Category Archives: Repression

Alexis Ramírez: Grand Media Inquisitor

Posted on May 30, 2013 by

The Chavista onslaught against independent media (domestic or foreign) has been escalating pretty quickly: Nicolás Maduro has now accused CNN en Español of promoting a coup against him and putting Venezuela to shame. This just after Maracaibo TV channel ATEL … Continue reading →

Posted in Chavismo, Politics, Repression, The Media | 7 Comments

The short version

Posted on March 22, 2013 by

So this is sort of remarkable.

Posted in Repression | Tagged | 1 Comment

We always knew this day would come…

Posted on February 21, 2013 by

And so, as long expected, the government has decided to shut down the last remaining opposition broadcaster: Globovision. And as long surmised, the decision is to be implemented not with tanks or a militia platoon, but via a dry, ostensibly … Continue reading →

Posted in Repression, The Media | Tagged | 128 Comments

Leopoldo López’s future electoral viability bolstered

Posted on February 16, 2013 by

As the regime moves to put Leopoldo López in jail for the mother of all cold cases, I can’t help but wonder: Has chavismo really thought this one through? Fast forward a few years, and a stint jail could well be … Continue reading →

Posted in Leopoldo López, Repression | 38 Comments

A bizarre Goebbelsian spectacle

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

I don’t have a lot to say about yesterday’s bizarre Goebbelsian spectacle with Diosdado Cabello (of all friggin’ people) accusing Primero Justicia of widespread corruption except that it confirms my earlier hunch that post-Chávez era is poised to substitute repression for … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Repression, The Media | 78 Comments

All Roads Lead to Repression

Posted on January 31, 2013 by

Here’s a thought someone put in my inbox – and a good one. The major paradox of the Chávez era is what you might call the Case of the Missing Repression: governments as authoritarian as Chávez’s, with an eliminationist rhetoric … Continue reading →

Posted in Repression | 46 Comments

The Ins and Outs of “Communication Hegemony”

Posted on July 19, 2012 by

Over on the IHT, underlining the media chapter in Human Rights Watch’s impressive new report.

Posted in Repression, The Media | Tagged | 6 Comments

The proof of chavista hypocrisy

Posted on June 13, 2012 by

Chávez in December of 2010: the Enabling Law, granting him special powers, is to deal with the emergency caused by massive rains and flooding. Chávez in 2012: pulls out of his bedpan a new code of criminal procedures that, among other … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Repression | 11 Comments

The red justice system keeps transforming…

Posted on June 10, 2012 by

In an interview with state TV, the head of the Venezuelan Supreme Court (and the whole Judiciary Branch), Luisa Estela Morales (one half of a dynamic duo with her tocaya, Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega Diaz) said that there’s an ongoing … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Human Rights, Politics, Prisons, Repression | 13 Comments

Five years ago, Chávez snatched the remote

Posted on May 27, 2012 by

Five years ago, I was finishing college in Maracaibo. The night of May 27th, 2007 was a tense one, and everybody was glued to their TV sets close to midnight, something unusual for a Sunday night. It wasn’t a sport … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Human Rights, Politics, Repression, The Media | 45 Comments

Monitoring the monitor

Posted on May 20, 2012 by

Monitor Legislativo is a project created by several NGOs to review the work of the 165 members of Venezuela’s parliament, the National Assembly. They recently released a Parliamentary Performance Ranking report that sets out to gauge how hard parliamentarians actually work. … Continue reading →

Posted in Chavismo, Opposition, Politics, Repression | 15 Comments

The Routinization of the Squatting Racket

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Over in El Nacional, María Alesia Sosa and Maolis Castro have a detailed piece on the way squatting on disused or neglected apartment buildings has become routinized in Caracas these days. Turns out there’s a whole standard M.O. now, with criminal gangs … Continue reading →

Posted in infrastructure, Repression, Venezuelan Culture | Tagged | 4 Comments

Silencing Dissent 101

Posted on March 23, 2012 by

Here’s how the big boys do it: Declare that voicing a legitimate public concern is an act of terrorism. Have the highest authority in the land endorse this theory. Have key institutions proceed inmediately against the evil-doers. Order the media to face … Continue reading →

Posted in Constitution, Repression, The Media | 21 Comments

Memorializing the Accidental Martyrs of 27F

Posted on February 27, 2012 by

For years, Chavismo has taken the events of “El Caracazo” as the myth of origin for its political discourse. This year is no different. But relatives of the victims are not too happy about the current state of the monument … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Repression, Society | 28 Comments

Air War, Chávez Style

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

El Nacional has a good report today (print edition only) about the softly-softly approach on the part of the broadcasting regulator, Conatel, to ensuring chavismo achieves communicational hegemony going into October’s election. Gradually, without calling too much attention to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Repression, The Media | Tagged , | 54 Comments