Freedom of Speech and Information in Venezuela
Although I try to avoid posting or discussing online about my country's Presidency, their decisions and the country's Political, Legal and Economical reality, I can't just avoid blogging this note in Nomadlife, in order to give a different perspective and insight to our community into what is currently happening with my country's Freedom.
Last May 27th one of the oldest TV station in Venezuela (RCTV) was shut by President Chavez (Read more on BBC), their license was not renewed based on accusations that this TV station plotted against him and supported a coup attempt in 2002.
This particular TV station had been broadcasting since 1953 and it started as a Radio Station (Radio Caracas) moving later on into the TV sector. RCTV has had historically a very high (not to say blindly the highest) audience and they had many programs that commonly topped the national ratings
This has open a debate on Freedom of Speech in Venezuela (Read more on BBC) and has created many protests and strikes as Venezuelans look for ways to express their frustration with the regime's decision (Read more on BBC). And furthermore Chavez has already mentioned to Globovision that they should be careful or he will do whatever is needed. Globovision is a 24/7 news station which he called an enemy of the state because of the coverage of the protests against RCTV's closure, during that broadcast he also called Venezuelans to be alert of new unstabilizing plans and to be ready to defend the Revolution (Read more on BBC).
So where will this end? Will all the TV and Radio Stations that speak against the government be closed or silenced? Will the people continue to protests against the decision even if it does not seem to make any difference? Or will things just go on and people adjust to whatever decision is done by the regime?
I can only note that from the comments I received from the friends and family who still live in Venezuela, that already the other National TV stations are reserving themselves to broadcast any news against the government, and as a matter of fact during the last weekend only Globovision broadcasted any news about the demonstrations in Caracas (Read more on BBC), all the other National TV Stations only showed their scheduled programs.
So where will Venezuelans look for news in the near future? What will happen when the next TV station is also shut? Where will this end? Will he be able to continue his revolution bringing Venezuela towards the new Communism of the XXI century? Towards Cuba?
Only time will tell.
Last May 27th one of the oldest TV station in Venezuela (RCTV) was shut by President Chavez (Read more on BBC), their license was not renewed based on accusations that this TV station plotted against him and supported a coup attempt in 2002.
This particular TV station had been broadcasting since 1953 and it started as a Radio Station (Radio Caracas) moving later on into the TV sector. RCTV has had historically a very high (not to say blindly the highest) audience and they had many programs that commonly topped the national ratings
This has open a debate on Freedom of Speech in Venezuela (Read more on BBC) and has created many protests and strikes as Venezuelans look for ways to express their frustration with the regime's decision (Read more on BBC). And furthermore Chavez has already mentioned to Globovision that they should be careful or he will do whatever is needed. Globovision is a 24/7 news station which he called an enemy of the state because of the coverage of the protests against RCTV's closure, during that broadcast he also called Venezuelans to be alert of new unstabilizing plans and to be ready to defend the Revolution (Read more on BBC).
So where will this end? Will all the TV and Radio Stations that speak against the government be closed or silenced? Will the people continue to protests against the decision even if it does not seem to make any difference? Or will things just go on and people adjust to whatever decision is done by the regime?
I can only note that from the comments I received from the friends and family who still live in Venezuela, that already the other National TV stations are reserving themselves to broadcast any news against the government, and as a matter of fact during the last weekend only Globovision broadcasted any news about the demonstrations in Caracas (Read more on BBC), all the other National TV Stations only showed their scheduled programs.
So where will Venezuelans look for news in the near future? What will happen when the next TV station is also shut? Where will this end? Will he be able to continue his revolution bringing Venezuela towards the new Communism of the XXI century? Towards Cuba?
Only time will tell.
posted by Rafa at 8:54 AM
4 Comments:
Hi Rafa,
Thanks for your post. I'm wondering how the bloggers in your country reacto to that. Is blogging and other social networking bit in Venezuela yet?
I think that that form of sharing news is something far more difficult to shut down.
3:57 PM
I honestly think that this is a terrible mistake that Chavez did... I think he went to far, but in the end IT'S GOOD!!
See, only when things go really wrong is when people unite and drive a change...
I he was making his will but quietly and slowly, then i will turn Venezuela into a Cuba. But since he is making a huge drama and he is gettin paranoid about Globovisi�n, CNN en Espa�ol and even Venevisi�n... i think he's digging his own grave.
saludos,
Ethel.
2:26 AM
Simi,
Although a good portion of Venezuela's population have access to the internet, not everyone does. There are a lot of blogs and also webpages that were created by NGOs, News Agencies, Companies and just groups of people to keep the National and International Community informed.
Although that type of news sharing will be harder to shut down, not everyone in Venezuela has the sufficient resources or is literate enough to access the Internet, therefore there's still a large part of the population that will not be able to keep themselves informed this way.
Although most of them are in spanish here are some blogs I found that had some postings on the current events and webpages that you can check.
List of Venezuelan blogs
Venezuelan Radio Journalist
Blog in English from a Venezuelan Blogger
Kracas, Blog on Caracas
Tesne - A friend's Blog
Another Venezuelan Journalist's blog
11April.com
Some Venezuelan Webpages:
Megaresistencia.com/
Venezuelaawareness.com/
Venezuela Analitica
Venezuelan Government Online portal
Venezuelan Presidency Website
Some Venezuelan TV Stations:
VTV - Government owned TV Station
Globovision - Venezuelan News TV Station
RCTV - Recently closed TV Station website
9:18 AM
What an evil right-winger Chavez is.....no wait he's a leftist, like Castro and Stalin.....then how come the left always claims the right is out to abolish the constitution and future elections, when in fact its always the left that actually does.
And maybe you can shed some light on South American culture for me.........do they not teach history down there?
How many more times are they gonna fall for that socialism thing. Every time they try that route it ends in poverty, starvation, and bloodshed, and they always come begging' to the Yankee for foreign investment" after the industries they nationalized eventual fail.
Chavez better pray the price of oil stays high, cause without it to fuel his revolution, he's going to be dragged through the streets.
10:54 PM
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