On the eve of the National Assembly elections of Venezuela in which many observers expect voters to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the the Socialist policies of the ruling Chavistas which have completely ruined the economy of that oil rich nation, The Guardian of the UK has found a villain. A wealthy elite living in a state of priveleged luxury.
A normal person would expect the culprits to be the corrupt Chavistas such as National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello who is estimated to have stolen over 2 billion dollars via corruption or the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro who is believed to have pocketed at least a billion dollars by corruption and family drug dealing. In addition, there are the many other wealthy Chavistas who used their power to abscond with billions of dollars more leaving Venezuela an economic basket case. So who does The Guardian writer, Sibylla Brodzinsky, point the accusatory finger at? "Country Club" conservatives while giving the vast corruption of the Chavistas a free pass. I kid you not. Here is Brodzinsky casting this group in cartoon caricature terms:
From the vantage point of the well-kept lawns and overstuffed antique chairs of the exclusive Caracas Country Club, Venezuela doesn’t look so bad.
Much of the oil-rich country is crippled by rising inflation, a lack of basic goods and rampant violence that could lead to the ruling United Socialist party losing control of the legislature for the first time in 17 years in Sunday’s elections. But at this exclusive club, set on the leafy slopes of the El Avila mountain, those troubles seem a world away.
Elegantly bowtied waiters offer club members and their guests an extensive menu, including lobster bisque, lobster ceviche, lobster salad and grilled lobster. Outside the grand mansion clubhouse, a sparkling swimming pool gives way to an 18-hole golf course.
Cue up the Snidely Whiplash music because Brodzinsky in just getting warmed up in expressing her wrath at those who are not the corrupt Chavistas who are in actual power:
Since it was founded in 1917, the club has been a second home for the privileged Caracas elite. But since the late Hugo Chávez began what he called his “Bolivarian revolution” in 1998, that elite has been derisively termed los escualidos, the squalid ones, and they have been the object of government scorn.
...Paradoxically, as the country’s economy spirals downwards, life gets ever cheaper for Venezuela’s 1% who earn, spend and live in dollars. Since March, the local currency, the bolívar, has depreciated so much that luxuries such as lobster have become infinitely affordable.
Yes, the rich (meaning not the corrupt Chavista rich who run Venezuela) are doing so great because they can score cheap lobster. Finally a parting shot by Brodzinsky which includes her lobster fixation:
That level of insecurity makes the Country Club a refuge for its 3,000-strong membership. “This place is always full,” says the businessman. “People feel safe here.” And the lobster is to die for.
Brodzinsky's absurdly misplaced sense of villainy did not go unnoticed by many readers of The Guardian:
Venezuela, another country destroyed by inept socialist government. Why does the Guardian keep mentioning the rich Venezuelans, implying that it is they who have brought the country to ruin. Chavez, who not so long ago, was Ken Livingstone's favourite socialist, set the country on a path to corruption, state run media and nepotism and then left it to his acolyte to hammer the final nails in.
Desperate attempt to deflect responsibility from the socialist government.
Articles such as Ms Brodzinski's "Venezuela’s high-life elite hope hard-hit poor will abandon Chávez’s legacy" just goes to show how biased and unprofessional the writings of "progressive" so-called journalists can get.
The author is an elitist exploiting human tragedy for the benefit of preconceived political notions and an easy byline.
It is not only the "high-life elite" who want the poor to abandon Chavez failed project, it is the majority of the all-encompassing middle class who wants the corrupt and non-democratic (there is no separation of powers in Venezuela) Chavistas to leave power.
And what's with Brodzinsky's bizarre fixation with lobster consumption? What? Somehow the wealthy ruling Chavista elite never eat lobsters? Only those EVIL country club types that she points her finger at eat the despised crustaceans?
