Venezuleans Losing Free Speech One Station at a Time

The history of the 20th Century is littered with examples of how dictators came to power and began eliminating their opposition. It all began with little things - like clamping down on dissenters right to speech and be heard.

[T]hugo Chavez is operating out of this playbook:

Tens of thousands of protesters on Saturday denounced President Hugo Chavez's plans to close an opposition television channel, accusing their leader of maiming Venezuelan democracy as he forges a socialist state.

Chavez says RCTV, the country's oldest private broadcaster, supported a bungled coup against him in 2002. He has had a long-running battle with opposition television stations, calling them "horsemen of the apocalypse."

"Let us defend democracy, let us defend freedom, let us defend free independent media such as RCTV," RCTV's managing director, Marcel Garnier, told demonstrators in Caracas.

"Or we will allow the president to topple the country over the precipice of totalitarianism where not even his own supporters can express their opinions," he said as the crowd waved flags, applauded and blew whistles.

Chavez has vowed not to renew RCTV's broadcast license when it expires on May 27. It will be replaced by a state channel showing programs that promote the values of Chavez's self-styled leftist revolution. He accuses RCTV's saucy soap operas of spreading immorality.

Analysts have identified a critical media as one of the principal safeguards against the president building a Cuban-style state in the OPEC nation.

Chavez has been accumulating increasing amounts of power and holds sway over the national assembly. He's eliminating rivals from within his political party, and his economic policies are set to turn Venezuela into a basket case.

Shutting down opposition television stations is only another step at eliminating any opposition.