Bolton is saying the people of Venezuela do not have free speech. If that is the point at issue here (and it seems to be) it's interesting to see what people of the "far left" and "far right" say about that:
At PA Political affairs.net Marxist Thought Online ”US Intervention in Venezuela”
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/2896/1/152/we read that, “Another basic myth is that Chávez has limited freedom of speech and eroded civil rights. Yet whenever I go to Venezuela, I hear the private media spend enormous amounts of time criticizing the President, something I wish our media would do a little more of.
"Access to community media production – both radio and television – has vastly expanded in recent years. And no serious human rights group has alleged that civil rights have eroded under the Chávez administration, and civil rights compare favorably to past governments and to countries in the region. "
If we go to Pat Robertson’s CBN
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050531a.aspx We read that
"Chavez calls this revolution 'Bolivarian,"'named after the South American liberator, Simon Bolivar. But for his opponents,this revolution has been anything but liberating.
"Maria-Corina Machado, opposition leader and mother of three, faces prison time for simply taking grant money from the National Endowment for Democracy, a program of the United States Congress.
""This is a country where anyone who dares to think and speak differently from the government,' said Machado, “'s seen as an enemy.'
"Machado's group Sumate used the money to educate citizens in democracy. But the Chavez government accused Machado of plotting with the U.S. to overthrow it. "
Well, the National Endownment for Democracy is no stranger to Venezuelan politics. According to the New York Times, the organization "funneled more than $877,000 into Venezuela opposition groups in the weeks and months before the recently aborted coup attempt." More than $150,000 went to "a Venezuelan labor union that led the opposition work stoppages and worked closely with Pedro Carmona Estanga, the businessman who led the coup."
NED, over the years, has actively destabilized governments in Central America and Eastern Europe. According to William Blum's book, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, the NED "played an important role in the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980s, funding key components of Oliver North's shadowy Project Democracy network, which privatized U.S. foreign policy, waged war, ran arms and drugs, and engaged in other equally charming activities." For years the NED supported the Cuban exile community in south Florida, contributing $250,000 between 1990 and 1992 to the right-wing Cuban-American National Foundation.
See
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/NED_Targets_Venezuela.htmlFurther research is required. Better yet, we should go to Venezula and see for ourselves!!