Post by scumbuster on Mar 23, 2016 6:10:06 GMT -5
Venezuela: Editor Jailed as Another Paper Closes
By Carlos Camacho
CARACAS -- The director of a major newspaper, "Correo del Caroní", was thrown in jail for four years and another paper, "El Carabobeno", had to close down because it couldn’t get newsprint. Those two incidents took place in Venezuela within days.
“These are Maduro’s contributions to the destruction of democratic media, which Chavez started by shutting down Radio Caracas Television,” said Luis Salamanca, a political consultant in Caracas, on the recent developments.
“Maduro is adding a new element: manipulating the supply of newsprint. He is just letting newspapers die. Several newspapers have closed because of the very same problem,” Salamanca said.
Social media is about the only outlet for criticism, he noted.
And talking about social media, the US' Roberta Jacobson, the Assistant State Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, tweeted, in Spanish, her support for Correo's David Natera and her concerns about freedom of expression in Venezuela under Maduro.
There are also more discreet ways of getting the “bad” press sorted out: pro-Maduro business groups have reportedly had a hand in the purchase of television station Globovision, and daily newspapers El Universal, El Mundo and Ultimas Noticias.
In all cases, the tone has soft-pedaled coverage in regards to Maduro and his government’s actions: breaking news such as street protests or arrests of officials do not get reported, routinely.
“While state-owned media grows, private media disappears.”
“A systematic line of action against independent media in Venezuela: it’s an attack against a fundamental space in a democracy,” according to Salamanca. Just as happened when RCTV -- the oldest, most watched television station in Venezuela -- was shut down, a backlash against Maduro has started.
The year RCTV was closed, in 2007, was the year that Chavez lost his first popular vote (on constitutional reform), with every available analyst at the time saying that it was the closing down of the beloved TV station the fact that cost Chavez the election.
“The authoritarian model does not require public oversight of government action,” is how Salamanca explains it.
Salamanca insists this to show what is the Maduro administration’s final goal: compliance from the population.
“The spaces for dialogue are closed as it should be, since dialogue is not a feature of this government. There is no dialogue here, just a permanent imposition,” the analyst concluded. “And Maduro was very clear about it when he said I don’t care if they call me a dictator”.
The director of Venezuelan newspaper Correo del Caroní, David Natera Febres, was sentenced to four years in prison for defamation related to reports published in 2013 that denounced cases of corruption in a state mining company. The newspaper has been banned from publishing information about the plaintiff Yamal Mustafá, even though he served nearly three years in prison for offenses including embezzlement of funds related to the case. Mustafa owns several businesses including the pro-government daily newspaper Primicia, was released in 2015 after a prosecutor dismissed his case.
The case resulted from a series of articles published by Correo del Caróni in the state of Bolivar that reported on a band of extortion involving an army colonel, several businessmen and officials of the state company Ferrominera Orinoco.
The reports published by the newspaper and the investigations of the public prosecutor gave rise to a judicial procedure that ousted the company president, as well as led to prison sentences for three of its managers.
No judgment was issued was issued in the case for over two years and eight months, which should have resulted in its dismissal. Instead, after Correo del Caroni broke a new story about the disappearance and death of 21 miners with the involvement of government authorities, who also tried to cover it up, a decision sentencing the editor to 4 years was rolled out in the middle of the night.
In the case of regional newspaper El Carabobeño, in the state of Carabobo, Venezuela, it stopped printing after 82 years. The paper reported the news in an editorial in which it qualified the event as a “blow to freedom.”
The March 17 editorial began: “Today, a vile blow has materialized against one of the most sacred rights of a human being: the right to be informed.” The newspaper says it will continue to publish online at el-carabobeno.com and through its online radio station.
The editorial said “it has been a cruelty” against the company, which was founded in 1933 and had never feared those in power at the presidential palace of Miraflores. “Not even the tyrant Juan Vicente Gómez” who sent the newspaper’s founder Eladio Alemán Sucre, into exile to Cuba, it added.
In January of this year, 86 newspapers that comprise the Chamber of Regional Newspapers of Venezuela were declared to be “in emergency” after there was no paper to continue their operations, the newspaper La Nación reported at the time.
Some newspapers, like Caracas’ Tal Cual and Correo del Caroní in Ciudad Guayana, an industrial city in the eastern part of the country, have been forced to change to weekly editions due to the shortage of newsprint and lawsuits from government members against them.
