Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10CARACAS101
2010-01-28 15:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

Three Cable Stations Reopen, Student Protests Continue

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM VE 
pdf how-to read a cable
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/28
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM VE
SUBJECT: Three Cable Stations Reopen, Student Protests Continue

REF: 10 CARACAS 89; 10 CARACAS 75; 09 CARACAS 1287

CLASSIFIED BY: DUDDY, AMBASSADOR, DOS, AMB; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CARACAS 000101

SENSITIVE
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AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA
AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO AMCONSUL ALMATY
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG
AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA
AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG
AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC
AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/28
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM VE
SUBJECT: Three Cable Stations Reopen, Student Protests Continue

REF: 10 CARACAS 89; 10 CARACAS 75; 09 CARACAS 1287

CLASSIFIED BY: DUDDY, AMBASSADOR, DOS, AMB; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (SBU) Summary: Three of the smaller cable channels closed
as a result of the government's January 21 decision to reclassify
them as "national" (ref a) were back on the air on January 27
following their successful appeal to Conatel, the broadcasting
regulatory agency, to be reclassified as "international
broadcasters." RCTV, the most important of the six channels
affected by the decision, will not appeal to Conatel (septel) and
remains off the air. Relatively small student protests continued
in support of RCTV on January 26-27, with a group of students in
Caracas succeeding in meeting with the President of the state-owned
Venezuelan Television (VTV) and broadcasting an appeal for balanced
news reporting and an end to polarization and name-calling. End
Summary.



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Three Channels Back on the Air

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2. (SBU) On January 26, Mario Seijas, the president of the
cable television association, announced that three channels
classified by Conatel as "national producers" had been reclassified
as "international broadcasters" based on newly-submitted
documentation; cable operators were thereby free to restore these
channels -- Ritmo Son, American Network, and TV Chile -- to their
programming on the same frequencies they had previously used.
(Note: RCTV International, America TV, and Momentum remain off the
air. See septel for report on Charge's meeting with RCTV President
Marcel Granier, who said he had no intention of either resubmitting

documentation to reclassify as an "international producer" or to
register as a "national" producer. End Note.)



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Government Insists It Did Not Close Any Stations

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3. (SBU) In January 26 remarks to the National Assembly,
Diosdado Cabello, Minister of Housing and Public Works and head of
Conatel, again insisted that the state had not closed any media
networks, but had simply required all broadcasters to comply with
the law. Cabello alleged that "they are trying to manipulate" the
facts and claimed that RCTV "has 94% national production, 100 % of
the advertisements are national so that they can hardly be called
international. In Peru and the United States they have to comply
with laws, but in Venezuela they want to ignore the laws, like on
April 11, 2002, and some allow themselves to be confused. The law
must be strictly followed. If they don't like Venezuela, they can
go someplace else." Referring to U.S. statements of concern about
the closure of RCTV, Cabello commented, "The gringos are always
worried, but why don't the gringos let Telesur broadcast in the
USA? Who is censoring whom?" (Note: Telesur is the GBRV-funded
television network that broadcasts to ALBA countries. End Note.)

CARACAS 00000101 002 OF 003


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Symbolic Victory by Caracas Students

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4. (SBU) On January 26, students from Caracas-area
universities marched to the headquarters of pro-government VTV
despite efforts by pro-Chavez militants to block them. Students
circumvented a police barricade near the exits of the Central
University of Venezuela (UCV),held a moment of silence for the two
students killed in Merida (ref b),and re-routed their march
several times to avoid pro-Chavez demonstrators. VTV station
President Yuri Pimentel agreed to meet with a 5-student delegation,
headed by student leader Roderick Navarro, to discuss the station's
lack of coverage of student protests. Following the meeting,
Navarro told viewers in a live broadcast on VTV, "We came here to
discuss reality in this country." Navarro called for balanced news
coverage and asked the media to stop dividing the country, saying
"we expect the Venezuelan society to be respected; to stop
polarization in the country; to stop saying that insecurity only
affects opponents instead of Chavez' supporters, because it is
everybody's problem. They must broadcast news about the lack of
water and energy." Navarro continued: "We want, as young
Venezuelans, that VTV stop telling lies, that we are piti-yanquis
(little Yankees). We hope that they will carry our images on VTV.
We don't want to follow the agenda of violence. You have to
reflect the reality of the country."




5. (SBU) Following the station's rare coverage of student
protestors, VTV interviewed PSUV student Carlos Sierra, who said,
referring to the opposition students, "They need to leave VTV in
peace" and accused them of representing the far right wing of the
political spectrum.



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Protests Continue Across the Country

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6. (U) Student protests over the closure of RCTV
International and the January 25 killing of two students in Merida
continued across Venezuela on January 26-27. According to press
reports, in Anzoategui, at the University of Santa Maria, four
students were injured when police and National Guard troops fired
rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters attempting to block a
roadway. The media reported that two police suffered burns from
Molotov cocktails, and a third was injured in the leg. In Maturin,
demonstrations were reportedly broken up by police and National
Guard troops at Santiago Marina Poli-Technical University and the
University of the West.




7. (SBU) The press reported that in Aragua, students burned
effigies at the Experimental Pedagogy Liberator University and a
caravan of student protesters in buses from the Carabobo University
-Maracay branch unsuccessfully attempted to block the major
East-West (Caracas-Valencia) highway. In Lara State, students from
the University of Fermin Tolo chanted, "One, two, three, Chavez has
struck out," while demonstrators in Barinas reportedly burned tires
and carried placards and banners reading, "water, light, and
crime... Chavez has struck out." In Nueva Esparta (Margarita

CARACAS 00000101 003 OF 003


Island),the press reported that protests were largely peaceful.




8. (C) Comment: The government response to the student
protests has generally been relatively restrained so far. The
protests themselves are much smaller than the large-scale street
protests following the closure of RCTV in 2007. The government's
decision to reclassify three cable stations so that they could go
back on the air provides a faC'ade of procedural legitimacy for a
process widely seen as a targeted attack against
opposition-oriented RCTV International. End Comment.
CAULFIELD