VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup for Tuesday, May 29, 2007

[mmven...@gmail.com]

Yesterday, the new public television station Teves (Televisora
Venezolana Social) began broadcasting on Channel 2, taking the place
of RCTV. The government-funded station has editorial autonomy, much
like public broadcasters in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Associated
Press reports that Teves began its programming by playing the
Venezuelan national anthem, using this fact to raise questions about
the relationship between Teves and the current administration.
However, all TV and radio outlets in Venezuela begin and end the day
by airing the national anthem. The Financial Times reports that Teves
will initially be broadcast in only 2 Venezuelan cities, as it will
not assume all of the 53 transmitters that RCTV operated.

RCTV, the opposition-aligned station that faced a non-renewal of its
licensing, ended its own tenure on the airwaves on Sunday at midnight,
and protests of the channel's end made news over the weekend.
Injuries were sustained by protesters as well as police in
confrontations on Sunday and Monday, according to the Miami Herald.
RCTV's employees and fans -- among them the devotees of the channel's
famous soap operas -- allege that the non-renewal is an example of
censorship and a "clampdown" on press freedoms, while the government
explains its actions as a response to RCTV's legal infringements,
which include inciting political violence during the 2002 coup attempt
against President Chavez. Some members of the public also readily
point out the connection between RCTV and the coup; a letter to the
editor of the Christian Science Monitor reads: "imagine if The New
York Times supported a coup against the US president. Don't you think
there would be some response by the president? This comparison should
have been made. Some news agencies didn't even mention the possible
connection between RCTV and the overthrow plot."

Information Minister Willian Lara announced yesterday that an
investigation will be held regarding another of Venezuela's opposition-
aligned stations, Globovision, the Associated Press reports. The
station is suspected of calling for the assassination of President
Chavez. CNN's coverage of Venezuelan issues is also under scrutiny,
Lara commented, for its attempts to associate Venezuela with terrorism
by juxtaposing images of Chavez and Al Qaeda leaders.

The Miami Herald reported Sunday that U.S. National Security Archive
documents provide evidence of terrorist acts committed by Luis Posada
Carriles. Venezuela has requested the extradition of Posada since
2005, and increased pressure on the U.S. government this month,
following his release from a Texas jail. The new documents
demonstrate a connection between Posada and the deaths of 73 innocent
victims in the bombing of a Cuban airliner. The Miami Herald also
runs an op-ed piece today written by a Cuban member of its editorial
board who argues that Posada should be venerated as a hero because his
attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro demonstrate a commitment to
"democracy."

Finally, Colombian officials deported two Venezuelan men, a lawmaker
and a university rector, after they participated in an opposition
rally in that was critical of Colombian President Uribe. The
Associated Press reports that the two Venezuelans, detained by
Colombian police, had been invited to the neighboring country to sign
agreements on behalf of Mision Milagro, a government program in
Venezuela that provides free eye care to the poor.

****************
1)"Venezuelans Protest As TV Station Shuts" Associated Press
2)"Venezuelan TV Station Goes Off the Air" Associated Press
3)"Venezuela Police Repel Protests Over TV Network's Closing" New York
Times
4)"Chávez's Move Against Critic Highlights Shift in Media" New York
Times
5)"Venezuelan station off the air; protesters again clash with police"
Miami Herald
6)"Venezuelan TV station goes dark" Los Angeles Times
7)"TV channel axed in latest Chavez drama" Financial Times
8)"Chávez clampdown" Financial Times
9)"Chavez changes channels" Economist
10)"Venezuelans Protest as RCTV's Hours on Air Wind Down" Bloomberg
11)"Chavez takes oldest TV channel off air" Agence France Presse
12)"Venezuela Calls for Probe of CNN, Globovision `Lies'" Bloomberg
13)"Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel" Reuters
14)"Second Venezuela TV is under fire" BBC
15)"TV row widens Venezuela's rift" BBC
16)"Chávez Tightens Grip, to Close TV Station" Wall Street Journal
17)"Venezuela: Government Sets Sights on Globovisión and CNN" New York
Times
18)"Venezuela sees assassination plot by critical TV station"
Associated Press
19)"Censorship merited in Venezuela?" Christian Science Monitor
20)"Venezuela's Bolivar Weakens on Protests Over TV Network Closing"
Bloomberg
21)"Colombia deports pro-Chavez Venezuelan lawmaker" Associated Press
22)"Released documents spark new intrigue" Miami Herald
23)"Posada and Che lived parallel lives" Miami Herald
****************

1)
Venezuelans Protest As TV Station Shuts
By Fabiola Sanchez
The Associated Press
May 29, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052900224.html

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan police fired tear gas and plastic
bullets Monday into a crowd of thousands protesting a decision by
President Hugo Chavez that forced a television station critical of his
leftist government off the air.

Police fired toward the crowd of up to 5,000 protesters from a raised
highway, and protesters fled amid clouds of tear gas. They later
regrouped in Caracas' Plaza Brion chanting "freedom!" Some tossed
rocks and bottles at police, prompting authorities to scatter
demonstrators by firing more gas.

It was the largest of several protests that broke out across Caracas
hours after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting at midnight
Sunday and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Chavez had
refused to renew RCTV's broadcast license, accusing it of "subversive"
activities and of backing a 2002 coup against him.

Interior Minister Pedro Carreno told state-run television that four
students were wounded by gunfire during a pro-RCTV protest staged near
a university in the city of Valencia, located 150 kilometers (93
miles) west of Caracas. It was not immediately clear who the
assailants were or if they were arrested.

At least three protesters and one police officer were injured in the
Caracas skirmishes. Some protesters were seen in television footage
hurling spent tear gas canisters back at police.

Office workers poured out of buildings to join student protesters,
while organizers called for the demonstration to remain peaceful. RCTV
talk show host Miguel Angel Rodriguez led the crowd in chants of,
"They will not silence us!"

Separately, Information Minister Willian Lara accused the private
Globovision TV channel of encouraging an attempt on Chavez's life by
broadcasting the chorus of a salsa tune _ "Have faith, this doesn't
end here" _ along with footage of the 1981 assassination attempt
against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

"They incite the assassination of Venezuela's president," he said.

Globovision director Alberto Federico Ravell denied any wrongdoing,
calling the allegations "ridiculous." He also accused U.S. network CNN
of coverage biased against Chavez.

The new public channel, TVES, launched its transmissions early Monday
with artists singing pro-Chavez music, then carried an exercise
program and a talk show, interspersed with government ads proclaiming,
"Now Venezuela belongs to everyone."

Thousands of government supporters reveled in the streets as they
watched the midnight changeover on large TV screens, seeing RCTV's
signal go black and then be replaced by a TVES logo. Others launched
fireworks and danced in the streets.

Inside the studios of RCTV _ the sole opposition-aligned TV station
with nationwide reach _ disheartened actors and comedians wept and
embraced in the final minutes on the air.

Chavez says he is democratizing the airwaves by turning the network's
signal over to public use.

The socialist president accused the network of helping to incite a
failed coup in 2002, violating broadcast laws and "poisoning"
Venezuelans with programming that promoted capitalism. RCTV's managers
deny wrongdoing.

Founded in 1953, RCTV was the nation's oldest private channel and
regularly topped viewer ratings with its talk shows, sports, soap
operas and comedy programs.

Some protesters on Monday blocked roads with rocks and burning trash,
saying they fear for the future of free speech. Police used tear gas
to break up at least two protests, and were seen handcuffing and
detaining one man.

The group Reporters Without Borders called for international
condemnation of the RCTV decision as "a major setback to democracy and
pluralism."

Robert Menard, the Paris-based group's secretary-general, called the
measure Chavez's "first serious international political error."

Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, officially
declared its concern that Venezuela let RCTV's license expire "without
holding an open competition for the successor license."

****************

2)
Venezuelan TV Station Goes Off the Air
By Ian James
The Associated Press
May 28, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052700590.html

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's oldest private television station
went off the air just before midnight Sunday as thousands banged on
pots and pans in protest against a decision by President Hugo Chavez
that did away with a popular opposition-aligned channel.

Fireworks exploded across Caracas as crowds of Chavez's supporters
celebrated his decision not to renew Radio Caracas Television's
license and instead to award it to a new public service station.

The studios of RCTV _ the sole opposition-aligned TV station with
nationwide reach _ were filled with teary-eyed actors who embraced and
shouted "freedom!" in the final minutes on the air.

They bowed their heads in prayer, and a presenter declared: "Long live
Venezuela! We will return soon." Then the national anthem was played
and the screen turned black. Within seconds, it was replaced with the
insignia of TVES, the new state-funded channel assigned to the
frequency.

Chavez says he is democratizing the airwaves by turning a "coup-
mongering" network's signal over for public use. His opponents
condemned the shutdown of RCTV as an assault on free speech and a blow
to democracy.

Police broke up one opposition protest using a water cannon and tear
gas, and later clashed with protesters who set afire trash heaps in
affluent eastern Caracas. Police said some protesters fired shots, and
others threw rocks and bottles. Police said 11 officers were injured.

Television stars at RCTV hosted an emotional on-air goodbye mixed with
denunciations of Chavez's government.

"We are living an injustice," said Eyla Adrian, a 35-year-old
presenter, her eyes welling with tears.

RCTV's top executive, Marcel Granier, said Chavez's decision "marks a
turn toward totalitarianism."

The socialist president and his supporters accuse RCTV of supporting a
failed 2002 coup, violating broadcast laws and regularly showing
programs with excessive violence and sexual content.

In 2002, RCTV and other private channels broadcast opposition calls
for protests to overthrow Chavez while giving scant coverage to
Chavez's return to power amid protests by his supporters.

Andres Izarra, who now heads the state-financed channel Telesur, said
he quit his job as a newsroom manager at RCTV because he was disgusted
with the way "everything was censored" during the coup.

"The order was 'zero Chavismo on the screen.' Nothing related to
Chavez, his allies, his congressmen, members of his party," Izarra
said. "When I hear the owners of RCTV talk about freedom of
expression, it seems to me a great hypocrisy."

While fireworks crackled, thousands of red-clad government supporters
gathered around giant screens set up in a Caracas plaza to watch the
new channel's first transmission. Some danced to the classic salsa
tune "Todo tiene su final" _ "Everything Has Its End."

