Venezuela's Last Opposition TV Owner Arrested 433
WrongSizeGlass writes "AP is reporting the owner of Venezuela's only remaining TV channel that takes a critical line against President Hugo Chavez was arrested Thursday. 'Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of Globovision, was arrested on a warrant for remarks that were deemed "offensive" to the president,' Attorney General Luisa Ortega said. This comes on the heels of last week's story titled Venezuela's Chavez To Limit Internet Freedom."
Chilling thought (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Uh oh (Score:5, Interesting)
> Any chance of convincing some gray/black hats to strike a blow for decency
> and sanity, and hack Chavez's websites to portray him as a transvestigial
> equinophiliac paedo-cannibal?
> anything that will make the common people laugh at him...
Why do you imagine that would "make the common people laugh at him"? He'd successfully portray it as a CIA attack.
He's the Venezuelans' problem and only they can solve it. Either they will get rid of the kook or they won't.
Re:I'm still appalled that anyone defends Chavez (Score:1, Interesting)
I honestly don't understand why I was modded "offtopic".
Take for example, either Barack Obama or Geroge Bush. They were democratically elected presidents of the United States.
Lets say that the people of the United States wanted the democratically elected President of another country (i.e. Iraq, Iran) assassinated. In a democracy, the government is either controlled by the people or representatives of the people. It would be the duty of the democratically elected government to execute the will of the people. Does it matter how the target to-be-executed leader was elected? No. They could be a democracy. They could be an autocracy. They could be an oligarchy. It doesn't matter. The whole goal of a democracy is to represent the will of the people.
Perhaps whoever modded me off-topic perceives that I agree with Chavez' goals. That is wholly wrong. I'm a die-hard libertarian. But one must acknowledge that governments often:
a. do assassinations
b. do them on the will of the people
If the people want someone dead in a democracy, that's that. It isn't contrary the the ideology of democracy. On the opposite, it affirms what the democratic process is all about.
My question simply was directed to bring this point across.
Re:First step in gaining complete control (Score:3, Interesting)
The UN is primarily an organization for international cooperation and human rights.
Forcibly silencing opposition media works against international cooperation by preventing citizens from hearing about anything perceived as "negative" from other nations. As for human rights, what exactly do you consider a human right, if you don't believe that should include the right to speak your views openly without fear of imprisonment?
Re:Uh oh (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know that he can last too much longer. Even the poor are starting to turn against him. His attempt a couple of years ago to amend the constitution to allow him to run for president forever turned out to be an embarrassing failure, though he handled it with as much dignity as he has anything else. Oil revenues have declined as output has slowed, in part because much of Venezuela's oil is heavy and difficult to extract, and the expertise to do so was largely provided by foreign companies. When he nationalized the oil industry there, many of those experts told him to go pound sand when he asked for assistance. The electricity grid has declined in reliability as well, and the money just isn't there to fix it (courtesy of the declining oil production).
That Venezuela provides discounted or free oil to certain other nations does not help the fiscal line, nor does the refusal (or perhaps political inability) to charge market rates for petroleum products at home, which results in gasoline that costs a tenth of what it does elsewhere in the world, something that Venezuelans see basically as their right as an oil-producing nation.
He's also warned of "defensive actions" against Colombia (a nation that is not even close to being able to stage a successful attack on a country like Venezuela) on a couple of occasions, and has modernized the military. It would not surprise me at all to see them fighting in the next few years, though, and I will laugh if Venezuela's modern but inexperienced army gets their heads handed to them by the lesser-equipped but far more combat-experienced Colombian army.
Then again, I said that he couldn't possible last a few years ago when the troubles began. A fragmented opposition that can't get a basic unified message together combined with further limited opportunities to get the message out and Chavez's persistent presence on TV for hours on end mean that Chavez will continue to hold the edge for some time to come.
Re:Uh oh (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, Chavez has done quite alot to give a voice and financial help to the struggling poor and indigenous people of Venezuela. This doesn't excuse his campaign against free speach and democracy in his country, but you have to understand the situation on the ground there. Under previous regimes only the rich, white upper class had anything to say. Poor people were working under very bad conditions and had noone to speak for them. Then there's the fact that the U.S. staged a coup attempt against Chavez shortly after he was democratically voted into power.
So what Chavez is doing lately certainly isn't the right thing, but I can understand why he is prejudiced and very suspicious of the establishment and the rich folks controlling the media in his country.
Get another job? (Score:1, Interesting)
At least 10% of the people can't get *any* job, much less quit and get *another* job.
Re:Chilling thought (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually months ago, Chavez was at the UN and praised Obama and his policies and made a comment to the effect of praying that the bullets aimed at Obama would miss (I don't remember his exact words). Not only that, but the policies (not 100% identical, but scarily similar) of the Obama administration match those of Chavez over the last year. There's a reason why the communist dictators all praise Obama....
Most of the people I know voted for Obama - and all but a handful of hardcore openly pro-communist ones are very regretful that they did now that they've seen the policies he wants. It's not "right wing nutjobs" who are against Obama, it's anyone who still wants to make their own decisions and reap the reward of their hard work.
The president has a right to legal defense (Score:5, Interesting)
The Venezuelan president has a right a legal defense on unwarranted attacks on his reputation - if he is defamed then he can take the matter to court. This doesn't make him a dictator.
Zuloaga has a defense to the charges against him: if he can prove his statements were true, then he can get off. But if his allegations about Chavez are in fact just inflammatory lies, then he's in some serious legal shit.
Re:Lordy lord, it's not that bad (Score:3, Interesting)
Nope. One of his moves a few years ago was to set up the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) which absorbed a bunch of parties that supported him at one time and he's campaigned for people to see this as the only socialist party in existence. Of course he controls it and it would only propose him for president. Anyone leading another party is politically a nobody
There are other socialist politicians. Real socialists, even some that have been fighting for change for decades and are appalled at what Chavez is doing now. One of them said lately that Chavez is not a socialist but a communist, for example. There are, of course, people who were with Chavez but have fallen out of favor and might want to set themselves up as new socialists leaders, but without the PSUV's backing they are not getting anywhere.
So, no.
A lot of people love their dear leader and his personality more than the ideology. And a lot of people like socialism, but believe socialism is whatever Chavez says, or that letting the opposition get any foothold will make them lose "all they've fought for". Others think Chavez simply can do no wrong, whatever he does. All of them still insist on calling a 10 year old entrenched government "the revolution" and anyone who doesn't like whatever Chavez says is "against the process" (and some of them say it with a "they deserve death" attitude)
Bringing up that they could back another better socialist is a good way to make them face the fact that they love him more than the process or the ideology.
As to the Putin scenario, he's not going to do that. Why would he back a constitutional reform whose only point was to allow him to run again in the next presidential elections?
He also managed to get the last opposition guy to run against him to flee the country, so there's no credible person to run against him from the opposition anyway. But that's a story for another post.
Re:Uh oh (Score:2, Interesting)
again, you clarified that you are a right wing/nutjob.
Even reading WMD in the first place shows the issue, and standing by your assertion is not exactly helping.
The US has problems with corruption, but a lot of what is going on right now is a result of people trying to get rid of the corruption we have. It's going to take us many years. be patient and not scream about how "they're takin our gunz/liberties".
Re:I'm still appalled that anyone defends Chavez (Score:3, Interesting)
> Unregulated free market inevitably breeds monopolies,
Actually it is the opposite. Point to a monopoly that existed for more than a decade or so without the power of the State behind it.
Rent seeking Corporatism shouldn't be confused with Capitalism.