Venezuelans Lose More Media Outlets as Chavez Takes Over Radio Stations
4:29 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|Latin America|Media|society|Venezuela
3 Aug 2009“Freedom of expression must be limited.”
That’s what Venezuela’s Attorney General Luisa Ortega said late last week when defending tough new legislation which would restrict what can be said on radio and television in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. No sooner had this statement been made did Venezuela announce the closing of some 34 radio stations:
More than a dozen of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez’s drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media.The association of radio broadcasters said 13 stations had stopped transmitting, following an announcement Friday night by government broadcasting watchdog Conatel that 34 radio outlets would be closed because they failed to comply with regulations.
While I was shocked at the Chavez-ordered takeover of RCTV in 2007, I am not shocked by this massive squashing of freedom of speech and freedom of the press in these radio station closings. I’m just disgusted.
And so are lots of others. Protests have spontaneously broken out around Venezuela but I fear there is nothing to do now. How do you fight against this ideology?
We haven’t closed any radio stations, we’ve applied the law,” Chavez said on state television. “We’ve recovered a bunch of stations that were outside the law, that now belong to the people and not the bourgeoisie.”
Translation: “We’re closing down a bunch of stations that have criticized me because we can.”
A sad, sad time for Venezuela and I think it’s only going to get worse. One ray of light: activists are using Twitter to get the word out to the rest of the world on what’s going on in Venezuela. For updates, check out hashtag #FreeMediaVe on Twitter.com.
Via / Reuters
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3 Responses to Venezuelans Lose More Media Outlets as Chavez Takes Over Radio Stations
brainfood
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
Castro’s scheme, implemented by Chavez, Ortega, Morales, Correa, Zelaya, etc. works along these lines:
1. Select a wannabe dictator — a “charismatic” and depraved megalomaniac who is ready to sell out his country (like Chavez, Morales, Correa, Zelaya). Help him run for president of the country.
2. Invest millions in a “professional” campaign demonizing the opposition and promising change to help the poor, end corruption, improve schools… whatever people want to hear.
3. Commit as much fraud as possible to make sure the wannabe dictator wins.
4. Have “protectors of human rights” like Insulza (OAS) — who have really been trampling on human rights by promoting communism for years — declare that the elections were “legal and transparent.” Carter has also been used to do this dirty job.
5. Make sure that, once in power, the wannabe dictator takes over the Legislative and Judicial branches of power, destroys the country’s institutions, intimidates and controls the media, and demonizes, intimidates and even kills anyone trying to defend the country.
6. Have a referendum to approve a new constitution. Representatives of the people are supposed to write that constitution. In reality, people don’t even know what’s in the new constitution, which is written by Castro/Chavez’s agents before the wannabe dictator even “runs” for office.
7. Have Insulza (OAS) and others who pretend to “protect human rights” declare that the referendum is perfectly “legal and transparent.” .
The goal of the new constitution is to help the wannabe dictator become a full-blown dictator for life (like Castro in Cuba), prevent people from defending themselves, and create a network of tyrants that protect each other.
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August 5th, 2009 at 7:56 am
[...] every Latin American leader (unless in power because of a coup) wants to be Hugo Chavez. Just after Venezuela announced that it would be taking over 34 radio stations because they failed to “com…, President Rafael Correa announced that Ecuador would nationalize “many” radio and [...]
Lynn David
August 19th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
It’s a sad state of affairs when you hear things like this in the media. However, I think it’s a positive sign to see people retaliate and fight for their human rights. The most important is that they are heard and considered. The only way to make this happen is have a voice (group) big enough with enough influence (power) for the people to get behind and taken seriously. Thank you for your posts, please continue to write about these serious issues.