NO LETTING UP: THREATS TO A FREE PRESS CONTINUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 003351 SIPDIS SIPDIS HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPT PASS TO AID/OTI RPORTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2031 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM VE SUBJECT: NO LETTING UP: THREATS TO A FREE PRESS CONTINUE REF: A. CARACAS 2877 AND PREVIOUS ¶B. CARACAS 1909 ¶C. CARACAS 2990 ¶D. CARACAS 3174 ¶E. CARACAS 3173 CARACAS 00003351 001.3 OF 003 Classified By: Robert Downes, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(b). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. This cable updates the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela's (BRV) continuing efforts to stifle the media and 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, induce self-censorship, and engender a repressive, almost fascistic, attitude towards the free press. Topics addressed in this update include: -National Guard denies live broadcasts -Chavez threatens media concessions again -Journalist killed in Sucre state -Journalists attacked during Rosales campaign stops -Municipal employees attack radio station -Opposition mayor's radio station sabotaged -Police beat journalist in Anzoategui -Governor criticizes opposition television program -Cross-border tactics -------------- NATIONAL GUARD DENIES LIVE BROADCAST -------------- ¶2. (U) Major all-news, independent media outlet Globovision was prevented from airing live transmission of a November 7 Manuel Rosales campaign stop in Caracas's University Stadium. According to Alberto Federico Ravell, Globovision's Director, the National Guard refused to allow Globovision personnel access atop Avila Mountain overlooking Caracas to make microwave transmitter adjustments, preventing live coverage of the Rosales event. According to Ravell, the National Guard is demanding 24 hours advance notice before it will allow access to the transmitters. Ravell accused the National Guard of "kidnapping" live transmissions. -------------- --- CHAVEZ: DON'T BE SURPRISED IF I PULL CONCESSIONS -------------- --- ¶3. (U) President Chavez "reminded" electronic media outlets on November 3 that their concessions will expire next year and not to be surprised if he does not renew them (ref b). During an inauguration ceremony for a new subway station, Chavez said that certain independent television outlets are littered with "coupsters" and "murderers." Chavez reiterated that unspecified independent media have used their licenses to commit coups or to spread terrorism or to criticize the government. Chavez quickly covered up his Freudian slip, backtracking and saying that criticism would be welcome. Chavez concluded his comments by saying that one of the major threats to the "true" democracies in the world today resides inside the media. -------------- ANOTHER JOURNALIST KILLED -------------- ¶4. (C) Journalist Pedro Bastardo was killed October 7 in Cumana, Sucre state, after an assailant shot him several times in the head. Police officials indicated robbery as the likely motive for the killing, although Bastardo was not robbed of any of his belongings. Bastardo had been working for eight months as the press director for the municipality of Bermudez in Sucre state. Mairim Unamo of the Venezuelan Institute of Press and Society (IPyS) told Poloff November 6 that Bastardo worked mostly in the planning of cultural events; he was a poet according to family members. He has no known writings of an anti-government stance. Nevertheless, Bastardo is the fourth journalist killed in Venezuela so far this year. -------------- -------------- JOURNALISTS ATTACKED DURING ROSALES CAMPAIGN STOPS -------------- -------------- CARACAS 00003351 002.3 OF 003 ¶5. (U) On September 30, apparent Chavez sympathizers attacked a group of reporters from the opposition, all-news outlet Globovision who were covering a campaign stop of opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales in Trujillo state. The attackers beat a cameraman and forced him to relinquish his videotapes. Paulimar Rodriguez, a reporter for independent daily "El Nacional" reported that Chavez supporters attacked her, as well, during a Rosales campaign stop on September 19, in Antimano. Rodriguez said three women threw her to the ground and beat her. -------------- MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES ATTACK RADIO STATION -------------- ¶6. (U) On September 22, the chief of security for the municipality of Sucre, in Bolivar state, along with one of the mayor's bodyguards, attacked the headquarters of radio station "La