Venezuela Silencing Radio Stations

[rambone]

When Hugo Chavez ran for office, he didn't run to be a dictator. But that's what he turned out to be. Now Venezuela is feeling the effects of what happens when you elect a radical leftist to office.

​

Chavez minister vows more Venezuela radio closings

Sat Sep 5, 2009 5:14pm EDT

* Radio stations to be pulled after 34 closed in August
* Critics say hits free speech, government says democratic
* Anti-Chavez TV network in the spotlight over coup rumor

CARACAS, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela will pull the plug on 29 more radio stations, a top official in President Hugo Chavez's government said on Saturday, just weeks after dozens of other outlets were closed in a media clampdown.

Infrastructure Minister Diosdado Cabello closed 34 radio stations in July, saying the government was "democratizing" media ownership. Critics say the move limits freedom of expression and has taken critical voices off the airwaves.

The powerful Chavez ally has threatened to close over 100 stations in total, part of a long-term campaign against private media that the government says are biased against Chavez's government.

"Another 29 will be gone before long," he told thousands of Chavez supporters at a political rally, without giving details which stations would be closed or when.

Cabello also said he was launching a new legal case against Globovision, the country's most prominent anti-government television network, accusing it of inciting a coup against Chavez.

Text messages circulated Last week in Venezuela saying a coup against Chavez was imminent. Other messages circulated among Chavez supporters calling for them to be on the alert.

The government quashed the rumors quickly and said all military units were acting normally.

"They (Globovision) aired a tape supposedly with telephone messages calling for a coup d'etat," said Cabello, a member of Chavez's inner circle who took part in the president's first bid for office -- a violent and abortive coup in 1992.

Chavez was himself ousted for 48 hours 10 years later in a short-lived army rebellion after he won office democratically. That putsch had the support of some of the country's television companies.

In 2007, Chavez took revenge, refusing to renew the concession of Venezuela's oldest and most widely watched private station, RCTV, which is now visible only on cable.

Chavez has long threatened to close down Globovision on similar grounds and the government has slapped it with big fines and legal cases this year. (Reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Peter Cooney)
​

Now the scary part for America: Obama's FCC "Diversity" Czar, Mark Lloyd, loves the Venzuela method. He said it was an "incredible democratic revolution" and alluded that we may follow their lead.

Welcome to communism.

YouTube - Obama's FCC Diversity Czar Loves Hugo Chavez's Revolution - Czar Mark Lloyd - Glenn Beck

 

[haldir]

The darling of the Hollywood crowd, almost as much as Castro.

 

[rambone]

Chavez wants to help Obama

Venezuela's Chavez says hopes can work with Obama | U.S. | Reuters

Venezuela's Chavez says hopes can work with Obama

VENICE (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy who once called George W. Bush "the devil," said on Monday he hoped to be able to work more closely with President Barack Obama.

The leftist 55-year-old leader added in an interview in Italy that despite the global economic crisis and signs of a slowdown in growth in Venezuela, he did not expect his country to fall into recession.

Chavez was in Venice for the world premiere of "South of the Border," director Oliver Stone's sympathetic portrait of a leader he says has championed the poor and who has been unfairly demonized by the U.S. media.

"I have no reason to call him (Obama) the devil, and I hope that I am right," Chavez told reporters in Venice.

"With Obama we can talk, we are almost from the same generation, one can't deny that Obama is different (from Bush). He's intelligent, he has good intentions and we have to help him."

Stone's documentary argues that the economy has grown under Chavez's rule and poverty levels have fallen sharply, all without the help of bailout loans from foreign lenders.

Asked in an interview with Reuters whether the fact that Venezuela's economy shrank for the first time in more than five years during the second quarter of 2009 could mean austerity measures ahead, Chavez replied:

"There is no recession in Venezuela. There has been a slight slowdown in growth but that is something logical because of the great worldwide recession in capitalism.

"We have taken some steps but unemployment continues to fall and production continues to rise. Venezuela has been affected by the crisis but has not and will not go into recession," added the president, who sat next to Stone.

"REAL DEMOCRATIC MODEL"

Chavez also said his democratic credentials remained intact despite concerns over moves to crack down on the independent media and political opposition.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas over the weekend to voice their opposition to the president, who has been in power for a decade and says he needs another 10 years to pursue his socialist reforms.

"In Venezuela, no television channel has been closed despite the fact that in many cases the television channels supported a coup d'etat," he said.

"Noam Chomsky ... was asked in an interview what would happen if Fox News or CNN had supported a coup against a president. Chomsky replied that not only would those channels have been closed, but their owners would have been sent to the electric chair.

"I'm entirely dedicated to building a real democratic model in Venezuela. As Abraham Lincoln said, what is democracy? It is not the system by which a rich minority exploits the people. It is government by the people and for the people."

Stone's film includes clips of U.S. news channels casting Chavez as a threat akin to that posed by al Qaeda.

"The caricature compares me to Hitler and Mussolini, that is just laughable," he said. "It shows a lack of respect to the intelligence of the human being and of society."
​

 

[ATF Consumer]

Here is Savage speaking about it as well...this is quite scary indeed.

YouTube - Michael Savage - Fascism in America and Obama's FCC Diversity Chief - August 14th, 2009