Venezuela, Harsh hours,Learned helplessness
Posted by sender47 10 years, 10 months ago to Government
This post is to warn of what is happening on my country, and what is called Learned helplessness.
Tomorrow 12, many concentrations around the country will be made, The reasons:
-Lack of food, immense lines of more than 6 hours to buy (no promise there will be left anything when is your turn). Milk, oil, coffee, meat, even bread.
-Violence: Venezuela is one of the most dangerous places in the world, Caracas has been continually ranking the top 3 most dangerous cities. I don't live in the slum (barrios) where the violence is significantly greater as no police deems to enter, unless is to recover a dead body. There armed gangs are the law, many of them armed by the government (in Venezuela you can't legally purchase a gun, and need a permit if you already had). There are near 20 million guns that are not registered, and as a normal person can't have them, most of them are in the hands of these gangs. To put some perspective to this in a year here die around 5 times the coalition casualties in Afghanistan
.Jails: Prisoners have their own law, they have bosses (called Pranes) that direct the place, from there they can direct crime, as the all have their cellphones, have internet, tons of guns. They have parties in there where drugs are abundant, they have discotecs, pools, artist are invited, and prostitutes freely go in. To the why they don't scape?, they don't need to. Is like their stronghold from other gangs.
-Prices: Control over control to control the problem caused by controls, have caused a dying economy where big companies have fled from the country (General Motors and Toyota are just shutting down their plants here). By law of Fair prices (yes you read that right), every commerce or industry is subject to expropriation if they are selling outside of what the government call fair price (of course that is only dependent of what the government thinks should be the price of what you are selling).
-Currency: the value of the coin (controlled since 2001), has passed (in the new currency since 2008 were three 0s where taken form it) from 0.5 per dollar to 11.5 as cheapest to this day, that is just for a small allowance 300USD a year for internet, 2500 for travel depending on to where you travel (700 at best if you go to Florida), full 2500 to Cuba. Of course there is a black market that even guide a little by monetary mass/ reserves, where each USD is equivalent 60 BsF (name of the currency).
But how to fly, if airlines are only accepting pays from outside accounts as the government have yet to pay 3500 million USD by concept of the payments made using the allowance that I have mentioned... and,if the airline still sell tickets here they go around 50000 BsF just to Miami that is just 3 hours away.
-Media is controlled by government only one radio a couple of newspaper still remain although running out of paper as there is no production in Venezuela, and they have no legal way to pay for it outside. Only social networks remain although they have tried to shut it, the only TV transmitting the protest are form outside, Colombia normally and "CNN en español"
- International community have been silent, as long as the government give them really cheap oil or just gave it as a gift to buy a vote in the ONU or OAS they will say nothing.
In few words... we are trapped, running out of food, you can be killed in any moment, no place in the country to raise your voice,and the worst of everything, afraid... 15 years of these has corrupted the soul of man and they do not wish anymore, they are too busy trying to survive
We are entering a state of "Learned helplessness" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_hel....)
For many years there have been protest, about this, but none was ever attended, now the people is starting to say "What we can do, we have to survive" even my mother have said that.
Far away from the capital, protest have raised, many of them initiated by university students. Some voices remain, a great part of the opposition has also given up, and say that they will work for the people that elected them (governors, mayors) even if that means to obey the government, as a centralized state, central government is the one that assign money.
Many times, leaders of the opposition have resulted traitors, just there as mean to control the opposition (yes just like 1984).
Hope is starting to fade away, as there are no real means to defeat the current government. As they have well armed gangs, the only ones there that can do something is the army, but their salaries are the highest of all the country, they are given free cars, houses in the beach etc to maintain them in their side.
Learned helplessness that state where you lost your will to fight as there is no way to scape at the moment, and when the chance come we will be already to broken to do anything, is getting to Venezuela.
Communists here, dictators in general are learning, each time they get better on dominating people, they just need a hole and then they will start poisoning your soul, and when people realize what is happening is already too late "they already love big brother, they already learned to be helpless.
Will like to end this post with hope, hope that tomorrow we will be able to start something, at this moment anything is good because we are running out of time, and the state of mind where Cubans and North Koreans are is not anymore some weird far away and not understandable thing
far away from
Tomorrow 12, many concentrations around the country will be made, The reasons:
-Lack of food, immense lines of more than 6 hours to buy (no promise there will be left anything when is your turn). Milk, oil, coffee, meat, even bread.
