Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

February 1, 2010 By Fausta

Chavez strikes out: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,
As Hugo Chávez continues to close media outlets, nationalize the economy, and punish demonstrators, he strikes out.
We are witnessing The Chávez Meltdown.

Related reading:
AP’s Ian James’s Analysis: Chavez’s socialist project badly hobbled

At a baseball game in Caracas, the crowd chants, “One, two, three, Chávez you’re struck out”

The Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean will be posted later today.

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Filed Under: Communism, Hugo Chavez, RCTV, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog

January 27, 2010 By Fausta

Venezuela: Two protestors dead, VP quits, more media closings

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,

t1larg.students.afp.gi

The headlines on Venezuela:
Monday:
Venezuela President Chavez orders TV station off the air
Today:
Protests continue in Venezuela following 2 deaths
Venezuela protests France TV closure comments
Chavez’s VP resigns amid protests at Venezuela TV closure
Venezuela’s Chavez Names New Vice President, Defense Minister
And,
Chavez Furiously Backtracking As Venezuela Petro-Economy Deteriorates, via Doug Ross.

Prior posts on RCTV.

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Filed Under: Hugo Chavez, RCTV, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, RCTV

January 25, 2010 By Fausta

The last Monday in January Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean

LatinAmerWelcome to the Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti continues to be the top story, but in Venezuela Hugo Chavez is now closing RCTV permanently, continuing to consolidate his power. Seven students from Universidad Santa María (USM), a private university in the state of Anzoátegui (northeastern Venezuela), were injured after the police broke up a demonstration outside the campus.

AMERICAN POLITICS
Univision’s Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Xavier Becerra regarding President’s Obama’s 1st year (link in Spanish)

ARGENTINA
New Twist in Argentine Currency Fight

Argentina: Cristina Against Everybody Else?

BOLIVIA
Fidel: Protect Morales from ‘the empire’

BRAZIL
Brazil’s presidential biopic
Lula, sanitized: A film for the campaign trail

CHILE
Chile’s presidential election
Piñera promises a gallop: After 20 years, a move to the right


And the winner is, Chile!

Las exitosas Bicicletas Públicas de Providencia

Open letter to Sebastian Pinera

Chile unlikely to lead anti-Chávez bloc

COLOMBIA
Ecopetrol proven oil reserves up 35%; share price falls

CUBA
More on the free healthcare: Twenty-Six Cuban Mental Patients Dead

Cuba: What Globalists Want You to Know

LEAVE CHE ALONE!!!…I MEAN it!!! (part 2)

José Daniel Ferrer García, Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week, 1/24/10

Repairs

ECUADOR
Lawyers for the Government of Ecuador Engage in Revisionist History – Myth of Jurisdiction Exposed

Ecuador Should Stop Interfering With International Arbitration Mandated by Treaty

Humor: Nueva Ley de Comunicación
¡Prohíben photoshopear lluchas! Un grupo de asambleístas considera nocivo el retoque de fotos femenino de contenido erótico.

HAITI
The upside of Yankee imperialism in Haiti

Debate grows in aftermath of quake: Should U.S. let more Haitians immigrate?

Post-earthquake chaos in Haiti
A massive relief effort limps into gear: The world’s attempt to aid Haitians stumbles against extraordinary difficulties of transport and communications

U.S. Military in Haiti: A Compassionate Invasion

And the meme goes on

HONDURAS
Pepe’s deal with Zelaya

Hammering Honduras

Honduras’s new president
Lobo alone: Picking up the post-coup pieces

MEXICO
Mexico: Halting drug war corruption

PANAMA
Supreme Court to Noriega: Bon voyage

VENEZUELA
RCTV international cut-off

¡ESTE PUEBLO YA NO SE DEJA “CARIBEAR”!

Tonight’s baseball game of the final series a hotbed for protests

A January 23 harsh on democracy: RCTV out again and Globovision is the last network in Venezuela to present the opposition views, the rest are pro Chavez or “neutral”, that is, silent.

