Chavez closes opposition TV station... thousands protest
author: BS9/11
|
Venezuelan government opponents clash with police outside the entrance of the Telecommunications National Commission (CONATEL) 27 May, in Caracas.
|
 gparra@bloomberg.net
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Alex Kennedy
May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's new state television channel TVes took control of the country's most-watched network as protesters accused President Hugo Chavez of seeking to stamp out voices of opposition to his government.
The new channel transmitted the national anthem at 12:19 a.m. local time, prompting celebrations by Chavez supporters gathered in Caracas's Morelos Square. Workers at Radio Caracas Television, shut after Chavez refused to renew its license, left the channel's Quinta Crespo facilities amid tears and pledges to fight the decision peacefully and in the courts.
Opposed by more than two-thirds of Venezuelans in a poll last month, the decision to close RCTV, as Radio Caracas is known, is unpopular at home and has earned Chavez condemnation abroad from groups such as the European Parliament as he consolidates power and silences critics. Starting today, the government will control two of Venezuela's four nationwide broadcast channels.
``This has exposed the abusive, arbitrary and autocratic nature of Chavez's government,'' said Marcel Granier, managing partner of Grupo de Empresas 1BC, the holding company that owns RCTV, in a speech last night in Caracas. ``This is a government that fears free thought, a government that fears dissenting opinions and fears criticism.''
Chavez's refusal to license RCTV, as the country's oldest network is known, will aid his daily battle to dominate political discussion. Many of Chavez's opponents retain ownership of established news organizations, using them as political platforms, while his government funds dozens of new community and national media outlets friendly to its cause.
TVes Programming
``That channel of coup-mongers clearly trespassed all types of limits and that's why we canceled its license,'' Vice President Jorge Rodriguez said in a yesterday interview with Televen television station. ``We are now offering a new type pf television, more democratic, more representative of our culture and our people.''
TVes, which started with an initial investment of $4 million put up by the government, plans to broadcast movies, documentaries and reality shows made by ``independent producers,'' Chavez said last week. The government took over transmitters from RCTV technical staff one minute before midnight.
During a speech earlier this month, Chavez showed about 15 minutes of a movie about the life of South American liberator Simon Bolivar, saying the rest of the movie and others like it would be shown on Tves.
Lil Rodriguez, chairwoman of TVes, said in a speech minutes after transmissions began that ``Venezuelans just gave birth to a new alternative in television.'' After her speech ended, several artists took the stage to play salsa and typical Venezuelan music through the dawn.
Violent Clashes
The state-run stations have shown commercials promising Tves' programming will be ``creative, participative, varied, entertaining and accurate.''
``It's a great challenge to really achieve plurality, so all Venezuelans are seen and have high levels of quality programming,'' the government's Web site quoted Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon as saying.
The closure of RCTV was preceded by hours of tension that ended in violent clashes outside the headquarters of the National Telecommunications Commission, the industry's regulator and the entity that terminated the channel's concession on behalf of Chavez.
As night fell, officers in riot gear used water cannons and tear gas to disperse lingering crowds. Police officials told the state television station that 11 officers were injured.
``Somebody's looking to provoke a death here,'' Francisco Romero, the police officer in charge of the forces securing the commission's offices, told the state television in an interview. He pointed to bullet holes in a light pole that he said came from protesters shooting.
Coup Coverage
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, which coordinated the police presence, could not confirm reports of shots. The police dispersed a small crowd of about 50 teenagers trying to trigger violence outside RCTV's Quinta Crespo headquarters just after midnight, Globovision channel said, citing the police. No injuries were reported.
RCTV first took the airwaves in 1953 and its programming included soap operas, and news and talk shows into millions of Venezuelan homes.
Chavez's government accuses RCTV executives of using the network to help incite a coup that ousted him from office for two days in 2002. While RCTV filled the airwaves with coverage of his ouster, it reportedly ran cartoon shows once Chavez was restored to office, declining to report his government's return.
Granier said the network is considering resuming broadcasting via cable in the future among different options. It will also continue to fight the shutdown in courts, nationally and internationally, and may seek financial compensation for losses related to that decision, according to an e-mailed statement released last night.
Video:
 link to news.search.yahoo.com
Photos:
link to news.search.yahoo.com
*****************************************************************
The channel's successor, Chavez-backed TVes, began broadcasting its own programming about 20 minutes later.
As 53-year-old RCTV was about to fade into history, network president Marcel Granier told US-based Univision television that Chavez was driven by "a megalomaniacal desire to establish a totalitarian dictatorship."
He also told reporters that he was certain that "democracy will return to Venezuela, along with RCTV."
Using water cannon, police dispersed thousands of stone-throwing protesters outside Venezuela's telecom authority, which ordered the station off the air.
"The decision was mine" to close RCTV, Chavez said Saturday, calling its steamy soap operas "a danger for the country, for boys, for girls."
Some 70 to 80 percent of Venezuelans opposed the closure, according to recent polls.
Criticism of the RCTV shutdown poured in from around the world, including from Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the US Senate, which unanimously approved a resolution last week expressing "profound concern" over the move.
|
contribute to this article
add comment to discussion
|
