Posts Tagged ‘Hugo Chavez’
March 23rd, 2012
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused the press of
“media terrorism” during a Ministers Council meeting this week, following reports on contamination of drinking water in the central region of the country. Chavez attributed the stories to an attempt to damage his image in an electoral year.
After speaking with Chavez, Venezuela’s attorney general Luisa Ortega announced on Wednesday that she would ask the courts to order the media to publish a technical report supporting the information published about water contamination. The prosecutor’s office also opened a criminal investigation into the news outlets that published the stories.
March 7th, 2012
A team of Globovisión journalists
were attacked by supporters of President Hugo Chávez in
Venezuela on Sunday. The journalists were covering an opposition political rally when assailants wearing red shirts associated with Chávez supporters threatened them with guns and stole their equipment. The march by opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski had previously been interuppted by armed men who fired weapons in an apparent effort to break up the rally. The footage recorded by the staff from Globovisión, Venezuela’s last critical TV news station, was stolen by the attackers, along with a camera, microphone, and radios.
September 5th, 2011
Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship. Andrej Dynko explains how the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko retains his tight grip on power
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July 22nd, 2010
Hugo Chavez’s government has taken control of a
45.8 per cent share of its biggest critic, Globovison. President Chavez has been
involved in various actions against
the independent press in the past. Since the acquiring the shares Chavez has declared that the Venezuelan government is in a position to
nominate a member of the board of directors. The President of Globovision, Guillermo Zuloaga, currently faces arrest in Venezuela and resides in Miami. In response to the news he declared that
Globovision will stay critical of the Chavez regime.
May 26th, 2010
Following the success of his
Twitter account, Hugo Chavez has launched his own
blog in order to increase his online presence. Chavez
announced that he plans to publish transcripts of his speeches and articles, as well as a guest column by Fidel Castro. His Twitter account, which only
began a month ago, has already more than 400,000 followers.
March 30th, 2010
On 28 March, Wilmer Azuaje
was banned by Venezuela’s highest court from speaking to the media about criminal charges alleging he struck a police official. The measure is meant to protect the “reputation, integrity and honour of the victim.” Azuaje, former Deputy of the
National Assembly and an outspoken opponent of President Hugo Chavez,
was detained on 25 March after prosecutors accused him of insulting a public official and breaking a law that prohibits violence against women. The National Assembly, which is dominated by allies of Chavez, lifted Azuaje’s
immunity as a lawmaker from prosecution Friday —
a rare step usually reserved for crimes such as corruption. He was later released on 27 March.
March 17th, 2010
On 13 March, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez
called for new internet regulations and demanded that authorities crack down on a news website he accused of spreading
false information. Chávez claimed the
Noticiero Digital website had falsely reporting that two of his political allies had been assassinated. Noticiero Digital acknowledged that the forum posts Chávez singled out contained rumors posted by site users but said it had removed them within hours. “The internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. No, every country has to apply its own rules and norms,” Chavez said during his
televised speech. He also cited German Chancellor Angela Merkel as having voiced similar sentiments recently.
March 3rd, 2010
Hugo Chavez’s administration has once again come under fire for its record on freedom of expression and its treatment of journalists. But as the government refuses to acknowledge its shortcomings, is it also reneging on its commitment to international treaties on human rights, asks Daniel Duquenal
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