Venezuela President Chavez orders TV station off the air

Chávez closes down opposition media outlets


Venezuela Orders Cable Providers to Remove RCTV

Hugo Chavez: Circling the Drain?
The Venezuelan would-be dictator has put his country in an accelerating economic collapse.

How Hugo Chavez’s revolution crumbled

During the past two weeks, just before and after the earthquake outside Port-au-Prince, the following happened: Chávez was forced to devalue the Venezuelan currency, and impose and then revoke massive power cuts in the Venezuelan capital as the country reeled from recession, double-digit inflation and the possible collapse of the national power grid. In Honduras, a seven-month crisis triggered by the attempt of a Chávez client to rupture the constitutional order quietly ended with a deal that will send him into exile even as a democratically elected moderate is sworn in as president.

Last but not least, a presidential election in Chile, the region’s most successful economy, produced the first victory by a right-wing candidate since dictator Augusto Pinochet was forced from office two decades ago. Sebastián Piñera, the industrialist and champion of free markets who won, has already done something that no leader from Chile or most other Latin American nations has been willing to do in recent years: stand up to Chávez.

Piñera was only stating the obvious — but it was more than his Socialist predecessor, Michelle Bachelet, or Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been willing to say openly. That silence hamstrung the Bush and the Obama administrations, which felt, rightly or wrongly, that they should not be alone in pointing out Chávez’s assault on democracy. Piñera has now provided Washington an opportunity to raise its voice about Venezuelan human rights violations.

He has done it at a moment when Chávez is already reeling from diplomatic blows. Honduras is one. Though the country is tiny, the power struggle between its established political elite and Chávez acolyte Manuel Zelaya turned into a regional battle between supporters and opponents of the Chávez left — with Brazil and other leftist democracies straddling the middle.

The outcome is a victory for the United States, which was virtually the only country that backed the democratic election that broke the impasse. Honduras is the end of Chávez’s crusade to export his revolution to other countries. Bolivia and Nicaragua will remain his only sure allies. Brazil’s Lula, whose tolerance of Chávez has tarnished his bid to become a global statesman, will leave office at the end of this year; polls show his party’s nominee trailing a more conservative candidate.

Haiti only deepens Chávez’s hole. As the world watches, the United States is directing a massive humanitarian operation, and Haitians are literally cheering the arrival of U.S. Marines. Chávez has no way to reconcile those images with his central propaganda message to Latin Americans, which is that the United States is an “empire” and an evil force in the region.

The week’s posts and podcasts:
Bill for Haiti czar? 15 Minutes on Latin America
Hope among the ruins: the @USNSComfort VIDEO
Just what Haiti needs: John Edwards
Zeyala to go, Nancy rejects the Bill, and other roundup items with VIDEO
Anti-Americanism and the Haiti earthquake: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Post re-edited for omitted items.

Please note there will be no podcast tomorrow due to an appointment change.

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Filed Under: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Carnival of Latin America, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, RCTV, Venezuela

May 29, 2009 By Fausta

More Alvaro in Venezuela

Álvaro Vargas Llosa continues his visit to Venezuela with a TV interview (in Spanish) where he explains why countries that respect property rights and free enterprise are the countries who prosper:


La Entrevista (ÁlvaroVargas)
by noticias24

The main message of his interview is that the participants at the Cedice conference on freedom and democracy:

“We have come to share the idea that political freedom is fundamental for Latin American civilization. The ideas that economic freedom and respect to private property are basic ingredients for prosperity.”

Chavez is the middle of a three-day-long cadena, which is his TV broadcast that has to be carried through all the licensed TV and radio stations in the country. He’s been singing songs and reading Mario Benedetti’s poems. Not that he’s satisfied with that – he wants Globovisión shut down permanently: Chavez demands Venezuela TV station be punished:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Thursday to personally take action against an anti-government TV station if the nation’s authorities do not punish the channel, which expects to be closed.

He’s done it before (as readers of this blog know)

Two years ago Chavez refused to renew the license of Venezuela’s largest private television station, which was implicated in a brief coup against him. That provoked international criticism and anger in Venezuela but did not dent his popularity.