By Carlos Camacho
CARACAS -- The director of a major newspaper, "Correo del Caroní", was thrown in jail for four years and another paper, "El Carabobeno", had to close down because it couldn’t get newsprint. Those two incidents took place in Venezuela within days.
“These are Maduro’s contributions to the destruction of democratic media, which Chavez started by shutting down Radio Caracas Television,” said Luis Salamanca, a political consultant in Caracas, on the recent developments.
“Maduro is adding a new element: manipulating the supply of newsprint. He is just letting newspapers die. Several newspapers have closed because of the very same problem,” Salamanca said.
Social media is about the only outlet for criticism, he noted.
And talking about social media, the US' Roberta Jacobson, the Assistant State Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, tweeted, in Spanish, her support for Correo's David Natera and her concerns about freedom of expression in Venezuela under Maduro.
There are also more discreet ways of getting the “bad” press sorted out: pro-Maduro business groups have reportedly had a hand in the purchase of television station Globovision, and daily newspapers El Universal, El Mundo and Ultimas Noticias.
In all cases, the tone has soft-pedaled coverage in regards to Maduro and his government’s actions: breaking news such as street protests or arrests of officials do not get reported, routinely.
“While state-owned media grows, private media disappears.”
“A systematic line of action against independent media in Venezuela: it’s an attack against a fundamental space in a democracy,” according to Salamanca. Just as happened when RCTV -- the oldest, most watched television station in Venezuela -- was shut down, a backlash against Maduro has started.
The year RCTV was closed, in 2007, was the year that Chavez lost his first popular vote (on constitutional reform), with every available analyst at the time saying that it was the closing down of the beloved TV station the fact that cost Chavez the election.
“The authoritarian model does not require public oversight of government action,” is how Salamanca explains it.
Salamanca insists this to show what is the Maduro administration’s final goal: compliance from the population.
“The spaces for dialogue are closed as it should be, since dialogue is not a feature of this government. There is no dialogue here, just a permanent imposition,” the analyst concluded. “And Maduro was very clear about it when he said I don’t care if they call me a dictator”.
The director of Venezuelan newspaper Correo del Caroní, David Natera Febres, was sentenced to four years in prison for defamation related to reports published in 2013 that denounced cases of corruption in a state mining company. The newspaper has been banned from publishing information about the plaintiff Yamal Mustafá, even though he served nearly three years in prison for offenses including embezzlement of funds related to the case. Mustafa owns several businesses including the pro-government daily newspaper Primicia, was released in 2015 after a prosecutor dismissed his case.
The case resulted from a series of articles published by Correo del Caróni in the state of Bolivar that reported on a band of extortion involving an army colonel, several businessmen and officials of the state company Ferrominera Orinoco.
The reports published by the newspaper and the investigations of the public prosecutor gave rise to a judicial procedure that ousted the company president, as well as led to prison sentences for three of its managers.
No judgment was issued was issued in the case for over two years and eight months, which should have resulted in its dismissal. Instead, after Correo del Caroni broke a new story about the disappearance and death of 21 miners with the involvement of government authorities, who also tried to cover it up, a decision sentencing the editor to 4 years was rolled out in the middle of the night.
In the case of regional newspaper El Carabobeño, in the state of Carabobo, Venezuela, it stopped printing after 82 years. The paper reported the news in an editorial in which it qualified the event as a “blow to freedom.”
The March 17 editorial began: “Today, a vile blow has materialized against one of the most sacred rights of a human being: the right to be informed.” The newspaper says it will continue to publish online at el-carabobeno.com and through its online radio station.
The editorial said “it has been a cruelty” against the company, which was founded in 1933 and had never feared those in power at the presidential palace of Miraflores. “Not even the tyrant Juan Vicente Gómez” who sent the newspaper’s founder Eladio Alemán Sucre, into exile to Cuba, it added.
In January of this year, 86 newspapers that comprise the Chamber of Regional Newspapers of Venezuela were declared to be “in emergency” after there was no paper to continue their operations, the newspaper La Nación reported at the time.
Some newspapers, like Caracas’ Tal Cual and Correo del Caroní in Ciudad Guayana, an industrial city in the eastern part of the country, have been forced to change to weekly editions due to the shortage of newsprint and lawsuits from government members against them.