Chavez moves to consolidate control of media, courts, local police

[rastignac5]

If it walks like a duck...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=589&u=/ap/20040817/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_recall_8&printer=1

CARACAS, Venezuela - Strengthened by his victory in a recall referendum, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez set his sights Tuesday on centralizing power, including exerting control over the courts, local police and the nation's broadcast stations.

....

Congress, which is controlled by Chavez supporters, recently approved a measure allowing that body to remove and appoint judges to the Supreme Court. One Supreme Court justice has already been ousted for allegedly falsifying his resume, a charge he denied.

The government is also seeking to exert control over TV and radio stations, many of which are deeply critical of Chavez and carry one-sided news reports against him. The government plans to submit a bill to Congress that would allow the government to ban programming it sees as slanderous or an incitement to violence and to punish violators.

The government is also studying the possibility of unifying municipal and state police forces into a national police force, wresting control from mayors and governors, many of whom are Chavez opponents.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. "If it walks like a duck"? - Go on - explain

....Nice job cherry picking this report

[rastignac5]

4. Chavez is continuing the grand old tradition of the power-grabbing

Presidente. Doesn't matter if they're leftwing or rightwing- until Latin American leaders start respecting the rule of law, their countries will remain corrupt, inept, weak democracies.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

6. Oh please - you fail to point out the glaringly positive aspects of this

report while cherry picking dubious allegations

"The leftist government is "going to deepen the social and democratic revolution in Venezuela," vowed Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, the right-hand man to Chavez, who is praised by supporters for giving the poor majority better services and a voice in politics"

Come on now!

[rastignac5]

7. I hope Chavez is a good guy

I really do. But he didn't start overhauling social service programs until this referndum forced him to shore up support among the lower classes.

The guy has carte blanche to prove me wrong now. We'll wait and see.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

9. He only started overhauling social services after the referendum?

Where did he get all that popular support from during the failed coup then? Just being charismatic? :eyes:

[WyLoochka]

37. He started rectifying the

damage done by the previous, corrupt right winger admins the day he took office following his landslide election in 1998.

The corrupt right winger BushCo sympathizers, including the media, has been fighting him tooth and nail every single day since. But he keeps on beating the pants off of them!

[eridani]

47. He started overhauling social services when oil revenues went way up n/t

[Vladimir]

10. Until Latin American leaders start

respecting the rule of law, eh? Nice little analysis you got going there. I guess the shining example of leaders respecting the rule of law is the USA, what with GWB, Reagan and Nixon's administrations being sooooo respectful of the rule of law. Have you ever thought for just one second that maybe, just maybe, you fix your own house first? Or is it just that these gringos ain't white?

[rastignac5]

12. My house is in El Salvador

Open mouth, insert foot.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

14. Yeah - that's just great - but you are wrong about Chavez anyway

open eyes - insert truth

[Vladimir]

28. I couldn't care less

if you had lived in every country In South America. Your argument would still be just as full of shit.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vladimir]

33. We have a winner

full marks for irony sunshine, that was good. Still doesn't save your argument, but at least its funny.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

35. Actually he lives in Europe and at one time lived in a war zone.

I wouldn't call that naive. Nice try, but I don't think so. You would probably know that if you hung around here more often. Instead of posting only when it's time to imply that Col. Chavez is a "dictator".

Not that he needs it from me. But I just want to set the record straight. This just gets funnier by the minute.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

39. I love it when they finally blow!

:)

[tlcandie]

36. That may be so, but do you think the people would be better off

living like we do in the US? I don't think so. If the poor people can get a break instead of the rich and corporations, I'm all for it! Why is everyone so quick to judge him as evil anyway?

Can't you at least give him some time to see just how much good he will or won't do? Are you so quick to want it to be a bad situation? You aren't cutting him any slack whatsoever, so if you are wanting to point fingers you might look at yourself as well.

EDIT: I think those of us in the US have a lot to say about just how crappy things are around here! I think we have a lot of insight for countries who claim they want to be just like us!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. El Salvador--with its tremendous record of

respecting the rule of law, which now functions as sweatshop heaven for foreign countries. Uh-huh. :eyes:

[IndianaGreen]

52. And the ARENA Party, that was led by a death squad leader

That old murderous rascal Roberto D'Aubisson!