That station, RCTV, is now available only on cable systems and has ceased to be a political force.

In his speech at Cedice yesterday, Álvaro asked “why is [Chavez] so afraid of Globovisión, since he controls all the media?” During his press conference at Cedice he discussed the benefits of microloan programs.

Álvaro Vargas Llosa is a fellow at the Independent Institute. The Independent’s blog has been posting on Álvaro’s trip.

In the meantime, Reuters says that Álvaro’s dad, Mario is stirring things up: Novelist Vargas Llosa stirs up left and right in Latin America. Good for him.

——————————-

Please note there won’t be a podcast this morning, since today is a very busy day. However, you can catch me on CNN’s Blogger Bunch at noon (yes, again). The panel will be talking about Padre Alberto.

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Filed Under: CNN, Communism, Hugo Chavez, RCTV, Venezuela Tagged With: Álvaro Vargas Llosa, Cedise, Fausta's blog, Globovisión

July 10, 2007 By Fausta

Don’t snow for me, Argentina, and today’s Latin American items

UPDATED

Reading the news, you would think Al was in the Southern Hemisphere:

Buenos Aires sees rare snowfall

Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, has seen snow for the first time in 89 years, as a cold snap continues to grip several South American nations.
Temperatures plunged to -22C (-8F) in parts of Argentina’s province of Rio Negro, while snow fell on Buenos Aires for several hours on Monday.
…
In Bolivia, heavy snowfall blocked the nation’s main motorway and forced the closure of several airports.
…
In Chile, temperatures dropped to -18C (0F) in parts of Araucania region in the south.

Last month The Economist was reporting about Peru’s poor infrastructure. Infrastructure problems are more evident now that the Peruvians are chilly, too,

Cold snap prompts Peru emergencyThe Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency in several Andean regions hit by unusually cold weather.

Of course, it’s all due to climate change

Scientists say the unseasonable droughts, heavy rains and frosts are due to climate change.

I’ve known all along that the weather is constantly changing, and I’m not a even a scientist (but I’m married to one).

Now, whether climate change = global warming, that’s another crock altogether.

Not worried about the carbon footprint, Evo wants to drill in a Bolivian national park, the Madidi:
This photo is captioned,
Activists want sustainable development in the constitution.

Of course they do.

In financial news, Argentina’s inflation rate is about 7 percentage points higher than what is being officially reported, even when The Economist reports that

Helped by high prices for its farm exports, Argentina has recovered vigorously from its economic collapse of 2001-02. Unemployment has fallen from a peak of 21% to 10% (excluding those on workfare programmes); today, 27% of Argentines live in poverty, compared with more than half in 2002.

The BBC says that Cuba’s municipal elections will be held on 21 October, and that

This marks the start of an electoral process which could clarify early next year whether his brother Fidel Castro will resume power as head of state.

Let me explain a thing or two:

  • Since Castro took power in 1959, Cuba has not held free elections
  • They’re not about to start

    Cuban tourism is flagging since Cuba is not as cheap as people are led to believe.

    Of course a round-up of Latin American news must include Venezuela:
    Jane’s Intelligence reports,

    Oiling the axis – Iran and Venezuela develop closer ties
    This Iran-Venezuela alliance within OPEC has caused friction with Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and a nominal ally of the US, which favours more modest crude prices by seeking higher output. Nonetheless, the Venezuelan and Iranian goal of higher prices has come about owing to a number of factors, including a lack of refinery capacity, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, an increase in demand and climatic conditions, helping to drive up the price of crude oil from around USD28 per barrel in 2000 to an average of USD65 during 2006.

    Caracas and Tehran have found common cause in favouring higher oil prices for political ends: as a lever to pull the balance of power away from oil-consuming countries, especially the US, which is still the world’s biggest consumer.

    According to Alberto Garrido, a Venezuelan political analyst who has charted the historical rise of Ch�vez: “Chavez sees himself and Ahmadinejad as brothers defining a strategic anti-US alliance that is part of an ambitious and well-structured global project.”

