[NYTr] VIO: Protest Continued Mass Media Distortion on Venezuela Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:39:28 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Venezuela Information Office (VIO) http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com VIO News & Action- November 15, 2007 Dear colleagues, Considering the recent barrage of inaccurate news about Venezuela's constitutional reforms and the student protests that have accompanied them we felt it necessary to clear things up. We hope the below analysis will be useful in explaining the current political climate in Venezuela to friends or to the press. STUDENT PROTESTS IN VENEZUELA Recent news articles have reported on a series of opposition student protests in Venezuela in response to constitutional reforms slated to be voted on in a national referendum December 2. Most of the news coverage has included misleading claims about the students' demonstrations and the government's response to them. Primarily the media has failed to report on the cooperation between the government and the students and the various accommodations that have been made for them. The largest protests, with an estimated attendance of 6,000 university students (of the 200,000 student in Caracas alone), have enjoyed the full protection of Venezuela's police forces. These protections comply with Article 68 of the 1999 Constitution, which protects the rights of all Venezuelans to peaceably assemble. And unlike during past governments, when student demonstrations were regularly repressed by police forces, students, including leaders linked to opposition political parties like Primero Justicia and Bandera Roja, have recently been granted high-level meeting with government officials and institutions to discuss their concerns: Earlier this month on November 1 a group of students met with the directors of the National Electoral Council and presented a petition to delay the national referendum to the directors of Venezuela's electoral authority, the National Electoral Council (CNE). On November 7 a group of 10 student representatives met with officials from the National Tribunal of Justice, and presented a petition calling for the delay of a national referendum scheduled for December 2. On November 12 Venezuela's Minister of Interior and Justice, Pedro CarreCB1o, met 20 university presidents and restated the government's respect of university autonomy and the right of students to peaceably assemble. BIASED MEDIA COVERAGE CONTINUES Much of the media coverage given to the student protests has been distorted and one-sided. Recently it has even begun to replicate the way in which the media drummed up support for the coup d'etat against President Chavez in 2002. During that time false news claims circulated that Chavez supporters had shot and attacked innocent civilians during a protest. Later, these allegations were proven false. Strikingly similar today, is the way in which the media is trying to link violent acts during recent protests to the government and its supporters. A Washington Post editorial published today and a New York Times article over the weekend serve as cases in point. The Post takes university officials' opinions as fact and identifies masked gunmen as "government-sponsored paramilitary groups". ----------------------------------------------- Washington Post's poisonous editorial "Mr Chavez's Coup" 11/15/2007 http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071112/071614.html The New York Times's Version of the CIA's Wishful Thinking, 11/11/2007 http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071105/071426.html ----------------------------------------------- In reality the following events occurred on November 7 as students returned to the campus of the Central University of Venezuela. Following a march to the headquarters of the National Tribunal of Justice, a group of opposition students stormed the School of Social Work - whose students had been known to have earlier advocated in favor of the constitutional reforms - and set the school building on fire. Police forces were alerted, but, in keeping with Venezuela's "Law of Universities", could not enter the campus for lack of approval by the University president. For this reason, campus employees responded and tried to prevent violent attacks against the Social Work students. This is when masked individuals equipped with guns appeared on motorcycles. Shortly after, opposition student leaders claimed on live television that they were being attacked by people aligned with the government (the masked motorcycle group). No evidence was ever offered to back up these claims and recent videos from bystanders and local media outlets have shown the violent acts perpetuated by opposition students on the School of Social Work. International press agencies, except Reuters, later recognized that no evidence existed to link the individuals on the motorcycles to the government. Another incident turned violent by members of the student opposition occurred after a meeting with the directors of the National Electoral Council on November 1. A group of student demonstrators attempted to chain themselves to the building while another charged through a police line. Six police officers were injured and one student demonstrator was found with possession of 20 liters of gasoline. After the incident, the president of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena stated: "We were surprised at our good faith effort when, at the conclusion of this meeting, a group of them tried, aggressively, to chain themselves to the stairs of the headquarters of National Electoral Council, thus violating the cordial and peaceful spirit that was present during the meeting. These acts constitute a meaningless and unjustifiable aggression to what has been a democratic practice of the electoral council." Meanwhile, yesterday students and university presidents from all over the nation, including those from the Central University of Venezuela, filed a document with the Supreme Court in support of the constitutional reform process. See the el Universal story here: Venez: Pro-Govt Students File Document in High Court 11/15/07 http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071112/071615.html WHAT YOU CAN DO: SEND A LETTER TO THE WASHINGTON POST or THE NEW YORK TIMES and make your voice heard! Send your letter of no more than 200 words to: letters@washpost.com Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and address. or Send your letter of no more than 150 words to: letters@nytimes.com Be sure to include your name, telephone number, and address. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================