Emasculating the National Assembly and other news

Castrated like the deputies of the alternative parties at the new National Assembly?

Total control of law

The head of the outgoing Venezuelan National Assembly, Cilia Flores, declared deputies are preparing new legislation to introduce "street parliamentarism", among other things. You can be sure every single change in the legislation will approve will have to do with neutralizing any role of anyone foreign to the Chávez party and giving power not to the people, but to mobbing thugs paid by the military regime. Let's remember authoritarian systems spend a lot of effort redefining what "the people" actually is. The alternative forces will have to prepare a plan A, B, C and D for all the tricks the regime is concocting.

Total control of the economy

On another issue: Daniel Duquenal wrote an outstanding article about what the military's latest expropriation is about. This is big news. The expropiation will lead to major problems throughout the whole food chain. And the government will blame it all on saboteurs.

Further, the lieutenant colonel we have as president declared yesterday Venezuela's main airport, Maiquetía, will be "taken over" by the government. Never mind it was already under government control. He said Cuba was earning millions through the Havana airport, so Venezuela should be able to do the same "and not depend on oil alone". Mind: Venezuela has now a shameless airport exit tax (paid on cash only) that is higher than anything anywhere else. Tourists feel fooled and foreign tourists are becoming scarcer and scarcer. You see, that is what beggar countries do when their governments haven't got a clue.

A few days earlier the president and self-styled "painter" said Venezuela could become an arepa-flour exporting country. He seems to ignore the arepa flour people outside Venezuela eat these days comes from Colombia. This is what you get when you have a violent military as head of state.

In the next days the president will visit Russia and Belarus. Let's see what he is going to bring back. More weapons? Belorussians that will build normal houses Venezuelans are not able to build? Loans in spite of the continuing oil boom? If anyone wants to venture a guess, let me know.