Briceida Rivas, 28, said the new public service channel is cause for
celebration, calling RCTV's programs "bad for children."

The new channel, TVES, began its transmission with an orchestra
playing the national anthem. Officials said that was to be followed
with a live program including musical performances, and then a state-
financed film about independence hero Simon Bolivar.

RCTV, founded in 1953, was Venezuela's oldest private TV station and
was regularly the top channel in viewer ratings. But Chavez called its
soap operas "pure poison" that promote capitalism.

Granier called his station's shutdown a flagrant abuse of power by
Chavez.

"He's losing more than he thinks he's gaining. He's losing
international recognition and he's losing the respect of his people,"
Granier said, while hundreds of protesters massed outside the station
chanting, "No to the shutdown!"

Venezuela's Supreme Court has ruled that the replacement station can
use RCTV's broadcasting equipment and told the military to guard it.

Most Venezuelan news media are in private hands, including many
newspapers and radio stations that remain staunchly critical of
Chavez. But the only other major opposition-sided TV channel is
Globovision, which is not seen in all parts of the country.

Rafael Molina, president of the Miami-based Inter American Press
Association, said "the concession of broadcast frequencies should not
serve to reward or punish media outlets for their editorial line."

Information Minister Willian Lara argued that RCTV was rejected
because "it systematically violates the constitution. It is strictly a
legal case."

****************

3)
Venezuela Police Repel Protests Over TV Network's Closing
By Simon Romero
The New York Times
May 28, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/world/americas/28venez.html

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 27 ? With little more than an hour to go late
Sunday until this country's oldest television network was to be taken
off the air after 53 years of broadcasting, the police dispersed
thousands of protesters by firing tear gas into demonstrations against
the measure.

The police said that shots were fired in their direction and that
protesters hurling rocks had injured 11 officers. Local television
showed images of policemen with guns drawn patrolling a highway that
had been closed near one demonstration. Protesters in other areas of
the city burned tires, apparently eliciting the police reaction.

Groups that support President Hugo Chávez also flooded a central area
of Caracas to celebrate his decision not to renew the broadcasting
license of Radio Caracas Televisión, or RCTV, which has been one of
his most vocal critics.

RCTV's signal will be transferred to a new state broadcasting company,
part of a growing array of state and private media ventures that are
supportive of Mr. Chávez.

The president has defended the RCTV decision, saying that the network
supported a coup that briefly removed him from office in 2002.

RCTV's news programs regularly deride Mr. Chávez's Socialist-inspired
transformation of Venezuelan society. "RCTV lacks respect for the
Venezuelan people," said Onán Mauricio Aristigueta, 46, a messenger at
the National Assembly who showed up to support the president.

Mr. Chávez has left untouched the operations of other private
broadcasters who were also critical of him at the time of the 2002
coup but who have changed editorial policies to stop criticizing his
government. That has led Mr. Chávez's critics to claim that the move
to allow RCTV's license to expire amounts to a stifling of dissent in
the news media.

"The other channels don't say anything," said Elisa Parejo, 69, an
actress who was one of RCTV's first soap opera stars. "What we're
living in Venezuela is a monstrosity," she said at RCTV's headquarters
on Sunday, as employees gathered for an on-air remembrance of the
network's history. "It is a dictatorship."

El Nacional, a daily newspaper here that remains critical of Mr.
Chávez, greeted readers on Sunday with a front-page editorial set
against a blackened background, describing the RCTV decision as "the
end of pluralism" in the country.

The Inter-American Press Association joined other nongovernmental
groups over the weekend in condemning the RCTV decision. Gonzalo
Marroquín, the president of the association, said in a statement that
the RCTV move was intended to "standardize the right to information,
and results in a very bleak outlook for the whole hemisphere."

María Alejandra Díaz, the social responsibility director at the
Communications Ministry, cited recent legislation in Venezuela that
enabled the government to shut down media groups for 72 hours if their
coverage incited people to engage in violent protests. Ms. Díaz asked
news organizations to refrain from reporting on the association's
statement, since it could allow viewers, readers or listeners to think
Mr. Chávez's government was "tyrannical."

****************

4)
Chávez's Move Against Critic Highlights Shift in Media
By Simon Romero
The New York Times
May 27, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/world/americas/27venez.html

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 26 ? Arturo Sarmiento speaks upper-crust
English polished at Sandhurst, Britain's aristocratic military school.
He made fortunes trading oil and importing whiskey. Now Mr. Sarmiento,
just 35 and a staunch supporter of President Hugo Chávez, owns an
expanding television network here.

As tempers flare around Mr. Chávez's decision not to renew the license
of RCTV, the nation's oldest broadcaster and a vocal critic,
effectively shutting it down on Sunday, a new media elite is emerging.
It is made up of ideological devotees to Mr. Chávez, senior government
officials and tycoons like Mr. Sarmiento.

That is a marked contrast with the state of the news media when Mr.
Chávez's rule began in 1999. Then, the industry was largely privately
owned by moneyed interests hostile to Mr. Chávez. His supporters say
that old guard ? as partisan as newspapers in the early United
States ? sought to derail his actions during much of his presidency.

"With the polarization that's befallen Venezuela, media organizations
have been used to cause political change," Mr. Sarmiento said in a
recent interview. He says his ambitions for TeleCaribe, a private
broadcaster he bought last year, are different: to provide programming
tailored to regional audiences in Venezuela. "Media vehicles should
not be engaged in politics," he said.

Mr. Chávez has dueled with opponents in the news media while
fortifying news organizations loyal to him. For instance, newspapers
favorable to the government have received nearly 12 times more
government advertising, said Andrés Cañizález, a researcher at Andrés
Bello University, citing a study of four leading dailies.

"Previous administrations in Venezuela also used advertising as a way
to consolidate media support," Mr. Cañizález said. "The difference now
is that the government has made growing its own media operations and
combating its opponents in the media central elements of its political
strategy."

In what may point to a rare example of widespread disagreement with
the popular president, recent polls show that most Venezuelans oppose
Mr. Chávez's decision not to renew RCTV's license.

Thousands of people marched through downtown here on Saturday to
RCTV's headquarters to show support for the network, following a
protest by opposing groups late Friday in front of Globovisión,
another dissident network, that left that its building and neighboring
buildings painted with pro-Chávez slogans.

The RCTV move has rallied the president's base. Anti-RCTV graffiti
covers walls throughout Caracas alongside criticism of President Bush,
whom Mr. Chávez regularly derides. Mr. Chávez has described RCTV as
"putschist," with his disdain for the network intensifying since a
group of military officers briefly ousted him in 2002.

The president accuses RCTV and other private broadcasters of
supporting what amounted to a 48-hour coup. In RCTV's case, the
government says the network colluded with the coup's conspirators by
conducting a news blackout after Mr. Chávez's removal and broadcasting
cartoons when he returned to office two days later.

As Mr. Chávez's political power has grown, with loyalists controlling
the Supreme Court, the national assembly and most state governments,
RCTV has remained critical of Mr. Chávez. Two other nationwide
broadcasters, Televen and Venevisión, have curtailed critical
coverage. Globovisión, the cable news channel that drew the anger of
pro-Chávez groups on Friday, remains critical of Mr. Chávez but is
viewed by a relatively small part of the population.

Mr. Chávez's partisans often say critical coverage of the government
illustrates elitist and racist sentiments, while dissidents say the
news media are their only outlet for expression, since other
institutions are controlled by Mr. Chávez.

Meanwhile, changes in the criminal code and new legislation have
raised defamation penalties and enhanced the government's ability to
intimidate critics through legal action while Mr. Chávez has created
an array of new state media ventures. When he was first elected, the
government had just one television station and two radio stations. Now
there are four new television stations controlled by central and
regional governments and seven new radio broadcasters.

Some of the new ventures, like Telesur, a regional cable news network
with a pan-Latin American agenda similar to the pan-Arabism of Al
Jazeera, are taking over the operations of private broadcasters.
Telesur, based in Caracas and backed largely by Venezuela's
government, recently acquired the broadcasting signal of CMT, a
private broadcaster, allowing it to reach an audience beyond cable.

"There is a democratization of television under way in Venezuela,"
Andrés Izarra, a former RCTV executive who is now president of
Telesur, said in an interview on Saturday.

Supporters of Mr. Chávez's decision to deny RCTV a new license point
out that most news organizations in Venezuela remain in private hands.
Influential newspapers like El Nacional and El Universal, two Caracas
dailies, remain independent and their editorials are critical of Mr.
Chávez.

Still, some of the nation's largest private media groups show a trend
toward far softer coverage of Mr. Chávez's government. For instance,
Últimas Noticias, the Caracas tabloid with the nation's highest
circulation, recently helped sponsor a series of forums on "21st
century socialism," Mr. Chávez's catch-all concept for the changes
sweeping Venezuela.

Also largely refraining from critical coverage of Mr. Chávez are
Panorama, Maracaibo's main daily newspaper, and El Diario de Caracas
and the English-language Daily Journal, both of which were acquired in
recent years by Julio Augusto López, a pro-Chávez entrepreneur.

Mr. López also controls Canal de Noticias, a cable news channel, and
is involved in publishing El Patriota, an army newspaper. Plans for
another news channel have been announced by Wilmer Ruperti, a shipping
tycoon who backs Mr. Chávez.

Readership and revenues have grown for more stridently partisan
boosters of Mr. Chávez in recent years, like Diario Vea, a daily
newspaper founded in 2004 and edited by Servando García Ponce, a
former longtime correspondent for the Itar-Tass news agency in
Venezuela.

Vea, its pages filled with government advertising, runs features on
Communist history, like Ho Chi Minh's victory over the French at Dien
Bien Phu in 1954, and columns by Venezuelans like Basem Tajeldine, who
recently accused Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, of attacks
against Jews to justify what he called "Zionist" policies.

"Freedom of expression is flourishing in Venezuela," Mr. García Ponce
said in an interview. "We are not repressive of minority opinions in
Venezuela."

The government's treatment of its critics is on display on La Hojilla,
a nightly talk show on the main state television station that
pillories opposition journalists against a backdrop with images of Mr.
Chávez, Lenin and Che Guevara.

