VHeadline commentarist Oscar Heck writes: According to the VHeadline.com article "90% of teachers join strike ... they insist it is not politically motivated!, Edgar Bazan, president of a teachers' union says the one or two day strike (24 hours) was not politically motivated … but today (March 25, 2009) on the television news here in Venezuela, Bazan says that the government is a dictatorship … and went on a to continue with his anti-Chavez government rant … but I guess his statements were not political in nature.

Hummm …

Today, on VTV's website ... Venezuela's government-run news outlet ... we find the following information about the supposed teachers' strike: "De 28 mil planteles, sólo 168 pretendieron paralizar sus actividades, lo cual representa apenas 0,59% del total." ... "From 28,000 schools only 168 paralyzed their activities, which only represents 0.59% of the total (of schools)."

Who to believe?

I look out the balcony and see that the private university next door is fully operational. I call a friend (who hates Chavez) and she tells me her two girls went to school as usual … private schools, of course. She then explained that only some of the public schools were closed.

Who's right?

Then I go to the Globovision website. Globovision is one of the most anti-Chavez media outlets in Venezuela, usually recounting lies and manipulating information to the advantage of the violent Venezuelan opposition -- those responsible, with US government NED and USAID funding, for the April 2002 coup against Chavez, the ensuing violent sabotage of the Venezuelan economy in 2002 and 2003 and a whole lot of other violent actions including bombings and assassinations. Globovision openly supported the coup and the sabotage and openly called for the use of violence against Chavez supporters … and continues to do so, especially on its program "Alo Ciudadano" (Hello Citizen).

Hummm…

So I decide to look out of the balcony again. I am on the 23rd floor, here in Caracas. I say to myself, "From my experience, on the days when there is no school, such as school holidays during weekdays, the traffic is significantly less." So I check it out … and the traffic is just as horrible as ever.

So what is the answer?

I don't know … but I can tell you one thing, I certainly will not believe anything coming from Globovision.