Press freedom group accuses Venezuela govt

[Bacchus39]

CARACAS, Venezuela - A U.S.-based press freedom watchdog is in Venezuela to investigate complaints that President Hugo Chavez is using news laws and the courts to silence journalists critical of his leftist government.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/venezuela_press_freedom;_ylt=AuyL7jkAKvvKn1K8vuMeqLu3IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--


Several Venezuelan journalists are under investigation for charges from libel to murder, cases critics say were trumped up to intimidate independent media.

"The legal cases that have been brought against journalists are another attempt to weaken the media," said Gonzalo Marroquin, head of the press freedoms commission of the Inter American Press Association, a Miami-based group that has long accused Chavez of trying to stifle press freedoms.

The government insists there is complete freedom of expression in Venezuela, pointing to newspapers and television stations that are harshly critical of Chavez's policies. Information Minister Willian Lara said government officials were too busy to meet with the IAPA delegation.

Among other cases, the delegation, including IAPA president Diana Daniels of The Washington Post Co., is looking into murder accusations against Patricia Poleo, who is well-known in Venezuela for her anti-government editorials.

and the best paragraph of the article:

Other recent cases include slander charges against TV commentator Napoleon Bravo, who criticized Venezuela's Supreme Court and suggested it be replaced by a brothel. Government opponents accuse Chavez of stacking the court with his allies.

[Imperialism Inc.]

1. Your organization - IAPA - does more harm than good to press freedom

http://www.narconews.com/iapaletter1.html

An Open Letter to Robert J. Cox of the Inter-American Press Association

July 29, 2002

My name is Al Giordano. I have been a professional journalist since 1988 and today I write you in my capacity as publisher of The Narco News Bulletin - www.narconews.com -- an online newspaper that reports on the drug war and democracy from Latin America

...
In fact, we found that an entire class of journalists in Venezuela is under attack and has been left undefended by your organization and the other large-budget "press freedom" organizations: the journalists of the Community Media, particularly those from the 25 non-profit TV and radio stations that were legalized under Venezuela's Bolivarian Constitution of 1999 and the Telecommunications Law of 2001.

Specifically, we bring your attention to the grave matter of the unjust imprisonment by rogue police forces (the same ones that participated in the April 2002 coup attempt in that country) of three important and respected radio journalists: Nicolás Rivera of Radio Perola, and Jorge Quintero and Lenín Méndez of Radio Senderos, both non-profit Community Broadcasters in the greater Caracas area.

We also bring your attention to serious threats against these journalists and others like them that have come not from governmental institutions, but, rather, from commercial media institutions.

Specifically, this threat has been executed by Miguel Angel Martínez, the president of the private-sector Chamber of Radio Broadcasters who recently called upon his organization's affiliates to "interfere" with the frequencies of the Community Media outlets during the next coup d'etat attempt in Venezuela

...

I would have written you a longer letter, Mr. Cox, as I have to the Committee to Protect Journalists and to Reporters Without Borders, but, the fact is that your statements during and after the attempted coup d'etat in Venezuela were so knowingly dishonest that it is clear your position is directly opposed to - not in favor of - the cause of press freedom.

It is unfortunate, but for those of us who really are journalists working in the field - and not in the corporate boardroom or management of newspapers - your organization's deeds do more harm than good to our freedom of the press.

Your organization is nothing more than a lobbying group for the owners of a commercial industry - newspapers - and the IAPA's cynical use of the "press freedom" issue is only wielded to expand the economic and political powers of the owners of commercial media, abusive powers that are increasingly in conflict with the free expression rights of working journalists and of a majority of members of the public.

Your organization, the Inter-American Press Association, is a fraud.

...more...

[Robbien]

3. It does seem odd that all media in Venezuela is opposed to Chavez

while small alternative independently funded radio/news outlets are the only ones who do not spew out Chavez hatred.

If these so-called media watchdogs were really watchdogs, we would be hearing a lot more from them about the loss of freedom of the press in the U.S.

[Laotra]

9. Odd?

His - the media owners - name is Gustav Cisnero, he's a Bush pal and he deserves to be hanged by the balls.

[happydreams]

16. Cisneros owns or runs TV show "Wheel of Fortune"

Wonder if he's linked to the Cisneros crime family?

