Troops Fire Upon Protesters in Venezuela

Associated Press ^ | 28 May 2007 | Fabiola Sanchez

[Kitten Festival]

CARACAS, Venezuela - National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday into a crowd of protesters angry over a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a critical television station off the air.

University students blocked one lane of a major highway hours after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting at midnight and was replaced with a new state-funded channel. Chavez had refused to renew RCTV's broadcast license, accusing it of "subversive" activities and of backing a 2002 coup against him.

Two students were injured by rubber bullets and a third was hit with a tear gas canister, said Ana Teresa Yepez, an administrator at Caracas' Metropolitan University. She said about 20 protesters were treated for inhaling tear gas.

[kinghorse]

Somebody cue the tribunal horns.

[Scotsman will be Free]

You gotta give Hugo credit for having the cojones to kiss that ugly viper.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I will pour me a cold one and toast freedom once Chavez gets a well-deserved bullet through his head.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I heard Chavez looks good in a hemp necktie. Let’s give him one of those.

[muawiyah]

Whatever do you mean by “oil barons”? The primary oil company there is government owned.

[FDNYRHEROES]

One report on FOX said that people were being dragged away while being beaten by police.

Oooohh....multi-tasking...gotta love it...

[3AngelaD]

And the latest is Hugito is calling for a probe of CNN for its coverage of his theft of a TV network. Boo hoo. Pobrecito de ti, Hugito:

" -- Venezuela's government urged a probe of Time Warner Inc.'s Cable News Network and local television station Globovision for broadcasting ``lies'' and inciting violence against President Hugo Chavez.

Communications and Information Minister Willian Lara, who today asked the attorney general to start an investigation, said CNN last week portrayed a Mexican protest as being in Caracas and displayed images of Chavez next to an al-Qaeda leader. Globovision, a Caracas-based, 24-hour news channel, last week ran scenes from the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II, which Lara said was incitement against Chavez.

`This is an effort to associate Hugo Chavez with two things: violence and death,'' Lara said in a televised news conference today in Caracas. ``It's an unacceptable piece of propaganda against the country, not real journalism.''

The probe is likely to fuel international and domestic concern that yesterday's government shutdown of Radio Caracas Television, the country's oldest and most-watched TV network, was just the first step toward imposing a gag on news media, Alberto Federico Ravell, Globovision's general manager, said in an interview. RCTV, which carried game shows, comedies, and soap operas, was the most widely viewed network critical of the government in its news-related programming.

[alrea]

But liberals love the guy. He’s a Castro with cash to burn.

Now Venezuela belongs to everyone.

[LibertyRocks]

I was just reading over at DU as I was curious how this would be playing out over there... No surprise really — many are praising Chavez for ‘standing up to CNN’. No crying over the loss of freedom of speech. It’s flabbergasting to me that these people are so blind.

NEW NEWS from the BBC:

Second Venezuela TV is under fire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6699383.stm

Venezuela’s government has accused a TV station of inciting the assassination of President Hugo Chavez hours after taking another network off the air.
It said footage shown on Globovision implicitly called for Mr Chavez to be killed. The station denies the claim.

Police fired tear gas and plastic bullets as thousands protested across the country against the earlier closure of Venezuela’s oldest TV network.

Mr Chavez said Radio Caracas TV (RCTV) had tried to undermine his government.
EXCERPT More here

[BigFinn]

'We have the ability to take him (Chavez) out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,' Robertson said.

When your right... you're right.

[Eyes Unclouded]

Does Hugo have his date picked out? ps - I hope its soon.

[eleni121]

And CITGO keeps on buying their oil from this outlaw Chavez. Tell the CEO what you think after you hear his insipid message about “name calling and negative politcial reaction” here

http://www.citgo.com/WebOther/AboutCITGO/Barrier.mp3

[3AngelaD]

The European weenie from Journalists without Borders, whatever, really made a strong statment there, didn’t he? What about freedom of speech and expression, fella? What about theft of private property?

[burzum]

There is one thing Castro failed to tell Chavez and that is his success in Cuba was because HIS people are mostly peasantry, very poor and unarmed.

That's not true. Cuba was a rich country before Castro took over. And Cubans were highly educated.

[Rick_Michael]

When free speech is gone,...civil war is envitable.

Looks like they’re moving in that direction. Shame, really.

[Thumper1960]

Difference is, the military won't kill protesting US citizens upon orders of Hitlery Klinton or the Leftist treason mongers of the Demoncrat Party.

Besides, we are still armed and they're still certain we'll get them all before we stand down.

[boop]

"Chavez is the type of world leader the Democrat Party approves of"

Exactly. He is the liberals wet dream. Anyone who disagrees with a leftist presidente is shot and gassed. I wonder if Americans will ever wake up to what the left really is. I doubt it. They are too incensed about Bush "spying on innocent citizens".

[Brimack34]

I am waiting for a Neal Young song about this any day.