La Hojilla's host, Mario Silva, also publishes a weekly newspaper with
the same name and editorial tone of his show. (The most recent issue
has a full-page cartoon depicting Marcel Granier, RCTV's president, as
Batman and the network's main male anchor as Robin, in a loving
embrace as they plot Mr. Chávez's ouster.)

The creation of yet another state broadcaster by replacing RCTV with a
new government broadcasting operation called Teves has fueled growing
international concern. Human Rights Watch this week called the license
decision a "serious setback for freedom of expression in Venezuela."

The government here seemed ready with arguments to counter the
international political reaction to RCTV's effective closure. The
United States Senate this week approved a resolution describing the
RCTV decision as a "transgression against freedom of thought."

It drew a rebuke from Bernardo Álvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to the
United States, who said the nonrenewal of RCTV's license was a legal
and regulatory decision.

"While the decision has been distorted to make it seem like
Venezuela's government is closing a television station, this is simply
a regulatory matter," Mr. Álvarez said in a letter to Senator Richard
G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who introduced the measure.

****************

5)
Venezuelan station off the air; protesters again clash with police
By Phil Gunson
The Miami Herald
May 29, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/121565.html

CARACAS -- Riot police clashed with thousands of demonstrators in the
Venezuelan capital for a second consecutive day Monday, leaving
several people injured, as protests continued over the closure by
President Hugo Chávez of the country's most popular television
station, Radio Caracas Televisión, (RCTV).

International condemnation of the shutdown also continued, with
criticism coming from the European Union and the press freedom body
Reporters Without Borders.

Robert Ménard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, said in
Caracas that the decision not to renew the station's license was
''political.'' Chávez has accused RCTV of being part of a conspiracy
to destabilize his 8-year-old government.

Protests by students from several Caracas universities were dispersed
by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets, leaving several
students hurt. In the midtown Plaza Brión square, protesters kneeled
in front of police with their hands in the air and eventually
regrouped after the riot squad pulled back.

There were similar clashes in a number of other Venezuelan cities, and
in Valencia four students suffered gunshot wounds. Unconfirmed reports
said one had died.

In an interview with the government channel VTV, Interior Minister
Pedro Carreño accused the opposition of mounting a plot against the
government, devised by ''the empire.'' Chávez frequently refers to the
United States as ``the empire.''

PROTESTS `A PRETEXT'

Carreño said the demonstrators were using the RCTV case as a pretext
``to develop a plan for violence in the country.''

''The government [also] has its plan,'' Carreño told the TV channel.
''And it is working.'' He gave no further details.

Several journalists, producers and artists from the Venevisión
channel, owned by the multinational Cisneros Organization, joined the
Plaza Brión rally to express their rejection of the shutdown.

They included some of the channel's best-known anchors.

Venevisión, which was once among the most openly anti-Chávez TV
stations, now avoids criticizing the government. Its broadcasting
license, which also expired Sunday, was renewed by the authorities
last week.

Chávez ''clearly over-estimated his strength in this instance,'' said
lawyer and political analyst Enrique ter Horst, a former U.N. deputy
high commissioner for human rights. The RCTV closure, ter Horst told
The Miami Herald, ``has awakened sectors of society, such as the
students, which had remained largely on the sidelines.''

At RCTV headquarters, most of the staff turned up for work as usual
Monday, according to news anchor Valeria Murgich.

``Even though our eyes were swollen from crying and we felt angry and
indignant.''

Many of the staff slept at the station Sunday night, Murgich said,
after an emotional final broadcast in which they sang the national
anthem, prayed together and chanted ''Freedom, freedom'' and ``No to
the shutdown.''

It remained unclear whether the station will find a permanent way to
transmit its programs now that its frequency has been taken away and
its transmitters taken over by the armed forces for use by TVES.

For the moment, it is managing to get some news programs on the air
via its sister radio station, RCR, and the Colombian TV station
Caracol, and it is also using the Internet.

In a statement, the German presidency of the European Union ''noted
with concern'' the fact that the Venezuelan government had decided to
allow RCTV's license to expire, ``without holding an open competition
for the successor license.''

The statement called on Venezuela to uphold the principles of free
speech.

And at a Monday news conference, Ménard called the shutdown ''a
serious violation of freedom of expression and a major setback to
democracy and pluralism'' and called on the international community to
``defend what remains of the independent media in Venezuela.''

The new government-run TVES channel, meanwhile, which broadcast its
first day's programs, showed little sign of the ''pluralism, diversity
and freedom of expression'' promised in its opening promo video.

TRAVEL AND COOKING

A light diet of travel, cooking and arts programs was interspersed
with frequent government propaganda spots, extolling the virtues of
Chávez's social welfare ''missions'' and recent nationalizations of
''strategic'' industries.

The principal challenge facing the new channel, according to media
experts, is to replace the country's most popular shows with programs
that attract an audience, while simultaneously meeting the
government's demand to promote ''socialist'' values.

****************

6)
Venezuelan TV station goes dark;
RCTV, a frequent critic of the president, is shut down after the
government refuses to renew its license.
By Chris Kraul
The Los Angeles Times
May 29, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ventv29may29,1,697130.story

CARACAS, VENEZUELA ? Venezuelan folk music, a Cuban documentary and
heavy doses of government propaganda glorifying "21st century
socialism" highlighted the first day of a new television channel that
on Monday took over airspace of this nation's oldest and most popular
station, a frequent critic of leftist President Hugo Chavez.

At midnight Sunday, Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, went dark for
the first time in 53 years after the Chavez government refused to
renew its broadcast license, alleging violations of telecommunications
law. That decision, announced in December, has been slammed by
international press freedom groups, several governments and even some
Chavez supporters.

Protests that began Sunday night around the national
telecommunications regulatory commission's office continued into the
morning at several universities in the Caracas area. Police fired tear
gas at demonstrators blocking a lane of a major freeway Monday.

Pro-government gatherings to applaud the takeover also were held
around the city.

RCTV, a powerhouse news and prime-time programmer, was replaced on the
airwaves by Televisora Venezolana Social, or TVes, after the Supreme
Court over the weekend gave the new broadcaster the right to use
RCTV's towers and microwave transmitters.

In a final news conference before hundreds of tearful RCTV employees
at the downtown studios Sunday night, station chief Marcel Granier
said the denial of the license was part of an ongoing Chavez campaign
to stifle opposition free speech. He also called the court decision
"robbery."

None of RCTV's 3,000 employees was immediately laid off, as management
scrambled to try to continue broadcasting over cable or satellite. But
set designer Valentin Martiradonna said cuts were "inevitable. They
can't maintain all of us in our places for long."

Said Virginia Vera, host of a morning call-in show that has a 60%
viewer share: "Everyone is afraid."

Government officials said the license was denied for alleged
violations of laws governing violence and sex programming. Andres
Izarra, a former RCTV producer who is now president of Telesur, one of
the three government channels that Chavez has started, defended the
switch in broadcasters, saying it was not a "takeover but a case of
the expiration of a license?. This will lead to a pluralization of
voices and a democratization of the news media."

But most observers cite RCTV's strident criticism of Chavez and his
policies as the real reason for the license denial. Like Venezuela's
other major broadcasters, RCTV lent at least tacit support to a 2002
coup against the president by directing marchers and then failing to
inform the public that the coup had failed. Whereas other major
broadcasters reportedly reached understandings with the Chavez
government to soften their criticisms, RCTV had remained critical
since the failed coup.

"What government in the world would renew the license of a broadcaster
implicated in a military coup?" said presidential advisor Alexander
Main, noting that last week two other commercial stations' licenses
were renewed.

The closure brought censures from the U.S. Senate, the European Union,
the Inter American Press Assn., and the governments of Chile and El
Salvador.

Most Venezuelans oppose the yanking of RCTV's license, according to a
recent poll by Caracas research firm Datanalisis. However, Chavez's
overall approval rating remained high at 64%.

"This could be a mistake for Chavez because it breaks the appearance
of democracy that Chavez has succeeded in having, especially with the
Europeans," said Datanalisis President Luis Vicente Leon.

Last-minute appeals over the air by RCTV workers that Chavez
reconsider came to naught.

Some saw irony in Chavez's decision, given that RCTV was viewed by
some as sympathetic to Chavez's own coup attempt in February 1992.
Soon afterward, the station ran a popular soap opera called "In These
Streets" that portrayed an honest judge trying to bring reform to a
poor Caracas barrio. The soap got record ratings and stayed on the air
for two years. Many credit it for helping turn public opinion to
Chavez, who was elected president in 1998.

Soap opera writer Ibsen Martinez said in an interview that Chavez as
president sought out his opinions and remained friendly, even naming
him to a reconciliation panel after the 2002 coup. But, Martinez said,
he resigned after Chavez turned the panel into a "platform for
himself." Martinez said he believed the president was trying to limit
public opinion by creating "hegemony" in the news media.

"Chavez is typical of the Latin American left in that they see
democracy and free institutions as a medium for taking power. But once
they have it , they think democracy is just a formality, a trick of
the bourgeoisie," Martinez said.

****************

7)
TV channel axed in latest Chavez drama
By Richard Lapper
The Financial Times
May 26, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4aeed550-0b26-11dc-8412-000b5df10621.html

As the voice of the Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa drifts around
his tiny studio, Fernando Salas -prepares to end his daily shift at
Radio Horizonte 106.7FM.

Mr Salas, a former building inspector, is one of three presenters at
the station, which offers a mix predominantly of talk shows and
leftwing music from the likes of Ms Sosa to the few thousand residents
of Santa Juana, a poor area in the Venezuelan city of Merida.

The station is one of about 200 community broadcasters given licences
by the government of President Hugo Chávez in line with its aim to
"democratise" the mass media and establish what one former minister
called recently the "state's communicational and informational
hegemony".

That policy will face its toughest test this weekend when the
government presses ahead with plans to end the 20-year terrestrial
television concession enjoyed by Radio Caracas Televisión, the
country's oldest and most popular private channel.

The station's blatantly partisan reporting - like that of other
rightwing media - contributed to Venezuela's political polarisation
and Mr Chávez has repeatedly alleged that it supported the coup that
led to his brief departure from office five years ago. Mr Chávez
announced at the end of last year that its licence - which expires
tomorrow night - would not be renewed.