[stepnw1f]

2. LOLOLOL...Fweedom Gwoop

another front group for the Fascists.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. So wrong...

So blatantly, ignorantly wrong. You know not of what you speak. At all. IAPA has a long history of defending the rights of journalists in the Western hemisphere, frequently putting itself at odds with the US backed governments of various countries in the region. They are also highly critical of US policies that curtail the rights of journalists. For instance,



The United States government continues to face criticism for failing to respond to calls for independent investigation of cases where journalists and media staff have been killed by U.S. soldiers. Critics say the U.S. attitude is encouraging a culture of impunity in the killing of media staff around the world.




I'm sorry they don't support your political agenda. They don't have a political agenda. Their agenda is, and has always been, protecting the rights of journalists, regardless of the political affiliation of the people who are threatening them. I'm sorry if this offends your hyperpartisan sensibilities, but you're either completely ignorant of this organisation's history, or you are deliberately attempting to misconstrue their mission and history.

So, which is it?

[Bacchus39]

12. no, you nailed it

and I posted some IAPA criticisms of the USA and other nations but apparently this went unnoticed. the only important issue is they criticized Venezuela and Hugo's administration, so obvioulsy they are fascist and evil. God forbid they might criticize the lack of a free press in Cuba.

[stepnw1f]

14. No... I Think You Got Nailed

nice try though....

[Binka]

27. Whheeeee The Hate Chavez Groupies Are Still Slinging Crapola

Here is a list of other things that set them off like a raped ape:

Michael Moore
Cindy Sheehan
Cynthia McKinney
TruthOut
Global Warming
Fidel Castro
LIHOP/MIHOP

Add a few of your own. :hi:

[ronnie624]

15. The Regional Vice Chairman for IAPA

in Venezuela was Juan Manuel Carmona who was rabidly anti-Chavez, and just happened to be the owner and editor of Barquisimeto El Impulso. (He was killed in a car wreck in January.) I wouldn't trust your IAPA as far as I could throw them.

[FormerDem06]

17. Sure it was an *accident*

Juan Manuel Carmona, owner of El Impulso newspaper was killed in a ‘car accident;’ Filippo Sindoni, owner of El Aragueño, another provincial newspaper and a TV station, was kidnapped and killed; Salvador Termini, owner of La Prensa de Monagas, yet another regional newspaper also died in a ‘car accident;’ and now Jose Joaquin Tovar has been killed. All deaths have occurred recently.

Sounds like Mr. Chavez doesn't like dissent. I've heard that Carmona's death was a "freak accident" but who really knows?

[ronnie624]

18. Apparently an axle broke

on a truck that Carmona's driver was passing and the wheel landed in the passenger compartment of Carmona's vehicle. I suppose it is remotely possible Hugo Chavez caused an axle to break at just the right moment, but I am highly skeptical.

[FormerDem06]

19. you know it could be true....

Chavez is starting to freak me out a little, he's gone from a populist uprising (which I wholeheartedly support) to planning to build an AK-47 factory and overcrowding his prison systems with dissenters. A lot of these guys start out with good intentions, but too many times they have gone the wrong way.

[ronnie624]

20. He doesn't freak me out at all.

Do you have any sources for your claim that Chavez is "overcrowding his prison systems with dissenters"?

[FormerDem06]

25. Not a ton of sources

It could be that he just doesn't care for the rule of law in his country, but it leads one to ask questions.......

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/07/08/venezu11299.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/04/05/venezu10423.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/04/12/venezu8423.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2003/02/19/venezu5323.htm
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/12/14/venezu9864.htm



http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41778.htm

an excerpt of this one above:

The Venezuelan Program of Action and Education in Human Rights (PROVEA), a human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO), documented 231 unlawful killings from October 2003 through September. PROVEA and the human rights NGO Committee for the Families of the Victims of February 1989 (COFAVIC) identified cases of police death squad activity, linked to police participation in criminal activity. PROVEA noted that such activity decreased in Portuguesa, Yaracuy, and Anzoategui States as a result of media attention and prosecutions.

