Maybe Hugo is Castro Lite after all. I didn’t mind when he got Congress to vote him decree powers – that is constitutional and precedented in Venezuela, after all, though the wisdom of the clause is debatable. I didn’t mind when he nationalized the oilfields – that’s arguably something the people elected him to do. But as a former journalist I say silencing opposition media is beyond the pale, even for a president who has been visibly embattled by a sometimes criminal opposition.
Can anybody offer a defense of this decision?
Why did he do it?
How will the Venezuelan people feel about it? Will it come back to bite him?
How will this affect Venezuela’s relations with other Latin American countries (many of them with left-wing governments of their own)? With non-Latin American countries? (Relations with the U.S. couldn’t get any worse, of course, short of war.)
RCTV is just a first step. As the other stations start reaching the end of their licenses and having to renew, there will be a lot of other stations “changing hands”. I am surprised at this. I thought there were others higher in the list.
That was mean, though, sorry. I too regret that Chavez is not using his opportunities as a popular leader with ample national resources to develop genuinely liberal social democracy in Venezuela. I never had very high hopes of him, but I would have liked to be proven wrong.
I too never had high hopes for Chavez, and since I am very familiar with the Castro model this move does not surprise me. He’s following the Castro model more or less to the letter but much slower, Chavez has been in power since 1998, so roughly 9 years to start shutting down the opposition media, and he is also talking about shutting down opposition political parties, Castro had done both those things by 1962, 3 years after taking power.
When Chavez won the last election he announced the formation of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV), which he says will be an umbrella party for all political parties. He says this is needed to eliminate dissent in his government and to have a common platform in the government. So far this is only a proposal, and he is claiming that membership in the party is not compulsory, but it’s obvious that is where it is headed. Here’s an article with some quotes that make clear what I’m trying to say:
Well maybe the channel should not be supporting coup attempts. If CNN or Fox or in the UK, ITV supported a coup against the democratically elected govt they too would find a less than warm regulatory front moving in their direction.
No country on earth would allow a media outlet to incite violence and support coups.
RCTV has been an active participant in anti-govt activities. You play with fire and you are going to get burned.
He is purely proposing uniting the umbrella of groups that support him into one party. There is nothing there at all about abolishing opposition parties. In fact there is nothing in your cite that supports your interpretation.
It’s not a matter of belief. A cite is meant to support your case. Yours did not. What you imagine might happen in the future has no bearing, even if it turns out to be true.
I’m no fan of Chavez but there are many real dictators around that the USA has no problems dealing with so I consider this anti-chavez schitck no more than politically motivated recreational outrage.
Chavez wins elections with the votes of people who have not benefitted from the previous plutocratic regime. They can vote him out of power if they wish and there is no indication free elections are on the way out. It was the disloyal opposition that conspired with foreign powers to implement a coup.
It’d be cool if the participatory democracy model was given a chance to work without foreign interference, but that isn’t going to happen.
All I am going to say is that I love it when I hear someone defend socialist revolution form the comfort of being away, free to speak his mind with a full belly.
It may be true that he has jumped through the hoops to get his agenda “legitimized”. That doesn’t make it right. He won a landslide election, changed the constitution (according to the rules of the old one) on a valid vote, and now the constitution allows him to do all the things he is doing. Fine. He has proven that democracy is not the right government system for uneducated nations. He has practically eliminated all division of powers, he now rules the entire country by decree. He is a democratically elected dictator.
People who defend that, are either too far away to suffer the consequences or too ignorant to understand they are getting shafted.
Except, of course, when it is the goverment station that is doing it. El Presidente himself is constantly calling his “circulos” to threaten and intimidate any opposition entity or gathering. But hey, it is all for the revolution so that’s fine.
And if people just stop watching the government station, then it is time for “cadenas” (how is that for an ironic name?) when ALL stations are mandated to broadcast his messages.
Who here is speaking in favor of any “real dictators”, or saying that we don’t have problems with the US being friendly with them?
It’s silly to argue that criticism of Chavez must not be serious or sincere just because there are many political leaders who are a lot worse than Chavez. Yes indeed, there are lots of brutal and oppressive dictators in the world who make Chavez look like Good King Wenceslas by comparison, but this thread doesn’t happen to be about them.
And remember, most of the participants in this thread so far are among the more liberal members of the Dope; we’re not just ragging on Chavez because we enjoy insulting left-wingers or something.
Not on my part, I assure you. I’ve always defended Chavez up to now. But I have a problem with media censorship in any form, even in service of a political agenda I support.
I hope so, even now. But if Venezuelan presidential elections turn into a rubber-stamp sham like those in Hussein’s Iraq – how will we even know?
The Carter Centre and the various other international bodies who monitor elections will tell us.
I have a problem with media censorship. I have a much bigger problem with media owners actively supporting coups against a democratically elected government.
This isn’t about censorship, it is about dealing with participation in a coup. IMHO those involved should be tried and thrown in a deep dark hole. They are getting off lightly.
“chains”. It makes sense because all TV stations are “linked” transmitting the same thing. They used to be something similar to the “State of the Nation” speeches in the US. They were also used for national events or emergencies. It was normally months from one to the next. Now, there is one scheduled every week and unscheduled ones about every other day.
Have you ever heard the term ‘slippery slope’? Its funny to me that after handwaving aside all the stuff you don’t care about (or that you do care about but think its just peachy to take away the property or rights of large corporations, for instance, because its for the good of the people), you are surprised when an issue you DO care about is suddenly trampled. I’m not surprised myself…either way…but it IS pretty funny.
Take comfort though BG…I’m sure tagos is right. Chavez is just misunderstood…or maybe just being playful. In the end, a socialist paradise is right around the corner I expect…