| Unrest in Venezuela after TV channel close |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Tuesday, 05 June 2007 | |
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Riot squads from the Metropolitan Police and National Guard officers watched the large demonstration. This was followed by a nationwide strike call by the students from 17 Venezuelan universities. The students rallied in Brion Square in the southern Caracas neighborhood of Chacaito. At the same time, groups of students who backed the closure of RCTV staged a counter demonstration in front of the National Experimental Armed Forces University. The Venezuelan government on 28 May accused a leading television station critical of President Hugo Chavez of subliminally calling for his assassination and asked prosecutors to investigate. The channel, Globovision, allegedly encouraged an attempt on Chavez's life by broadcasting the chorus of a salsa tune along with footage of an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II, Information Minister Willian Lara said. The minister also accused U.S. television network CNN of attempting to associate the Venezuelan leader with terrorism by juxtaposing images of an alleged al-Qaida leader and Chavez. Globovision, a major pro-opposition channel, denied the allegation, which followed the channel's coverage of demonstrators protesting Chavez's decision not to renew the license of RCTV, another pro-opposition TV channel. President Hugo Chavez refused to renew RCTV's license saying that it had backed a 2002 coup against him. RCTV, a TV network founded in 1953, ran movies and cartoons when the tide turned in Chavez's favor in the 2002 coup and refused to show huge crowds of the president's supporters rallying against the coup leaders. RCTV, whose license expired on 27 May, had been broadcasting a mix of talk shows, sports, soap operas and comedy programs since its establishment. Students and National Guard officers clashed in Venezuela's capital Caracas on 28 May, after the government took the channel off the air. 20 students suffered tear gas inhalation injuries, two were shot by rubber bullets and one more hit by a tear gas canister. A new state channel, TVES, starting transmission just after midnight local time with a musician singing pro-Chavez songs, was reported to take the place of RCTV. 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 replaced by a TVES logo. Others launched fireworks and danced in the streets. TVES received 4 million U.S. dollars in startup funds from the government, and officials say it may also seek commercial advertising. The government promises that TVES will be more diverse, with 70 percent of its content bought from independent Venezuelan producers. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 June 2007 ) |
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