By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
CARACAS, Venezuela–President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has again been accused of silencing voices of opposition by controlling and censoring the media. A popular media watchdog, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), has issued a report alleging that Chavez’s restrictions on members of the press bring to mind events during the Cold War in eastern Europe.
David Natera is the director of Venezuelan newspaper El Correo del Caroni and president of the Venezuelan Press Bloc, a group representing the owners of the country’s primary newspapers. Natera presented the report against Chavez at IAPA’s 66th General Assembly in Mexico. The report stated that Chavez “seeks to control ideas, and to impose silence” on anyone who disagrees with the government.
Natera’s report went on to accuse Chavez of seizing media outlets and expropriating property as part of a “social control strategy” so that “the people will have to depend on the state exclusively to get jobs or food.” The report continued: “To achieve this perverse end, Chavez needs silence, the silence of the media and of journalists. He needs the silence and the fear that were typical of the sad and oppressed peoples of Cold War-era eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and today’s Cuba under [Raul and Fidel] Castro.”
Natera was optimistic, however, that members of the press in Venezuela, though oppressed, will doggedly strive to maintain impartiality and report the truth.
Chavez considers himself a socialist revolutionary and is seen by many as an enemy of the free press. In July of this year, his government acquired a minority stake in Globovision, the sole remaining opposition television network. Similarly, in 2007, Chavez terminated the broadcasting license of the most popular independent television network in the country, Radio Caracas Television (RCTV).
According to Natera’s report, over the past year, 113 physical attacks against journalists have been reported in Venezuela. In addition to these assaults, journalists have been imprisoned or sent into exile. Acknowledging these human rights violations, Natera said: “The independent media, which the government calls ‘private media’, are the ones that defend the Constitution, freedom of expression and the people’s right to a free and uncensored information.”
IAPA is a press advocacy group representing media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean. It boasts a membership of 1,300 newspapers and magazines.
For more information, please see:
El Universal-“Chavez needs silence of the media,” IAPA cautions-8 November 2010
AFP-Venezuela’s Chavez targets freedom of press: watchdog-8 November 2010
RTT News-Chavez Imposing Media Censorship: Watchdog-8 November 2010
El Mercurio – Hugo Chávez busca controlar las ideas e imponer silencio a medios de prensa en Venezuela, dice la SIP – 8 November 2010
