Widow of Albania’s Hoxha defends his legacy

Here is a report from Reuters on a recent interview with Nexhmije Hoxha. This is from a part of history that I as a foreigner will never really understand, nor know the characters involved. ( other than by name and old film). I will say this, however, that any time I have watched the old documentaries from TV during communism and praising PPSH, I have been struck by Nexhmije Hoxha.
They say that behind every great man is a great woman?
Then maybe behind every evil dictator there is an evil woman!
I just get the feeling that she had a "hands on" role in much of her husbands plans and activities.
However, what do I know - I wasn't here during those days and it's just an impression that I get!

Here is the article...

"The widow of Albania’s longtime Stalinist leader said some things had improved since the collapse of Communism, but defended Enver Hoxha’s tough legacy as she prepared to honour the centenary of his birth.

“Some people want me to repent for things that happened in those times,” Nexhmije Hoxha, 86, said in a rare two-and-a-half-hour interview with Reuters on Thursday night.

“People should know from the start that I cannot criticise Enver Hoxha, I must protect his reputation.”

“Unfortunately, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Enver is taking place in an atmosphere of contradictions,” she said.

“Various associations that want to celebrate the date are afraid to do so in this almost fascist atmosphere.”

Enver Hoxha was born on October 16, 1908, and after leading the World War Two resistance, ruled Albania for 40 years as one the world’s most reclusive and oppressive states. He abolished religion, closed the borders and built thousands of pillbox bunkers against foreign invasion. Private cars were banned.

Today most Albanians condemn his rule as a dark period.

Although still largely rural, the country has seen fast economic growth and a building boom in recent years as it tries to catch up with wealthier European nations.

Hoxha acknowledged that some of the changes had been positive. “People are freer, I can talk any time, but I avoid it because I do not want to,” she told Reuters. “Some things are good, it’s development, progress.”

Nexhmije met her future husband in 1941, when both were in the Communist underground — and when dating between comrades was frowned upon. “Expressions of love were forbidden in line with the expression of party rules,” she recalled with a smile.

“It had its own romanticism.”

“We had some age difference between us and he came as a delegate of the Central Committee. The idea of being with him never crossed my mind,” she continued. “It was he who started courting me. He was very, very loving, very sweet.”

One night he ferried her alone on a bicycle’s handlebars to a Communist Party safe house. “That’s how we came to love each other,” she said. They were married in 1945.

The dictator’s widow, who is in good health, says he improved Albania’s postwar standard of living, its health system and education amid desperate poverty. “When the standard of living was compared to the West, it can be considered modest, but there was an egalitarian spirit.”

As for the pervasive secret police and repression, Nexhmije, who became an important party official herself, admits excesses.

“Unpleasant and unwelcome things did happen, but that did not come from above, let alone from Enver,” she said.

“People complain now that some jail sentences were harsh, but that was the law of the state at the time,” she added.

Referring to the closed borders, Nexhmije said: “If we look at it now, I guess it should not have been so restrictive, but those were the times.”

After Albanian Communism collapsed in 1990, Nexhmije was sent to prison for five years, accused of abusing state finances. She said she had spent $360 on new glasses after many mourners accidentally broke glasses when drinking rakia alcohol and coffee following Hoxha’s 1985 death.

“The object of my trial was political because I was the widow of Enver Hoxha,” she complained. “When I came out of jail I didn’t even recognise the streets.”

—Reuters - Adam Tanner"

Sali Berisha - BBC Hard Talk

Sali Berisha has given an interview on BBC's Hard Talk.

He was questioned on NATO, corruption, Gerdec, pyramid schemes, his relation as doctor to Enver Hoxha and the 2009 elections.

When asked to describe himself he said that he was "a man on a mission!"
As I have said before you either love him or hate him.
Some hope he succeeds in his mission, others would love to send him on a one way mission to the moon...

Among the highlights was his comment that of 71% of people that had said they had paid a bribe during the last year, was "too high!".
I take it he meant the 29% that apparently DID NOT pay the bribe was too high!
I mean - who were those 29%?!
They must have included in the survey, government officials and the workers inside the institutions that obviously don't need to pay the bribe!!

Sorry, but I can't seem to post it to the blog, so you'll just have to click on the link.,

The advantage of being in NATO!

I sarcastically commented on Albania's invitation to join NATO that it means absolutely nothing at all, except Albania will be able to send more troops to Afghanistan.

....and look what i find today....

TIRANA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Albania would send another two batches of troops to Afghanistan to help train the Afghan army, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Monday.

Berisha said that the tiny western Balkan country would also send an army unit to Darfur, Sudan, to join the peacekeeping forces there.

Albania already has a total of 350 troops in EU-led mission in Bosnia, NATO-led mission in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

"Discussions were underway to increase that by another 100," Berisha said.

Albania, along with Croatia, was formally invited to join NATO at the alliance's summit in Bucharest, Romania, last week.



Welcome to NATO, Albania!

Now for more troops to Iraq and Bosnia!

Armsgate - N.Y. Times article on arms trafficking in Albania

Here is a link to the article in the N.Y. Times that has caused Edi Rama to ask again for the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sali Berisha.

Don't think Mr. Berisha will be resigning...but one thing is for sure...this has a long way to go before we get to the bottom of the story. (and in Albania, you can never be sure that you will get to the bottom of the story!)

Part of the interview is below...


A Mysterious Middleman

The international arms business operates partly in the light and partly in shadows, and is littered with short-lived shell companies, middlemen and official corruption. Governments have tried to regulate it more closely for years, with limited success.