HON. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY II

in the House of Representatives

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1989


Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express my deep disappointment with the El Salvador section of H.R. 2655, the foreign assistance authorization bill. I voted for this bill because of my commitment to the overall U.S. development assistance program, but I did so with great reservations.

Mr. Chairman, while we are imposing sanctions on the Chinese Government for its brutal repression of peaceful demonstrators, at the same time we are pumping about $1.5 million per day into El Salvador, to help the ARENA death-squad government terrorize, torture, and murder innocent civilians.

Since the ARENA government has been elected, human rights abuses have been on the upswing. Examples that we in Congress should be monitoring include: Maria Cristiana Gomez, a school teacher, was tortured--they poured battery acid over her--and murdered by a death squad on April 5. On April 22, 75 members of the Christian Committee for Displaced Persons (CRIPDES) were arrested. Six were badly tortured, denied medical treatment, and remain detained. On May 4, 35 people were forcibly repopulated by the Salvadoran armed forces to the village of La Joya. On May 26, the military encircled the offices of 10 labor unions and human rights groups, and entered the offices of two of these groups. They shot at four CRIPDES members. In early June, the military occupied the towns of Arcatao, Las Vueltas, and San Jose las Flores, bombing and shooting houses and property, preventing the villagers from working, and confining them to public buildings. In San Jose las Flores the military accused the nuns of collaborating with the FMLN and threatened them with rape. On June 15, Salvadoran labor leader Jose Mazariego was abducted by armed men in civilian clothes--a typical death-squad abduction--and it was later disclosed that he was in the custody of the Treasury Police. He was tortured and interrogated during his confinement.

Mr. Chairman, I fear for Jose Mazariego's life, and I fear that we will see many more people like Jose, many more humanitarian relief workers and labor leaders, being abused by the Salvadoran police. By accepting the McCurdy-McCollum amendment to the foreign aid bill, which lifts the ban on police aid, the House of Representatives has encouraged the Salvadoran police to continue its abuse of human rights.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:E10JY9-140:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. True but he's WRONG to boot!

Chavez has respected the rule of law -these people just keep saying he's breaking the law until they believe its true.

Typical

[Vladimir]

16. Of course it isnt' true

but its the holier-than thou aspect of the attitude that gets me

[rooboy]

2. Yeah, his control over Venevision is iron-clad... NOT n/t

[Zynx]

3. I'm nervous anytime anyone centralizes power and starts putting restrictio

ns on media. However, I will withhold judgement on this one until I hear more.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. Did you read the whole article?

Do you know about the Oligarhcy controlling almost all the media outlets in Venezuela. If you think FOX News is bad - you should see some Venezuelan "news" reports.

Don't believe the hype!

[evildoer]

19. Yeah I was shaken

after watching The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. If there was an ounce of truth to the documentary, Chavez is being very even handed in all this.

[htuttle]

23. If Chavez was half as bad as the opposition claims he is....

...he would have had them all shot after the last coup.

But he didn't did he?

[TahitiNut]

8. "restrictions on media"??

You mean like the Fairness Doctrine? :eyes:

They're talking about the broadcast media - private interests licensed to use a public resource: the airwaves. Would anyone deny Venezuela a viable equivalent to the FCC???

[Vladimir]

22. Now now

lets not get radical. I mean, censoring a tit is one thing - you've got to to protect a nation's moral fibre, after all. But calling black people monkeys, that's freedom of speech.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

24. An insane monkey

even better

[WyLoochka]

40. HHmmm - most of us

on this board support restricting how many media outlets can be owned by a huge corporation in any one market.

Many support this because they realize ownership by a few giant corporations of everything that is read, heard and seen is anti-competitive - and actually serves the purpose of suffocating the peoples' rights to the exercise of free speech through the media. Saturation corporate ownership of media provides a potent tool for a corporatist government to put out mind numbing propaganda 24/7. Why do we need reminders, when it is going on here right now?