On August 23, a judge approved release on bail for 14 Portuguesa State police officers being held on 68 counts of murder for their alleged participation in the death squad "Exterminio." The men had been in custody for 20 months longer than the legal 24-month pre-trial detention limit, a delay due in part to the reluctance of citizens to serve as lay judges in the case. Prosecutors appealed the decision to release the officers from detention, and the measure was suspended. A trial was pending at year's end.

In November, for example, the Interior Ministry reported that police killed 135 persons who "resisted authority" that month.

Prison conditions were harsh due to scarce resources, poorly trained and corrupt prison staff, and violence by guards and inmates. The prison population was at 118 percent of capacity; 22 of the country's 32 prisons were overpopulated, some severely, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. Severe overcrowding in some prisons constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. Prisoners often complained of food and water shortages.

Inmates often had to pay guards and other inmates to obtain necessities such as space in a cell, a bed, and food. Most prisoners obtained food from their families, by paying prison guards, or in barter with other prisoners. Many inmates also profited from exploiting and abusing others, especially as convicted murderers and rapists often were held with un-sentenced or first-time petty offenders. Trafficking in arms and drugs fueled gang-related violence and extortion. Prison officials often illegally demanded payment from prisoners for transportation to judicial proceedings (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).

According to the OVP, there were approximately 18,781 prisoners in December, of whom 8,915 had not been convicted of a crime and were held without bail, and the Ministry of the Interior and Justice reported that 48 percent of all prisoners were in pretrial detention. Trials were delayed due to many factors, including the limited power of judges to compel authorities to transport prisoners to court.

There is so much more, but I'll let you read it for yourself.....


Oh and my favorite one (he's going for lifetime ruling status and getting rid of term limits):

CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez said yesterday voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years.

Chavez seeking 25-year term

Sun, May 7, 2006

By AP

CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez said yesterday voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years.

Speaking at a stadium, Chavez said he would hold a referendum to put the question of his remaining in office to Venezuelans if the opposition pulls out of upcoming presidential elections.

"I am going to ask you, all the people, if you agree with Chavez being president until 2031," he said.

It was not clear if Chavez was talking about holding a legally binding vote to eliminate term limits or proposing a plebiscite.

[ronnie624]

26. Sorry,

I don't accept the U.S. Department of State as a source for criticism of human rights violations in Venezuela. The conflict of interest should be glaringly obvious, even to a right-wing troll.

The links to Human Rights Watch have been seen here many times and are typically posted by those who want to smear Chavez without providing any evidence. They simply level charges and then post links to HRW as if that proves their claims. Of course the HRW report says nothing about chavez "overcrowding his prison systems with dissenters" (your initial charge).

As for the idiotic claim that Chavez is seeking a 25 year term:

"A little scrutiny of a recent Associated Press report about Venezuela provides a lesson in how the English-language press often gets the story wrong. Take the first sentence: "President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuelan voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years."

No, such a referendum would not be about "whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years." A referendum would be about whether Chavez would be permitted to run every six years and --in the event that he were to continue winning elections-- serve multiple presidential terms. The AP report's opening sentence makes it sound as if such a referendum would do away with elections in Venezuela, as if its intent would be to grant Chavez a new 25-year term in office! The website of The Calgary Sun even titles the wire report "Chavez seeking 25-year term"!!

This is obviously an extremely poor piece of reporting. Chavez made it clear that, if the opposition committed to participating in the upcoming presidential election, he would not convoke a referendum to end presidential term limits. He explained that the intent of his threat to convoke such a referendum was not to perpetuate himself in power but rather to defend the Bolivarian Revolution."

<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1723>

[FormerDem06]

31. Listen I'm not saying he's the devil....

Just that doing things like clearing out the supreme court, asking to serve for the next 30 years and building factories to make weapons and conspiring to form alliances with N. Korea freak me out a little bit.

I know Venezuela was pretty darn corrupt before he got there, I'm not suggesting it's too much of a new thing. I AM suggesting though that some of the things that he is starting to do, don't jive with a populist leader. They are starting to sound a little bit more like Castro if you ask me.

[BrotherBuzz]

33. He cleared out the supreme court?

Who got fired?