Maripena." The attackers broke protective barriers of the station's transmitter and threw rocks into the building. The Institute of Press and Society reports that the attackers responded violently to the radio station director's photographing them while they were guarding official vehicles during a miner protest. Following the attack, the perpetrators stole one of the radio's transmitters, causing an outage that lasted two days. Media reports indicate that the radio station, the only station in the municipality, had vigorously denounced on air the attacks against miners in nearby La Paragua that occurred on the same day (ref c),specifically the role of Sucre's MVR mayor, Juan Carlos Figarella, in ensuing repression. Figarella's wife is a pro-government state deputy in the Bolivar legislature. -------------- -------------- SABOTAGE CLOSES DOWN OPPOSITION MAYOR'S RADIO STATION -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) Four individuals allegedly dressed in military fatigues attacked Yaracuy radio station "Hispana FM" October 9, leaving the radio station unable to broadcast indefinitely and causing an estimated $40,000 in lost revenues. According to the station's owners, the alleged perpetrators tied up the only employee on the premises and proceeded to pour a corrosive substance on all the electronic equipment; the attackers allegedly left graffiti alluding to the violent pro-Chavez Tupamaro organization. One of the owners of the radio station is Victor Moreno, opposition mayor of San Felipe, Yaracuy's capital, leading to speculation that the attacks were politically-motivated, and perhaps government-sanctioned. -------------- POLICE OFFICERS BEAT JOURNALIST -------------- ¶8. (U) Police officers in Simon Rodriguez municipality of Anzoategui state, beat and insulted Adrian Salazar, a reporter for the daily "Nueva Prensa de Oriente" on August ¶26. Salazar stated that he did not know the motive for the beating, but did not dismiss the possibility it was related to his journalistic endeavors. The police officers accosted Salazar as he arrived at his home. They were later stripped of their official responsibilities, pending investigation of the matter. -------------- STATE GOVERNOR LAMBASTS OPPOSITION TV PROGRAM -------------- ¶9. (U) Ramon Martinez, Chavista governor of Sucre state, accused a Globovision program on October 10 of inciting fear in the community. The program, "Alo Ciudadano," Globovision's answer to Chavez's "Alo Presidente," allegedly reported on acts of violence in Guiria municipality that resulted in 70 arrests, seventeen injuries, and three deaths. Governor Martinez quickly refuted the reports and called the program "conspiratorial," accusing it of attempting to generate a climate of instability in Venezuela. Actions legally deemed and proven to "incite fear" and "generate a climate of instability", as characterized by Governor Martinez, would constitute a violation of law. Martinez indicated he would take his claim to Conatel, the National Telecommunications Commission. (NOTE: Violence did break out in Guiria in the days following Globovision's alleged CARACAS 00003351 003.3 OF 003 pronouncement, as reported in ref d, but not to the degree cited. END NOTE) -------------- --- COLOMBIA COMPLAINS ABOUT VENEZUELA STATE CHANNEL -------------- --- ¶10. (U) Colombian authorities announced October 17 that the signal of Venezuelan state television channel Venezolana de Television (VTV) was blocking the signal of a regional channel in Colombian border city Cucuta. Jorge Figueroa, President of Colombia's National Television Commission, indicated that VTV's signal infringed on the transmission from several Colombian border cities. Figueroa pointed to VTV's installation of a 20-kilowatt transmitter in Tachira state as the cause and indicated that on October 13 he was able to confirm the presence of two additional transmitters directed across the Colombian border. Figueroa did not signal that the GOC would pursue a case against the BRV in the ITU, and was careful to say that he would not dare to claim this was an "electromagnetic invasion." That said, VTV's interference with Colombian television does help President Chavez export his weekly "Alo Presidente" program, as well as other pro-BRV (and anti-American) propaganda on VTV. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (C) The BRV's abysmal track record on freedom of press continues apace. The BRV continues to target critical media outlets and opposition figures, and Globovision and Rosales appear to be the BRV's favorites. International organizations are taking notice (ref e). BROWNFIELD