[NYTr] USA's Shannon: RCTV Issue Goes Beyond US-Venezuela Relations Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 17:36:01 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit el Universal - Jun 5, 2007 http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/06/05/en_pol_art_shannon:-rctv-case-i_05A880201.shtml USA's Shannon: RCTV case is beyond US-Venezuela relations The Venezuelan government decision not to renew a broadcast license for private TV channel Radio Caracas TelevisiC3n (RCTV) is beyond a bilateral issue with the United States, said Tom Shannon, US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Shannon expected that the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) would include this item in their agenda. "As far as we are concerned, thinking that two countries have a quarrel is a mistake. On the contrary, it has nothing to do with bilateral relations; it is linked with a much bigger issue," Shannon told reporters on the occasion of the 37th Meeting of the OAS General Assembly held in Panama. "It is important to understand that the point at issue is not between the United States and Venezuela. It is an internal affair of Venezuela that has attracted the attention, not only of the countries in the Americas, but also Spain, the European Union (EU), and many non-governmental organizations, such as Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International." "What we are proposing then, is to give OAS and the Secretary-General the opportunity to consult and report, and based on this information, to reach a better understanding (about the RCTV case) among OAS member states, but also of all other countries and organizations concerned," Shannon said in Spanish. *** el Universal - Jun 5, 2007 http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/06/05/en_pol_art_bush:-venezuelan-gov_05A879999.shtml Bush: Venezuelan government is dismantling democracy The United States President George W. Bush Tuesday accused the government of Venezuela of making moves towards dismantling of democracy. "In Venezuela, elected leaders have resorted to shallow populism to dismantle democratic institutions and strengthen control of power," Bush said in a conference about democracy held in Prague. Regarding Cuba, Bush said he would insist in asking for respect for Cubans' human rights during the "transition period that is starting," Efe reported. *** AP via The International Herald Tribune - Jun 5, 2007 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/05/america/LA-GEN-OAS-Venezuela.php OAS struggles with US request to investigate closure of Venezuela's RCTV The Associated Press PANAMA CITY, Panama: The Organization of American States was struggling Tuesday with a U.S. request to investigate Venezuela's decision to push an opposition television station off the air. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a meeting of OAS foreign ministers in Panama on Monday to send the group's secretary-general, Jose Miguel Insulza, to Venezuela to look into the government's refusal to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, and report on his findings. "Freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of conscience are not a thorn in the side of government," Rice told the ministers. "Disagreeing with your government is not unpatriotic and most certainly should not be a crime in any country, especially a democracy." But Venezuela's top diplomat, Nicolas Maduro, reacted angrily to the request, saying her comments were an "unacceptable intervention is the internal affairs of a nation." "Venezuela is asking for respect," he said. "We demand respect for our sovereignty." That has forced the rest of the nations attending the OAS gathering to choose between the two adversaries, balancing the OAS principle of not intervening in member states with their desire to defend a free press and avoid offending the United States. It was not clear if the issue would be mentioned in the meeting's final resolution on Tuesday. Many in Latin America have criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's refusal to renew the station's license, and protests throughout the region have called on the Venezuelan leader to change his mind. Many foreign ministers at the OAS meeting spoke of the general need to protect freedom of expression, while but did not mention Chavez's decision. Chavez would likely reject any OAS mission. In January, he called OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza an "idiot" and said he should resign after the secretary-general warned that failing to allow RCTV to continue broadcasting "would be seen as a form of censorship against freedom of expression." Insulza has avoided the topic during the meeting this week in Panama, saying he didn't think the OAS needed to keep making statements on the issue. If the OAS refuses to act on the U.S. request, it would be a "huge mistake," said Ricardo Arias Calderon, a founder of Panama's ruling party who was watching the meeting from the sidelines. "I hope the continent's foreign ministers don't end up responsible for the sinking of Venezuela, for the subversion of democracies in our region," he said. _ On the Net: http://www.oas.org * ================================================================ .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 ================================================================