You wrote:
> The law makes it a crime to criticize Chavez in a very public manner not in the workplace or in private
> conversations. A worker can say Chavez sucks all he wants to. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone is
> imprisoned in Venezeula for violating the countries desacato laws. There are daily criticisms in the press of
> Chavez as well as slanderous stories linking Chavez to the terrorists bombing in Madrid, claiming he has
> embezzeled milions of dollars, and other wildly fabricated stories placed in mainstream media outlets by
> reporters on the payroll of the Venezuelans who ran the US backed coup attempt.
>
> Human Rights Watch and the US State Dept. both report there are no instances of anyone being jailed for
> criticizing Chavez. Really, this is an amazingly hollow criticism.
>
> We all know there are only two bad options available to Chavez. Either allow US backed media to print lies in
> Venezuela with impunity or implement desacato laws and face criticism abroad for doing that. It is impossible
> for Chavez to "win" in the western media either way. Repeating those criticisms here is doing a disservice to
> the majority of people in Venezuela and can only serve to strengthen the hand of US backed oligarchs in
> Venezuela. It absolutely cannot serve any other purpose.
There is no excuse for having laws against public criticism of an elected official.
None.
It's simply too fucking bad for Hugo Chavez if he doesn't like what the media says. If he was a real socialist he would not consider the threat of silencing any public voice. Instead, he would, as a man of the people, welcome the slings and arrows and see himself as the extremely privileged person that he is.
There really is no particular reason to believe that Hugo Chavez' socialism has made him som ekind of saint and every reason to believe that he is probably corrupt, just like most third world leaders. I remember when people were defending Kabila until he turned out to be just another murderer.
I think Hugo Chavez is a cut above the usual Latin American leader, but only one cut. And these "desacato" laws are the kind of thing that shows he is only one level above the usual trash.
Jon Stewart did Hugo Chavez the biggest favor in the world by mentioning him on the Daily Show. If Chavez was smart he would IMMEDIATELY call Stewart and offer him an interview.
What Jon Stewart says is true and valuable because it's funny. If it's funny, it's true. If it's not, he hasn't done his job.
It is, let's remember, a ***fake*** news show!
Peace
boddi