    Chavez’s Plans Worry Catholic Leaders, and they should be worried.

    However, there might be good news for Mercosur:

    Mercosur: A falling-out with Hugo Chávez could be good news for a paralysed trade group

    Mr Chavez’s absence from Asuncion may, however, mark a turning point. He took umbrage at a resolution passed by Brazil’s Senate criticising his recent silencing of the main opposition television channel. Brazil’s Congress (like Paraguay’s) has yet to ratify Venezuela’s entry to Mercosur, and after insults from Mr Chávez is unlikely to do so soon. That leaves Venezuela in the oxymoronic situation of being a “full member in process of accession”. Mr Chávez said this week that he would withdraw Venezuela’s application unless it was approved in three months. He seems interested in Mercosur chiefly as a political platform. Free trade would expose the big inefficiencies engendered by his statist economic policy.

    I continue to be optimistic about Lula:

    Since Lula’s re-election last October Brazil’s foreign policy has seemed more pragmatic and less driven by leftist ideology. Lula has not concealed his irritation with Mr Chávez’s antics. There is no sign yet that Brazil’s president wants a clear breach with his oil-rich friend and rival. But if Mr Chávez’s brinkmanship backfires, that might just be the best thing that has happened to Mercosur for years.

    A while ago when I read that the Immigration Bill exempted illegals from paying back taxes, I said I should have declared myself an illegal alien. Here’s yet another reason: Mexican Migrants Take Free Flight Home

    Hernandez was one of 74 migrants who flew to the Mexican capital Monday under a U.S. summer program, now in its fourth year, that gives participants free transportation all the way to their hometowns instead of simply deporting them back across the border.

    A little bit of r&r, and it starts all over again:

    Hernandez said he volunteered to get a free trip to rest and visit his family in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. In a couple of weeks, he said, he’ll try his luck again in the desert.

    At the blogs
    Gateway Pundit: FARC Leader Palmero Found Guilty in US Courts

    Venezuela News and Views: RCTV comes back, sort of, while Globovision fights back to stay

    Now, what does that mean exactly? Not much. Cable, even if Supercable were to be included, does not reach 25% of Venezuelan homes. Even adding Internet (by the way, those who can watch RCTV through Internet and YouTube certainly can afford cable), even adding those who steal the signal of some cable company, no more than 30% of Venezuelan homes have access to some form of cable TV, and mostly in upper income areas: poorer areas simply cannot afford a cable bill unless a few pool together and steal the signal with the complicity of the payer. One of the reasons by the way why you see many Direct TV satellite dishes in the barrios is that Direct TV signal cannot be stolen that easily. Besides, installing expensive and vulnerable ground line in popular district is a deterrent for other systems than Direct TV. The paradox is that the poor are forced to buy the more expensive satellite system if they want to escape Chavez blabber.

    The result is that RCTV will go from a 100% national coverage to a 30% coverage AT BEST. With the consequent decrease in advertising revenue. The implications for RCTV is that it will be difficult to keep its large staff and producing capabilities and news coverage, at least as long as it does not manage to sell enough production overseas. Right now, outside the US and Colombia I do not see that many buyers for anything Venezuelan except soap operas.

    Now go read that whole post, and also Housing in Venezuela: propaganda and reality.

    The Devil’s Excrement: Not much new, but for some submarines and more conflicts

    Publius Pundit: Ecuador: If you have to deny you’re an idiot…

    Memo to Rafael Correa: If, as head of state, you have to deny being stupid to the author of a book whose title is ‘The Idiot Returns‘ where he’s made you Exhibit A, it’s a pretty forgone conclusion that you are even stupider than you were written about! If you had a lick of sense, and you don’t, you might like to keep it all as quiet as possible.

    I don’t have a link to The Idiot Returns, but here’s the first one in the series,

    Sorry, Colombia! is up and running. Please go visit. Also don’t miss my two latest podcasts, on human rights in Cuba, and on Colombia, Congress and the FTA with Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit and Sorry, Colombia!.

    Meanwhile, way up North, Canada asserts its claim to territorial waters in the Arctic,and they’re staking out their borders.