The government's tough approach wins plaudits in Santa Juana,
according to Mr Salas. "We discussed the issue on one of our evening
forums and most of our -listeners agree it should not continue on the
air because of what has happened," he says.

The policy is more controversial elsewhere in the country. Radio
Caracas' soap operas such as The Ex and My Cousin Ciela are popular,
regularly attracting more than 50 per cent of Venezuelan viewers.

Two opinion polls have shown that more than 70 per cent of
Venezuelans, including many of Mr Chávez's own supporters, are opposed
to the decision not to renew the licence. Arturo Sarm-iento, a Caracas
businessman who runs Telecaribe, an independent regional television
station, and supports the government's policy, admits the measure will
"have a huge political cost".

A public-service channel, Venezuelan Social Television (Teves), is to
replace RCTV. But it could struggle, partly for technical reasons.

Initially, at least, it will broadcast in only two Venezuelan cities,
partly because the authorities are not taking over the 53 transmitters
operated by RCTV.

Elsewhere in the world, with few exceptions public-service stations
have not won a sterling reputation for slick popular programming. Lil
Rodriguez, the channel's new president, hardly encouraged optimism
when she announced last week that "we don't intend to make Teves
really boring".

Teves is planning to develop its own soap opera based on the lives of
Simón Bolívar, Venezuela's nat-ional hero, and Manuela Sáenz, one of
his lovers, but until that is ready viewers will have to make do with
a range of cooking, travel, music, opinion and other documentary
shows, as well as an opinion programme.

There are more serious worries that the RCTV decision could discourage
independent reporting. Mr Sarmiento and other supporters of Mr Chávez
insist the government has no intention to impose censorship and says
RCTV will be free to broadcast its programmes via cable.

Nevertheless, Venezuela has come under fire from a number of
international human-rights organisations. The US-based Human Rights
Watch argued last week that the non-renewal of the RCTV licence was a
"serious setback for freedom of expression".

Critics point to a raft of laws - such as ones making "disrespect" of
government institutions and authorities a criminal offence - that have
already encouraged a degree of self-censorship in the media.
Previously hostile television channels have taken opinion programmes
off the air, for example.

None of this cuts much ice in Santa Juana, where Mr Salas is preparing
for three consecutive evenings of discussions on the pros and cons of
joining the Venezuelan United Socialist Party, the new political
organisation being promoted by Mr Chávez.

"The microphones are always open for anyone to come and speak but few
people tend to disagree with the changes we are living through," he
says.

****************

8)
Chávez clampdown
The Financial Times
Editorial
May 29, 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/597bf998-0d80-11dc-937a-000b5df10621.html

Radio Caracas Televisión, Venezuela's most popular privately owned
television channel, stopped broadcasting on Sunday, after the
government of President Hugo Chávez decided not to renew an expiring
20-year concession.

The closure limits freedom of expression and reflects the arbitrary
and authoritarian approach that has come to characterise Mr Chávez's
government. In a region where the media have been becoming more open
in recent years after the dark period of military rule in the 1970s
and 1980s, this is a backward and worrying step.

Admittedly, RCTV has contributed to its own demise. The station's soap
operas may have been well-liked but its political reporting was often
blatantly partisan. Mr Chávez has alleged frequently that the
channel's owners backed the military coup that briefly interrupted
constitutional rule five years ago. It is certainly true that its
broadcasts contributed in no small part to the polarisation of the
country's politics. Even José Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the
Organisation of American States, has felt it necessary to point out
that the government's charges of coup-mongering should not be taken
lightly.

Nevertheless, the place to pursue these allegations is the justice
system. By contrast, the process whereby RCTV has been denied its
licence renewal has been opaque. There appears to have been no
independent scrutiny of evidence nor an opportunity for the channel to
defend itself. Mr Chávez announced in December that the channel would
lose its licence and only since then do officials appear to have been
assembling their case.

Moreover, the decision has been accompanied by several worrying
developments. Venezuela is one of the few countries in Latin America
to make "disrespect" towards the government a crime (most of the
region is moving in the opposite direction). Its broadcast media
"social responsibility" law contains vaguely worded public-order
clauses that could leave media owners and reporters open to
prosecution. Not surprisingly, the private media say they already
practise self-censorship.

Mr Chávez and his ministers claim that they are stimulating new media,
from community radio stations to a public service channel that will
replace RCTV. But these outlets are likely to depend heavily on
government funding, either directly or indirectly through advertising.
If Venezuela's leader really favours democratising the media,
arbitrarily closing down his critics is not the best way to go about
it.

****************

9)
Chavez changes channels
The Economist
May 29, 2007
http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9248319&top_story=1

CARACAS -- In the ultra-modern, digital newsroom of Radio Caracas
Televisión (RCTV), a message taped to a room-divider reads: "If you're
looking to buy consciences, ours are not for sale". RCTV's journalists
are unable to broadcast their news programmes in the normal fashion
since the channel was taken off the air just before midnight on Sunday
May 27th. President Hugo Chávez decreed last December that there would
be no more television concessions for what he calls "fascists" and
"coup plotters". His supporters argue that the concession expired on
Sunday and was simply not renewed. The channel's owners and staff,
along with many human-rights organisations, see the move as revenge
for their critical editorial line.

Channel 2, where RCTV had broadcast for more than half a century, is
now home to a new government-run channel. Gone are Venezuelans'
favourite soap operas, the world's longest-running comedy show, "Radio
Rochela", and a breakfast talk-show called "The Interview" that has
earned its outspoken anti-Chávez host, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, a
stream of insults and threats from sources supporting the president.
Polls suggest that an overwhelming majority of Venezuelans oppose what
they consider as interference with their choice of viewing.

On Sunday and Monday many took to the streets, and to the airwaves?or
at least, those that are still open to dissenting voices. That means,
primarily, Globovisión: the 24-hour news station is the only remaining
anti-government channel. Students from Caracas's main universities,
and others across the country, braved tear-gas and plastic bullets
from riot police. They were joined by journalists and, in a remarkable
show of solidarity, by soap stars and news anchors from RCTV's rival,
Venevisión. Its boss, Gustavo Cisneros, caved in to government
pressure several years ago and removed anti-Chávez commentary and news
items from his station.

Mr Chávez won re-election last December, after nearly eight years in
power, with more than 60% of the vote. Since then, he has taken a
sharp turn to the left, in a bid to install in Venezuela what he calls
a "21st century socialist" regime. But many of his own supporters
oppose the closure of RCTV. The second-largest party in his
parliamentary coalition, the social-democratic Podemos, refused to
attend a recent session in support of the decision. Party sources say
that not one of its legislators agrees with the closure of RCTV.
International reaction has scarcely been more encouraging for Mr
Chávez.

On Monday the European Union expressed concern that the non-renewal of
the concession took place without any open competition for a
successor. Germany called on the Venezuelan government to respect the
principle of press freedom. Non-governmental organisations such as
Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to
Protect Journalists have all condemned the move. Carlos Lauría of the
CPJ called it "a predetermined and politically motivated effort to
silence critical coverage [which] sets a chilling precedent."

RCTV, along with Venezuela's other TV channels, are not without
blemish. In April 2002, when Mr Chávez was briefly ousted in a coup
attempt, they blacked out news of protests that helped to restore him
to power. And their role as behind-the-scenes power brokers has often
distorted their coverage. But the government's growing number of media
outlets, both broadcast and print, pump out an unremitting diet of pro-
Chávez propaganda, belittling and even slandering opposition figures
on a daily basis. Moreover, the government holds all the regulatory
powers, as well as controlling the Supreme Court, whose rulings seldom
challenge its interests.

Has Mr Chávez made a significant miscalculation, which could affect
his apparently firm grip on power? Enrique ter Horst, a lawyer and a
former UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, says Mr Chávez
remains strong but that, "he clearly overestimated his forces in this
case". The circumstances "open a new chapter" in the country's
political crisis.

Mr Chávez seems to have two options: a further crack-down on dissent,
or to ease up on the revolutionary accelerator. A legal move on Monday
to prosecute Globovisión for allegedly hinting that the president
should be assassinated, by Venezuela's information minister suggests
that the government does not plan to climb-down. If so, tension is
sure to rise.

****************

10)
Venezuelans Protest as RCTV's Hours on Air Wind Down
By Theresa Bradley
Bloomberg
May 27, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aedtfz6aARsQ

Venezuelans protesting President Hugo Chavez's refusal to renew the
broadcast license of the country's most-watched TV network clanged
pots and blew sirens as the clock ticked toward midnight when its
signal goes off the air.

Thousands of demonstrators poured into streets around the National
Telecommunications Commission headquarters in Caracas today chanting
``Free Speech!'' at hundreds of city and military police, who used
water cannon to disperse crowds. Police officials said 11 officers
were injured in the skirmish.

Protesters called Chavez's decision on Radio Caracas Television an act
of political retaliation against a private TV network that transmits
news coverage hostile to his government, along with soap operas, game
shows and comedies.

``This is how everyone who walks the absolutist and authoritarian road
begins, and it ends badly for all of them,'' Zulia state Governor
Manuel Rosales, who won 37 percent of December's presidential vote,
said in a televised speech.

Chavez's refusal to license RCTV, as the country's oldest network is
known, boosts his control over Venezuelan media and 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.

`Full of Fear'

The government's rejection of RCTV's application marks the first time
a broadcaster has lost its permit. The network, founded in 1953, had
it most recent license renewed in 1987.

Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon last week said Venezuelan law
doesn't require the government to articulate any specific reason for
refusing to grant a broadcast license.

``This government is full of fear, it can't stand criticism,'' RCTV
Chairman Marcel Granier said in a televised press conference tonight.
``We will fight this in the courts. We'll do what we have to.''

He urged protesters to ``show serenity and rally peacefully. We have
to set an example.''

Chavez backers, who marched by the thousands in counter-
demonstrations this weekend, argue that RCTV's newscasts incite his
opponents to violence. Some point to the network's racy soap operas as
evidence of its objectionable moral character.

``This TV network has become a threat to the country,'' Chavez said
this weekend in a televised speech from Venezuela's Lara state, which
interrupted live coverage of pro-RCTV marches for more than three
hours. ``I base my decision on the specific behavior of this private
station, its attitude and constant stepping on public morals.''

