As we mentioned a couple weeks back, that tyrannical Venezuelan government reacted to opposition student protesters in Caracas by…inviting them to address the National Assembly and vent their concerns in a nationwide televised broadcast.
This week, the Oil Wars blog has provided another fantastic public service by subtitling the broadcast into English so’s you all can see exactly what went down. Grab a beer and give it a look, it’s filled with fascinating moments, including:
>>>Oppo student Douglass Barrios reads a rousing, well-written piece about—irony alert—the silencing of voices of dissent in Venezuela. Again, this was broadcast nationally on state TV.Seriously, you can’t script shit like this. It’s Legally Blonde with hot lefty Latin hunks. Watch it.>>> At the end of his schpeel, Barrios takes his shirt off to make a point (I know, but he’s got another one on underneath) and his buddies all walk out of the chamber, so none of the other opposition students get to speak, but they’ve made their point, right?
>>>On their way out, the ding dong leaves his printed speech behind, which turns out to have been written by a big-money PR firm.
>>>Chavista student Hector Rodriguez finds the sheet, and opens up his own commentary by reading from the left behind script, including the stage directions from the firm (“Take Off Shirt,” etc.)
>>>Rodriguez gives a startlingly cogent unscripted talk on free speech, class, and the role of the U.S. State Department in the world, which immediately and forever burns his image into the minds and sexual fantasies of his countrymen.
