Chavez Threatens Second TV Shutdown

Chavez Threatens Second TV Shutdown as Protests Mount
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Alex Kennedy
May 29 (Bloomberg)

Chavez said he had ``no fear'' of criticism he might face for closing Globovision, a 24-hour news channel that he accused of trying to instigate his assassination. The threat follows the May 27 shutdown of Radio Caracas Television, Venezuela's most- watched TV network.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to shut down the country's last opposition television station as students took to the streets for a third day, protesting what they say is a crackdown on free speech.

``They're trying to light the streets on fire and justify violence,'' Chavez said in a speech to supporters televised from Vargas state. ``I call on the people in the slums to be alert to defend the revolution.''

The three days of disorder in Caracas and other major cities marks the longest stretch of anti-Chavez demonstrations since March 2004, when opposition-led protests demanding a recall referendum left nine dead. Clashes across Venezuela between the police and marchers injured at least 40 yesterday, Globovision reported.

The yield on the 2019 government bond, known as TICC, jumped 4 basis points to 4.86 percent, the highest since March 26, according to Econoinvest Casa de Bolsa CA prices. The price dropped 0.4 to 103.50 cents on the dollar at 5 p.m. New York time.

The cost of buying protection on $10 million of Venezuela's bonds for five years had its biggest jump since Jan. 9, surging 17 percent to $198,000, according Credit Market Analysis. Credit-default swaps are financial instruments based on bonds and loans that are used to speculate on the ability of countries or companies to repay debt. An increase in price suggests deterioration in credit quality.

University students gathered in eastern Caracas while Chavez supporters rallied downtown to support the government's refusal to renew the license of RCTV, as the country's oldest broadcaster was known.

Communications and Information Minister William Lara added pressure on non-state television outlets yesterday, asking for an attorney-general's probe of Globovision Tele CA and Time Warner Inc.'s Cable Network News for allegedly inciting violence. Globovision, founded in 1994, is owned by an investor group called Corporacion GV Inversiones CA.

RCTV, which had a national distribution, and Globovision, available only in Caracas and Carabobo state, were the only prominent stations critical of the government. xxx Coup xxx In an interview yesterday, Globovision General Manager Alberto Federico Ravell called the accusations ``ridiculous.''

``Chavez has just gone too far this time,'' Ruben Briceno, 22, a Central University of Venezuela student majoring in social work, said in an interview. ``First it was the shutdown of Radio Caracas. What will come next?''

Chavez said today the students are being manipulated by people he didn't cite. National Assembly Vice President Roberto Hernandez said the protests are organized by opposition parties seeking to overthrow Chavez.

``They will not succeed in weakening this government,'' Hernandez told reporters in Caracas Interior and Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said state intelligence and police services were prepared to quell any effort to destabilize the county.

In the days leading up to the RCTV shutdown, Chavez said the company's executives had used the network to help incite a coup that ousted him from office for two days in 2002. While RCTV covered his ouster without interruption, it failed to report his government's return to power and ran cartoon shows.

During the coup and strike, the four biggest private stations -- RCTV, Venevision, Televen and Globovision -- ran commercials calling for Chavez to resign, said Daniel Hellinger a professor of political science at Webster University in St. Louis and author of several books about Chavez. ``They say I'm a tyrant,'' Chavez said today. ``Who accuses me? Serpents.''

Globovision television station showed students putting up barricades on the streets of El Junquito, a town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Caracas. Another group blocked traffic for a time on the Prados del Este highway in Caracas, creating logjams, it said.

Groups of RCTV supporters held a demonstration in front of the Organization of American States' local offices. The police deployed 4,000 officers to protect the surroundings of the OAS offices.

RCTV's shutdown, coupled with the probes of CNN and Globovision, will intensify international scrutiny of free speech in Venezuela, Miguel Henrique Otero, editor-president of Caracas-based El Nacional, the nation's second-most read newspaper, said in an interview yesterday.

``Press relations with governments with authoritarian inclinations are always difficult,'' said Paul Knox, chair of school of journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto. ``At this point, it's fair to say that the Chavez government has an authoritarian inclination.''