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Chavez airs stolen tape
EFLCARACAS, Venezuela -- A private television news station gets an exclusive interview with a mayor hiding from an arrest warrant. Somehow, the program airs first on Venezuelaâs state-owned television station. While the interview broke no new ground, the case is fueling allegations that the government of President Hugo Chavez has stepped up efforts to stifle press freedoms and dissent. "They are trying to break us -- let us know that we are being spied upon," said Maria Fernanda Flores, vice president of Globovision, the 24-hour news network that interviewed Henrique Capriles. Thatâs what they want to do to us, and they are mistaken. Our morale wonât be broken by the stupidities of common criminals," Chavez has threatened on several occasions to close Globovision and Venezuelaâs three other private TV networks for allegedly inciting rebellion against his leftist government. Federal prosecutors issued an arrest warrant last week for Capriles, mayor of Caracasâ Baruta district, on charges he led violent demonstrations in front of the Cuban Embassy during a brief 2002 coup. The belated timing of the warrant -- after a series of bloody demonstrations over delays in a possible presidential recall -- strengthened suspicions Chavez is cracking down on his political opponents. Activists claim the government is holding dozens of "political prisoners" after the recent riots. The government claims it arrested 30 people for violent acts. A judge in the case has refused to formally inform Capriles of the charges against him, so he went into hiding, becoming a hero to those who accuse Chavezâs government of increasing authoritarianism. In the Globovision interview, Capriles said he went to the Cuban Embassy in 2002 to try to protect it from demonstrators, not to incite them against Cuban diplomatic staff trapped inside. Globovision broadcast the Capriles interview Tuesday night -- hours after pro-Chavez lawmaker Juan Barreto announced during an interview with state-run Venezolana de Television that he had received an unedited copy of the program. The state channel then broadcast the interview. Vladimir Villegas, Venezolanaâs president, said he didnât know how Barreto obtained the tape. In both the unedited and edited versions, Capriles said nothing he hadnât already said publicly -- and it was not clear what the state station was trying to demonstrate by broadcasting the interview.
This week, union leaders claimed that thousands of civil servants have been fired or threatened with dismissal for signing the recall petition. Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias denied the allegations, but Health Minister Roger Capella called public employees who signed the petition "terrorists" who deserved to be fired. He later said he was expressing a personal opinion that did not reflect government policy.
Posted by: Super Hose 2004-03-26 |
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