Rising Focus

The protests follow days of opposition demonstrations, last minute-
Supreme Court rulings and a growing media focus on the dispute.

International observers including the European Parliament, U.S. Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights condemned the shutdown of RCTV. Chavez's government circulated
petitions in regional capitals from Nicaragua to Uruguay calling for
support of its sovereignty.

The National Guard was called out to keep peace on the streets and
step up protection at local radio and TV offices, a day after pro-
Chavez vandals mobbed the headquarters of private cable news network
Globovision. Chanting obscenities, scores of vandals spray-painted red
revolutionary slogans on the network's outer walls, disappearing just
before police arrived.

Venezuelan Information Minister Willian Lara called the vandalism
``anarchy'' and said it would help ``the right'' foment public
conflict ahead of the network's shutdown.

Supreme Court

Claiming that the ``oligarchy'' is out to destabilize his government,
Chavez said RCTV supporters are set to sabotage upcoming broadcasts by
TVes, the state television channel created to replace RCTV, by
hijacking the frequency.

``All we've done so far is not renew their concession, but if they
respond by sabotaging the signal, we'll have to apply the full force
of the law,'' Chavez said May 26. ``If some act of violence occurs,
they're going to regret it.''

Venezuela's Supreme Court on May 17 dismissed a legal bid by RCTV's
head Granier to preserve his network's access to the airwaves. A week
later, the court granted the National Telecommunications Commission,
known as Conatel, use of RCTV's electronic transmitters, ordering the
Defense Ministry to monitor facilities with access to the public
frequency.

Conatel separately announced May 26 that it had renewed public
broadcasting licenses for four other networks, including state-run VTV
and Venevision, RCTV's main rival, which is owned by Gustavo Cisneros,
one of Venezuela's richest men.

Uncertain Future

RCTV is the nation's oldest and most popular network, known for
beaming ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,'' soap operas and heated talk
shows into millions of Venezuelan homes.

Chavez's government accuses the network of helping incite a coup that
ousted him from office for two days in 2002. While RCTV papered
airwaves with coverage of his ouster, it reportedly ran cartoons once
Chavez was restored to office, declining to report his government's
return.

RCTV executives have yet to announce if the network will sell its
content elsewhere, although Granier tonight said the network may
resume broadcasting via cable in the future.

*****************

11)
Venezuela Calls for Probe of CNN, Globovision `Lies'
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Alex Kennedy
Bloomberg
May 28, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aV.Cin72P4ps

Venezuela's government urged a probe of Time Warner Inc.'s Cable News
Network and local television station Globovision for broadcasting
``lies'' and inciting violence against President Hugo Chavez.

Communications and Information Minister Willian Lara, who today asked
the attorney general to start an investigation, said CNN last week
portrayed a Mexican protest as being in Caracas and displayed images
of Chavez next to an al-Qaeda leader. Globovision, a Caracas-based, 24-
hour news channel, last week ran scenes from the 1981 attempt to kill
Pope John Paul II, which Lara said was incitement against Chavez.

``This is an effort to associate Hugo Chavez with two things: violence
and death,'' Lara said in a televised news conference today in
Caracas. ``It's an unacceptable piece of propaganda against the
country, not real journalism.''

The probe is likely to fuel international and domestic concern that
yesterday's government shutdown of Radio Caracas Television, the
country's oldest and most-watched TV network, was just the first step
toward imposing a gag on news media, Alberto Federico Ravell,
Globovision's general manager, said in an interview. RCTV, which
carried game shows, comedies, and soap operas, was the most widely
viewed network critical of the government in its news-related
programming.

Police this evening fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters,
angered by the RCTV shutdown, threw up barricades on the main avenue
in eastern Caracas. Protesters burned trash and furniture in the
streets of the Chacao area, the capital's financial district.

Four protesters were injured in a student protest in Valencia,
Carabobo state, Interior and Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said on
Union radio.

CNN en Espanol said in a statement that it ``categorically denies
accusations made'' by Venezuela's Lara.

`On Alert'

``We are on alert,'' Ravell said in an interview from Caracas. ``This
exposes the president's growing media voracity and his necessity to
control the voice of dissent. We are on the path to totalitarianism.''

The European Parliament, Peruvian President Alan Garcia and former
Brazilian President Jose Sarney were among the critics of Chavez
decision to close RCTV.

``It hurts when a news media is closed down'' Garcia said at a Lima
news conference. ``There are always circumstances in which a license
isn't renewed, but it's unfair when it's managed by only one side. I
hope this won't be repeated as a constant state policy.''

Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, whose family owns El
Tiempo, that country's biggest newspaper, told reporters in Bogota
this morning that RCTV was a ``symbol of television'' in Latin
America.

RCTV's shutdown, coupled with the probes, will intensify scrutiny by
regional governments and international groups of Venezuela's approach
to free speech, Miguel Henrique Otero, editor-president of Caracas-
based El Nacional, the nation's second most-read newspaper, said in an
interview. Chavez took over the network without any legal basis to
silence critics, Otero said.

Coup

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.

At midnight yesterday, the signal of RCTV was replaced with TVes, a
government-funded channel that will transmit news and cultural
programming 24 hours a day. The demise of RCTV and the start of TVes
is a ``reinforcement of our sovereignty,'' Lil Rodriguez, chairwoman
of TVes' board of directors, said today.

Opposed by more than two-thirds of Venezuelans in a poll last month,
the decision to close RCTV is unpopular at home and has earned Chavez
condemnation abroad from groups such as the Inter-American Press
Society. Starting today, the government will control two of
Venezuela's four nationwide broadcast channels.

Tear Gas

``It's blatant control of media resources,'' Otero, whose family
founded El Nacional, said. ``This move marks an inflexion point. Other
governments will be attentive of Venezuela's next steps against the
media.''

Police dispersed crowds of hundreds of protestors, including
journalism students, who marched this morning to urge government
guarantees for free speech. Marchers, chanting ``liberty,'' gathered
at Brion Square in the Chacaito area of Caracas, where police forces
used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the protest.

``All media are at risk of being shut down, or worse, self-
censorship,'' said Soraylis Mendoza, 30, a lawyer taking part in the
protests. ``Some stations have been censoring themselves for years.''

****************

12)
Chavez takes oldest TV channel off air
By C. Norris Trent
Agence France Presse
May 28, 2007
http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/archives/news/world/20070528-Venezuela-tv-close-RCTV-Chavez-closure-protest-midnight

CARACAS - Despite protests by democracy activists, Venezuela's oldest
television network went off the air at midnight Sunday, victim of a
fresh push by President Hugo Chavez to tighten his grip over the
nation's media.

RCTV screens went black after the station broadcast previously-
recorded images of its teary-eyed employees singing the national
anthem.

The channel's successor, Chavez-backed TVes, began broadcasting its
own programming 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."

Police used water cannon dispersed thousands of stone-throwing
protesters outside Venezuela's telecom authority, which had ordered
RCTV off the air.

Meanwhile, Chavez supporters held a huge, night-to-dawn public party
outside RCTV studios to celebrate the birth of the new "socialist
television" and the end of the bitterly anti-Chavez RCTV.

The closure of Venezuela's oldest network, the latest episode in
President Chavez's socialist revolution, sparked growing protests over
the weekend.

Chavez's political opponents championed RCTV as an opposition voice
and decried his refusal to renew its broadcast license.

Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled that RCTV must temporarily leave its
equipment and broadcast infrastructure in military hands to ensure
that TVes could provide quality service.

Granier called the decision "an unconstitutional seizure of our
equipment."

Some 70 to 80 percent of Venezuelans opposed the closure, according to
recent polls.

Chavez announced the decision not to renew RCTV's license soon after
he was re-elected in late 2006.

During the campaign, RCTV openly called for the president's defeat,
and Chavez never forgave the network for calling for an April 2002
coup that deposed him for two days.

"The decision was mine" to close RCTV, Chavez said Saturday, calling
its steamy soap operas "a danger for the country, for boys, for
girls."

RCTV, which notably airs the popular "telenovelas" and variety shows,
had one of the largest audiences in Venezuela and is one of the few
stations with national broadcast capabilities.

As of Monday, the government will control two of the four nationwide
broadcasters in Venezuela, one of them state-owned VTV.

However, the government renewed the broadcast license for Venevision,
RCTV's main competitor, which expired Friday.

Venevision is owned by billionaire Gustavo Cisneros, who dropped his
open opposition to Chavez in 2004.

Since 1999, Chavez has gradually tightened his grip on the levers of
power in Venezuela, and in January the National Assembly allowed him
to rule on most matters by decree, without legislative debate.

Criticism of the RCTV shutdown poured in from around the world,
including groups like Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders
and the US Senate, which unanimously approved a resolution last week
expressing "profound concern" over the move.

El Nacional daily in a front-page editorial said RCTV's shutdown
marked "the end of pluralism" in Venezuela and the government's
growing "information monopoly."

Chavez and his ministers deflected criticism, saying other media could
still carry the RCTV signal.

However, Granier said, "the government is pressuring cable and
satellite companies not to carry us."

RCTV filed charges Saturday with the Inter American Commission on
Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

****************

13)
Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel
By Brian Ellsworth
Reuters
May 28, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/28/AR2007052800451.html

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hours after President Hugo Chavez shut down
Venezuela's main opposition broadcaster, his government demanded an
investigation of news network Globovision on Monday for allegedly
inciting an assassination attempt on the leftist leader.

Chavez took Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV, off the air at midnight
on Sunday and replaced it with a state-run channel to promote his
socialist programs. The move sparked international condemnation and
accusations from the opposition that he was undermining democracy in
the OPEC nation.

Protests over the closure of RCTV, Venezuela's oldest private channel,
simmered in several Venezuelan cities on Monday. In some locations,
the police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Seizing on the momentum of RCTV's closure, Communications Minister
Willian Lara presented a case to the state prosecutor's office saying
experts hired by the ministry had found that opposition broadcaster
Globovision was inciting assassination attempts on Chavez.

As evidence, he cited Globovision showing footage of an assassination
attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981 accompanied by the song
"This Does Not Stop Here," sung by Ruben Blades, now Panama's minister
of tourism.

