Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Fake winners and real losers In this screwed up country two Ministers (here and here) gloat over the supposed victory of Venezuela at the OAS (which is just spinning) while another headline says : A kid dies everyday as a consequence of malnutrition. Guess who the real losers are.... 9:52:11 PM    comment []

Self Censorhip in effect today While Government officials say that there is a free press in Venezuela, in the sense that people say what they want, the truth is that there is a self restraint by the media since the so called "muzzle" law was approved. A few weeks ago, the media failed to report demonstrations in downtown Caracas because they could have been interpreted as creating "uncertainty in the population" as the muzzle law states. Today around noon, there were protests in a suburb of Caracas. The tax office tried to shut down a supermarlet, closing the doors while there were still shoppers inside. People were upset and there was a protest with about 100 people surrounding the supermarket with the tax office representatives inside. The National Guard sent a contigent, threatening to use tear gas and tempers flared. Streets were blocked for a couple of hours.Tax office signs were taken down and things got very heated as metropolitan police showed up to help the National Guard. I just checked Globovision, Unionradio El Nacional, Tal Cual and El Universal and there is not a single word about this spontaneous protest. This is the type of self censorship that takes place daily as the media fears sanctions by the Government. (There are also no published reports of the Chavista Governor of Tachira state saying on the radio (I heard him) that the Minsiter of Defense ordered the army not to pursue the Colmbian guerillas from the ELN earlier this month as had been rumored) 8:02:01 PM    comment []