In Venezuela, the media is owned lock, stock and barrel by the corporatists. There is no competition. Chavez is wise to be a media "trust-buster," now that he has yet another landslide mandate, that has humiliated the corporatists, under his belt. TR Roosevelt would be proud.

And the courts? You fail to remember that FDR took on the right wing packed courts of that time? And won - bigtime - for the people.

Geez - What happened to our historic memories here is the US? We want our elected reps to beat back the corporatists here - why the criticism when Chavez does it in Venezuela? Jealous that Chavez and the Venezuelan people are light years ahead of us here? Monopoly busting is only good here - dark skinned poor folks in other countries just have to put up with corporatist monopolies even though they vote overwhelmingly for the guy who is battling them on their behalf?

In case you are too dense to realize - the landlside for Chavez means he was given the green light, by his people, to continue battling the BushCo supporting corporatists in Venezuela.

Go get those Venezuelan BushBot bastards, Hugo. Go get 'em!

[eridani]

48. It's his opponents who currently dictate what happens in the media

He's just trying to even things up.

[tlcandie]

11. Too bad our media and all those who are worried over Chavez

aren't cracking the code that keeps us locked into this nightmare here in the US!

I would be happy if our poor and downtrodden were riding high on the election of a president and felt an upturn was coming in this country!

[Vladimir]

15. Most of this is old news

and is predictably being regurgitated now by the same elements who spewed this shit up in the first place, because there is no getting away from the fact that Hugo Chavez is currently the most democratically mandated leader on the face of the planet. 6 referendam, 2 elections. Its gotta hurt for rich white Venezuelan boys that they have a black indian as their president. So for the last time....

On the courts: Venezuela currently has a supreme court packed with pro-opposition judges. This is a court which allowed the coup ringleaders of 2002 to walk scot free, a decision which Chavez respected at the time btw. That it needs reform is patently obvious. But a negro just can't be trusted to reform anything, can he?

On the media: Venezuelan media is almost totally pro-opposition, and regularly calls the president a monkey. Calling a black person a monkey gets you fired in the US and UK, for example. And in fact we have laws to ban programming that incites to violence too. But once again, negroes can't be trusted to implement anything, can they?

On the police: So the USA can have the FBI, but Venezuela can't? No, wait, I see the problem. They aren't white, are they?

This is racist, classist bullshit.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. Well said, my friend, well said. Ignorant atack in 3...2...1....

n/t

[tlcandie]

18. Thanks Vladimir!!!

:hug: Always love it when someone sensible comes in and just sets things in black and white! :bounce:

[Minstrel Boy]

32. Wonderfully said, Vladimir.

And this ought to be shouted from rooftops:

"Hugo Chavez is currently the most democratically mandated leader on the face of the planet!"

[bearfan454]

20. Bush and his right wing cronies are against Chavez.

Chavez must be helping someone other than rich people and corporations. Chavez is distributing the wealth downward to the working people. That is exactly what we need in this country. If Bush is againt Chavez, that automatically means he is good for the people.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

21. I like that thinking - where is OUR Chavez?

:shrug:

[tlcandie]

25. I second that question because I would REALLY Like to know!

It will take someone with the guts to do a MAJOR overhaul in order for this country to survive as it was originally founded. Anything less means we are no longer the original America.

My man was Kucinich. Now my hopes have fallen and I'm waiting to see if we can even get an election, much less, a decently fair election without some MIHOP situation that would allow this regime to stay in office.

IF Kerry and Edwards can get it, we have at least some hope. But unless it is a sharp, hard turn to the left I'm afraid we could be lost forever.

[bearfan454]

26. There is so much greed involved it is mind boggling.

We are talking hundreds of billions of dollars. Anyone that would try to end that could possibly end up in a bad situation. The power elite will not let it happen. I wish I was wrong.

[tlcandie]

30. Have you read the book by William Greider titled,

"The Betrayal of American Democracy"? It's certainly an eye-popper and I don't know how the damage can be repaired. I have to put the book down from time to time because of the sense of hopelessness that consumes me. I am looking forward to the latter portion because I believe it will help direct us towards some ways to help turn things around.

Honestly, I had no idea just how bad it was before reading this book. I thought it was bad, but this just puts everything else in the shade as to former opinions and knowledge.

