Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Michael Rowan on Chavez' title: Dictator Dictator by Michael Rowan in El Universal Dear President Chavez, with all respect, you can't dictate that people can't call you a dictator. The old saying goes: if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and looks like a duck, it's probably a duck. This is why people call you a dictator. You have taken absolute control over Venezuela's institutions, which is the chief characteristic of a dictator. You admit proudly to indoctrinating Venezuelans in the ideology of your revolution, which is a dictionary definition of a dictator. You have made media criticism that you deem to be disrespectful of your authority a crime, which is exactly what dictators do. So in all fairness to those who are free to form their opinions of you from what they perceive in everyday life, you should admit that it is not specious for a person to call you a dictator. While whether you are a dictator or not is a matter of opinion, whether a person can say you are a dictator in Venezuela or anywhere else is their fundamental human right. You do not have the power nor should you seek it to prevent anyone who believes you are a dictator from saying it. You say you are going to expel people who call you a dictator from the country. Sir, you have no right from God or man to do any such thing and in your heart of hearts you know it. But if you do expel a person for calling you a dictator, recognize that everyone you face from that point thereafter may be thinking you are a dictator and knowing you are a dictator but not saying it to your face for fear of being punished. Last week the Democratic candidates for US president were asked in debate if they would meet with the world's worst dictators - you and four others were named. Barack Obama said maybe he would. Hillary Clinton said maybe she would not. But none of those candidates said: "Hugo Chavez is not a dictator and does not belong in that group of dictators from Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria and Venezuela." Now if that debate had been held in Venezuela, would you expel the YouTube person who asked the question and all the candidates who answered it? Venezuela will become the country with the smallest population in the world if you continue with the fantasy that people cannot say the truth -- you are a dictator. 10:19:56 PM    comment []

Temporary reprieve for RCTV International I actually thought that it was last night that RCTV International was supposed to shutdown its cable and TV signal, but it was tonight. Then this afternoon the Venezuelan Supreme Court admitted an injunction from the Chamber of cable TV services. The arguments are very simple: i) The Chamber of Cable TV operators does not know which are the networks to be excluded or not. ii) It does not know why RCTV International was given 5 days to comply why the others were given ten days. iii) There is no definition of who is or not a "national operator". iv) It does not know the existence of any regulations on this matter and asks that the regulator be ordered to issue them. The Court had to admit the case since it was so obvious that the whole thing was built to get RCTV International off the air, going as far as requiring it to go off the air earlier than the others. Funny that on the same day Chavez authorized the creation of a new Telesur Venezuela, that would register as a local network, something the "other" Telesur had never done or had never been required to do in the past. 9:21:34 PM    comment []

When the teachers can't spell, can Mision Ribas work? Mision Ribas is th Chavez Government's attempt to graduate as many people form high school as possible, without any regards for quality. The problem, much like Venezuela's secondary school education, is the level of quality and the improvisation. It is the number of graduates that matter, not if they actually learned anything. The same way health "achievements" are measured by number of patients seeingand not by improvements in health indices. Today Tal Cual had this picture which proves my point: If the teachers who educate in Mision Ribas, can't even write a simple word like "inscripciones" correctly, calling for the students to register, not only replacing the "p" with a "c" in the banner, but hanging it outside, what can you even ask from the students? Didn't anyone  notice? What happens when they teach high school Physics or Chemistry? What a mess!! 8:20:32 PM    comment []

RCTV International Deathwatch In a few minutes RCTV International will disappear from the air in another arbitrary decision and ruling by the Chavez administration. It is another decision without legal foundation designed to persecute and get ird of someone who disagrees with it. Nothing new here. The ruling hurts RCTV, because if it followed it, it would not be able to expand its markets, which is necessary since its market share via cable and satellite will be much smaller than what it used to have using the free airwaves which the Government arbitrarily took away from it. It ius another attempt to muzzle free speech and silence criticism of the Government. It is another proof that there is no rule of law or checks and balances in Venezuela and that everything is slowly falling into the hands and control of Dictator Hugo Chavez. Who is next? 12:08:03 AM    comment []