Posted on 05/29/2007 8:43:05 AM PDT by kellynla
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan police fired tear gas and plastic bullets Monday into a crowd of thousands protesting a decision by President Hugo Chavez that forced a television station critical of his leftist government off the air.
Police fired toward the crowd of up to 5,000 protesters from a raised highway, and protesters fled amid clouds of tear gas. They later regrouped in Caracas' Plaza Brion chanting "freedom!" Some tossed rocks and bottles at police, prompting authorities to scatter demonstrators by firing more gas.
It was the largest of several protests that broke out across Caracas hours after Radio Caracas Television ceased broadcasting at midnight Sunday 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.
Interior Minister Pedro Carreno told state-run television that four students were wounded by gunfire during a pro-RCTV protest staged near a university in the city of Valencia, located 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Caracas. It was not immediately clear who the assailants were or if they were arrested.
At least three protesters and one police officer were injured in the Caracas skirmishes. Some protesters were seen in television footage hurling spent tear gas canisters back at police.
Office workers poured out of buildings to join student protesters, while organizers called for the demonstration to remain peaceful. RCTV talk show host Miguel Angel Rodriguez led the crowd in chants of, "They will not silence us!"
Separately, Information Minister Willian Lara accused the private Globovision TV channel of encouraging an attempt on Chavez's life by broadcasting the chorus of a salsa tune - "Have faith, this doesn't end here" - along with footage of the 1981 assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.
"They incite the assassination of Venezuela's president," he said.
Globovision director Alberto Federico Ravell denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations "ridiculous." He also accused U.S. network CNN of coverage biased against Chavez.
The new public channel, TVES, launched its transmissions early Monday with artists singing pro-Chavez music, then carried an exercise program and a talk show, interspersed with government ads proclaiming, "Now Venezuela belongs to everyone."
Thousands of government supporters reveled in the streets as they watched the midnight changeover on large TV screens, seeing RCTV's signal go black and then be replaced by a TVES logo. Others launched fireworks and danced in the streets.
Inside the studios of RCTV - the sole opposition-aligned TV station with nationwide reach - disheartened actors and comedians wept and embraced in the final minutes on the air.
Chavez says he is democratizing the airwaves by turning the network's signal over to public use.
The socialist president accused the network of helping to incite a failed coup in 2002, violating broadcast laws and "poisoning" Venezuelans with programming that promoted capitalism. RCTV's managers deny wrongdoing.
Founded in 1953, RCTV was the nation's oldest private channel and regularly topped viewer ratings with its talk shows, sports, soap operas and comedy programs.
Some protesters on Monday blocked roads with rocks and burning trash, saying they fear for the future of free speech. Police used tear gas to break up at least two protests, and were seen handcuffing and detaining one man.
The group Reporters Without Borders called for international condemnation of the RCTV decision as "a major setback to democracy and pluralism."
Robert Menard, the Paris-based group's secretary-general, called the measure Chavez's "first serious international political error."
Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, officially declared its concern that Venezuela let RCTV's license expire "without holding an open competition for the successor license."
Aw shucks. Just send Jimmy Carter down there. He’ll have their freedom back in no time.
A sign that the people have had enough.
Isn’t Communism just beautiful....
He could always come up here and run as a dem.
called the measure Chavez’s “first serious international political error.”
Where has this guy been for the last 5 years?
Freedom? I thought they were PO’d that Chavez canceled Oprah.
This sounds just like Cuba. I wonder how many of Chavez’s early supporters now regret their past votes?
Too little, too late! Actually, if they had guns and could shoot the socialist bastards they might still have a chance. But with no guns available, Chavez isn’t worried. Without a news media, he’ll now be able to dispatch his enemies quietly with a peaceful “all is well†smile on his face. Socialism killed an estimated 100 million last century; the killing is about to continue this century.
I wonder if Cindy Sheehan wants to go back to see Hugo now.
well hopefully Venezuelans have learned from Cubans’ mistakes...
ya gotta “take out the trash” before the rats take over.
“Too little, too late?”
maybe...but it only takes one bullet to remove Chavez.
Looking at his supporters at DU, most appear to be celebrating.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x991335#991341
"Tear gas, cool, but they should be cutting down the pro-fascist anti-Chavez putschists in a hail of lead."
"if we get into the White House ..can we Muzzle that stink'n FOX station!"
Chavez doesn’t go away anytime soon, and the U.S. soon has a bunch of Venezuelan illegals living all over the U.S. This is a lose-lose situation.
I guess nationalizing the oil industry there and confiscating private property from international oil companies isn’t a “serious international political error.” Or how about harboring Islamic terrorists, providing them with false papers and getting them to Mexico so they can corss the border?
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He'd have to take two steps left first.
Have these people been disarmed?
“not ‘lost’ on those American’s who received their free heating oil. . “
Are you kidding me?
The folks who received free heating oil, from this enemy of the US and his own people, do not give a simple thought about anyone else but themselves. Give me the Oil. Down with Bush. That is the mentality (and lack of humanity) we are talking about.
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