez
  
  Prisoner of Conscience
  
  Ramo Verde Military Prison
  

Chuck Boone fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Jan 3, 2017