Venezuelan media crackdown: TV anchors sign off, mouths shut

Anonimo in Venezuela says,

In this video, you can see the strange and sad way that the news program on RCTV shut down this past Friday, after Venezuela's president arbitrarily decided to close it.

Each worker at the TV station, hundreds of people whose jobs depend on this network which has been critical of Chavez, will be unemployed tomorrow.

The station closes Monday May 28th thanks to a political decision through which Chavez seeks to gain total control of the basic freedoms of the country's citizens.

The world needs to know. Only you guys abroad can help us spread the word. Chavez spends hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying around the world with goverments and earning many international support at the expense of our taxes, natural resources, and freedoms.

Many of us are scared, but we are willing to do something about it.

Video link.

And here are videos of demonstrations against chavez closing down this channel, the most popular tv station in Venezuela, one that has been on the airwaves for 53 years: Link 1, Link 2.

Here's a Reuters item about the TV shutdown by Chavez. It will be replaced by a state-run channel "promoting President Hugo Chavez's self-proclaimed socialist revolution in a move widely criticized as a threat to democracy."

(posted from Central America / Xeni)

See also on BB: Venezuelan media crackdown — the other POV.