BRV ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESS CONTINUE UNABATED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 002877 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2031 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SCUL KDEM VE SUBJECT: BRV ATTACKS ON A FREE PRESS CONTINUE UNABATED REF: A. CARACAS 2529 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. 04 CARACAS 3926 CARACAS 00002877 001.3 OF 002 Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(b). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. This cable updates the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela's (BRV) efforts to restrict freedom of press. As indicated in reftels, the BRV employs a variety of mechanisms - legal, economic, regulatory, judicial, and rhetorical - to harass the private media, inducing self-censorship and engendering a repressive, almost fascistic, attitude towards the free press. Topics addressed in this update include: -Anzoategui journalist Jesus Flores Rojas murdered, -Major independent media outlet Globovision under fire, -Mercosur rejects Venezuelan proposal on media rights, -Trash collectors gone wild? END SUMMARY -------------- ANZOATEGUI JOURNALIST MURDERED -------------- ¶2. (U) Journalist Jesus Flores Rojas, age 66, was murdered August 23 as he was arriving at his residence in El Tigre, Anzoategui. Known as "The Turkey" and working most recently as chief correspondent with daily "La Region," Flores was shot eight times while idling in his car. Flores's murder has been condemned by no fewer than four international organizations. The Interamerican Press Society (SIP) released a statement August 30 condemning the murders of Flores and a Colombian journalist killed one day before Flores. SIP reports that Flores dedicated forty years to journalism, during which he was critical of the administration of the day. Flores was known to print op-ed pieces twice weekly in the newspapers "La Region" and "El Mundo Oiental" in which he attributed to public officials possible acts of corruption. ¶3. (U) While SP implied but did not unequivocally state a connetion between Flores's critical writings and his muder, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) did not equvocate and appealed to the BRV to act so as not o allow this climate of insecurity for the press to become embedded in Venezuelan popular culture. UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura added his organization's name to the list of those condemning the Flores murder September 1. ¶4. (U) The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS issued a press release August 31 also condemning the Flores murder. The IACHR noted that Flors wrote on subjects that included denunciations f corruption in the local public administration. OAS Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expressio Ignacio Alvarez said that when investigating crmes against journalists, "it is especially importnt to investigate not only the direct perpetrators but also (those) whose collaboration and tacit cceptance made these crimes possible." Alvarez dded that it is incumbent upon OAS members to no only investigate and sanction those responsible or such crimes, but determine if said incidents re directly related to the free exercise of jouralism. -------------- BRV READS ETWEEN THE LINES -------------- . (U) The National Telecommunications Commission,Conatel, sent a team of inspectors September 4 t Globovision, a major independent all-news mediaoutlet. The inspectors were investigating Globovision's role in the transmission of a public announcement from the state of Zulia allegedly containing subliminal messages in favor of opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales. Conatel's surprise visit to Globovision sparked questions about both the entity's legal authority to inspect its offices and its methods of doing so. ¶6. (U) Globovision's director, Alberto Federico Ravell, took issue first with the investigators' tactics. Ravell CARACAS 00002877 002.3 OF 002 claims the investigators approached the facility under the guise of conducting a routine inspection, but in fact entered Globovision's facilities to look into the content of a specific transmission. Additionally, Ravell and Globovision lawyers argued, Conatel is not charged with investigating electoral violations; the National Election Commission (CNE) is. CNE President Tibisay Lucena quickly entered the fray, indicating that Conatel was completely within its rights to investigate an alleged violation of the Telecommunications Law. Lucena indicated that subliminal messages in public announcements are not only against Venezuelan law, but would be against the law in any other part of the world, as well. ¶7. (U) For his part, Rosales labeled the government's accusation of subliminal messages as a "smokescreen," arguing that the government's claim is an effort to shift the public discussion away from issues that plague the country, and for which the government cannot not offer a solution. -------------- MERCOSUR STANDS UP TO CHAVEZ -------------- ¶8. (U) Mercosur's members collectively rejected Venezuela's proposal to include controls on media content in the human rights agenda for the region. Venezuela's delegate to a Mercosur human rights conference held in Brasilia August 29 - September 1 acknowledged the BRV wished to include in the meeting's final document a proposal to address media content, fashioned after the BRV's controversial Ley Resorte (Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television),a vaguely written law governing broadcasting schedules for radio and television programming and advertising with a seemingly arbitrary system of fines and penalties (ref b). Each of the BRV's Mercosur mates was quick to champion the right to information as fundamental, though each indicated a confidence in the extant national legal structures to preserve that right. -------------- CLEANING UP THE AIR WAVES? -------------- ¶9. (U) Providers of a basic municipal service in Libertador engaged in blatantly harassing behavior on August 15. A trash truck properly collected its trash in this Metropolitan Caracas municipality, but, unfortunately, the vehicle mistook its destination, and was caught on video dumping its load at the front door of major independent news outlet RCTV. Mayor Freddy Bernal offered a weak statement, saying the municipality will investigate, because "it can't be possible that those who are entrusted with cleaning the city would soil it." -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (C) Two of the incidents included in this update could be random incidents, though the BRV has actively and explicitly attacked journalists and media outlets daring to challenge the government. The Flores murder is certainly not the first of its kind we have seen, and the trash incident is likely another example of the BRV's employing government means (whether they be federal, state, or municipal) to target outspoken media. The actions against Globovision could signify a real fear of losing votes to Rosales; likewise, that the BRV's Mercosur partners saw fit to reject a push to export repressive tendencies beyond Venezuelan borders is a positive step. Nevertheless, these latest incidents underscore the BRV's efforts to systematically and continually grind down a free, independent media. BROWNFIELD