"The conclusion of the specialists ... is that (in this segment) they
are inciting the assassination of the president of Venezuela," Lara
told reporters at the prosecutor's office.

Globovision was not immediately available to respond to the
government's charge, but one of its reporters at the prosecutor's
office said the footage was taken out of context.

The journalist said Globovision had been showing archive footage from
RCTV accompanied by songs with a farewell theme the week before RCTV's
closure.

CHAVEZ EXTENDS CONTROL

At a Caracas news conference, Benoit Hervieu, Americas director at
Reporters Without Borders, said: "Yesterday we saw the takeover of the
principal media critical of President Chavez. ... Besides Globovision,
what television media is left that can criticize the government of
Mister Chavez?"

Chavez's reforms, since he assumed the presidency in 1999, have given
him greater control over the country's judiciary, the military and the
oil sector.

Critics had said an independent media was the only safeguard against
Chavez forging a Cuban-style regime. The closure of RCTV leaves
Globovision as the main media voice opposed to Chavez, but it does not
broadcast nationwide.

Venezuela's opposition media has been widely accused of violating
basic journalistic standards. Chavez accuses both Globovision and RCTV
of backing a bungled 2002 against him.

RCTV ran movies and cartoons when protests by Chavez supporters turned
the tide in Chavez's favor during the 2002 coup. It also joined a
grueling two-month strike that year by showing only anti-Chavez
propaganda and marches for weeks.

****************

14)
Second Venezuela TV is under fire
BBC News
May 29, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6699383.stm

Venezuela's government has accused a TV station of inciting a murder
attempt on President Hugo Chavez, hours after taking another network
off the air.

It said footage shown on Globovision implicitly called for Mr Chavez
to be killed. The station denies the claim.

Police fired tear gas and plastic bullets as thousands protested
across the country against the earlier closure of Venezuela's oldest
TV network.

Mr Chavez said Radio Caracas TV (RCTV) had tried to undermine his
government.

Communications Minister William Lara said Globovision had called for
the death of Mr Chavez by airing footage of the 1981 assassination
attempt against Pope John Paul II with the song "This Does Not Stop
Here" sung by Ruben Blades, now Panama's tourism minister.

"The conclusion of the specialists ... is that (in this segment) they
are inciting the assassination of the president of Venezuela," Mr Lara
said, as he filed a lawsuit against the news network at the state
prosecutor's office.

The government was also suing the US station CNN for allegedly linking
Mr Chavez to al-Qaeda, Mr Lara said.

"CNN broadcast a lie which linked President Chavez to violence and
murder," he said.

In a statement, CNN said they "strongly deny" being "engaged in a
campaign to discredit or attack Venezuela".

Globovision director Alberto Federico Ravell rejected the accusations
against his station as "ridiculous".

Globovision was the only TV station to air footage of a large
demonstration against the government's growing control over the media.

Meanwhile, protests are continuing across Venezuela after Mr Chavez
refused to renew the licence of RCTV.

Freedom debate sparked

In one of the largest demonstrations in the capital, Caracas, police
fired tear gas and rubber bullets at up to 5,000 protesters, some of
whom tossed rocks and bottles at police.

Within seconds of RCTV's closure, the insignia of a new state-
sponsored broadcaster, TVES, appeared. Fireworks exploded across
Caracas, as Chavez supporters celebrated the end of RCTV.

The president says the new channel will better reflect his socialist
revolution but RCTV and rights groups say Mr Chavez is limiting
freedom of expression.

Employees of Venezuela's most watched channel embraced and chanted
"freedom", before bowing their heads in tearful prayer during their
final minutes on air.

'Threat to the country'

Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, expressed concern
over Mr Chavez's decision.

Robert Menard, from International media rights group Reporters Without
Borders, said the closure was a "major setback to democracy and
pluralism".

In a broadcast all of the country's TV stations were obliged to run,
Mr Chavez said it had been his decision to shut down the station
because it had become "a threat to the country".

RCTV's general manager Marcel Granier said Mr Chavez was acting
illegally and described the move as "abusive" and "arbitrary".

RCTV will still be available on cable, but losing its public broadcast
frequency will deprive it of most of its audience.

The new state-sponsored channel TVES launched with programmes that Mr
Chavez said would better reflect society, including a film about
independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The government provided $4m (£2m) of funding for the new station's
launch.

Mr Chavez says private stations such as RCTV were involved in a coup
that nearly toppled him five years ago and that they have since tried
to bring down his government.

****************

15)
TV row widens Venezuela's rift
By James Ingham
BBC News
May 28, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6697575.stm

The political divide in Venezuela is enormous and the decision not to
renew a licence for an opposition-aligned television station is
exactly the sort of issue that widens that rift.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Caracas on
Sunday, some to celebrate, others to protest that the country's oldest
TV network was being stopped from broadcasting on its public channel.

President Hugo Chavez told his supporters to party and that is exactly
what they did. But with opponents holding a rival rally not far away,
the day ended with scenes of violence and disorder.

It started well enough. Salsa vibes filled the air in the centre of
the city as revolutionary bands whipped the pro-government crowds into
a frenzy.

"The beautiful revolution," they sang while people dressed in red T-
shirts carrying socialist messages, danced away below them.

"This station should be closed," Doris Ramirez told me.

"RCTV does no good for the country. It doesn't represent the people
and it disrespects the government."

Another woman told me she supported Mr Chavez because he helped the
poor.

"I'm from the middle classes but I still vote for him because he's
making such a difference. This TV station doesn't tell the truth."

Skirmishes

Across town, the mood was very different. Anti-government protesters
were dressed in white T-shirts with S.O.S emblazoned across the front.

An emotional song written and performed by staff at RCTV blared out
from speakers.

"No to the closure," they shouted. "Freedom," they chanted.

"Everyone has the right to watch what they want. He can't take away
this channel," Emilio Berraterom said.

"Chavez thinks he owns the country. Well, he doesn't."

Reina Martinez waved her Venezuelan flag in my face. "We were born
with RCTV," she said. "We don't agree with this president. He's not
our president."

As the afternoon drew on, the protests got louder.

Government opponents played air raid sounds, blew whistles and banged
pots and pans. Some converged on the headquarters of the broadcasting
regulator to show their disapproval of the decision not to renew
RCTV's licence.

With tight security in place, it was maybe no surprise that there were
skirmishes. Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the
crowd and driving through the streets on motorbikes, officers fired
plastic bullets in the air.

With that rally moved on, attention turned to RCTV's headquarters. A
few hundred people gathered near the station, where barricades had
been erected and police were guarding the roads around the building.

The last moments of RCTV's output were emotional, with staff gathered
in a studio for a final live broadcast. The people who had gathered
outside joined in singing the national anthem.

Eerie sirens

But just after the switch- off at midnight, the emotional scenes
became confrontational.

I was caught up in this, broadcasting from just outside the studios.
It seems when a group of Chavez supporters got within a few blocks of
the station, the police took action.

Over the eerie air raid sirens, shots were fired in the air and people
ran for cover. It was not clear who was firing at who, but a few
minutes later, more shots rang out.

The atmosphere had become nasty. People ran as fast as they could down
the narrow streets to get away from the clashes. We ran with them.

RCTV was no more, the protesters knew it and so they trailed home.

Across town the party wound up as RCTV's replacement, state-sponsored
TVES, Venezuelan Social TV, continued to broadcast recorded programmes
into the night.

RCTV's supporters say President Chavez has stamped on freedom of
expression by silencing a channel that is often critical. They say
they are determined to fight on to protect their rights.

The government says that the station violated broadcast laws and
transmitted violent and morally degrading programmes. The decision to
renew the licences of other broadcasters, ministers say, shows that
Venezuela is democratic and pluralistic.

The arguments highlight, once again, how deeply divided Venezuela is.

****************

16)
Chávez Tightens Grip, to Close TV Station
By Jose de Cordoba
The Wall Street Journal
May 26, 2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118013428549015235-search.html?KEYWORDS=venezuela&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will shut down the country's most
popular television station -- a vocal critic of his government -- at
midnight Sunday, further tightening his grip on power.

Mr. Chávez's government is refusing to renew the broadcasting license
of Radio Caracas Television, known as RCTV, Venezuela's oldest and
most popular station. The government says the move is due to the
station's alleged attempts to destabilize the Chávez government, its
"lack of respect for authorities and institutions" and for endangering
the morals of children by showing racy soap operas.

Critics say Mr. Chávez's move will stifle press freedom in Venezuela,
and that it marks an important move in the transformation of the
world's fifth-biggest oil exporter into an authoritarian regime. Mr.
Chávez will replace RCTV with a station that is being pitched as a
grass-roots public-service channel which, in any event, undoubtedly
will openly support the president.

"It's a race to accumulate as much power as possible, which will
finish in the imposition of a totalitarian regime," says Marcel
Granier, director of RCTV.

Mr. Granier says the station is still fighting the move in the Supreme
Court, but analysts don't hold out much hope since the court is seen
as pro-Chávez. Indeed, no judicial or administrative hearing has been
held in which RCTV has been able to defend itself. The case could also
be taken to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights once legal
remedies in Venezuela are exhausted.

Although Venezuela holds elections, including a December vote that Mr.
Chávez won in a landslide, the president has slowly eroded the
country's political pluralism. He controls all but two of the
country's 24 statehouses, as well as the courts, the electoral
commission and every seat in Venezuela's congress after opposition
parties, thinking the election rigged, refused to take part.

The self-styled leader of "21st Century socialism," Mr. Chávez is now
ruling mostly by decree, and is forging a single government political
party to rule the country into the next few decades. He is also
turning the armed forces, whose members have been ordered to salute
with the slogan "Fatherland, Socialism or Death," from a national
institution into an adjunct of his government. He also has begun to
nationalize key industries.

Mr. Chávez is comfortable enough with his hold on power that he is
closing RCTV despite the move's unpopularity. A survey last month by
respected pollster Datanalisis showed that only 16% of Venezuelans
supported shuttering the station, and 69% opposed it. Although the
pollster found that Mr. Chávez's popularity is still above 60%, most
Venezuelans enjoy RCTV's soaps and other programming, and 81% had a
positive view of the station.

