There are people in government positions in every government in the world who should be in jail!

Venezuela just has a few more of them than the average.

The North American press considers the whole Venezuelan administration as a single unified entity under the tight control of one man, Hugo Chavez. Unfortunately that is quite apparently a myth. Hugo is the public voice of Hugo, not Venezuela, and even he was defeated in the recent election designed to increase his personal power, so it is apparent that over 50% of the population have reservations on giving him "dictator for life" status.

KRY and GRZ were held hostage by minor officials within the government for years and now the matter has been brought to a head. While none of these junior officials had the ability to completely stop the projects (and they probably didn't want that) they did have the ability to create administrative "road blocks" and to play off competing interests both inside and outside the government hoping for "under the table" payoffs and personal gain. Chavez either didn't have the influence or the time to make definitive rulings on each and every minor attempt by the minor officials to "supplement" their government salaries.

In a way Otega has done us all a favour by bringing the matter to a head. While KRY and GRZ officials were being stalled by minor tyrants intent of personal gain through graft, the matter simply stayed on the back burner and went nowhere. The corrupt officials had time on their side and they knew it. Now the problem has been forced into the open and it is obvious it has to get a definite ruling, and soon, if foreign investment in Venezuela is to continue.

Chavez has reversed many permits, contracts and agreements made under former administrations where corruption was rife. He can always quote that corruption in the granting process as a reason for his decision to reverse, but in the case of GRZ and KRY he is now faced with reversing a permit legally issued under his own administration's guidance. That sends quite a different message to Venezuelans and the world as a whole.