By Alex Kennedy and Theresa Bradley
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will shut down a private television station he says helped overthrow him in a two-day coup in 2002.
The broadcast license for Radio Caracas television station, known as RCTV, ends in March, and the government will not renew it, Chavez said.
``Pack your bags and turn off the lights,'' Chavez said during a televised speech to soldiers in Caracas. ``There won't be a new concession for a coup-mongering television station called RCTV.''
RCTV would be the first private television station shut down by Chavez. The president, who won a second six-year term in a Dec. 3 vote, in June threatened to shut private television stations that criticize the government and broadcast ``messages of hate.''
``Chavez is looking to keep the opposition quiet, to threaten his enemies,'' said Luis Vicente Leon, director of polling company Datanalisis in Caracas. ``It will inspire self- censorship in the rest of the media, and where there's self- censorship, there's no free speech.''
The media was the third most-popular institution in Venezuela behind the Catholic Church and private enterprise in surveys conducted by Datanalisis this year, Leon said. Chavez was the fourth most-popular of 20 institutions, Leon said.
A spokesman for RCTV wasn't available for comment when the station was contacted by Bloomberg News.
Bolivarian Military
Chavez also said he will seek to change the name of the country's military to the Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela, adding the name of 19th century South American liberator Simon Bolivar.
The name change would be part of an overhaul of the constitution next year, Chavez said. The president this month said he will seek to change the constitution to end term limits on presidential re-election.
``The revolution will be institutionalized,'' Chavez said. ``All soldiers must be ideological. You should be proud to have the weapons of the revolution.''
Chavez calls his government the Bolivarian revolution and helped change the constitution in 1999 to rename the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
``We're beginning a new offensive, a new attack,'' Chavez said. ``The revolution isn't a personal whim of Chavez. It was, is and will be the only way forward.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Kennedy in Caracas at Akennedy1 at bloomberg.net . Theresa Bradley in Caracas at tbradley7 at bloomberg.net . Last Updated: December 28, 2006 15:46 EST
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