Some people say he 'packed' the court' by increasing its members from 20 to 32, but I'm under the impression the legislative branch acted legally but increasing the number. :shrug:

[FormerDem06]

36. How do you interpret this?

The law passed in May expanded the court from 20 to 32 members. In addition to the justices named to the 12 new seats, five justices were named to fill vacancies that had opened in recent months, and 32 more were named as reserve justices for the court. Members and allies of President Chávez’s Fifth Republic Movement (Movimiento V República, or MVR) form a majority in Congress.

In 1999 a constituent assembly convoked by President Chávez drafted a constitution that guarantees the independence of the judicial branch and the autonomy of the Supreme Court. The Constitution specifically seeks to guarantee the independence of Supreme Court justices by establishing an impeachment process according to which justices may only be removed for “serious offenses” by a two-thirds majority vote by Congress.

But in May, President Chávez signed a court-packing law that allowed his governing coalition in the legislature to obtain an overwhelming majority of seats on the country’s highest court. The 17 new justices (and 32 reserves) were selected yesterday by a simply majority vote of the governing coalition, which did not reveal the names of the nominees to the opposition members of Congress until the time of the vote.

The court-packing law signed in May also gave the governing coalition the power to remove judges from the Court without the two-thirds majority vote required under the constitution. In June, two justices retired after facing possible suspension from the Supreme Court as a result of these new provisions.

The political takeover of the Supreme Court will compound the damage already done to judicial independence by policies pursued by the court itself. The Supreme Court, which has administrative control over the judiciary, has failed to provide security of tenure to 80 percent of the country’s judges. In March, the court summarily fired three judges after they had decided politically controversial cases.

=================================================================

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/12/14/venezu9864.htm

[Flanker]

39. As if the legalesse mattered

The AN today has no problem getting a super majority (heck even unanimous) on anything and it still will be viewed as the same, court packing.

All of the laws passed for restriction on violent speech are passed legally and are still viewed as dictatorial.

[BrotherBuzz]

40. I interpret the 'court-packing' term as...

pejorative language used as a partisan attack against the Chavez government. Again, do you have anything newer?

Here's another propoganda piece that balances your HRW article (nothing is black and white and I suggest you read the entire article and try and comprehend the finer points).

Has Human Rights Watch Joined Venezuela’s Opposition?

Friday, Jun 18, 2004

 

By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com

It looks like the cat is out of the bag: Human Rights Watch has formally joined Venezuela’s opposition. Well, not quite; it is not a formally consummated deal yet, since their latest report does appeal to President Chavez by saying, “the criticisms offered not be mischaracterized as a partisan attack.”

Then why has just about everyone who supports the Chavez government taken the latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Venezuela, about the country’s “Judicial Independence under Siege,” as precisely the opposite of what HRW says it is, as a “partisan attack”? Is it because they do not want to deal with the real issues, as HRW’s America’s Director José Miguel Vivanco suggests, or is it because the report actually is a partisan attack – one that is being launched just in time to turn national and international public opinion against the Chavez government as it faces an unprecedented recall referendum a mere two months from now?

This report is just the most recent and most revealing partisan attack against the Chavez government. It begins by basically equating the April 2002 coup attempt with the new Supreme Court law when it says, “When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías faced a coup d’état in April 2002, advocates of democracy in Venezuela and abroad roundly condemned the assault on the country’s constitutional order.  Today Venezuela faces another constitutional crisis that could severely impair its already fragile democracy.  This time, though, the threat comes from the government itself.” It ends by making demands that are typical of Venezuela’s opposition—demands that the government cannot possibly fulfill, such as suspending the new law, which has already taken effect. Then, since such a demand will not be fulfilled, the report, just as is typical of Venezuela’s opposition, takes the issue to international bodies, such as the World Bank and the OAS.

Valid criticism negated by relentless polemic

The HRW report correctly points out that Venezuela’s judicial system has pretty much always been in very poor shape. According to the report, “In terms of public credibility, the system was bankrupt” before Chavez came to power. The report then goes on to describe the efforts of the Chavez government to fundamentally revamp the judicial system, which succeeded to a limited extent, but then fizzled and eventually died.

<more>

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1200

[ronnie624]

34. Other countries are "conspiring"

to form alliances with North Korea as well, including South Korea, Russia, China and India, so I'm not sure what your point is. Sovereign nations have a right to develop diplomatic and economic relations with other sovereign nations. I don't see a problem.

