Baduel’s wife told Globovisión that both she and her husband had guns pointed at their heads by people who identified themselves as DIM agents, "but without saying where they were taking us," a situation she called "violent and irregular."
Her husband "had been presenting himself regularly every two weeks" at the military court handling his case, Mrs. Baduel said.
It has become increasingly common for leaders who fall into disfavor with el Presidente to be arrested for "corruption;" those still in favor rarely suffer similar fates. It is very unlikely that this disparity has anything to do with their relative corruptness.
El Presidente has also rendered recently elected opposition Government officials impotent by superimposing new levels of Government over them, to ensure that all political power remains in his hands. This has been relatively easy, since the national legislature is completely under his control. In addition, he has made a point of suppressing public protests in communities where the opposition is favored. Very few pro-Chávez demonstrations have been suppressed.
El Presidente, as part of his plan to silence all opposition voices, recently brought "corruption" charges against the newly elected (opposition party) Mayor of Maracaibo in oil rich Zulia province (and a 2006 candidate for the Presidency), who thereafter hid to avoid arrest and obtained political asylum in Peru. In response, Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Peru.
El Presidente Chávez recently had Ortega Díaz, the president of Globovisión arrested on criminal charges, and is in the process of terminating Globovisión itself; El Presidente had refused two years previously to renew the broadcasting license of Radio Caracas Televisión, which had been broadcasting for thirty-five years but had become an often critical voice. Since el Presidente refused to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television in 2007, Globovisión has been the only anti-government network on public airwaves in Venezuela. The demise of Globovisión now seems to be imminent. In getting Sr. Díaz charged,
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez specifically ordered . . . the Supreme Justice Tribunal to "comply with their duty" and called on officialdom to be "agile" in acting against media organizations that were "poisoning" the population. That was what they were there for, Chavez said, and if not "they should resign so that somebody with courage takes over."
Globovisión's most recent poisoning of the population had involved reporting on an earthquake near Caracas an hour before the Government reported it. According to El Presidente,
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
I can only think of one word to say: scary.
2 - Dan(Miller)
The beatings will continue until Globovisión dies and morale improves.
Dan(Miller)
3 - Dan(Miller)
Here is an update on the intentions of El Presidente Chávez concerning the one remaining broadcast voice in Venezuela which disagrees with him.
Perhaps he will go too far with his version of a "fairness doctrine."
Dan(Miller)
4 - Dan(Miller)
Here is some recent stuff on El Presidente's media crackdown. It seems that two major newspapers, 86 AM stations and 154 FM plus a few TV stations are being targeted by the Government for failing to adhere completely to the party line. According to the article,
Notitarde and Carabobeño, have been attacked one after [t]he other by red shirt hordes, directed at least one by nothing less than Valencia mayor, just as Los Teques mayor was directing the painting of swastikas on the walls of Miranda's governor's office.
It seems that the pressure on free media is not going to ease anytime soon. In fact, since recent polls show that Chavez personal popularity is going down as more and more people are finally starting to put the blame for bad things on him, we can expect the government to act once and for all and risk closing down a few media/paper outlets to see if the rest will tone down.
Dan(Miller)