Today was a recrudescence of barricades in some areas. Protests are not dwindling. I was surprised this morning at 7 AM with all roads blocked out of El Cafetal on my way to medical appointments. I had to escape through Macaracuay. Later I learned that for once the regime decided to scare El Cafetal barricades ignored until now by sending what has been reported a fake funeral of "motorizados" which was an excuse for colectivos to come and shoot their guns in the air.
See, motorbikes in Caracas have become such a plague that when they are not looting trucks they hold funerals where a squadron of dozens and dozens of bikers block traffic, raise their front wheels in the air, shoot in the air, play loud music to try to cover their deafening noise. That is what happens in some bikers funerals, probably those that where high in the gang structure. And it is probably the rule for colectivos funerals, those paramilitary groups that have been organized by the regime with weapons and motorbikes for fast deployment. Actually, there is evidence that the current interior minister, Rodriguez Torres , was hard at work ten years ago organizing paramilitary structures.
But I digress, the point is that the regime sent today its colectivos to try to strike fear in El Cafetal denizens. thus the El Cafetal barricades which were useless and a pain in the ass for an area that chavismo ignores (it votes 80% opposition) have suddenly become more relevant and will become again more frequent.
But tonight the regime made sure that protest will keep going on for a while more as the High Court, TSJ, unconstitutionally removed Maria Corina Machado from her representative seat. The excuse was that by accepting to seat for a few minutes in the Panama ambassador seat she betrayed the country, she accepted a foreign award and what not. Besides that she was disbarred unconstitutionally, I will not go into it now, too long and it is late, there are plenty of chavista officials accepting all the time all sort of awards in friendly countries, amen of the Venezuelan seat at the OAS having been loaned to to plenty of people in the past with causes occasionally less worthy than the one Maria Corina Machado presented.
It is a political decision of course, one typical of dictatorships of any kind, to jail, disable, dishonor, make up charges and what not against any political person that could cause trouble for the regime. The TSJ has lowered its already incredibly low standing by starting to remove one by one elected officials and thus recognizing that elections are truly worthless in Venezuela. Then again, a TSJ that had no qualms doing a constitutional coup to allow Maduro to succeed Chavez has taken the road to further constitutional crimes to justify the original sin. It is biblical!
Now the question is what the opposition will do. Is it still trying to pretend dialogue is possible? Will it make a show of force and try to enter with Maria Corina Machado in Parliament even if all may risk arrest? When are we going to start calling the regime a dictatorship and deal with it accordingly?
There are other questions equally interesting. Will Diosdado Cabello get away with what is such an obvious personal vendetta he has against Maria Corina (besides the possibility of also following orders from Cuba)? will the regime dare put all opposition leadership in jail? Will newspapers be closed? Will Internet go blank?
Is it time to consider article 350 of the constitution? You know, the one that allows for just rebellion....
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