> Heres the article link:
> http://theactivist.org/blog/the-bolivarian-revolution-tragedy-farce-or-alt
> ernative
>
> Chavez was well within his legal right to refuse to renew the contract
> of this station, especially when considering that the private press is
> relatively unfettered and anti-Chavez in Venezuela. The closing of
> RCTV was a tactical victory for Chavez in the battle for hegemony
> in the Venezuelan media, but it was a strategic loss. It called
> into question Chavez’s credentials as a democrat.
RCTV was not closed. It lost its license to use publicly-owned radio spectrum, as indeed it should have, having brazenly supported the 2002 coup. If a US TV station had called for the undemocratic overthrow of the US government, F-14s would have pounded the station into rubble. But RCTV is still broadcasting, on cable.
As for democratic credentials -- well, there's a bit of history here -- Allende, Arbenz, Bay of Pigs, Ollie North, etc.
-- DRR