The problem is, like so many, you have been conditioned to believe the United States has the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries and dictate their political and economic policies and alliances, even attacking and or invading to enforce our will. Many years ago such foolishness was a given of my world view as well. Since then I have put much effort into informing myself and I no longer embrace such blatantly chauvinistic nationalism. Perhaps one day you too will "see the light".

The rest of your post consists of nothing but regurgitations of pop media propaganda that have been addressed here ad nauseam.

Good day to you.

[FormerDem06]

37. Interesting take I must admit....

I in no way believe that the US has ANY right to meddle in the affairs of other countries. I pray that the people of N. Korea will rise up and stop the mass murder in that country but I don't advocate sending the army and the marines in there. I didn't say that the US should go into Venezuela and do anything. I just said the guy was starting to freak me out a litte, that's all.

Some of the things that his government (national and local) are doing are not right. The same could be said of the US, but I do have the power to do something about that by my rights as a citizen. People in countries like China, N. Korea, Iran, Cuba and Syria have no rights to participate in their own government. In many cases the government decides whether it's citizens have any right to live or die (China and N. Korea come to mind first). That is just plain not right.

Venezuela started out on a very noble road several years ago, now it just seems to me that they are starting to take the road as the countries listed above. I hope I'm wrong, I really do.

[Oak2004]

35. While Chavez has done things I can't support, I can't hold

the weapons plant against him at all. The US government is menacing towards him, he has a client state (Colombia) next door to him from whence bad guys who threaten his nation pop out from time to time, and he has an internal radical right element which is coup-minded.

Under such circumstances any national leader has an obligation to strengthen his country's national defense.

And if I were the head of such a nation, after looking at my situation (superpower above me hates me, I could never arm myself with weapons of the sophistication and the numbers to prevail in a conventional war with them; big ticket weapons like planes and tanks are of limited value in a coup, and historically armies can't always be trusted in coup situations; the possibility of conventional war with the proxy next door does require that I keep up a conventional force good enough to beat them back), I'd pick exactly the strategy that Chavez, a military man, has picked:

*Modernize my conventional forces with weapons I can maintain (the MIG jets) to repel the proxy's forces

*Develop a very large popular militia, with small arms and explosives stockpiled around the country

*Set up arms factories, especially small arms factories, that can build up stockpiles now, and can go underground to continue to supply the irregulars if necessary

The small arms factories do double duty. Every country needs a defense force. Countries in the region who are friendly to me can buy weapons from me, instead of from the superpower, who might use weapon sales to lean on my neighbors to side with their proxy in a war on me.

[FormerDem06]

38. That's fair.....

He does have a huge problem with his border with Columbia.

[Recursion]

29. Here's AI, in addition to HRW

Chavez is not the messiah. He does some things that creep me out and should creep you out too. He has accused human rights activists of being pro-American "agitators", and arrested people for having ties to American NGOs or corporations. In addition, people opposed to him are harrassed, threatened, jailed, and sometimes killed.

http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/ven-summary-eng
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530042006?open&of=ENG-VEN
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530062003?open&of=ENG-VEN
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530032006?open&of=ENG-VEN
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530142000?open&of=ENG-VEN
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR530042005?open&of=ENG-VEN

And of course AI is also concerned about the opposition in Venezuela. But the fact that evil people oppose Chavez does not make Chavez good; the same is true for Castro, Ahmadi-Najad, Nasrallah, Saddam, etc.

[BrotherBuzz]

30. Do you have any links dated after the ICC tossed the case?

That State Department report was from 2004, and the HRW reports were from 2003-2005. Have you anything current? Perhaps something that is unbiased and doesn't contain reports from the opposition party claiming unfounded allegations?

Venezuelan Opposition Case Thrown Out of International Criminal Court

Friday, Feb 17, 2006 Print format

By: Alex Holland – Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, Venezuela, February 17, 2006—The International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected an appeal by Venezuelan opposition groups to prosecute the Venezuelan government for human rights violations. Chief Prosecutor for the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said the charges had a, “lack of precision as well as internal and external inconsistencies in the information.”

