Some things new generations must know about Sali Berisha

Although 23 years have passed by the tragic events of 1997, they occasionally come to the attention of the Albanian public every time an active politician of that time is asked. The most recent mention was of those events, which were due to the collapse of pyramid lending schemes by former President Berisha, during an interview with journalist Roland Qafoku

Although more than two decades have passed and those events seem distant, it is disturbing that relativism makes major characters of the time, those with political and legal responsibility to prevent them.

For those born of that period or of those who were minors, when they hear Sali Berisha's nonsense today, it is badly informed, which brings about a distorted story. I have the impression that this is also Sali Berisha's final goal of instilling in this generation's mentality that he didn't physically experience those events, a new reality, according to his devilish judgment, that those schemes were an accident, that he and his government were caught unprepared and especially ignorant in the sense of the damage they brought.

Taking the role of the fool from Berisha is an ugly tactic and part of his strategy that those dramatic developments consider simply mistakes, not guilt. It is known by linguistic terms that error is forgiving and unforgivable. That is precisely why every time Berisha is asked about pyramid schemes, he says specifically that “these were his biggest mistake”.

Yes, how does the truth lie that Albania was swallowed up by the cobble of pyramid schemes? Each development has a logical line of how it comes to a consequence.

It all comes back to two important political events that took place after the March 22nd 1992, elections, where the Democratic Party won with the plebiscite vote over 2/3 of the Parliament.

Just 4 months after these historic elections, which eventually ousted the communist regime in Albania, for Sali Berisha, then president of the Republic, an unexpected development occurred. He and his party lose local government elections. The Socialist Party manages to get 53% of the national vote.

But, what “remembered” politically President Berisha was the mass vote against him during the referendum called for the new Constitution project. Two years after local elections, just November 6, 1994, it also loses its second face with the Socialist opposition. This was a dangerous signal to him that in general elections that were only 18 months later, he would fall by power.

Meanwhile, international embargoes on the Milosevic regime in the former Yugoslavia had also begun during 1995. Albania in the letter had accepted the embargo, but in reality was breaking it in the most flagrant way.

One of the most important forms of embargo breaking was the oil supply of the Serbian war machine. One of the biggest managers of this smuggling that developed in knowledge of the state and the secret service was a political-party subject called “Eagle”, which was run by a character named “Competent”.

That kind of smuggling, in addition to keeping with “feeding” Serbian tanks and war machine, accepted by former Montenegrin Prime Minister Bulatovic, generated hundreds of millions of cash. This money had to be cleaned somewhere, and one of the ways was to set up loan schemes outside the banking system.

These deceptive schemes, which began gradually to lure individuals by offering them interests of up to 300 percent with a three - month deadline - a thousand dollars today and receive 3 thousand dollars in 3 months, became a national collective kild.

People, in a state of somnambulism, began selling houses in the city, flocks of cows and sheep, even lands, in the village. Migrants, what they had saved from their immigration years, began putting money into these schemes. So sick were the people that as soon as they withdrew the triple tranche of three months, they reintroduced their money back into the scheme to triple after another three months. So three thousand dollars, to make it $9,000, and so forth every quarter this was the Avaz.

We were on the eve of 1996, and President Berisha was enjoying this situation. The smuggling money was being laundered, but even the people had lost focus on low economic levels. The rich profits people were receiving every three months were creating a false welfare.

Under these <x0-positive>” for the family economy, but not national one, Sali Berisha enters the May 26th 1996 elections. Keeping in mind the horror of the past two votes, he could not leave this election in the hands of chance and the idea that people will vote on him that he is filling his pockets with money.

For this reason, he engaged the entire state structure, the police, and especially that of the SHIK Secret Service, which had a reliable tool of his verbal orders. The absence in those years of television media, including public television, gave Berisha a boost to conducting a police terror at any polling station against commissioners and voters.

Situated under these conditions, the Socialist opposition decides to abandon election commissions even without the ballot boxes closed. From then on, a feverish race by democratic commissioners began to fill more ballot boxes included in areas considered opposition bookies. So blinded were their eyes that when the count was made in the box, more ballots appeared than voters.

