U.S., Venezuela trade barbs over media freedom, rights

[AnOhioan]

Source: Reuters

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Venezuela and the United States traded barbs in public over freedom of speech and human rights on Monday in a public spat sparked by Venezuela's closure of an opposition television station.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's decision to take opposition broadcaster RCTV off the air "undemocratic" and called for the Organization of American States (OAS) to investigate the incident.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro shot back by comparing the U.S. imprisonment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to Nazi Germany and by accusing Washington of meddling in his country's affairs.

The testy exchanges played out at a meeting of the OAS that was supposed to be about energy but instead was marked by Rice and Maduro making dueling speeches and then each demanding the right to respond to the other.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070604/pl_nm/venezuela_television_dc

[AllieB]

1. Pass the popcorn

:popcorn:

[bemildred]

3. Yep, better than any sitcom.

My money's on Venezuela.
:popcorn::popcorn:

[EFerrari]

2. What an embarrassment Rice is. n/t

[Andrushka]

4. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again

How "wrong" is this woman on every single issue she opens her bucky-toothed gob on?

Can't say I blame her when every single news outlet uses the words "closed down" to describe the non-renewal of a free-to-air broadcasting license.

Maybe she should just stick to stuff she actually knows something about. Like... like... er...

[Miss Chybil]

6. No defense to Sleeza, but I cannot defend Chavez' "non-renewal, close-down" of

the voice of opposition, either. If Bush did that here, we'd all be dying from brain anurisms. The enemy of thine enemy is not always thy friend. I don't trust Chavez anymore than I trust Bush.

[Andrushka]

7. Pardon me,

but it is not "closing down" the "voice of the opposition."

Two out of two wrong there. You're giving Sleeza a run for her money.

[Miss Chybil]

13. And you get your news from...

not the thousands who protested the shutting down of the t.v. station, right?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/28/venezuela.protest/index.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Venezuela's most-watched television station -- and outlet for the political opposition -- went off the air after the government refused to renew its broadcast license.

Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which has been broadcasting for 53 years, was replaced by a state-run station -- TVes -- on Monday. The new station's logo began running immediately after RCTV went off the air.

Leading up to the deadline, police on Sunday used water cannons and what appeared to be tear gas to break up thousands of demonstrators protesting the government's decision to close the country's most-watched television station.

The protest began in front of National Telecommunications Commission headquarters after members of the National Guard seized broadcast equipment, including antennas, the result of a Supreme Court order on Friday.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/05/28/venezuela.protest/index.html

And you defend this move, why? Despite what someone else said in response to my post, I would be upset if even Fox News was forced off the air by the government. Just because I don't like what they say, I very much value anyone's right to say it. I'd like to hear your justification for silencing anyone.

[LynnTheDem]

14. And if Fox News had incited its watchers to overthrow the Clinton govt?

If Fox News violated the laws of its public broadcast license?

Did you miss the news of the pro-Chavez pro-nonrenewal Venezuelan demonstrations?

[Andrushka]

17. Once again,

it was not "forced off the air" (to put it simply for you, the license expired and was not renewed) and it wasn't because the Chavez government "didn't like what they say" (again, calling for and actively participating in coups to overthrow democratically-elected governments, in addition to breaking broadcasting laws numerous times, goes beyond the sort of trite 'criticism' that you see on FAUX. To compare what this station did to what FAUX 'news' has on offer is a spurious comparison at best).

Why am I not surprised you don't have the full story here when you post a link to CNN?

[bemildred]

8. No offense, but shutting down Fox News would not keep me up at night.

And it would not bother me a bit if we "publicized" the airwaves in this country, it's not like TV for profit has been a big cultural or political win here. For profit TV in this country is mostly used for various kinds of brainwashing advertising.

[Flanker]

9. Take it a step further

Imagine that W grants Fox News a 20 year concession to operate using the public airwaves. Not only is reversing that decision wrong to some here... but heck even after 20 years they need to have it RENEWED!!!! Absolutism is more of a religion than a practical ideology.

* RCTV's concession was awarded during a rightwing dictatorship
* It is WORSE than Fox News (they literally use Photoshop)
* It participated in a coup de etat.
* They called for Tutsi genocide (sorry a bit of a lie but wanted to see how much free speech do the neocons defend)

[bemildred]

10. I don't see much difference, really, except for the Tutsi bit. nt

[roody]

5. Kindasleazy is acting kind of sleazy again.

[Mika]

11. Here's my response..

[unkachuck]

12. maybe Chris Wallace....

....with our massive amount of press freedom will want to interview detainees in Guantanamo too....

"He also called for the United States to allow the Venezuelan state-run broadcaster that has replaced RCTV into Guantanamo Bay to interview its inmates."

....Chris, Venezuela, Europe or anybody else might be interested in interviewing Guantanamo inmates to inform the people of the world that all is well in Guantanamo Bay....

[Judi Lynn]

15. Traveling Rutgers University Students Share their Views on Developments in Venezuela

04/06/07

Traveling Rutgers University Students Share their Views on Developments in Venezuela

We, a delegation of students from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, were in Caracas this Saturday at a peaceful demonstration. Imagine a protest that was more of a celebration than an angry mob. Imagine ordinary citizens without ulterior agendas or motives celebrating the right to self-determination in the face of economic imperialism. But, we don't have to imagine it because we were there and that's what we saw on Saturday, June 2, 2007.

After meeting with the Venezuelan Minister of Agriculture and the president of the Agricultural Bank of Venezuela to learn about the progress of President's Hugo Chavez' sweeping economic reforms, we decided to participate in the pro-Chavez celebration to show solidarity with the people of Venezuela and their defense of Chavez' decision to not renew RCTV's broadcasting license. Traveling to Venezuela the day before, we were flooded with messages of fear of the allegedly unstable environment and distrust of the decision to cancel the station. Yet, upon arrival we were warmly welcomed into a beautiful city and felt none of the animosity we were told to expect.

Many of you may have heard that RCTV was forcibly closed down by a military dictator. However the station's license expired and the government simply decided not to renew it. Over the course of RCTV's broadcast history, it has been used as a tool to incite violence, spread hatred, and promote disinformation. This was not a violation of free press to silence the opposition; the public government simply reclaimed public airwaves. This station had the strongest signal and the widest bandwidth reaching the most viewers in the country. There are no other comparable channels in the country.

Participating in the march was an amazing experience for all of us. We felt the enthusiasm and unity of the crowd. The atmosphere was charged with endless positive energy. People were dancing. Music was playing. There were even fireworks. Everyone wanted to be there.

The State Department urged Americans to think twice before coming to Venezuela. We urge the State Department to think twice about their position on Venezuelan affairs.

(names of students follow)

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/venezuela040607.html

[Judi Lynn]

16. See ten great new photos of the pro-Chavez demonstration held Sunday, on leftchick's thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1028959#1028959

The photos, taken from Yahoo's collection, would bear out very capably what the Rutger's students witnessed.

The ten photos are in leftchick's opening post, with some others added at posts #67, and #22 within the thread.
They DO look celebratory, downright happy, unlike the snarling, violent ones taken of the "opposition" demonstration.