Frightened by what they see as an erosion of their freedom of
expression, tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched last week in
protest. Other demonstrations are expected during the weekend.

Typically, Mr. Chávez has denounced the campaign in defense of RCTV as
a conspiracy to undermine his government. "There are crazy
groups...who think...they can destabilize the country. They won't
succeed," he said in a speech this past week.

On Friday, dozens of armored cars and military vehicles filled
highways in Caracas in an apparent show of force against any protests.
"Minorities can't create uncertainty and oppose the majority feeling
of the Venezuelan people to end RCTV's concession," Defense Minister
Gen. Raul Baduel said at a military ceremony.

Mr. Chávez's move has stirred international denunciations as well. In
Washington, the Senate passed a resolution Friday noting "profound
concern" about the "transgression against freedom of thought and
expression that is being carried out in Venezuela." A similar
resolution was approved by the European parliament Thursday.

"President Hugo Chávez is misusing the state's regulatory authority to
punish a media outlet for its criticism of the government," said Jose
Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch.

Since assuming the presidency in 1999, Mr. Chávez has been fighting a
running battle with many of Venezuela's broadcasters. As the president
radicalized his rhetoric and government policies, most broadcasters
strongly opposed him.

Mr. Chávez got the ammunition he needed to move against the media
during the confusing, short-lived 2002 coup attempt which saw the
president briefly ousted from power, only to make a triumphant return
to the presidential palace. Broadcasters, including RCTV, didn't cover
street protests in favor of Mr. Chavez that helped pave the way to his
eventual return, running movies instead. Venezuelans had to rely on
CNN for news as the situation unfolded. Broadcasters also supported a
two month anti-Chávez strike later that year.

****************

17)
Venezuela: Government Sets Sights on Globovisión and CNN
By Simon Romero
The New York Times
May 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/world/americas/29briefs-globovision.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The government lashed out at Globovisión, the country's only remaining
television channel that is critical of its policies, accusing it of
manipulating images to incite an assassination attempt against
President Hugo Chávez. Willian Lara, the communications minister,
called for an investigation of Globovisión, a 24-hour news channel,
saying semioticians hired by the government had determined that video
run by the channel of an assassination attempt in 1981 against Pope
John Paul II could be interpreted as hostile to Mr. Chávez. Mr. Lara,
who also denounced CNN's coverage of Venezuela, made his claims as the
police dispersed protests for a second day against a decision forcing
the dissident network RCTV off the air on Sunday.

****************

18)
Venezuela sees assassination plot by critical TV station
The Associated Press
May 29, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/29/america/venez.php

CARACAS: The Venezuelan government on Monday asked prosecutors to
investigate a leading television station critical of President Hugo
Chávez over its alleged use of "subliminal messages" to call for the
president's assassination.

Information Minister Willian Lara said the station, Globovisión,
encouraged an attempt on Chávez's life by broadcasting the chorus of a
salsa tune - "Have faith, this doesn't end here" - along with footage
of the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II.

"They incite the assassination of Venezuela's president," Lara said at
a news conference.

The Globovisión director Alberto Federico Ravell denied any
wrongdoing, calling the allegations "ridiculous."

The accusations came a day after Globovisión closely covered
demonstrators protesting Chávez's decision to force another station,
the opposition-aligned Radio Caracas Television, off the air by not
renewing its broadcasting license.

Globovisión is now the major opposition-aligned channel, though it
does not reach all parts of the country. Two other channels that used
to be staunchly anti-Chávez - Venevisión and Televen - have toned down
their criticism of the government.

Lara also urged prosecutors to investigate CNN for an alleged smear
campaign against Venezuela, saying the Atlanta-based cable news
network had juxtaposed images of Chávez and an alleged leader of Al
Qaeda as part of an attempt to associate the Venezuelan leader with
terrorism.

"This network, CNN, which claims to be a world leader in news,
blatantly lies because it has a political position against Venezuela,
because it forms part of a powerful transnational group with an echo
in Venezuela," he said.

Representatives of CNN could not be immediately reached for comment.

Since taking office in 1999, Chávez has repeatedly clashed with the
media, accusing TV channels and newspapers of unfairly portraying him
as anti-democratic and ignoring his administration's achievements.

He denies threatening press freedoms, arguing that freedom of
expression has flourished - as shown by many private newspapers and
radio stations that are harshly critical.

Critics argue that Chávez is gradually increasing state control over
the airwaves.

Groups like Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have
called Chávez's decision not to renew RCTV's license a flagrant effort
to silence criticism.

****************

19)
Censorship merited in Venezuela?
The Christian Science Monitor
May 29, 2007
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0529/p08s02-cole.html

In response to the May 24 article, "Rising censorship among oil
powers": Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez believes that Radio Caracas
Television (RCTV) supported a failed plot to overthrow him in 2002,
and now the Venezuelan government has allowed RCTV's license to lapse.

But imagine if The New York Times supported a coup against the US
president. Don't you think there would be some response by the
president? This comparison should have been made. Some news agencies
didn't even mention the possible connection between RCTV and the
overthrow plot.

Carlos Townsend
Fountain Valley, Calif.

****************

20)
Venezuela's Bolivar Weakens on Protests Over TV Network Closing
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal
Bloomberg
May 28, 2007
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a6f6Pq6p6IvY

Venezuela's currency fell from a two- week high in unregulated markets
after President Hugo Chavez's shutdown of the country's most-watched
TV network triggered street protests.

``Things took a swift turn in the afternoon when street protests
increased,'' said Nelson Corrie, head of trading at Caracas-based
Interacciones Mercado de Capitales.

The bolivar weakened in the so-called parallel market to 4,120
bolivars to the U.S. dollar, compared with 4,100 bolivars on May 25,
traders said. The currency earlier touched 4,060 bolivars, the highest
since May 15. The currency has dropped 21 percent against the dollar
so far this year for the biggest decline among 71 currencies tracked
by Bloomberg.

Police used tear gas and water canyons to disperse crowds gathered in
eastern Caracas to protest Radio Caracas Television's shutdown last
night. The network's chairman, Marcel Granier, is part of the
political opposition. Isolated skirmishes in front of some government
buildings left 11 police officers injured yesterday.

Trading may have been lighter than normal because of the observance of
Memorial Day in the U.S., Venezuela's biggest trade partner, Corrie
said.

Venezuela pegs the bolivar at an official exchange rate of 2,150
bolivars per dollar under restrictions Chavez imposed in February
2004. Venezuelans turn to unregulated markets when they can't get
approval from the government's Foreign Exchange Administration
Commission to buy dollars at the official exchange rate.

****************

21)
Colombia deports pro-Chavez Venezuelan lawmaker
The Associated Press
May 28, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/29/america/LA-GEN-Colombia-Venezuelan-Deported.php

BOGOTA, Colombia: Authorities on Monday deported a Venezuelan
congressmen loyal to President Hugo Chavez for criticizing Colombia's
U.S.-alligned government during an opposition rally.

Jose Luis Pirela, a pro-Chavez lawmaker from a state bordering
Colombia, was escorted by helicopter Monday to the border, where he
was handed over to Venezuelan police.

Also deported was Victor Hugo Merino, the rector of the state-run
Bolivarian University in Maracaibo, Venezuela, according to a
statement from Andres Penate, head of Colombia's DAS intelligence
agency.

The DAS, which is responsible for immigration, said the Chavez
loyalists illegally participated in a rally Sunday in the Caribbean
city of Barranquilla for a mayoral candidate of the leftist
Alternative Democratic Pole party.

"Both entered the country on tourist visas that do not permit them to
partake in political meetings, regardless of the party they came to
support," the statement said.

"The Colombian government doesn't interfere politically against
foreign governments and won't accept interference by any other country
trying to destabilize our democracy," Penate added.

Monday's deportations came a week after former Venezuela Vice
President Jose Rangel accused Colombia's defense minister Juan Manuel
Santos of involvement in a plot to send troops over the border to
carry out assassinations.

Colombia has denied the accusations but relations between Chavez and
the conservative Uribe government remain tense.

The Venezuelans were detained Monday at a ceremony in the nearby city
of Baranoa, whose mayor said they were invited to sign agreements on
behalf of the Miracle Mission, a program run by the Venezuelan
government that provides free eye surgery.

In his speech Sunday, an audio recording of which was published on the
DAS Web site, Pirela can be heard praising local mayoral candidate
Jorge Urueta Jimenez as one of "our own," a "commander in the fight
against the (United States) empire" and President Alvaro Uribe's much-
touted free trade agreement with Washington.

The lawmaker seemed to purposefully seek to provoke the Colombian
authorities. At one point in the fiery, half-hour speech he can be
heard sending "a brotherly salute to the DAS who came to record this
act and who hopefully won't lose the cassette when they leave."

****************

22)
Released documents spark new intrigue
By Alfonso Chardy, Jay Weaver, and Oscar Corral
The Miami Herald
May 27, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/120051.html

Once-secret CIA and FBI documents make a compelling case that Cuban
exile militant Luis Posada Carriles knew of a plot to bomb a Cuban
airliner more than three decades ago -- but not the one that Cuba and
Venezuela blame Posada for orchestrating.

One document shows the former CIA operative referring to a plan to
bomb a Cuban plane leaving Panama in June 1976. But that was unrelated
to the Cubana plane that was attacked off Barbados about three months
later -- killing 73 people.

None of the declassified documents says Posada ordered the bombing of
any Cuban plane.

A confidential source, however, ''all but admitted'' to the FBI that
Posada and fellow exile militant Orlando Bosch ''had engineered the
bombing of the airline'' in October 1976. In another document, Posada
was overheard saying: ``We are going to hit a Cuban airplane.''

Posada's lawyer said his client had no involvement in the jetliner
bombing. He declined to let Posada be interviewed.

Bosch denied the account: ``That's not true.''

Multiple references to what Posada knew or did in connection to the
downed plane are contained in formerly classified U.S. government
documents obtained by the Washington-based private research group
National Security Archive at George Washington University.

The documents are drawing renewed scrutiny because Venezuela has vowed
to step up pressure on the United States to extradite Posada.
Venezuela signaled its intentions after a federal judge in El Paso,
Texas, recently threw out immigration fraud charges against him. He is
now living in Miami.

