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A woman cries at the CNB Radio headquarters after the first of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air - Source: Reuters -
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More than a dozen of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the
Venezuelan government went off the air, part of President Hugo
Chavez's drive to extend his socialist revolution to the
media.
The association of radio broadcasters said 13 stations had stopped
transmitting, following an announcement Friday night by government
broadcasting watchdog Conatel that 34 radio outlets would be closed
because they failed to comply with regulations.
Critics said the crackdown infringed on freedom of speech and that
owners were not given the right to a proper defence.
"They're closing the space for dissidents in Venezuela," William
Echeverria, head of the National Council of Journalists, told RCTV,
a private cable TV station, which did not have its broadcasting
license renewed in 2007.
Chavez defended the closures, calling them part of the
government's effort to democratize the airwaves.
"We haven't closed any radio stations, we've applied the law,"
Chavez said on state television.
"We've recovered a bunch of stations that were outside the law,
that now belong to the people and not the bourgeoisie."
Chavez supporters say they are waging a media war against private
news companies and have denounced in recent days what they say is a
renewed offensive by privately owned domestic and international
media to discredit Venezuela.
Diosdado Cabello, the public works minister who also oversees
Conatel, said some of the radio stations were shut because they did
not have their broadcasting licenses renewed and others transferred
them illegally to new owners.
Conatel delivered an order to CNB radio in Caracas before dawn for
its five stations to stop transmitting by 8 am, the station said on
its website.
At CNB's headquarters in downtown Caracas, hundreds of CNB
employees and government critics gathered to protest the
shutdown.
Some later marched to Conatel.
CNB said it would continue to broadcast on its internet site.
Mutilator of rights
"This government has turned into a mutilator of rights," Juan
Carlos Caldera, of the opposition political party Primero Justicia,
said on Globovision TV.
Antonio Ledezma, the opposition mayor of Caracas, called on
Venezuelans to protest the move in the streets.
One of the stations to cease operations was Radio Bonita 1520 AM in
the city of Guatire, 40 km from Caracas.
"Fifteen years after my father died, they tell me (broadcasting)
licenses can't be inherited, we're shocked," Felix Ali Obelmejia,
director of Radio Bonita, told Globovision.
Another 120 radio stations were being investigated for
administrative irregularities and the radio frequency of stations
being shut down would be transferred to new community broadcasters,
Cabello had said.
Venezuela's attorney general presented this week draft legislation
that would establish prison sentences for anyone who provides false
information that harms the interests of the state.
Rights groups harshly criticized the proposal.
As part of his drive to remake Venezuela as a socialist country,
Chavez has vastly expanded the number of publicly owned television
and radio stations since he took office in 1999.
Some are directly owned or financed by the government, while others are operated by cooperatives and community groups.
