Venezuela: students protest because of RCTV closing

Here is the video. It’s in Spanish but you can get an overview of what has been going on.

UPDATE: Italian blogger Paolo di Lautreamont has more videos for you to see.

Chávez closes RCTV: CNN – Reuters (Venezuela TV station says troops seized equipment) –

Workers of RCTV station cry while singing the national anthem after the channel was forced off the air in Caracas May 28, 2007. The government is not renewing RCTV’s license after 53 years on the air because of accusations that the broadcaster participated in a bungled 2002 coup against Chavez, incited violent demonstrations and aired immoral programming. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Agora Vox (French):

“The organization of American States (OEA) and Mercosur can say that Hugo Chávez is a democrat but his acts speak otherwise”. Those are the words written in the editorial of the Venezuelan newspaper Tal Cual after the new attack on individual freedoms by president-dictator Hugo Chavez.

 

Supporters of Radio Caracas TV (RCTV) attend a demonstration outside the TV station in Caracas May 27, 2007. RCTV is being forced off the air after President Hugo Chavez’s administration refused to renew its broadcasting license which ends on Sunday. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

 

A supporters of Radio Caracas TV (RCTV) writes a message outside the TV station in Caracas May 27, 2007. RCTV is being forced off the air after President Hugo Chavez’s administration refused to renew its broadcasting license which ends on Sunday. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Protests: Yahoo! – Students protesting Chávez TV network closure clash with police.

Venezuelan policemen protect themselves when confronting students at the demonstration. El Mundo.es. 

Venezuelan policemen take position during a demonstration by government opponents in east Caracas, in the aftermath of the closure of private network RCTV (Radio Caracas Television). President Hugo Chavez’s clampdown on opposition television stations widened Monday as police used rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators protesting what they called an attack on free speech(AFP/Juan Barreto)

A Venezuelan protestor against the police. (El Mundo.es).

Time – At least 3 students injured in clash with Chávez.

Students protesting against Chávez with Venezuelan flags.

IHT Opposition-alligned Venezuelan TV station goes off the air -( look at this title: looks like Chávez has nothing to do with it):

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.

Venezuelan armed police follow protestors. (El Mundo.es)

Yahoo! – Venezuela moves against second opposition TV channel: This piece of news says the reason which was considered by Chávez to shut the station

Seizing on the momentum of RCTV’s closure, Communications Minister Willian Lara presented a case to the state prosecutor’s office saying experts hired by the ministry had found that opposition broadcaster Globovision was inciting assassination attempts on Chavez.

As evidence, he cited Globovision showing footage of an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981 accompanied by the song “This Does Not Stop Here,” sung by Ruben Blades, now Panama’s minister of tourism.

“The conclusion of the specialists … is that (in this segment) they are inciting the assassination of the president of Venezuela,” Lara told reporters at the prosecutor’s office.

Oh, yes? That is the conclusion? Wow, you have an imagination… Comparing John Paul II with Chávez is a little difficult. Not only Chávez is not the Pope, but also Chávez is not related with the Catholic Church at any level…

New State Station: ABC News: Chávez launches New Venezuela TV Station:

The new channel, TVES, launched its transmissions 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 changeover on large TV screens, seeing RCTV’s signal go black and then be replaced by a TVES logo featuring Venezuela’s national colors. Others launched fireworks and danced to the classic salsa tune “Todo tiene su final” “Everything Has Its End.”

In the countdown to the midnight deadline, thousands of RCTV backers banged pots in protest and played recordings of sirens. Some fired gunshots into the air.

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.

They bowed their heads in prayer, and presenter Nelson Bustamante declared: “Long live Venezuela! We will return soon.”

Chavez says he is democratizing the airwaves by turning the network’s signal over to public use. His opponents condemned the move as an assault on free speech.

Germany, which holds the European Union presidency, expressed concern that Venezuela let RCTV’s license expire “without holding an open competition for the successor license.” It said the EU expects that Venezuela will uphold freedom of speech and “support pluralism.”

Employees of Radio Caracas Television, RCTV, sing the national anthem as the channel’s signal is cut in Caracas, late Sunday, May 27, 2007. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez decided not to renew the the opposition-aligned channel’s broadcasting license which expired at midnight. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)

More here. Also here -in Spanish-. Also in Fausta’s blog. Prevost -Spanish- has also posted about it.

La Razón.es (Spanish): Chávez is now targeting free radios after closing opposition TV. Also the channel 24 hours Globovisión and the US CNN in Spanish have been also sued for publishing news with errors.

As Kate posted, Chávez has also taken control of the national phone company, with the aim of converting it into a socialist firm.

Venezuelan vice-president: We don’t have any more to say: the concession has ended. Yes, of course, would have been ended if it would have told you how marvellous you are?

Venezuelan military men are ordered to salute each other with “Country, socialism or death”.

reliapundit: Venezuela’s state-sponsored land theives reveal core hypocrisy of “land reforms”.