The ICC was set up by international treaty in 1998. Its purpose is to deal with the most serious human rights violations such as war crimes or crimes against humanity. Venezuela signed up to the ICC in June 2000.

Charges were first brought to the court in 2003 by Venezuelan lawyers representing Venezuelans associated with the opposition. The lawyers argued that they had suffered crimes against humanity at the hands of the Venezuelan government.

Most of the crimes they say they suffered were during the April 2002 coup, when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his government were briefly removed from power before being restored days later by the military and popular protests.

<more>

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1900

[RangerSmith]

24. For some reason

it matters only that they speak out about the U.S. to some here.

They'll ignore stuff these guys do to people they wouldn't even allow their local dog catcher to do to a possum as long as they keep trashing the govt here.

[ronnie624]

28. Comparing human rights abuses

by the U.S. with those of a small, weak country like Venezuela is really quite foolish. Doing so reveals the abysmal depth of your ignorance. Few nations can lay claim to the degree of slaughter and destruction carried out by the U.S. during the past 100 years. There are two or three, but it doesn't make me feel very proud being in their company.

[Peace Patriot]

4. The Corporate Media in Venezuela pummels Chavez every day, 24/7, and

some rightwing front group in Miami thinks CHAVEZ is the one who is stifling a free press?!

You gotta laugh at this crap sometimes--evil as it is. For a long time, I was puzzled by a phrase that kept turning up in our war profiteering corporate news monopolies--that Chavez was "increasingly dictatorial." It is always attributed to "his critics," never identified by name or quoted--whether it's WaPo, or the NYT, or the WSJ, or AP. The same or a similar phrase ("increasingly authoritarian"). I finally found what I think is the source--who WaPo, the NYT, the WSJ, AP and all the rest are relying on in this characterization of Chavez (besides the U.S. State Department). The one who actually said this is a rightwing fascist ("Opus Dei") Catholic Cardinal in Venezuela, who spent his career in Vatican finance, and was fired by the Vatican during the fascist banking scandals of the '80s (and they never fire anybody). HE thinks Chavez is "increasingly authoritarian"!

Really, you gotta laugh.

[Bacchus39]

5. more "fascism" from IAPA

http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/srchcountrydetail.cfm?PressReleaseID=1686

MIAMI, Florida (June 15, 2006)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today protested the expulsion of three reporters from the United States naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, saying the action amounted to censorship.

Carol Rosenberg from The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, Michael Gordon from The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Carol Williams from the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, went to the prison camp to look in into reports that three men being held there had committed suicide last Saturday. The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday ordered them to leave the base before they could finish their investigations.

The chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, declared, "We are concerned that this is an act of censorship and prevents news coverage by the press on what is happening at the Guantánamo base, just at a time when the base is coming under international public scrutiny."


http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/srchcountrydetail.cfm?PressReleaseID=1672
IAPA voices concern over any effort in US to introduce legislation that would punish disclosure of classified information

[Bacchus39]

6. still more fascists acts by the IAPA

New IAPA book reveals harassment by organized crime groups against Latin American journalists
IAPA condemned recent murder of Mexican journalists and calls for an end to impunity
http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/srchcountrydetail.cfm?PressReleaseID=1621


IAPA pleased with repeal of insult laws in Guatemala (too bad Venezuela won't do the same)

http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/srchcountrydetail.cfm?PressReleaseID=1597

[Imperialism Inc.]

7. Good to see you've seen the light about that organization.

Maybe now you can move on to stop spreading right wing talking points about the Kyoto treaty.

[Bacchus39]

8. excuse me??

yeah, we certainly don't need a "fascist" group condemning the murder of journalists in latin america, or advocating for the elimination of "insult" laws as occurred in Guatemala but NOT in Venezuela now do we?

and what is this about Kyoto?

[ronnie624]

13. This article

gives a much more accurate depiction of the corporate owned media in Venezuela than the garbage you attempt to peddle here:

On April 13, 2002, the day after business leader Pedro Carmona briefly seized power, Izarra quit that job under what he describes as "extreme emotional stress." Ever since, he has been sounding the alarm about the threat posed to democracy when the media decide to abandon journalism and pour all their persuasive powers into winning a war being waged over oil.

