Not So, Mr. Chavez

One would rightly wonder what Venezuela’s President, Mr. Hugo Chavez expected by way of reactions from opponents, of his government and even fair-minded individuals at home, and of course governments abroad, over his government’s recent refusal to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, or RCTV. That action forced RCTV off the air Sunday for what is meant to be for good, since a new government-owned public television began immediately to broadcast on RCTV’s channels. That act by Mr. Chavez and his government is typical of an over-kill and over-reach. Mr. Chavez should not be surprised at all that it is attracting the sort of immediate protest demonstrations in Venezuela by opponents of his government and condemnations abroad from groups and even governments. He doesn't need such at this point in time!

His declaration that the negative reaction over that act of over-reach and over-kill stems from "international rightist, extreme-rightist and fascist movements [who] are attacking Venezuela from everywhere - from Europe, the United States, Brasilia" is disingenuous and sad to say the least. One can concede that RCTV was an arch-supporter of the coup that claimed to have ousted him from power just briefly the other time. One can also agree that RCTV has been an ardent opponent of his government and its policies. But his expressed expectation that Venezuela should be devoid of voices of opposition would not augur well at all for his government and Venezuela. Irrespective of how he feels about his opponents, they are necessary evils that he must rely on for reality checks on his policies and governance. Considering his vast popularity amongst poor Venezuelans who out-number the owners and the audience of RCTV by far, Mr. Chavez has very little to worry about RCTV’s programming.

Forcing RCTV off the air this way has opened him and his government up for justified criticisms from not only known opponents of his government at home and abroad, it will also generate bad blood between sympathetic observers of his policies in the sub-region and elsewhere. It is not too late for him to correct the error he made by forcing RCTV off the air. He would earn some goodwill for himself and his government by allowing RCTV to return to the airwaves. In fact, by so-doing he might even give some people cause to start to view him as responsive. The time for him to correct that error of over-reach and over-kill is now.