http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35039237/ns/entertainment-television/

Anti-Chavez TV channel removed from cable



By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER
Associated Press Writer
updated 1 hour, 36 minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - A cable-television channel critical of President Hugo Chavez was yanked from the air early Sunday for defying new government regulations requiring it to televise some of the socialist leader's speeches.
Venezuelan cable and satellite TV providers stopped transmitting Radio Caracas Television Internacional, an anti-Chavez channel known as RCTV, after it did not show the president's speech Saturday to a rally of supporters.
While five other channels were also dropped from cable, some say the government took broader action to disguise its mission to shut down a popular, critical media outlet ahead of congressional elections and amid rising discontent over inflation, crime and electricity shortages.
Venezuelan pollster and analyst Luis Vicente Leon said the message is clear: "The government is willing to do everything to destroy its adversaries."
RCTV already was forced to switch to cable in 2007 after the government refused to renew its license for regular airwaves. Chavez accused the station then of plotting against him and supporting a failed 2002 coup.
Chavez said Sunday the latest action is about following the law.
"Whoever refuses to comply with the law, that's what must be done," he said on his weekly broadcast, calling for a round of applause for the telecommunications agency.
If channels don't comply, he said, they won't be allowed back on the air: "It's their decision, not ours."
Under the new rules, two dozen local cable channels, including RCTV, must carry government programming when officials deem it necessary, just as channels on the open airwaves already do. Chavez regularly uses that legal power to order broadcast TV and radio stations to carry his marathon speeches, which can last up to seven hours.
Though Chavez remains Venezuela's most popular politician, he has slipped in the polls and is campaigning against an emboldened opposition to keep control of the National Assembly in September elections.
RCTV has asked the Supreme Court to block the new regulations. RCTV called the government's actions illegal in a statement, saying the channel has done nothing wrong and has a right to defend itself.
In Caracas neighborhoods, Chavez opponents leaned out apartment windows early Sunday to bang on pots and pans. Others shouted epithets and drivers joined in, honking car horns.
The national journalists' association called it a violation of human rights and freedom of speech. Its president, William Echeverria, condemned it as an "increase in censorship."
The U.S. Embassy also saw cause for concern.
"Access to information is a cornerstone of democracy," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer said. "By restricting yet again the Venezuelan people's access to RCTV broadcasts, the Venezuelan government continues to erode this cornerstone."
Five international channels — Ritmo Son, Momentum, America TV, American Network and TV Chile — also were suspended after not providing authorities with required information about their programs and ownership, said Mario Seijas, president of Venezuela's subscription television chamber. He said other cable channels are in similar situations and could be taken off the air if they don't turn in required documents in the coming days.
Government figures say about 37 percent of Venezuelan homes received cable television in 2008. But some private companies say their research shows about six out of every 10 households have subscription TV service.
RCTV has a smaller audience than it did in 2007 but has remained popular. The channel claims that 90 percent of cable viewers say they watch RCTV.
"A hard-line current within the Chavez movement would have the government permanently take Radio Caracas off the air," said Steve Ellner, a political science professor at Venezuela's University of the East. "There are some Chavez movement leaders, however, who believe that the measure is ill-timed given the government's current woes such as the rationing of electricity."
Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington said Chavez's aim is censorship. "He is nervous about mounting problems and slipping popular support, so he is moving aggressively to tighten his grip on all fronts," Shifter said.
In August, Chavez's government forced 32 radio stations and two small TV stations off the air, saying some owners had failed to renew their broadcast licenses, while other licenses were no longer valid because they had been granted to owners who are now dead.
Globovision — the last opposition-aligned TV channel on the open airwaves — is also the target of multiple government investigations that authorities say could lead to the revocation of its broadcast license.

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

It looks like Chavez is tightening his grip. I wonder what will happen in the upcoming elections...

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

It sounds like someone missed a payment.

Give some people enough power and this can and does happen

hugo made the o guy look real bad, most of those whos control is total look at our president as weak and does not have what it takes to eliminate them, soooo this is no surprise to me - jz

This can't be true. It's just more falsehoods being spread by Chavez's detractors to make him look bad. He's really a wonderful, caring person who just wants what's best for the common man. Just ask sean penn, but not any of his subjects(oops< I mean citizens).

Chavez is really the least of our problems.

What is it, that makes US America so attracted to Venezuela?

Maybe this ...?


USGS claims Venezuela sits on Earth’s largest oil reserves

By Stephen C. Webster
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 -- 1:30 pm

Venezuela may have just become the center of an energy-starved world.
The Orinoco Belt, situated squarely underneath the South American nation, may hold some 513 billion barrels of crude oil, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

That's twice the size of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves, placing Venezuela firmly atop the list of oil-rich nations.

The timing of the USGS announcement is striking. On Jan. 28, international firms will take part in an auction for contracts to drill in the Orinoco Belt. The deadline for auction registration was Jan 18, according to industry publication Petroleum World. Results will be announced on Feb. 10.

However, the USGS did not make an estimate of how much oil is actually recoverable. The Orinoco Belt's reserves are typically thick and tar-like, with some patches difficult to reach with current drilling technology.
"The initial opening of the Orinoco oil belt resulted in a major production boost in the region, but ended in legal controversy, when state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. took over control of the projects in 2007 under a new hydrocarbons law," a Dow Jones release noted. "ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips left, starting arbitration proceedings against the country. Chevron, Total and other international companies stayed."

"Knowing the potential for extractable resources from this tremendous oil accumulation, and others like it, is critical to our understanding of the global petroleum potential and informing policy and decision makers," said USGS Energy Resources Program Coordinator Brenda Pierce, in an advisory.
"Accumulations like this one were previously very difficult to produce, but advances in technology and new understandings in geology allow us to assess how much is now technically recoverable."

The primary beneficiary of Venezuelan oil is the United States, which consumed 19.5 million barrels of domestic and imported crude per day in 2008, according to the USGS.

Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez, a longtime antagonist to U.S. political leaders, recently approved construction of a massive oil refinery as a joint venture between state-run Petróleos de Venezuela and China's state-run CNPC.
The project, projected to cost some $6 billion USD, would ensure a steady flow to as much as 10 percent of China's oil imports, according to Reuters. China consumed 7.9 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2008, according to the USGS.

The announcement is likely to cause waves in Venezuela's political circles, where oil diplomacy has been a key to the country's global outreach. That the estimate comes from a U.S. firm is also likely to sharpen President Chavez's rhetoric, which has in recent months repeatedly decried U.S. military presence in neighboring Colombia.

As recently as November, 2009, Chavez warned Venezuelans to "prepare for war" with the United States and Colombia, arguing that rapidly expanding defense spending was prudent in the face of such a perceived threat.
The U.S. State Department claimed its agreement, settled in August, allows U.S. soldiers to operate drone aircraft from Colombian military bases as a way of prosecuting the drug war.

Shortly after the announcement, Colombia said it would suspend all gas exports to Venezuela. In response, Chavez froze all diplomatic ties with the country.

Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina have also objected to Washington's plan to use Colombian military bases, calling the US military deployment suspiciously large.

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