[NYTr] Venez Media Row Continues; Some RCTV Supporters Found Heavily Armed Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 16:09:33 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [During the US CIA's wars on Jamaica's Michael Manley, heavy use was made of the "Jamaica Gleaner" in their psychological warfare campaign to foment violence, fear and ultimately to oust Manley. It worked. Similarly, after the Sandinista revolution, the newspaper "La Prensa" was a willing ally of the CIA in their propaganda campaign against Ortega and the Sandinistas. Both Manley and Ortega allowed this to continue, fearing the public opinion backlash, domestic and foreign, against what might be seen as restricting "freedom of the press." Hugo Chavez has not made that mistake. The media outlets that have already demonstrated their agendas to support the US and the Venezuelan oligarchy (during the failed coup of April, 2002 and since) are losing their licenses. Chavez has learned from Manley's and Ortega's failures, and from the successful use of the media in Cuba to protect their revolution. -NY Transfer] excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - May 22, 2007 [RCTV's non-renewal continued to bring protesters out in Caracas yesterday, the Associated Press reports. AFP reports today that three RCTV supporters were arrested in possession of three submachine guns, a handgun and shotguns during protests last Thursday. The men were detained on charges of conspiracy. Also in attendance was Manuel Rosales, the opposition presidential candidate defeated by President Chavez last December. Rosales is quoted in El Universal today as having called Chavez a "big liar" who is "ruining" Venezuela in comments he made on a television program in Panama. RCTV's signal will expire next Monday and be taken over by the public broadcaster TeVes on Venezuela's open-access airwaves. The board of the new channel was sworn in yesterday, and will be headed by Lili Rodriguez, a well-known journalist. Finally, the nationalization of the telecommunications company CANTV in Caracas has been finalized, the Associated Press reports. A new board of directors for the company has been appointed, and will be headed by Socorro Hernandez, who has a background in the oil industry. The Venezuelan government paid $1.3 billion to take control of 86.2% of shares of CANTV earlier this month, according to the Miami Herald. -VIO] AP via The Washington Post - May 21, 2007 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052101379.html Protesters Decry Loss of Venezuela TV By Christopher Toothaker The Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela -- Thousands of protesters carried a blocks-long "SOS" banner through Venezuela's capital on Monday, condemning threats to freedom of expression days before the country is set to lose one of its few remaining opposition-aligned TV stations. Shouting "We Want Freedom!" and waving Venezuelan flags, demonstrators warned that President Hugo Chavez's plan to replace Radio Caracas Television with a public-service station is part of a broad effort to silence criticism. The banner that snaked through the streets read "Freedom of Expression, SOS" in 10 different languages. "Threats to freedom of expression affect all citizens equally; it doesn't matter if you are pro-government or against the government," said Rafael Fuenmayor, a reporter from the Globovision 24-hour news channel, who helped organize the protest along with other local journalists. Globovision is the only other major opposition-aligned channel, though it does not reach all parts of the country. Two other channels that used to be staunchly anti-Chavez recently toned down their coverage. RCTV is due to go off the air Monday, after Sunday's final day of programming, when the government says its license expires. Officials deny any threat to media freedom, arguing that a new station called TVES will offer diverse programming while avoiding pro-Chavez propaganda aired on other state-run channels. A board of directors for the new channel was sworn in Monday. Protesters ended their march outside the mission of the Organization of American States, where they urged the body to take a closer look at the state of press freedoms under Chavez. OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza has warned that failing to allow RCTV to continue broadcasting "would be seen as a form of censorship against freedom of expression." Countries including Honduras, Guatemala and Chile have expressed support for Insulza's position. Founded in 1953, RCTV is Venezuela's oldest private network and broadcasts a mix of talk shows, soap operas and a version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" RCTV frequently airs complaints of corruption, crime and inefficiency from both opposition and government supporters, whose grievances are rarely broadcast on state-run TV channels. RCTV's general manager, Marcel Granier, said the network has the right to continue broadcasting until 2022 and challenged the government's decision in court. Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the first of a series of legal challenges by RCTV, but more are pending. Information Minister Willian Lara said the state's right not to renew RCTV's license was "inarguable," and predicted on Sunday that Venezuela's highest court would uphold the measure. "We have reason to believe the upcoming decisions from the Supreme Court of Justice will fall in line with law and justice," Lara said. Chavez accuses RCTV and other opposition-aligned private media of supporting a failed 2002 coup against him by broadcasting cartoons and movies rather than covering street protests that aided his return to power. RCTV's journalists counter that violent protests staged by "Chavistas" outside the channel's headquarters prevented them from reporting the news. Venezuela still has a broad mix of newspapers, including many that are critical of the government. *** AFP and France 24 - May 21, 2007 http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world/20070522-Venezuela-tv-channel-closure.html Three detained with guns as Venezuela closes TV CARACAS - Two men were arrested on Thursday outside