Under international pressure that hit those elections, President Berisha, although having won “over 2/3 of the mandates, refused to repeat elections in certain areas, which, however, if all was lost, did not affect the number of mandates making up a simple ruling majority.

Viewed by international criticism as violator of elections and with the opposition on the road, it massacred its leaders and supporters during the modest May 28th 1996 rally, President Berisha needed a reconfirmation of the popular will to justify the May 26th elections. This reconfirmation was 5 months later, with local government elections on October 20, 1996.

From May 26th to October 20th 1996, there were 5 months of critical importance for President Berisha. But it was the most fatal months, where pyramid schemes received a tremendous leap, where installments from three months passed up to months. President Berisha was powerless to intervene in this period, because any intervention would bring down those plans prematurely, which would reflect on October 20th in a massive vote against him. And a massive vote against it could practically translate that May 26th has been a manipulated vote.

President Berisha and his government thus criminally tolerated those schemes, permanently emptying the pockets of Albanians and making rich just a handful of people of power who were familiar with pyramid schemes “Ponzi”.

So linked was Berisha's power to those schemes that even its mayoral candidate, Vlora's leader, was prominent, held in their huge electoral posts these pyramid firms as sponsors. Therefore, on October 20, 1996, President Berisha took a “reconfirmation” of the May 26th result, making “profiting” the overwhelming majority of municipalities and municipalities.

After this development and closure with <x0... successful” of electoral confrontations, President Berisha felt calm in his own absolute power. But, in the meantime, the situation in pyramid schemes was beginning to clear up, and collective collalation began to fade and people were being clarified on the truths of these firms.

Thus, the intensity of the new deposits of money gradually began to decline. Thus, these schemes were losing the source of money, because the format was such that the depositor was paid first with the money that the last deposited. When there was no more depositors, there was nothing more to take. And it was no longer about taking the percentages of profit, nor about the basic principal that they had poured out in advance.

With such negative developments, we enter the bad 1997 year, where pyramid schemes, for lack of liquidity, began to fall one by one as a pyramid of sand when it was swallowed up by waves. Albanians lost life savings, tempting and real estate, while “Competent” Sude's passed the sacks with money across the Adriatic.

In a situation of chaos, where desperate people suddenly came up with no grain of money in their pocket, although President Berisha had guaranteed that the money in the pyramid schemes “are the cleanest in the world”, initiated nationwide revolts urging the government to take responsibility for what had happened.

President Berisha, in full lack of political accountability and civic conscience, refused to resolve the situation politically. Any government, in any country with two grams of democracy, would have openly accepted its responsibility about knowingly allowing these schemes and would have led the country to early parliamentary elections.

It was the least thing to do to show that you have nothing to hide and to let the people decide. To do so, however, it was necessary for the president not to be named Sali Berisha. His primitive character and dungaktarist did not allow such a dramatic financial situation for the people to solve by peaceful means such as elections.

Only someone who has the fly under his hood and knows what he did during the May 26, 1996, elections would act as criminally as Berisha did, where peaceful protests of the people who had lost the money responded with animal violence. This then led to the burden of the situation that led to the explosion of weapons depots and the arming of the people to protect themselves from the war President Berisha began with his appointed leader of the penal operation, USIH chairman General Gazideden.

From all of this historical review of the events I discussed, I was aiming to dismantle Sali Berisha's criminal idea that he did not know the pyramid schemes, that those schemes were simply wrong. No, Mr. Berisha! Those schemes have been a project to launder oil smuggling money and it's out of hand. Then you and your government were powerless to stop them because you had trouble keeping them (May 26th) and reconfirmed (October 20th) in power.

You, Mr. Berisha, are twice guilty unpunished. The first time you allowed those pyramid schemes that poor Albanians and, the second time, when you did not politically resolve the situation by announcing early elections, you led the country to civil war that killed Albanians, the consequences of which have not yet healed.

This scripture is not about the generation that experienced those dramatic and painful events. This scripture is addressed to the next generation, which today has the opportunity to listen to the fraud of a political corpse that the devastating financial tragedy of 1996 /1997 calls GABIM, not FAY.