It may take a total breakdown of the country in order for TRUE change to happen because I can't see the rich allowing anything to change and the political parties aren't going to make it happen. According to Greider it would take HUGE grassroots efforts because both parties are dirty and can't get out from under the hold that is sinking our country.

[Jacobin]

27. Gee, sounds just like George Fucking Bush

[Ganja Ninja]

29. Exactly what Kerry needs to do when he's elected.

Root out the vast right wing conspiracy in the courts and the media. Chavez is faced with a foreign and domestic right wing conspiracy that will disregard the will of the electorate and impose a faux democracy. The guy has won two elections already and until he looses one he's the legitimate leader of his country. Bush and the CIA need to butt out.

[found object]

34. I don't blame him

"...ban programming it sees as slanderous or an incitement to violence and to punish violators." Imagine a media that is equal to Faux News times ten.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[bemildred]

41. Has he threatened to kill all the reporters yet?

What bullshit.

[lottie244]

42. I wish him success. He should do these things and quickly.

Will make Iraq look like the total disaster it is. Chavez needs to centralize power and place many good and honest people in charge and give them work.

[fishwax]

43. "Boosted by Vote, Chavez Eyes More Reform"

That's the actual headline of the article.

In the face of a media dominated by and subject to corporate interests, reform is a pretty good idea. (For instance, reinstating the Fairness Doctrine here in the U.S.)

[Zorra]

44. "media dominated by and subject to corporate interests"

Exactly. This is a sticky issue.

Chavez sees these corporate interests, which have deliberately purchased control of the media in order to serve their own purposes, as a threat to the sovereignity and stability of Venezuela.

In order to achieve an egalitarian free press, he is going to have to first root out corruption and get rid of it, and then devise a way to insure that whoever controls the press presents information in a factual and unbiased manner. This includes allowing genuine accurate information which may be critical of the State to be freely disseminated. But he has to first make the total overhaul and get rid of all the corruption, and then start from square one with a well thought out plan for a publically monitored democratic free media system.

I hope he is successful in this, so that the US can have an example to build upon when we overhaul our major media systems, because all of our major media is also owned by corporate interests that distribute information for self serving purposes, which are corporately biased and generally not in the best interests of genuine freedom of the press or the American people.

[fishwax]

45. I agree

particularly with the last paragraph. Well said.

We should be strengthening limits on corporate ownership and media consolidation, rather than removing them, like the Bush administration has done.

[PATRICK]

46. An amazing sentence

Maybe Yahoo is better on the beat than the DC beholden press corps, which is an important demonstration here.

"and carry one-sided reports against him".

That is a blunt admission of reality that, if I am not mistaken, the US press hardly ever notes clearly about the "courageous", "balanced" RW propaganda rags here and abroad. It is one reason that the Washington Times maintains an unbelievable respectability of any sort and that Fair.org is a voice crying in the wilderness.

[peacetalksforall]

50. The proof that he is on the right track is the support of little people

They protected him when the U.S. descended on Venezuela to take him out. There are many, many threads with details. The team descending on V included some of our military and a whole bunch of Cuban-Americans, plus the CIA, and biggies like Otto Reich and oil baron- overthrow-specialists. The little people heard about it and put him back in his office.

There is no middle class - he appears to have intentions of ensuring that the riches of the country are passed to the little people.

The right has three reasons to fight and lie about the vote (the last I heard is their claim that the vote was reversed by mistake.) Two of the three reasons for the efforts by the right wing are obvious - loss of influence, loss of profits. The third is their distate for creating a middle class that will educate themselves and diminish the slave units.

[IndianaGreen]

51. The actual headline: Boosted by Vote, Chavez Eyes More Reform

The poster's inserted his/her own biased point of view, forgetting in the process to check LBN rules about headlines.

[Vladimir]

53. Now why do you think they might do that? n/t

[Moderator]

54. Locking

Latest Breaking News rules require that the headline must match the posted article exactly.

[Moderator]

55. Locking

Latest Breaking News rules require that the headline must match the posted article exactly.

The headline should read:
Boosted by Vote, Chavez Eyes More Reform