Chávez and the Latin Left: Muzzling the Media?
By Tim Padgett
By Tim Padgett
Talk like a communist, walk like a democrat. That has been the paradoxical strategy pursued by Latin America's new radical left — at least until now. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will gush effusively in the presence of Fidel Castro one moment, then just as earnestly he'll remind the world that he submits to the kind of free elections and free speech that Castro and his brother, Cuban President Raúl Castro, still forbid.
But in recent months, Chávez and his allies from Argentina to Nicaragua have taken steps that critics say make them walk too Cuban for comfort — especially when it comes to independent media, an institution critical to the region's modernization. Chávez's socialist Bolivarian Revolution recently revoked the broadcast licenses of 32 private radio stations and two television stations — it plans to take more off the air soon — and just passed a sweeping and often vague new education law outlawing media material that "produces terror in children" or "goes against the values of the Venezuelan people."
more info:
