I am the people, I demand absolute loyalty: 1, 2, 3

ONE

On 23 January 2010, Hugo Chávez said the following:

"those who want fatherland: come with Chávez..."
"I demand absolute loyalty to my leadership."
"I am not me...I am a nation (un pueblo), I am not a person, I am the people"
More here:



And just now TV station Rctv (available on cable only) has been taken off the air once more.

TWO


Miguel Ángel Martínez, PSOE politician and vice-president of the European Parliament said some weeks ago that "the vision people have in the European Union about the process taking place in Venezuela is not real" and "the idea about a monopoly on information [in Venezuela] does not correspond with reality" (here in Spanish). I have decided to send him a link to this post.

I have some questions.

1) I would like to know from Mr Martínez if he is aware of the fact that less than 30% of Venezuelans can watch government-critical TV channels in Venezuela: those in the capital, those like Mr Martínez who stay at a posh hotel room on a diplomatic visit, those in Valencia or those who have cable TV (a minority in Venezuela, which is not Europe).

2) I want to know if Mr Martínez can tell us whether the Venezuelan opposition can speak out freely in state TV channels or if those state channels are to be used only by the government for its propaganda all the time.

3) I would like him to tell us if he is aware of how many hours a week TV and radio stations are forced to broadcast the president's speeches, among them those full of very vulgar insults against the opposition (just one of many examples here).

4) Does Mr Martínez know how many Venezuelans read newspapers and what the circulation of regime-critical newspapers is?

5) Does he know that Venezuela's president does not accept to have an open debate with anyone from the opposition, not even in election time, and that no critical journalist can even get close to him?

6) Last but not least, I want Mr Martínez to say something about the video above. Perhaps "No comments, those are internal matters"?

I will let you know what he answers.


THREE

Last August a group of very well-known thugs supporting the government attacked TV station Globovisión (a sort of worse FOX News, but still the only thing still critical to the government on TV). The leader of the attackers, Lina Ron, was caught in fraganti by many cameras. As the attack was undeniable, the president had to state that Lina had to go to prison. Rory from the Guardian wrote about the event here. Her detention was just a farce. As the opposition thought, she was free again in no time and she was just next to her Líder Máximo on this latest event. You can see the peroxide blonde here:



Thanks to Alpha, who has an excellent post in Dutch here


PS: Mr Martínez still hasn't replied