MEDIA REACTION; LULA'S WARNING TO CHAVEZ; CHAVEZ AND THE

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001142

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC,
WHA/EPSC
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; LULA'S WARNING TO CHAVEZ; CHAVEZ AND THE
CLOSURE OF RCTV; 06/11/07


1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Weekend international opinion pieces and editorials cover Lula's
criticism of Chavez's verbal excesses; Chavez's inconsistent
response to the Pope's warnings of growing authoritarianism in Latin
America; and the "totalitarian" nature of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez's
decision to close Radio Caracas Television.


2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS

- "Lula warns Chavez about the cost of verbal excesses"

Eleonora Gosman, Sao Paulo-based correspondent for leading "Clarin,"
writes (06/09) "President Lula da Silva believes that the
instability in the relationship between Washington and Caracas will
only be overcome when a new US president takes office. As pointed
out by Al Jazeera TV network, 'it is almost impossible to build a
good relationship between George W. Bush and Hugo Chavez.'

"Obviously enough, in this way, Lula insisted on defending his
Venezuelan counterpart during an exclusive interview with the 'Folha
de Sao Paulo' newspaper. However, during the interview, he also
implied criticism of the Bolivarian leader by suggesting that verbal
excesses always have a political cost. In this case, he said, the
Brazilian Senate will block Venezuela's entry into Mercosur as a
result of Chavez's remarks that (the Brazilian Senate) blindly
follows US dictates."

- "Why did Chavez close Radio Caracas Television?"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (06/11) carries an op-ed piece by Emilio

J. Cardenas, co-president of the Institute for Human Rights,
International Bar Association, who writes "With the regrettable
disappearance of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV)..., Hugo Chavez
seems to have inflicted a deadly blow to press freedom and freedom
of expression in Venezuela. However, what happened is not
surprising. In any event, it is evidence of the now accelerated road
to totalitarianism...

"... According to opinion polls, today 80 percent of Venezuelans
openly reject the closure of RCTV, which has sparked a strong
decline in Hugo Chavez's popularity rating. Chavez lost no less
than nine points and has now 41 percent of popular support. To this,
one should add that three out of every 10 people who voted for
Chavez would not do so today. Nevertheless, as often happens, it is
too late to backtrack on a sad and completed episode.

"In suggestive contrast to RCTV's popularity, all government's TV
channels, summed up, reached only 5.6 percent of the entire
Venezuelan audience last year...

"The lack of penetration of the official party's messages in the
Venezuelan audience generated deep concern in the Chavez
administration... This is why, instead of competing with it, he
decided to eliminate RCTV once and for all. His openly
anti-democratic posture is also importance evidence of abuse of
power. One more piece of evidence.

"Chavez made this decision on the risk of waking a giant - one that
is not mass media, but the awareness of Venezuelan public opinion,
which, although numb for some time, seems to have been shocked now
by the use of granting TV frequencies as a way to award, punish or
pressure mass media or journalists in a discriminatory way, and the
public does not accept this...

"(Venezuelan public opinion) has warned that through this procedure,
one curtails one of the most important freedoms - freedom of
expression. And this is why it has reacted."

- "Benedictus XVI and Hugo Chavez"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (06/10) editorializes "It is difficult
to believe that German theology expert Joseph Ratzinger... had ever
imagined that he would share a newspaper headline with the
Venezuelan president and military. What do they have in common from
an intellectual point of view?

"... More than a few media reported on Ratzinger's 'abhorrent
historical concepts' when referring to the evangelization of Latin
America, while covering remarks made by an apocalyptic and
pro-indigenous Chavez who spoke of the Latin American holocaust...

"... As a matter of fact, two completely different interpretations
cross each other - on the one hand, a religious intellectual marked
a clear difference between colonization and evangelization; on the
other hand, we have a populist figure with increasingly
authoritarian and hegemonic features. Ratzinger's analysis is a

historical and conceptual one, while Chavez's response is vehement
and inconsistent.

"... Chavez attempts to build on a speech in between nationalist and
socialist ideas, with more personal appetite than intellectual
rigor. If Chavez disagrees with Benedictus XVI so much, he should
understand that the only possible response should be given on the
same level the Pope gave it.

"Probably what has most irritated Chavez is the fact that, after
having criticized capitalism and communism, Benedictus XVI warned
about the serious danger posed by authoritarianism in Latin America.
We, Argentines, do know what this is about. Venezuelans also."

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our
classified website at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

MATERA