We're the government so you can trust us. If you don't believe us then you will be shot.
Posted on 12/28/2006 5:22:32 PM PST by jdm
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will not renew the licence for the country's second largest TV channel when it expires in March 2007.
In an address to troops, Mr Chavez said he would not tolerate media outlets working toward a coup against him.
Radio Caracas Television, which is aligned with the opposition, supported a strike against Mr Chavez in 2003.
Correspondents say this is Mr Chavez' first significant political move since his re-election earlier this month.
Mr Chavez, who was returned to power by a wide margin on 3 December, said the head of the television channel, Marcel Granier, was mistaken in believing "that concession is eternal".
"It runs out in March. So it's better that you go and prepare your suitcase and look around for what you're going to do in March.
"There will be no new operating licence for this coupist TV channel called RCTV. The operating licence is over... So go and turn off the equipment," Mr Chavez said during a televised speech to soldiers at a military academy in Caracas.
'Violation of freedom'
Mr Chavez said the channel was "at the service of coups against the people, against the nation, against national independence, against the dignity of the republic".
The channel is among a number of private TV and radio networks that in recent years have strongly criticized Mr Chavez' government and favoured the opposition.
Many media outlets, including RCTV, supported a bungled coup in 2002 and a devastating general strike in 2003 that failed to unseat the president.
The press freedom campaign group, Reporters Without Borders, said the proposed move would be a grave violation of freedom of expression in Venezuela.
RCTV is one of the country's oldest channels and began broadcasting in 1953.
While the Bush Administration tolerates CNN, NYT, CBS and NBC.
And the Dems are taking power here...*shudder*
...and so it gets more interesting...
I wonder when the borders are going to be closed?
We're the government so you can trust us. If you don't believe us then you will be shot.
Ping
Fully endorsed by Jimmah Carter.
Every leftist siisy boy and wench's dream boy doing something like this?! I can't believe it!
Pat Robertson was 110% RIGHT!
Setting up the dictatorship. has he confiscated all the guns yet?
"There are no Americans at the airport or the TV station!"
Time for them to move out of Venezuela and beam in by satellite.
Cindy Sheehan will always have a place in his be.. (oops!) heart.
even a less than moist dream is better than SINdy Cindy.....
Many years ago, I lived briefly in Aruba and learned to speak Spanish from watching Venezuelan TV - all that was available before the invention of the satellite dish and before Aruba and Curacao had their own TV stations. The television station signed on around 5 pm with back-to-back old "I Love Lucy" black & whites until the news at 7 pm. It reminded me of what TV was like in the US in the late '40's.
Unless Hugo plans to take over Aruba and Columbia, which is a possibility, Venezuelans will still be able to get news from the outside world with or without a satellite dish, so he's spinning his wheels in shutting down a Venezuelan station that doesn't toe the gov't line.
Not entirely. He's showing he can punish his in-country critics and get away with it; do that often enough and they'll keep quiet no matter what sources of information they have.
Hugo's statement actually means he has total control over all media, since all he has to do is claim they are advocating a coup.
ping.
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