(Some people apparently have very short memories and tend to forget what the struggle in Venezuela is really all about.)

Venezuela's private television stations are owned by wealthy families with serious financial stakes in defeating Chávez. Venevisión, the most-watched network, is owned by Gustavo Cisneros, a mogul dubbed "the joint venture king" by the New York Post. The Cisneros Group has partnered with many top US brands--from AOL and Coca-Cola to Pizza Hut and Playboy--becoming a gatekeeper to the Latin American market.

(Some people also seem to forget who really owns the media in Venezuela)

*******

All this helps explain why, in the days leading up to the April coup, Venevisión, RCTV, Globovisión and Televen replaced regular programming with relentless anti-Chávez speeches, interrupted only for commercials calling on viewers to take to the streets: "Not one step backward. Out! Leave now!" The ads were sponsored by the oil industry, but the stations carried them free, as "public service announcements."

They went further: On the night of the coup, Cisneros's station played host to meetings among the plotters, including Carmona. The president of Venezuela's broadcasting chamber co-signed the decree dissolving the elected National Assembly. And while the stations openly rejoiced at news of Chávez's "resignation," when pro-Chávez forces mobilized for his return a total news blackout was imposed.

*******

Venezuela's media, including state TV, need tough controls to insure diversity, balance and access, enforced at arm's length from political powers. Some of Chávez's proposals (such as an ominous clause banning speech that shows "disrespect" to government officials) overstep these bounds and could easily be used to muzzle critics. That said, it is absurd to treat Chávez as the principal threat to a free press in Venezuela. That honor clearly goes to the media owners themselves. This fact has been entirely lost on the organizations entrusted to defend press freedom around the world, still stuck in a paradigm in which all journalists just want to tell the truth and all threats come from nasty politicians and angry mobs.

<http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030303/klein>

The reality is a little more complicated than the simplistic, two dimensional "analysis" by certain posters on this forum.

[Flanker]

32. Colombia is the worst violator of human rights and free speech

In the hemesphire, followed by the US.

Glass houses.

Personally this is a silly nonstory, oh press freedoms are declining because a regional two bit newspaper is having their HQ apropiated under eminent domain and another journo is wanted for the assasination of Danilo Anderson...

[Bridget Burke]

10. Poor, persecuted Patricia Poleo....

Why Patricia Poleo may be trying so hard to avoid talking to authorities...

Oil Wars Blogspot writes: Some extremely interesting information has just come to light via Colombia regarding the plots to overthrow or assassinate Chavez and the murder of the Venezuelan prosecutor Danilo Anderson.

It would seem the Colombians were deeply involved in this and some Venezuelan opposition types, such as Patricia Poleo, may also have been involved. Or at least so says a very high ranking Colombian intelligence (DAS) official who is now in a Colombian jail and is spilling the beans about both corruption within that agency and the plots against Venezuela.

www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=53598

Is this source totally neutral? It has offered pieces not exactly compliemntary to Chavez.

[Vidar]

21. Why can't he just buy up the media, or shoot all the war correspondents

like we do?

[struggle4progress]

22. Here's a list of top places for journalists to be killed in:

DEADLIEST COUNTRIES 1996-2005

Iraq: 60
Colombia: 28
Philippines: 26
Russia: 23
Sierra Leone: 16
India: 15
Bangladesh: 12
Serbia and Montenegro: 10
Afghanistan: 10
Mexico: 9
Algeria: 9
Brazil: 9

http://www.cpj.org/killed/killed_archives/stats.html

[samsingh]

23. who's watching the press in the US?

[NorthernSun]

41. Check this out for censorship

JERUSALEM (AP) - Here's some news you may never hear about Israel's war against Hezbollah: a missile falls into the sea, a strategic military installation is hit, a Cabinet minister plans to visit the front lines.

All these topics are subject to review by Israel's chief military censor, who has - in her own words - "extraordinary power.'' She can silence a broadcaster, block information and put journalists in jail.

"I can, for example, publish an order that no material can be published. I can close a newspaper or shut down a station. I can do almost anything,'' Col. Sima Vaknin said Wednesday.

http://www.startribune.com/722/story/562903.html

Now that's democracy!