Posts Tagged ‘Venezuela’
Is Ecuador’s Correa Following in Hugo Chavez’s Footsteps?
7:56 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Ecuador| Media| Venezuela · 3 Comments
5 Aug 2009
According to the U.S. media, nearly 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 “comply with regulations” , President Rafael Correa announced that Ecuador would nationalize “many” radio and television stations because “their concessions were granted illegitimately. “.
How many is many is still unknown but Correa is expected to release a list of the targeted stations next week.
Via / The Latin Americanist and WSJ
Venezuelans Lose More Media Outlets as Chavez Takes Over Radio Stations
4:29 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| Latin America| Media| Venezuela| society · 3 Comments
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
Hugo Chavez vs. Colombia : Round 1 million and 3
8:51 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Colombia| Politics| Venezuela · 1 Comment
29 Jul 2009
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela announced on Venezuelan TV that Venezuela is withdrawing its ambassador from neighboring Colombia, freezing relations including halting trade deals with Colombia.
The announcement came a day after the Colombia government said weapons bought by Venezuela from Sweden in the 1980s had ended up with Colombian guerrillas.
Mr Chavez denied this and accused Colombia of acting “irresponsibly”.
What’s the U.S. got to do with it? According to Chavez (and many others), plenty.
Read more…
Caracas Mayor Ends his Hunger Strike
10:09 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Latin America| Politics| Venezuela · Comments Off
9 Jul 2009Yesterday we told you about how Caracas’ mayor, Antonio Ledezma, was holding out on the 6th day of a hunger strike in protest of the government of Hugo Chávez. Later in the day, Ledezma — very frail after having not eaten or drank anything in nearly a week — agreed to end his protest after the Secretary General of the Organization of American States said he would be willing to hear the allegations being made against Chávez.
Video showed crowds of people surrounding the mayor, who had a Venezuelan flag draped on his chest, as he was moved on a stretcher to an ambulance.The secretary general of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, called the mayor on Wednesday urging him to end the hunger strike, the Globovision network reported.
In an earlier conversation, Insulza told Ledezma he was willing to meet with a delegation of Venezuelan mayors and governors to hear their allegations against Chavez
I hate to be skeptical, but I don’t really believe much is going to come out of the OAS Secretary listening to complaints. Like it or not, Chávez has set it up so where he will stay in power no matter what neighbors and allies might think. Habrá Chávez para rato.
Via / CNN
Vargas Llosa Detained in Venezuela
4:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia| Controversia| Latin America| Peru| Politics| Venezuela| literature| society · Comments Off
28 May 2009Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa didn’t have such a good time today at Caracas International Airport, Maiquetia, upon arriving to Venezuela from Colombia. Accompanied by his wife for a conference, Vargas Llosa says he was detained for an hour and a half by police who allegedly held him because a “as a foreigner he didn’t have the right to make political statements” in Venezuela. Spain’s Estrella Digital reports:
“They said that very politely and I responded that being in the land of (…) they shouldn’t try to hinder free thinking,” said Vargas Llosa, in the middle of a press mob that surrounded him upon leaving the airport. Álvaro Vargas Llosa, son of the writer, was also arrested for several hour by airport authorities on Monday, when he arrived in Venezuela to participate in the same conference, along with intellectuals from various countries.
Vargas Llosa’s statements to press can be seen in the video above (in Spanish). Estrella Digital also reports that conference organizers said that police would accompany he and his wife to their hotel “so he wouldn’t make statements to press” and that he had already been warned about making political statements.
What’s unclear to me is what political statement he could have made getting off of a plane? It seems like if you were going to do something messed up like detain someone for speaking their mind, you’d do it after they had already done so, not before. Apparently Bolivian ex-president Jorge Quiroga also got the same warning, but wasn’t detained. But actually is already making statements, particularly saying that Evo Morales is merely a pawn of Hugo Chavez.
Via / Estrella Digital
Does Venezuela Want to Ban the Internet?
6:56 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Internet| Venezuela · Comments Off
26 May 2009
So is access to the internet a right or a luxury? Decree No. 6649 coming out of Venezuela seems to side with it as luxury.
The decree seeks to eliminate “luxuries” or “superfluous expenses” among the public expenditure, among which includes the Internet.
This seems to go against an earlier decree No. 825 from 2000 that said that internet access and use were a priority.
A campaign, Internet Prioritaria, has launched in response to the latest decree, with a goal of keeping the internet as a government priority.
Chavez’s Daughter + Allende’s Grandson = LOVE
10:45 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Chile| Chismes| Latin America| Venezuela · 2 Comments
7 May 2009It’s not often that we hear about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s personal life or family, but this latest bit of chisme about Huguito’s daughter is quite interesting. It seems that María Gabriela Chávez is dating the grandson of slain Chilean president Salvador Allende, Pablo Sepúlveda Allende. Chavez introduced the couple this week on his weekly TV show, Aló Presidente. Spain’s El País reports:
“Pablo!”, exclaimed the Venezuelan leader, embracing [him] told said that [he] was “a Chilean doctor, María’s partner and the grandson of Salvador Allende”, who he regularly says he admires and calls “the martyr president.”
The Venezuelan press had recently reported that the journalist, second daughter from Chavez’s first marriage, had managed to convince Sepúlveda Allende that he leave the medical center where he worked in the Chilean city of Coquimbo, opened by his grandfather who was also a doctor, to reside in Venezuela.
Might this be the making of a Latin American left political superfamily?
Via / El País
Obama and Chavez Make Nice
3:37 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Latin America| Obama| Politics| Venezuela| World · 2 Comments
18 Apr 2009While Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might have called President Obama a “poor ignoramous” last month, he appears to be changing his tune — at least a little. At the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago last night, the South American leader had something very different to say about his U.S. counterpart:
“I think it was a good moment,” Chavez said about their initial encounter. “I think President Obama is an intelligent man, compared to the previous U.S. president.”
OK, so he’s not calling him Einstein, but he isn’t calling him ignorant either.
In the meeting, Chavez gave Obama the Eduardo Galeano book, “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” (video after the jump…check out Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s reaction when that happens). And if you’re wondering if Obama took the hint, not right away. AP reports that he thought Chavez was giving him his own book and wanted to give Huguito one of his, too. Oh, well. Understanding comes poco a poco.
Read more…
Carlos Baute is a Matchmaker in Spain
11:10 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities| Music| Spain| TV| Venezuela · Comments Off
30 Mar 2009Remember how Venezuelan singer Carlos Baute swore he’d never leave Venezuela with his hit song “Yo Me Quedo en Venezuela” (above)? Well the lyrics now ring with irony, as Baute has apparently given up on his homeland and is forging a new career in España. After recording a hit duet with Spanish singer Marta Sanchez, Baute is also hosting a crappy-looking dating show which looks like a refrito of The Dating Game. Preview after the jump. Read more…
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