Posted on 05/06/2005 10:52:58 AM PDT by wagglebee
America-bashing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is backing a new Al Jazeera-style satellite TV network that will broadcast throughout South America.
Critics fear that the network could become a mouthpiece for the Marxist strongman, who in December seized control of all broadcast media in his oil-rich country.
Telesur, short for "Television of the South," is billed as a commercial-free counterbalance to North American media and is set to begin broadcasting in several weeks, according to The Washington Times.
"Soon we will have Telesur, a channel with information for South American countries, because it is not possible that Venezuela and other southern countries depend only on information from CNN," Chavez said during a March press conference.
Chavez has enlisted support from left-leaning governments in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Chavez has already developed a new anti-American axis with Fidel Castro's Cuba. Tens of thousands of Castro's agent are believed to be in Venezuela helping Chavez maintain dictatorial control over his oil-rich nation.
Telesur's debut comes amid reports from a Venezuelan official that Al Jazeera is expanding its news coverage from Latin America and plans to set up a regional bureau in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Like Al Jazeera, which receives financing from the Qatar government, Telesur will rely in large part on money from Venezuela, which supplies more than 10 percent of American oil.
Chavez opponents worry that Telesur is the latest attempt to spread anti-American feeling from the man who calls himself the "second Fidel" and has already:
* Blasted what he called American "imperialism" and attempts to dominate the global economy, and called for a "jihad" against American influence.
* Denounced President Bush's foreign policy.
* Claimed the U.S. is drawing up plans to prevent his re-election in 2006 – and said Venezuelan "terrorists" plotting to kill him were training in the U.S.
* Engineered a law allowing his government to suspend the licenses of radio and TV stations for content "contrary to the security of the nation."
* Outlawed most forms of public protest.
* Funded anti-democratic movements in nations such as Bolivia, and subsidized Castro's regime.
* Rewritten Venezuela's constitution to broaden his powers.
* Purged critics in the military, and tried to take over the national federation of trade unions.
* Sent tens of thousands of young Venezuelans to Cuba for indoctrination.
* Openly attacked the Catholic Church.
Even centrist Democrat Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of U.S. News and World Report, has called Chavez a "danger to democracy."
In a February column, Zuckerman cited a report that Chavez has granted Cuban security forces extensive police powers in Venezuela.
He also noted that the "left-wing demagogue" – who tried to gain power in an unsuccessful 1992 coup, was first elected president in 1998 and survived a 2004 recall election – was suspected of rigging the recall vote. He pointed to a report from two American professors who concluded there was at least a 99 percent chance the election was a fraud.
Now comes Telesur and the likelihood Chavez will use it to spread his left-wing "Bolivarian revolution."
His government has already contributed $2.5 million to the network and plans to invest $56 million in state-run TV, according to the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
Venezuela and Cuba have agreed to share programming.
Chavez uses state-funded TV "to promote his political agenda," reports The Washington Times, and has his own Sunday show – "prompting questions about Telesur's future independence."
Well, if Chavez had any brains, he wouldn't be a Marxist.
Ok, this guy has to go, by bullet or by other means. The U.S. simply can't afford to let this guy stay around ala Castro.
TinHornDictator Network
Next he'll be planning an Al-Queda type network for Latin America......
TeleArepa. I'll only watch for the Miss Venezuela beauty pageants. Unless killjoy Chavez will probably dress them all up in burka-like military fatigues.
I'm sure there'll be some Soros funds available for this.
Okay, here's your plane tickets and ammo. Be back within a week.
I no speak Spanish. But, if you need Chirac taken out. I keed, I keed.
I'll pass on the Chirac. God knows what they would replace him with? I understand that he has been the most America-friendly Prime Minister France has produced in a long time. I know that sounds like crazy talk, but that just goes to show, by comparison, how unbelievably anti-American prior French leaders have been (most refusing to even speak English). Actually, the way things are looking, the next French Prime Minister might be named Abdul or Mohammed.
I bet the Las Vegas bookies will give us 10 to 1 Odds that a plane crash does him in.
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