Re: [Debconf-team] DC14 bids: certainty in Venezuela
On 05/03/13 18:53, Gunnar Wolf wrote:
> Hi bidders!
>
> I know Moray asked while opening up the discussion for the bidding
> process to try to address our questions to both bids, but this is
> meant for the Venezuelan bid - No way to make it more inclusive.
>
> Some people have approached me with questions regarding the stability
> of the Venezuelan government and the outlook for a 18 month period. We
> have recently seen a strong devaluation of the formal exchange rate,
Taking away the Chávez factor (which is obviously not to be
understated), all these other issues could be raised for just about any
other country these days: 25% of Italians just voted for what some
people describe as a non-Government, and there is speculation their
problems will overflow into the rest of Europe. The US even lost their
AAA credit rating last year, Britain lost AAA a few weeks ago. Japan had
Fukushima. Australia has a horrible immigration system that has
scuttled many conferences (unless we only invite young white males with
6 figure salaries that match a `trustworthy' economic profile), so if it
was my choice, I'd be choosing Venezuela or back to Managua over my own
country any day.
Looking specifically at Venezuala, the currency valuation itself doesn't
mean so much when you consider the fact that their underlying source of
wealth is oil exports (and don't forget all those gold reserves Mr
Chávez recently repatriated).
Given the Government commitment to free software, isn't this the model
of an independent and therefore stable Government that we all aspire to
see in our own countries?
Neither the Venezuelan team nor the wider Debian community should be
deterred by short term factors, and if anything, now is the time when
the DebConf committee could well choose to place a big vote of
confidence - and solidarity - with the Venezuelan local team, their
country, and their free software strategy.
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