ON VENEZUELA: LA TIMES FEATURES REPORT THAT STATION CHAVEZ CLOSED WAS PART OF AN EARLIER COUP

Hugo Chavez versus RCTV :Venezuela’s oldest private TV network played a major role in a failed 2002 coup.

By Bart Jones

BART JONES spent eight years in Venezuela, mainly as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press, and is the author of the forthcoming book “Hugo! The Hugo Chavez Story…

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez’s refusal to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television might seem to justify fears that Chavez is crushing free speech and eliminating any voices critical of him.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and members of the European Parliament, the U.S. Senate and even Chile’s Congress have denounced the closure of RCTV, Venezuela’s oldest private television network. Chavez’s detractors got more ammunition Tuesday when the president included another opposition network, Globovision, among the “enemies of the homeland.”

But the case of RCTV — like most things involving Chavez — has been caught up in a web of misinformation. While one side of the story is getting headlines around the world, the other is barely heard….

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