(IPYS/IFEX) – Once again, while speaking on his regular programme broadcast by radio and television on Thursday nights, President of the Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías spent more than twenty minutes attacking the editor of “El Universal”, Andrés Mata Osorio. The president called Mata Osorio a fraud and a spokesperson for international interests. The […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – Once again, while speaking on his regular programme broadcast by radio and television on Thursday nights, President of the Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías spent more than twenty minutes attacking the editor of “El Universal”, Andrés Mata Osorio. The president called Mata Osorio a fraud and a spokesperson for international interests.
The president was reacting to a report presented by the Inter American Press Association during the weekend of 17 to 18 March 2001, warning of the president’s hostile attitude towards the exercise of press freedom. Mata Osorio presented a report on Venezuela to the hemispheric organisation.
At noon (local time) on 22 March, the Venezuelan president again denounced the existence of a “media conspiracy” and stated that this phenomenon was to blame for the controversy that was stirred up during the last two weeks of March. This followed the release of a video in which José María Ballestas, a hijacker for the Colombian guerrilla group National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberacion Nacional), was shown in Venezuela. Ballestas is being sought by the Colombian government for a number of crimes and the Venezuelan government had denied knowing his whereabouts.
“I repeat, there is a media conspiracy here, I will not tire of denouncing this. They are trying to damage my government, but they will not succeed, because the people know that they are a bunch of liers,” the president emphasised.
At the same time as this was happening, on Friday 23 March, Captain Diosdado Cabello announced that there would be a review and overhaul of all television programming. Cabello is the president of CONATEL, the governmental commission which approves and renews licenses for all radio and television stations in the country.
Cabello suggested that he would be calling for a law which would allow the government to withdraw operating licenses from those television and radio stations that broadcast messages promoting violence or containing inappropriate terminology. However, he did not specify what he was referring to exactly.
