If they murder me, destroy in full the bourgeoisie (stronger in Spanish)

Those were the nice words of Chavez today, in a meeting where it was for all to see how far advanced his delirium tremens is. Or whatever delirium he suffers from in case he is a teetotaler, which does not stop one from being an addict, just not to booze.

To commemorate April 13 2002 in the continuous effort to make this a national holiday along February 2 and 27 (when will we work?) Chavez gathered what he hoped would be a show of strength to instill fear in the opposition, but even more fear into the weakening chavista base in case they decided not to follow him until the bitter end. The bolting of Lara's governor Falcon seems to have perturbed him greatly as the PPT has been excommunicated officially.

To scare us he called for his militia, all in Cuban olive green uniforms. No need for the red civilian tide of yore, the ingrates cannot even be "arreados" with buses and booze and stipends. Now Chavez fills up his rallies with the militia who is paid for that directly. I use the term "arreados" in all conscience, which means roughly lassoed. My S.O. was forced to go to the meeting today, staying until 4 PM, unable to wait for Chavez anymore, and sorely regretting forgetting the camera home. But even forcing public employees to come is not enough: they come, sign up any attendance list, go to look for a drink , and are never seen again that day. Hence the need for a paid for militia, to make sure Chavez does not speak in a void.

If Chavez tried to scare us today what he did was to increase our resolve while ridiculing himself. And if anyone still thought that the civilian sector played a role in the bolibanana revolution, look at the picture above and be told. That was Bolivar Avenue Tuesday 13, a few hours ago.