El Archipiélago de Gulag

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The Political Hat :

El Archipiélago de Gulag

Posted on July 30, 2016 by The Political Hat

 

Venezuela continues down it’s path as a “socialist paradise” that other “socialist paradises” have trod down before:

 

“Political arrests are a rare growth industry in Venezuela. When Nicolás Maduro became president after Hugo Chávez’s death from cancer in 2013, there were about a dozen prisoners of conscience, according to Foro Penal, a local nongovernmental organization. Today, the number hovers at around 100, and some 2,000 people are the subject of politically driven judicial prosecutions.

 

“The government’s latest targets are Francisco Márquez and Gabriel San Miguel, two civil servants working in a mayor’s office who were summarily arrested at a highway checkpoint in a remote area of northern Venezuela on June 19. Along with hundreds of other activists, they were traveling that day to help collect signatures to petition for a referendum to remove Mr. Maduro from office

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Venezuela: Next on the agenda, forced labor Vice News reports that, like Cuba, Venezuela has a new ‘forced labor’ law that can require people to work in fields

“A new decree establishing that any employee in Venezuela can be effectively made to work in the country’s fields as a way to fight the current food crisis is unlawful and effectively amounts to forced labor,” Amnesty International said in a statement released on Thursday.

 

President Nicolás Maduro signed a decree at the end of last week that gives powers to the labor ministry to order “all workers from the public and private sector with enough physical capabilities and technical know-how” to join a government drive aimed at increasing food production.

http://faustasblog.com/2016/07/venezuela-next-on-the-agenda-forced-labor/

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In Venezuela’s Socialist Paradise, Workers Report To Labor Camps

AUGUST 1, 2016 By Robert Tracinski

The fantasy of a benevolent, “progressive” socialism—which, as we saw among the Bernie Sanders supporters at last week’s Democratic convention, still attracts a large fan base—always involves the promise of a neo-aristocratic life of leisure.

 

Karl Marx projected that, when “society regulates the general production,” the worker would escape the tyranny of being stuck in the same 9-to-5 job, day in and day out, and could instead “do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, to fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize [art] after dinner, just as I have in mind.” More recently, advocates of a “basic income”

http://thefederalist.com/2016/08/01/in-venezuelas-socialist-paradise-workers-report-to-labor-camps/

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The New Feudalism of Venezuela’s Socialist Paradise

Posted on August 10, 2016 by The Political Hat

 

So, what does President Maduro of that socialist paradise of “people power”, Venezuela, do when the people elect an overwhelming majority to the Venezuelan Congress dead set on removing you legally from power?

 

Try to have them banned, of course!

 

“The Venezuelan government asked electoral authorities Tuesday to ban the opposition coalition seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro in a recall vote, accusing them of massive fraud.

 

“Ratcheting up the tension in a country pushed to the brink of collapse by an economic crisis, Maduro’s camp hit back with a vengeance on the same day the opposition was hoping to get a green light to go ahead with its bid to hold a recall referendum.

http://politicalhat.com/2016/08/10/the-new-feudalism-of-venezuelas-socialist-paradise/

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August 9, 2016 By Fausta Leave a Comment

Why American companies buy Venezuelan oil

Yesterday Jazz Shaw asked, Why are we propping up Venezuela with crude oil purchases?

As I was going through the import export numbers I was rather surprised to find that the one country who doesn’t seem to have been much affected by our reduced dependence on foreign sources is Venezuela. In fact,they’re recording a recent net increase in crude oil exports to the United States.
. . .
In case you were wondering, Venezuela is doing quite well in terms of their business with us. We are still their number one customer for crude oil exports and their shipping volume only declined 6 percent in the first seven months of 2016. Here’s the question which should be on everyone’s minds… why? Yes, I understand it’s a free market and I don’t want the government coming in and tinkering with it. Also, they produce some very heavy crude hybrids which are specific to particular production needs. But overall, we have plenty of options. We’ve broken the barrier of being self-sufficient for all intents and purposes, particularly when you include the oil we import from our most reliable partner, Canada. http://faustasblog.com/2016/08/why-american-companies-buy-venezuelan-oil/