    Update
    A Jacksonian’s must-read.

    Here’s a video of the UN Human Rights Council move last month to remove Cuba and Belarus from its blacklist (h/t UN Referendum):

    Update 2
    The Democrats’ Colombia Agenda by Mary Anastasia O’Grady

    In the five years between the 2002 kidnapping of 12 state legislators by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the rebels’ recent announcement that 11 of those hostages have been killed, much has changed for the better in Colombia. The lawmakers were taken at a time when the state was very weak. Their murders, on the other hand, appear to be a desperate act by a frustrated band of thugs who have failed to achieve their desired results with terror.

    Colombia today is significantly more secure and economically healthier than it was in 2002. Yet as events in recent weeks reminded us, two dark clouds remain parked over the country.

    The first is the ruthlessness of organized crime networks like the FARC, which have blossomed during the U.S. war against cocaine. Thanks to the policy of prohibition coupled with strong demand, the FARC remains a well-funded menace even though it has no popular support.

    The second source of trouble — most recently evidenced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that her party will block the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement — is the unrelenting opposition of Congressional Democrats to anything that could be considered helpful to defeating terror and putting Colombia on surer economic footing.

    The U.S. war on drugs, which is backed by both Republicans and Democrats and blames Colombia for the fact that Americans use cocaine, is immoral on its own. But as the guerrillas have gotten into the narcotics trafficking business, Democrats have added insult to injury by arrogantly micromanaging the war from Washington with advice from left-wing NGOs. Passed in 1997, the Leahy Law (named for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D., Vt.) mandates that any officer charged with “credible allegations” of human-rights violations be relieved of his command lest the country lose its U.S. aid to the military. It didn’t take the rebels long to see opportunity in the law. They promptly began ginning up accusations against the country’s finest generals. It didn’t matter that the evidence almost always turned out to be suborned perjury. Careers were destroyed and the armed forces leadership gutted.

    President Álvaro Uribe, who took office in August 2002, recognized what was happening and set out to rebuild the military, strengthen the presence of the state and end any speculation that the government might seek a path of appeasement in the face of violence. He has made great progress. The guerrillas are now back on their heels and kidnapping and murder rates are down substantially. Bear Stearns analyst Tim Kearney, who just returned from a trip to Colombia reports that the economy is “firing on all cylinders” due to “a combination of a better security environment, as well as the government’s market-oriented reforms.” He adds that, “with investment driving a powerful rebound, we now think that real GDP growth will reach 6.4% in 2007.”

    If Colombia’s hard left was upset before with Mr. Uribe, this has really stirred up the nest. Their only hope is help from Washington so they are returning to what worked before, this time recyling tired old charges that the president has links to paramilitary groups and insisting that the government has been protecting assassins who target union leaders.

    Democrats seem only too happy to help. They can’t invoke the Leahy Law against civilians but blocking the FTA in the name of “human rights” is just as good. It satisfies the “sandalistas,” who still dream of a Cuban revolution for all of Latin America, and it makes the most important Democratic Party constituent, the AFL-CIO, happy by knocking off any threat of new international competition.

    This may be good for shoring up the Democrat’s base but it is harmful to U.S. geopolitical interests in the Western Hemisphere and to an important U.S. ally and it will dash the hopes for a better life of millions of impoverished Colombians. Either the Democrats have very poor foreign policy judgment or they have sympathy for the devil.

    Read every word, and watch the video included in that post.

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    Filed Under: Al Gore, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Global Warming, Iran, Latin America, Lula, news, oil, Peru, RCTV, weather

    June 8, 2007 By Fausta

    Venezuela: El Observador gets back on line, Hugo gives Fidel fashion advice, Evo makes new friends

    While Chavez is busy suing Globovision after having closed RCTV, Globovision continues to produce and post videos for RCTV on You Tube twice a day. Here’s yesterday evening’s (in Spanish):

    Tamara Slusniys explains that the RCTV webpage, El Observador, which had been shut down from a DOS attack is now back on line El Observador. The actors from one of the RCTV comedy shows is taking their show on the road showing on screen one of the shows they couldn’t broadcast when the station was closed by the government.