As Mr. Diveroli began to fill the Army’s huge orders, he was entering a shadowy world, and in his brief interview he suggested that he was aware that corruption could intrude on his dealings in Albania. “What goes on in the Albanian Ministry of Defense?” he said. “Who’s clean? Who’s dirty? Don’t want to know about it.”

The way AEY’s business was structured, Mr. Diveroli, at least officially, did not deal directly with Albanian officials. Instead, a middleman company registered in Cyprus, Evdin Ltd., bought the ammunition and sold it to his company.

The local packager involved in the deal, Mr. Trebicka, said that he suspected that Evdin’s purpose was to divert money to Albanian officials.

The purchases, Mr. Trebicka said, were a flip: Albania sold ammunition to Evdin for $22 per 1,000 rounds, he said, and Evdin sold it to AEY for much more. The difference, he said he suspected, was shared with Albanian officials, including Mr. Pinari, then the head of the arms export agency, and the defense minister at the time, Fatmir Mediu.

(Mr. Mediu resigned last week after the ammunition depot explosions; Mr. Pinari was arrested.) The Albanian government has been infuriated by Mr. Trebicka’s allegations. Sali Berisha, the prime minister, Mr. Mediu and Mr. Pinari all denied involvement in kickbacks. But Mr. Trebicka said that after he raised his concerns about Evdin with the Defense Ministry, his company was forced from the repackaging contract.

Explosion Update.

So far the number of dead has reached 14 confirmed, but still expecting it to rise.
There appear to be many missing, and until families are allowed back into the area, the true number will not be known. In fact, due to people working at the site illegally the true number may never be known.

Fatmir Mediu was on TV yesterday explaining his decision to resign. I must admit I thought he came across very well, and very sincere. He should have resigned, but I am sure he is the "sacrifice" to avoid the Prime Minister from resigning.
Mediu said that it may be hollow words but he apologized to the families that has lost loved ones.

The opposition party is requesting that the Prime Minister resigns.
There is a petition here, campaigning from some for the Prime Minister to resign.

Unfortunately, this will be like any other "disaster" that has occurred in Albania. The people will all be against it. They will all blame the current government. Calls will be made for something to be done. But no-one will do anything to bring this about! Everyone will just stand back and let it disappear from the news as something else bumps it from the headlines. By the time the true number of dead is known, it will be old news. No-one seems to ever make a stand to get something done!
The above petition page is very nice...but I can't imagine Mr. Berisha losing much sleep over it!

It seems to me that Albania is full of people claiming "S'ka shtet"...but no-one is really interested in doing something to change it!

Sali Berisha promised to re-house everyone that had property destroyed, and to make Gerdec once again just like it used to be.
But as one newspaper said, " Kalaja kemi, por Skanderbeu ka vdekur!" ( "We have the castles, but Skanderbeu is dead!)

"The Kosovars are now independent."

George Bush endorsed Kosova as an independent state in an interview on NBC's Today program.

"It's something that I've advocated along with my government," Bush said in an interview on NBC's "Today."

"The Ahtisaari plan is our blueprint forward," Bush said. "We'll watch to see how the events unfold today. The Kosovars are now independent."

I must be honest, and as much as I agree that Kosova should be independent...I can't help but feel a little scared at what might(and may probably) happen from the Serbian side. I have heard far too many interviews and Serbian politicians say that Kosova will NEVER be independent.
I can't see Kosova getting a smooth run in their new state...

I'm worried a little for the future( the Balkans has always been a tinderbox of problems)...I'm praying for peace!

Sali Berisha

I was down in Elbasan yesterday, and driving through Tirana I noticed what I think is a bar/cafe that I hadn't seen before.

I don't know what the owner had in mind...
Sali Berisha is a communist?
Sali Berisha is as much a dictator as the other three?

One thing is for sure, if you speak about Sali Berisha you certainly get a response!
The Albanians either love him or hate him.
Which is quite strange, as he seemed to get the blame for the 1997 pyramid schemes and the anarchy and deaths that resulted throughout the country.
Yet once again he is back as Prime Minister.

The funny thing is that I find that Sali Berisha is a great orator.
He is one of the few Albanian politicians that I could easily sit and listen to. Maybe because he speaks slowly and clearly and I can understand him better than some others, but I think the real reason is that he is a "charismatic" figure. He could be talking absolute rubbish, but I find his manner of speaking excellent.

When he starts speaking I find myself turning the volume up, which is the direct opposite of some of the other people on Albanian Tv who have me rushing for the remote control to switch the channel.

Independence for Kosova - but what kind?

With under 2 months to go till the 10th of December deadline to reach some kind of agreement, it still appears that neither side are backing down.

Serbia want to give Kosova autonomy of sorts - i.e. they still want Kosova to be part of Serbia.
Kosova want total independence. They have even declared that if no agreement is reached they will declare independence.

The worrying thing is not just that neither side is backing down, and no agreement appears even close...but the fact that the U.S. has declared that they will back Kosova in "self"-declaring independence from Serbia.
Russia however are backing Serbia.
This complicates the matter greatly.

Recent talks only show that there is still wide disagreement.

I heard a Serbian politician being interviewed on the BBC, and her attitude was that Kosova would never be fully independent - ever!. She laughed at the very idea. She answered the question on total independence by asking a question...
" Will Montenegro then give their land to the Albanians...then Macedonia, and Greece?"
"Never!" she said.

I find this all quite worrying, as I pray for peace!