Caracas for "conspiracy" with three submachine guns, a handgun and shotguns, minister Pedro Carreno said. Carreno said another man was arrested also on Thursday "for a presumed crime to attack the national security." Rifles, shotguns, pistols and power scopes were confiscated. He did not reveal any further details of the alleged plot. The arrests came amid street protests over President Hugo Chavez's announced plans not to renew a 20-year concession for the RCTV station, which ends on May 27. He plans to grant the frequency to a new public-service channel. Chavez accuses the channel of having participated in an April 2002 coup, which removed him from power for two days. The private-sector news media have lined up against Chavez's far-reaching "revolution" to create a "socialism for the 21st century." Thousands of protesters marched through Caracas on Saturday in support of the private channel and accusing Chavez of stifling freedom of expression. Protesters in four parts of the city carried signs saying "Don't Close RCTV" and converged on the Chacaito neighborhood, where actors and opposition politicians spoke. The channel has one of the largest audiences in Venezuela and is one of the strongest opposition voices as well. Former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales, who was defeated by Chavez in December's election, attended the protest. The government plans to replace RCTV with Teves, backed by four million dollars in start-up money, to begin broadcasting on Friday. With the creation of Teves, the government will control two of the four channels with national reach in Venezuela *** BBC News - May 22, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6679243.stm Protests mount over Venezuela TV Staff and supporters of a Venezuelan TV station that is due to be taken off air have unveiled a kilometre-long banner in Caracas in support of press freedom. Protesters carried the banner, which read "S-O-S, freedom of expression" in 10 languages through the streets. Opposition-allied RCTV is due to have its licence revoked on 27 May, being replaced by a state-sponsored station. President Hugo Chavez has accused RCTV of plotting against him and supporting a coup attempt in 2002. The demonstration in support of RCTV snaked through the Venezuelan capital to the office of the Organisation of American States (OAS) where protesters handed in a letter detailing their concerns. "Threats to freedom of expression affect all citizens equally. It doesn't matter if you are pro-government or against the government," said Rafael Fuenmayor, a journalist with another opposition-aligned station, Globovision. RCTV - Venezuela's oldest private broadcaster - is due to go off air at midnight on Sunday when the government says its licence will expire and not be renewed. Its frequency is set to be taken over by a new government-funded channel called TVES or Televisora Venezolana Social. Officials deny that there is any threat to media freedom and that TVES will have diverse programmes. On Monday, the government swore in the new channel's board, headed by a journalist Lili Rodriguez, a well-known journalist. "We hope our station will perform a social service, a public service, that it will inform and entertain," she said. Further demonstrations, both for and against the decision to deny RCTV a broadcasting licence, are expected throughout the week. President Chavez was re-elected by a landslide last year. His welfare spending programme has won him massive support among the poor but his opponents accuse him of turning the country into an increasingly authoritarian socialist state, modelled on Fidel Castro's Cuba. *** AP via International Herald Tribune - May 21, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/21/business/LA-FIN-Venezuela-Nationalization.php Venezuela completes nationalization of telecommunications company CANTV The Associated Press CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez's government assumed operational control of the Venezuela's largest telecommunications company on Monday, completing its nationalization by appointing a new board of directors. Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said the takeover of CA Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela is part of a march toward a "new socialist state." Electric companies and oil fields also have been affected by the nationalization drive. The government said earlier this month that it had raised its ownership stake in CANTV to 86.2 percent, in part by paying US$572 million (?422.6 million) to New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. for its 28.5 percent stake. CANTV said the government appointed Socorro Hernandez, who has worked in Venezuela's oil industry, as president of CANTV's new board on Monday. Other board members include representatives of workers as well as various government ministries. CANTV, which had been privatized in 1991, has nearly 13,000 employees and provides phone service to 3.2 million fixed-line customers as well as 6.7 million cellular customers through its affiliate Movilnet. The company also provides Internet service. Chacon predicted that "Venezuelans are going to feel an increase in quality, an increase in coverage." *** The Miami Herald - May 22, 2007 http://www.miamiherald.com/127/story/114436.html Venezuela: Government Names Board Members to CANTV CARACAS -- The government appointed Deputy Finance Minister Rafael Isea and seven other people to the board of directors of Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela, the telephone company it nationalized this year. Among the board there will be army generals, government officials and workers representing the defense ministry, the oil ministry and company's trade unions among other institutions, Caracas-based Cantv, as the company is known, said in a statement distributed by e-mail. On May 18 Chavez named Socorro Hernandez president of Cantv. The government is assuming full control of the company's operations as of Monday, Chavez said. The government paid $1.3 billion to take control of 86.2 percent of the outstanding shares of the company. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================