    On Wednesday there was a huge demonstration of students who went to the National Assembly. As the WaPo correctly explains, there have been no opposition lawmakers since 2005. Daniel explains that the students are Settling into a protest routine, Venezuela style

    El Universal has a slide show. This man’s wearing a sign that reads, “Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re working for your freedom!”

    Of course, a cadena followed, and this is no news: Chavez calls protesting students ‘pawns of Washington’.

    Via Miguel, a new blog The end of Venezuela as I know it. That blogger is certainly no “pawn of Washington”, or of anyone for that matter. But not everyone is as strong: Gustavo Coronel writes about The Dark Hour of Gustavo Cisneros.

    Here’s A priceless statement on the RCTV shutdown by a Government adviser. Indeed, as Daniel states in his article for Index on censorship, The non-renewal of the licence of the main opposition station is part of a broader, worrying, trend in Chavista Venezuela

    AP has an article, Venezuela seeks leftist defense bloc

    President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, while the leftist Latin American bloc announced the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.

    which is something I’ve been posting on for a while, but now the rethoric’s a little hotter,

    Chavez said Wednesday that the four-nation Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, which began as a socialist-leaning trade group, should cooperate militarily to become more independent of U.S. influence. “It seems to be the moment to establish a joint defense strategy,” Chavez said. He called for joint military aid as well as intelligence and counterintelligence cooperation “to prepare our people for defense so that nobody makes any mistake with us.”

    Austin Bay‘s Washington Times op-ed looks at Venezuela’s current land claims against Colombia, Guyana and Holland (because of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire) and asks, A second Falklands?

    One thing is clear, Hugo’s networking involves Bolivia, and terrorist-supporting states:

    Update: The Economist says Much though Evo Morales (left) might want to be another Hugo Chávez, he will not find it easy

    Brazil’s Senate is not too happy over recent developments: Stratfor has an excellent article, Mercosur and Brazil: The Venezuela Question and Quitting Time

    Summary: Despite recent conciliatory gestures between the presidents of Brazil and Venezuela, Brazil’s Senate has shown a new determination to block full membership for Venezuela in the trade group Mercosur as part of the fallout from the revocation of Radio Caracas TV’s license. If Mercosur denies Venezuela, it could become a more viable trade group, though that greatly depends on Argentina’s stance following elections later this year. Ultimately, Brazil will have to leave Mercosur if it does not become a more effective trade body.

    Hugo’s even ordering Fidel around, Get out of your trackies, Chavez tells Castro

    “I believe the time has come to return to wearing the uniform,” said Mr Chavez, a staunch supporter and protege of Castro.

    “We want you in uniform … That’s an order,” he joked.

    I guess Hugo doesn’t understand the dotty dictator’s fashion sense.

    Update Excellent round-ups at A colombo-americana’s perspective

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    Filed Under: Bolivia, Brazil, censorship, Communism, Holland, Hugo Chavez, news, propaganda, RCTV, TV, Venezuela

    May 29, 2007 By Fausta

    It sure didn’t take long…


    UPDATED
    with more videos

    Yesterday the BBC correspondent was in Caracas (emphasis added)

    I was caught up in this, broadcasting from just outside the studios. It seems when a group of Chavez supporters got within a few blocks of the station, the police took action.

    Over the eerie air raid sirens, shots were fired in the air and people ran for cover. It was not clear who was firing at who, but a few minutes later, more shots rang out.

    The atmosphere had become nasty. People ran as fast as they could down the narrow streets to get away from the clashes. We ran with them.

    He finished his report with this,

    The government says that the station violated broadcast laws and transmitted violent and morally degrading programmes.

    However,

    The decision to renew the licences of other broadcasters, ministers say, shows that Venezuela is democratic and pluralistic.

    In our conversation after last Saturday’s podcast, one of my guests said that Globovision was next. Well, it sure didn’t take long:
    Second Venezuela TV is under fire

    Venezuela’s government has accused a TV station of inciting a murder attempt on President Hugo Chavez, hours after taking another network off the air.