-Violence: Venezuela is one of the most dangerous places in the world, Caracas has been continually ranking the top 3 most dangerous cities. I don't live in the slum (barrios) where the violence is significantly greater as no police deems to enter, unless is to recover a dead body. There armed gangs are the law, many of them armed by the government (in Venezuela you can't legally purchase a gun, and need a permit if you already had). There are near 20 million guns that are not registered, and as a normal person can't have them, most of them are in the hands of these gangs. To put some perspective to this in a year here die around 5 times the coalition casualties in Afghanistan
.Jails: Prisoners have their own law, they have bosses (called Pranes) that direct the place, from there they can direct crime, as the all have their cellphones, have internet, tons of guns. They have parties in there where drugs are abundant, they have discotecs, pools, artist are invited, and prostitutes freely go in. To the why they don't scape?, they don't need to. Is like their stronghold from other gangs.
-Prices: Control over control to control the problem caused by controls, have caused a dying economy where big companies have fled from the country (General Motors and Toyota are just shutting down their plants here). By law of Fair prices (yes you read that right), every commerce or industry is subject to expropriation if they are selling outside of what the government call fair price (of course that is only dependent of what the government thinks should be the price of what you are selling).
-Currency: the value of the coin (controlled since 2001), has passed (in the new currency since 2008 were three 0s where taken form it) from 0.5 per dollar to 11.5 as cheapest to this day, that is just for a small allowance 300USD a year for internet, 2500 for travel depending on to where you travel (700 at best if you go to Florida), full 2500 to Cuba. Of course there is a black market that even guide a little by monetary mass/ reserves, where each USD is equivalent 60 BsF (name of the currency).
But how to fly, if airlines are only accepting pays from outside accounts as the government have yet to pay 3500 million USD by concept of the payments made using the allowance that I have mentioned... and,if the airline still sell tickets here they go around 50000 BsF just to Miami that is just 3 hours away.
-Media is controlled by government only one radio a couple of newspaper still remain although running out of paper as there is no production in Venezuela, and they have no legal way to pay for it outside. Only social networks remain although they have tried to shut it, the only TV transmitting the protest are form outside, Colombia normally and "CNN en español"
- International community have been silent, as long as the government give them really cheap oil or just gave it as a gift to buy a vote in the ONU or OAS they will say nothing.
In few words... we are trapped, running out of food, you can be killed in any moment, no place in the country to raise your voice,and the worst of everything, afraid... 15 years of these has corrupted the soul of man and they do not wish anymore, they are too busy trying to survive
We are entering a state of "Learned helplessness" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_hel....)
For many years there have been protest, about this, but none was ever attended, now the people is starting to say "What we can do, we have to survive" even my mother have said that.
Far away from the capital, protest have raised, many of them initiated by university students. Some voices remain, a great part of the opposition has also given up, and say that they will work for the people that elected them (governors, mayors) even if that means to obey the government, as a centralized state, central government is the one that assign money.
Many times, leaders of the opposition have resulted traitors, just there as mean to control the opposition (yes just like 1984).
Hope is starting to fade away, as there are no real means to defeat the current government. As they have well armed gangs, the only ones there that can do something is the army, but their salaries are the highest of all the country, they are given free cars, houses in the beach etc to maintain them in their side.
Learned helplessness that state where you lost your will to fight as there is no way to scape at the moment, and when the chance come we will be already to broken to do anything, is getting to Venezuela.
Communists here, dictators in general are learning, each time they get better on dominating people, they just need a hole and then they will start poisoning your soul, and when people realize what is happening is already too late "they already love big brother, they already learned to be helpless.
Will like to end this post with hope, hope that tomorrow we will be able to start something, at this moment anything is good because we are running out of time, and the state of mind where Cubans and North Koreans are is not anymore some weird far away and not understandable thing
far away from
Don't know if the news of what is happening here have reached media in where you are. In any case, 5 people where killed, more than 40 wounded, capture orders have been given for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
One of the armed gangs of the "collectives" I have mentioned before (called Alexis Vive) started shooting to the manifestation. there, 2 university students died (the concentrations where called firstly by university students): It seems a police officer shot one of the armed man killing him. Later the government said he was a martyr of the revolution, and that he was killed by the opposition. (No mention of the students except on the capture order to Leopoldo Lopez where his is accused of this).
As I mentioned before the only TV stations that are covering what is happening NTN24 from Colombia and CNN. The government obliged cable tv operators to remove NTN24. the ISPs also blocked access to NTN24 webpage or any page retransmitting their signal by internet.
Using the DNS of Google have solved some of the web blockage, also using TOR has proven useful.
Probably the country will wake up under militarization. Will write more as the situation advance.