[Cincinatus' Wife]

As TV stations broadcast coverage of large anti-Chavez demonstrations April 9-11, the administration broke in with mandatory government broadcasts of its own so-called "cadenas," including long presidential speeches. Some stations responded by showing a split screen with Chavez on one side and demonstrators on the other, the Wall Street Journal reports. This battle for airtime culminated on the afternoon of April 11, when Chavez had the station's broadcasting signals shut down.

****February 2002 - Now his adversaries include the business community, labor unions, the middle class, neighboring countries -- and the church. The opposition has taken to calling him 'El Chalibán,'' a play on the word Taliban. The snowballing size of the opposition has led to increasing social and political tension. In December, an unlikely alliance -- business and labor -- conducted a one-day strike to protest Chávez' laws. A month later, a massive march took place in the streets; Chávez had the government TV station broadcast a Catholic Mass instead…. ``It's not just the middle class, it's every class. We would rather have someone else, but there are no other options. What we can't do is expect anyone to be our savior -- that's what happened when we voted for Chávez.'' ***