    It said footage shown on Globovision implicitly called for Mr Chavez to be killed. The station denies the claim.
    …
    Globovision was the only TV station to air footage of a large demonstration against the government’s growing control over the media.

    This time the government has sued. Foreign news servides are also in the crosshairs:

    Chavez eyes CNN
    The government was also suing the US station CNN for allegedly linking Mr Chavez to al-Qaeda, Mr Lara said.

    “CNN broadcast a lie which linked President Chavez to violence and murder,” he said.

    In a statement, CNN said they “strongly deny” being “engaged in a campaign to discredit or attack Venezuela”.

    This is what got CNN in trouble.

    Now all the US cable networks are finally reporting on the protests.

    Fox video was there.

    The Anchoress posts on the media spin and choosing liberty. Little Green Footballs and Jawa Report look at the Left.

    Investor’s Business Daily: Freedom: Caracas blackout

    More later.

    Update
    Venezuela’s Bonds Fall After Shutdown of RCTV Triggers Clashes
    Miguel Octavio will be the guest of Political Vindication‘s PV Radio podcasttomorrow, Wednesday at 9PM EDT.

    Update, 12:20 PM: CNN International’s showing more protests right now.

    Update, 5:20 OM: Adam Housley of Fox News reported that Chavez had asked his supporters to come down from the mountains and fight the demonstrators, while the police continued to fire rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators.
    Chavez is asking the opposition if they’re prepared to die to defend their beliefs.

    And a YouTube for Siggy (risking that he might do a compare and contrast),

    Chavez TV
    Chavez shooting his own people

    6:35PM Housley’s wearing goggles – from being hosed down by the water cannon.

    More
    More threats from Hugo


    Chavez shoots students, also at Gateway Pundit:

    Here’s a video of one of today’s demonstrations: At least the RCTV trucks haven’t been impounded yet:

    Venezuela once again on the edge

    The protesting students have a blog: Resistencia Estudiantil Por La Libertad, with lots of photos, via Oliver

    Others blogging
    Venezuelans Fight Loss of Free Press.
    One Man, One Vote, One Time

    Special thanks to Larwyn for the links.
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    Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, bloggers, censorship, Communism, Hugo Chavez, news, oil, RCTV, TV, Venezuela

    May 28, 2007 By Fausta

    RCTV is off the air

    UPDATED:
    Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela
    Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel

    Amid protests, Venezuela’s TV station goes off the air

    Despite protests by democracy activists, Venezuela’s oldest television network went off the air at midnight Sunday, victim of a fresh push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip over the nation’s media

    As my podcast guests explained, now everything depends on the leader and what he wants done:

    “The decision was mine” to close RCTV, Chavez said Saturday

    As my guests stated in Saturday’s podcast, RCTV’s license renewal was denied by Chavez’s decree, not by due process of law.

    You can listen to the podcast here

    Daniel Duquenal, one of my podcast guests has an excellent essay on the closing: Antes que anochezca: waiting for the night in Venezuela

    But more importantly, and a consolation of sorts for me, is the intensity of the international response to the closing of RCTV. Anyone who is anybody in the world has either condemned Chavez or at least remained silent, and definitely refused to support Chavez. Only a few, a surprisingly very few, have come out to support Chavez and they have no credit anyway. You can see it everywhere, from the desperate and ridiculous accusations of Minister Lara today to comment sections at Publius Pundit from pro Chavez Anglos losing their grip on things. Indeed, one from that side should be pissed off: 6 months of intense propaganda and you get editorials such as the one from Le Monde. Millions of dollars in paid services gone to waste, thousands of hours of “grass root” working for naught. The world is unto Chavez, and them, and they know it.

    Yes, it is a small consolation but it is an important one. Chavez has lost any respectability he might still have had, and there is nothing he can do to recover it. When, say, Mugabe or Fujimori did this sort of things, they stopped been received where it mattered. Their regime started to unravel as they started losing the respect of their people even if those for a variety of reasons kept voting for them at first. And we know all that Chavez pins for international stages. Many will be denied him now.

