The ambush is but one example of Mr. Chavez's attempts to suppress free speech. On Thursday, his administration began "administrative procedures" against media outlets for airing reports unflattering to the government. And his rhetoric has been alarming: "The world should not be surprised if we start closing TV stations in Venezuela shortly," he said in late January. "This is a country at war." Also, journalists have reportedly received verbatim transcripts of their cell-phone conversations with opposition members.
Venezuela's neighbors are rightly concerned about escalating unrest, since car bombings in recent weeks in Colombia's Arauca region, which borders Venezuela, killed 12 persons and injured more than two dozen others. Colombian Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez signalled Colombia's frustration with Venezuela's tacit refuge of militants: "The Colombian guerrilla has unfortunately been moving with certain freedom on this border [with Venezuela] and we know of kidnapped people taken...to the Venezuelan side and later they've been brought back here." Another Latin American diplomat said Venezuela is "a fount of instability" for the region. "I don't see how this situation can be sustainable until the end of the year, and, seeing that, the Venezuelan people are arming themselves," he said. "Chavez empowers these people." ***