| Elections in full swing; Venevision airing music and RCTV airing cartoons
VHeadline.com commentarist Oscar Heck writes: Today, Sunday, I am watching VTV en Vivo, the live web signal of Venezolana de Television, Venezuela's state-run television station, similar to the BBC in England or the CBC in Canada. It is elections day throughout Venezuela ... a day for people to vote for (elect) regional and/or local mayors and councilors.
As I write, VTV is now reporting from the location where Chavez is going to vote ... where the streets are jammed with people waiting to catch a glimpse of their beloved President. One of the reporters also approached a group of visitors from other countries who have expressly come to witness participative democracy in action ... they said that they love what they see and are very impressed. The visitors appear to be from Europe.
Earlier this morning, August 7, 2005, VTV commentators who are following the voting day activities said that (some) of the four major anti-Chavez privately-owned television stations (namely Globovision, Televen, RCTV and Venevision) were airing cartoons instead of covering these important Venezuelan elections.
I wanted to verify this, so I called my friends in Venezuela to check. It turns out that two of these anti-Chavez television stations, Venevision and RCTV, are not (at the time of writing) covering the elections.
Venevision is airing music and RCTV is airing cartoons.
The VTV commentators, including guest commentator Fernando Carrillo, a very famous Venezuelan actor, were stating that those television stations which are not covering the elections are essentially sabotaging Venezuela, trying to give the impression that Venezuelans are abstaining from elections ... in order to try to "confirm" the lies which the anti-Chavez media has been trying to spread throughout the world ... that there is no real participative democracy in Venezuela and/or that there is apathy amongst the citizenry (as in refusing to vote because "most" of the population does not support the Chavez government).
It astounded me that a famous Venezuelan actor, Fernando Carrillo, sat with VTV commentators in full support of Venezuela's participative democracy, speaking up against the Venezuelan opposition which is calling for anti-Chavez people to abstain from voting. He says that if anyone wants to see changes of mayors/councilors in any region and for any reason, then go out to vote.
If you don't vote, then don't come back later and start complaining.
(It is important to note that Fernando Carrillo could be considered a "sifrino" ... a member of the wealthier Venezuelan snobbish classes ... which are almost entirely rabidly and violently anti-Chavez.)
I decided to seek out more information on Fernando Carrillo and found a very interesting article, with lots of photos, about a pro-Chavez demonstration in Los Angeles on March 31, 2005. To my surprise, Fernando Carrillo headed a portion of the demonstration ... and guess who was also there speaking and supporting Chavez?
It was Mónica Pérez Jiménez, daughter of Michelena-born ex Venezuelan dictator (1952-1958)!
(Michelena is a small town of a few thousand people about one hour north of San Cristobal, Venezuela's main city near the south-western border with Colombia.)
And guess who else was there (?) ... to demonstrate against Chavez ... none other than Enrique Mendoza, one of Venezuela's most rabid ex state governors who led, with others, the US-financed sabotage of Venezuela in 2002 and 2003!
I have been wondering where Mendoza, the criminal and terrorist, was hiding.
I guess he is not really hiding (or is he?) ... on March 31, 2005, he was in Los Angeles, California, USA ... in the land of the "free" which "hates" "terrorists," yet harbors them:
- On March 14, 2005 Enrique Mendoza was charged with criminal offences related to the April 2002 coup against Chavez ... including with respect to his direct order to forcefully and illegally shut down VTV during the coup. Is he still in the USA? If he was indicted on March 14, what was he doing in Los Angeles on March 31?
- Carlos Fernandez, former president of Fedecamaras (Venezuela's Federation of Chambers of Commerce), who along with Enrique Mendoza led the 2002-2003 sabotage of the country and who was also directly involved in the April 2002 coup has been indicted on criminal charges ... but is apparently hiding in Florida.
- Posada Carriles, charged in the 1976 bombing of an airline (which killed 73 people), who escaped a Venezuelan jail while his case was being appealed. He is in Florida as well. He worked for the CIA.
- Carlos Andres Perez, ex Venezuelan president who was convicted of embezzlement, is now wanted by Venezuelan justice on other criminal charges (related to the April 2002 coup and/or the 1989 Caracazo which left hundreds and perhaps thousands of innocent civilians dead, massacred under his direct orders). He has been reported to be either in Florida and/or New York. He is a close friend of Bush the father.
