University Rector Giuseppe Gianetto told Union Radio that 18-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, an international studies major, was kidnapped by agents as he left an opposition youth protest in Caracas on Wednesday. Sanchez was blindfolded, beaten and burned with an object before agents released him early Thursday in a Caracas slum, Gianetto said. Sanchez was under the protective custody of university attorneys who were filing a complaint with the attorney general's office.
"This kind of vile and cowardly torture hasn't been seen in this country for a long time," said Gianetto. "Not even youths can use their constitutional rights to go out and protest peacefully."
"There wasn't any detention of any student," the Interior Ministry official said in a telephone interview.[End]
''Nobody in the world should be surprised if in Venezuela, within a short period of time, we start shutting down television stations,'' Mr. Chávez crowed at the World Social Forum in January. ``No freedom is unlimited.'' True to his threats, Mr. Chávez ordered investigations of five private television stations -- Globovisión, Radio Caracas Television, Televén, Venevisión and Televisora Regional del Táchira. He accuses them of violating bans on broadcasting ''propaganda aimed at subverting public order'' and of airing statements that ''disrespect the legitimate institutions and authorities,'' among other sins.***