The new batch of once classified documents contain two bombing
suspects' statements to authorities in Trinidad and Tobago. One was an
employee in Posada's private security firm in Caracas.

To those who believe Posada masterminded the plane attack off
Barbados, the archive's documents provide solid evidence. But to
Posada's attorney and his supporters, the documents are nothing but a
collection of uncorroborated rumors and unnamed sources.

''The combination of documents from the CIA and FBI, together with the
documents from Trinidad and Tobago, show more than probable cause that
Posada Carriles was responsible for the downing of the plane or was,
at least, a co-conspirator,'' said José Pertierra, a Cuban-American
attorney who represents Venezuela.

Peter Kornbluh, director of the archive's Cuba documentation project,
said that taken together the documents point the finger at Posada and
Bosch as the attack's ``intellectual authors.''

Miami attorney Arturo Hernandez, who represents Posada, said the Cuban
and Venezuelan governments have distorted the facts to frame his
client.

He said that during a military tribunal in Venezuela in 1980, forensic
evidence showed that metal shards recovered from some of the victims
indicated those materials came from the plane's cargo hold -- not the
bathroom, where prosecutors said the explosives were planted.

''No American jury would convict on these facts,'' Hernandez said,
adding that Posada passed a privately administered polygraph test on
the airliner bombing a few years ago.

He said the CIA and FBI documents are mostly based on confidential
sources whose credibility could not be ascertained 31 years later.

Hernandez noted that one CIA document shows that Posada was alerting
his contacts in the agency's Caracas office in June 1976 about a
''possible'' bombing plot involving a Cubana Airliner departing from
Panama. ''He is, in fact, working against any kind of bombing of that
nature,'' Hernandez said.

While suggestive of a Posada role, none of the documents directly link
him to ordering the assault or supplying explosives to either of the
Venezuelans convicted as bombers: Hernán Ricardo and Freddy Lugo.

Posada, who has consistently denied any role in the plane bombing, was
arrested by Venezuelan authorities within days of the attack and
charged along with Bosch as masterminds of the attack. Ricardo and
Lugo were charged as actual bombers.

All four were acquitted by a Venezuelan military court in 1980.
However, the military verdict was annulled and the criminal charges re-
filed in a civilian court.

Posada escaped from prison in 1985, two years before the civilian
court acquitted Bosch and convicted Ricardo and Lugo. They were
released from prison in 1993.

A cable filed soon after the bombing by the FBI Caracas representative
quoted an unidentified ''confidential source'' saying that a senior
Venezuelan intelligence official claimed Posada attended two meetings
where Cuban exiles discussed ''the bombing of a Cubana Airlines''
plane.

The cable said the source received the information from Cuban-born
Ricardo Morales, then working for Venezuelan intelligence and known to
Miami's Cuban exiles as ''Mono'' or Monkey.

Morales told the confidential source that Posada and other exiles
discussed the attack with him at the Anauco Hilton bar in downtown
Caracas ''sometime before the bombing of the Cubana Airlines DC-8 near
Barbados on October 6, 1976,'' the FBI cable says.

Morales told the same source that Posada was among exiles at ''another
meeting to plan the bombing of a Cubana airliner'' in Morales'
apartment at the Anauco Hilton.

In a self-published 1994 autobiography, Posada blamed the bombing on
Morales. Posada wrote that Morales staged the attack on behalf of the
Cuban government after Cuban agents paid him $18,000 at a secret
meeting in Mexico City. Posada did not cite his source.

Morales' credibility was called into question in an unrelated Miami
drug-trafficking case. As a government informant in that case, Morales
said in depositions that he played a role in the Barbados plane
attack.

The circuit court judge in the case found Morales unreliable and threw
out the narcotics case.

Morales, who was shot and killed at a Key Biscayne bar in 1982, did
not mention Posada in connection with the airliner attack in the Miami
case.

Among the archive's documents is a handwritten list of Cuban
embassies, travel offices, news agencies, and consulates in the
Caribbean, along with the itinerary of the plane attacked off Barbados
on Oct. 6, 1976.

Kornbluh described the document as a surveillance or scouting report
prepared by Ricardo, who had worked for Posada's security firm.

Ricardo and Lugo flew from Caracas to Trinidad and Tobago to board the
doomed plane, which had begun its flight in Guyana. They got off at
the next stop in Barbados and returned to Trinidad. The plane blew up
shortly after taking off from Barbados en route to Jamaica and Cuba.

Ricardo's whereabouts today are unknown, but Lugo is now driving a
taxi in Caracas. He told The Miami Herald in 2005 that he was
innocent, and insisted that statements attributed to him in Trinidad
and Tobago, implicating Ricardo in the bombing, were false.

The earliest reference to a plane plot is contained in a CIA cable
dated June 22, 1976. It said an unidentified ''businessman with close
ties to the Cuban exile community'' contacted the agency to warn that
a ``Cuban exile extremist group, of which Orlando Bosch is a leader,
plans to place a bomb on a Cubana Airline flight traveling between
Panama and Havana.''

A separate CIA document listing agency contacts with Posada says that
on June 22, 1976, he relayed a warning on ''possible exile plans to
blow up Cubana Airliner leaving Panama.'' Posada also asked help to
obtain a visa.

Perhaps the most intriguing document is a CIA cable that quotes an
unidentified former Venezuelan government official saying that a few
days after a Caracas fundraiser for Bosch, 'Posada was overheard to
say that, `we are going to hit a Cuban airplane,' and that 'Orlando
has the details.' ''

Bosch denied the account. He referred to Posada as ''my brother'' and
talked about their time in a Venezuelan prison awaiting trial.

''We were in prison together and we never had an argument,'' Bosch
said. 'Many reporters came to see us. He [Posada] said, `talk to the
leader.' He considered me the leader.''

****************

23)
Posada and Che lived parallel lives
By Carlos Alberto Montaner
The Miami Herald - Op-ed
May 29, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/121587.html

Luis Posada Carriles and Ernesto Guevara were born in 1928 in similar
environments. Both were part of the upper middle-class. Both chose the
sciences during their college years. Guevara studied medicine; Posada,
chemistry. Both shared a bold and adventurous psychological makeup
that would lead them to risk their lives and sacrifice the welfare of
their families to defend -- violently -- their beliefs.

Fidel Castro joined these two personalities in parallel lives. After
Batista's military coup in 1952, Castro became the most important
figure of the armed opposition when he created the July 26 Movement to
overthrow the dictator and achieve power. Che and Posada were in that
organization. The Argentine, in the Sierra Maestra; the Cuban, in the
clandestine struggle.

Around that time, ''the 26'' practiced indiscriminate terrorism in
public sites. In November 1958, the group carried out the first
hijacking of a civilian airplane for political purposes, an abominable
crime that took the lives of numerous victims when the aircraft
crashed in the Bay of Nipe. The Castro-inspired terrorism was so
intense that old residents of Havana still remember ''the night of 100
bombs'' and the savage blasts of explosives in social halls and
hotels, set by perpetrators who cared nothing about the harm they
wreaked on innocent people.

That was the lamentable moral and political atmosphere in Cuba at that
time. The means didn't matter if the ends seemed justifiable. In the
Sierra Maestra, Che did not hesitate to blow off the head of any
peasant who was even remotely suspected of collaborating with
Batista's army.

He even wrote an amazing statement that summarizes the implacable
logic of the revolutionary: ``Hatred as a factor of the struggle, an
intransigent hatred for the enemy, pushes man beyond his natural
limitations and turns him into an effective, violent, selective and
cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be like that; people without
hatred cannot triumph over a brutal enemy.''

When Fidel Castro and a few other leaders shifted the course of their
government and sailed toward communism and an alliance with Moscow,
Cuba plunged right into the Cold War. The country and the July 26
Movement split in two. Posada Carriles joined the armed band of those
who defended democracy at gunpoint, while Che Guevara, also at
gunpoint, defended communism. Posada believed (and fought for his
belief) that the happiest societies resembled the United States or
Canada. Che was certain that the ideal model was Mao's dictatorship.

The Cuban government sought the support of the KGB. Posada and
hundreds of former members of the July 26 Movement, veterans of the
Bay of Pigs, placed themselves under the direction of the CIA. Guevara
went to Africa to try to create new communist tyrannies in the old
European colonies. Posada and other Cubans went there to fight against
Che's men to prevent it. On Lake Tanganyika, Cubans confronted Cubans.
That time, the exiles won.

The same happened in Venezuela in the 1960s. Castro tried to terminate
Venezuela's fragile democracy. At the CIA's urging to the Caracas
government, Posada went to fight the communist guerrillas fed from
Havana. The communists lost that war. A short while later, in Bolivia,
Che was captured and executed.

The Cold War then turned more violent. Cuba became the training center
for the world's worst terrorists. Venezuelan-born Carlos Ilich
Ramírez, aka ''the Jackal,'' went through those training camps.
Shortly thereafter, he hijacked airplanes and in 1972 organized the
murder of the Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics.

Four years later in Venezuela, a plot was hatched to blow up a Cuban
airliner in flight. It was a monstrous act that took 73 lives. Posada
denies any connection to the deed. He was accused and absolved, but
was kept in prison while the government appealed the ruling. Two
Venezuelans were sentenced.

Thereafter, Posada escaped from prison. He assumed the name Ramón
Medina and again linked up with the CIA to continue his interminable
battle. The agency hired him to help the Nicaraguan guerrillas, who,
with Washington's backing, fought against the tyranny of Daniel
Ortega. Thanks to President Reagan's implacable opposition, the
communists were defeated in the region.

Posada turned his eyes to his native land. His efforts had been
successful everywhere, except in Cuba. It was then -- it is alleged;
Posada denies it -- that a plan was launched to execute Castro abroad
and interrupt the flow of tourists with bombs in hotels and social
halls, just like ''the 26'' had done half a century earlier.

Ironically, it was the government of the United States that put an end
to Posada's adventure-filled life and confined him in a sort of house
arrest before a federal judge dropped all charges against him and set
him free.

Nobody understands why the media in the West are less harsh on Guevara
than on Posada. Nobody wears a T-shirt with the effigy of Posada,
after all. There is something basically hypocritical in all this. A
double standard.

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