    You must read the whole essay.

    Miguel Octavio, also my guest on Saturday’s podcast, posts on Hugo Chavez’ fake democracy. He also translated Venezuelan daily’s El Nacional editorial, Power without limits, front-page editorial in El Nacional.

    Miguel also reports that last night a representative of the “Board for Social Responsibility” of the Ministry of Communications threatened the media with shutting them down for up to three days by broadcasting the Inter-american Press Society (SIP) press conference.

    Last night: Caracas police halt TV shutdown protest

    Police broke up an opposition protest using a water cannon and tear gas after hundreds took to the streets on Sunday condemning a decision by President Hugo Chavez to force Venezuela’s most widely watched channel off the air.

    Soaked protesters scattered while the stream of water swept the street, then sang the national anthem as they returned to face a column of riot police outside the state telecommunications commission.

    Via Instapundit, Boing-boing has videos of the Venezuelan media crackdown: TV anchors sign off, mouths shut, including this one,

    The BBC has a video of the protests.

    But that wasn’t all: Hugo Chavez Silences the Opposition- Sends Tanks In!

    Rule of law, private property rights, and freedom of press are all now absent under the Chavez regime.

    The Jungle Hut has photos and eyewitness accounts of the protests.

    Aleksander Boyd is back posting,

    However sincere the resolutions and letters condemning the act, on Monday morning, when RCTV’s right to broadcast is illegally terminated, Chavez will still be the ultimate icon of the world’s resented imbeciles and those concerned about the loss of another democratic right in Venezuela will carry on with the business of il dolce far niente at taxpayers’ expense. Toothless multilateral bodies have, as Chavez, lost all legitimacy. Its condemnations mean jackshit in the real world. The future looks bleak in Venezuela, that much is certain and has, at last, been properly understood by democrats around the globe, whom are seen in the side of reason, in the side of rule of law.

    And where are the American cable news channels?
    While the BBC, Forbes, the NYT, the Guardian (also here), Reuters ( Venezuela TV station says troops seized equipment) and countless others are covering the story, I have yet to see any reporting at all at CNN, or NBC. Fox News just carried a brief news item.

    History is being made and they all are celebrity-watching.

    Also don’t miss
    Mora’s excellent report and round-up at Publius Pundit.

    Update
    Associated Press: Chavez Launches New Venezuela TV Station
    update 2 Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela

    National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air.

    This time it was rubber bullets; in 2004 gunmen fired on Thor Halvessen’s mother during a peaceful demonstration.
    Univision’s showing live coverage of the ongoing demonstrations. I’ll try to get video to post.

    Students protest as Minister charges Globovision, CNN and Venezueladigital with promoting the killing of Chavez
    Venezuela Police Repel Protests Over TV Network’s Closing

    Maria Alejandra Diaz, the social responsibility director at the Communications Ministry, cited recent legislation in Venezuela that enabled the government to shut down media groups for 72 hours if their coverage incited people to engage in violent protests. Ms. Díaz asked news organizations to refrain from reporting on the association’s statement, since it could allow viewers, readers or listeners to think Mr. Chavez’s government was “tyrannical.”

    Because that would show it for what it is.
    Gateway Pundit has more round-up and commentary.

    6PM Update Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel

    Hours after President Hugo Chavez shut down Venezuela’s main opposition broadcaster, his government demanded an investigation of news network Globovision on Monday for allegedly inciting an assassination attempt on the leftist leader.

    Previous posts:
    Saturday’s podcast with Thor Halvorssen, President and CEO of the Human Rights Foundation, award-winning bloggers Daniel Duquenal of Venezuela News and Views and Miguel Octavio of The Devil’s Excrement, and oil industry expert Gustavo Coronel.

    Last night’s podcast on the closing of Venezuela’s RCTV

    Venezuelan Supreme Court confiscates RCTV

    Digg!

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    Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, bloggers, censorship, Communism, Hugo Chavez, news, oil, RCTV, TV, Venezuela

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