Why would a famous Venezuelan actor support Chavez?
Why would the daughter of an ex Venezuelan dictator support Chavez?
Why would the USA protect and harbor anti-Chavez terrorists and criminals?
Interesting, no?
Why would two of the 4 anti-Chavez Venezuelan TV stations not air the elections process? The Chavez government could easily force all television stations and radio stations to do their duty and to air simulcasts of elections day.
Why is the Chavez government not forcing these irresponsible television stations to do their duty?
As I write, VTV is reporting that in one location there are some anti-Chavez people walking around election polls with black garbage bags asking voters to throw their votes into the garbage bags ???
Everyone throughout the world should be watching this, it is incredible!
Chavez has just arrived in 23 de Enero, one of Caracas's largest shantytowns, where he votes. The crowds have almost turned into mobs of people yelling, "I love you Chavez," ... or just yelling and screaming hysterically as if Chavez were a rock star! People are everywhere, and as he gets out the the car (which he was driving), the roar of the crowd gets louder and louder. We can see hundreds or thousands of people along the sides of the streets and the voting center stretching out their arms as if to try to touch the President. He approaches the crowds at several locations, kissing people and softly touching people's heads as if blessing them. People reach out and at any given time there are at least ten hands patting or lovingly rubbing his arms and shoulders ... as if he were Christ. Chavez drove the car he was in and was accompanied by his daughter and his grandson, stopping many times along the way from Miraflores (the presidential palace) to 23 de Enero, to speak with some of the thousands of supporters who lined the route. According to one lady, he stopped to speak with a family of 6 children and invited the youngest child to meet his own grandson who was in the car with him. At the election center, Chavez shook hands with the men who were working the centers and kissed the ladies. After Chavez voted, he spoke, he is speaking at this moment, answering questions, with his daughter proudly beside him, his grandchild in her arms. People, mostly darker-skinned Venezuelans from the poorer 80% majority, are shining with joy.
This election process is another example of the disinformation at the hands of the anti-Chavez media which continuously accuses Chavez of being a dictator and that there is no freedom of the press.
The TV stations have the choice to air or not to air the elections process ... and the Chavez government is not doing anything to infringe upon this freedom ... even though it is highly irresponsible on the part of the TV stations (RCTV and Venevision) to not air the process.
Any responsible TV station would have done what VTV did before the elections ... inform people as to where to vote, etc., and would have subsequently covered the event, thus keeping the citizenry informed, as it should.
Some anti-Chavez sectors continue to sabotage Venezuela's participative democracy.
During the April 2002 coup against Chavez, the anti-Chavez TV stations aired cartoons. During the 2002-2003 sabotage of the country, all 4 anti-Chavez stations aired sickeningly violent anti-Chavez propaganda during children's cartoon hours.
They certainly had the freedom to do this.
(The new media content and social responsibility laws were approved by the representational National Assembly after the TV stations irresponsibly aired violent images during children's programming.)
As many Venezuelans are stating on VTV this morning, the anti-Chavez media is probably going to report (tomorrow, August 8, 2005) that "abstention won." They will probably state that it wasn't worth covering the elections because voter abstention was so high ... which could be true, but only in a few eastern Caracas (anti-Chavez) voting stations and similar local ridings in other large Venezuelan cities such as Barquisimeto, Valencia and Maracaibo.
Apart from the potentially high abstention rate in the few anti-Chavez sectors, it appears that voter show is quite high ... VTV is reporting about 76% in some areas ...which is substantial.
The anti-democratic and USA-supported anti-Chavez Venezuelan movements will not get the upper hand. They will not attain their goal of calling for mass abstention ... they will not fool people outside the country into believing that Venezuela is a dictatorship or that Venezuelans do not support the participative democracy which obviously exists in Venezuela today under the Chavez government.
(It is important to note that all previous governments were either pseudo-democracies which ran the country mostly through presidential decrees, or dictatorships.)
Today, August 7, 2005, we are all witnessing true participative democracy, in action ... even though some wealthier whiter-skinned Venezuelans from the minority 20% mid-to-upper classes watch children's cartoons on RCTV as a form of "intelligent," "civil" and "educated" protest.
Oscar Heck
oscar@vheadline.com
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