Staff Editorial

Chavez denying right to speech indicative of future

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently closed down a cable news station in his native country for not complying with a new law that requires all stations to broadcast “mandatory programming,” which includes all of his speeches.

Several people took to the streets in protest, including college and high school students, many saying that the station was closed simply because it was anti-Chavez. Several people, including members of the media and one high school student, died during the protest or were injured by the Venezuelan police.

The United States government and the Organization of American States recognize Venezuela and their government as a democratic one, despite the fact that Venezuelans are constantly being denied their basic rights and that their constitution is repeatedly violated.

Since when does a president of a democratic country dictate what a news channel, especially one on cable, broadcasts?

Freedom of the press is a right all democratic nations enjoy, something that helps differentiate between nations that support democracy and those that do not.

Many leaders in Latin America are beginning to follow in Chavez’s footsteps, joining organizations like the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a doctrine that would integrate all countries in Latin America and would basically put an end to free trade in this region. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya, Argentinean’s Cristina Fernandez and Ecuador’s Rafael Correas are the major “puppets” in Chavez’s show that is attempting to turn Latin America to communism.

When will the U.S., the U.N. and the OAS open their eyes and do something about it? When it is too late?

The people in these countries are begging to have their voices heard; they are trying to put an end to this madness, to let their constitutions rule the land and not that which is imposed by Chavez, America’s new Fidel, in the form of the ALBA.

If America is truly a democratic nation and wants to spread democracy worldwide, it needs to do something about these individuals before the only freedom Latin Americans enjoy is that of breathing.

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