Angry Venezuelan protesters and journalists yesterday headed for a showdown with the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, which was about to take over the country's largest private television station.
RCTV was set to end its broadcasts at midnight yesterday after the government refused to renew its license.
But employees have vowed to continued to occupy the studios overnight, possibly to hinder their handover to the government today.
"A lot of us will sleep here in the station," news director Manuel Gago said.
"This is Venezuela, not Cuba!" protesters chanted, rallying outside RCTV studios on Saturday. "We have what it takes to fight!"
The rally was reminiscent of protests that led to Chavez's two-day ouster in a 2002 coup, for which he partly blames RCTV.
Chavez vowed soon after he was re-elected late last year to close the station down.
"The decision was mine," to close it, he said, calling its steamy soaps "a danger for the country, for boys, for girls."
Chavez asked Venezuelans for calm during a speech in Barquisimeto, 300km west of the capital and warned of a tough response from the military if the protests turn violent.
"Venezuelan armed forces are ready," Chavez said. "Anyone generating violence will regret it."
Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said the station's staff "know that the license has run out and should by now have taken measures."
Today Chavez will relaunch the channel as a public service station, with US$4 million in start-up money. Then the government will control two of the four nationwide channels.
Venezuelan journalists and international human-rights advocates criticized the move, as did Peruvian President Alan Garcia.
"We respect freedom of expression and of the press ... which we feel are the oxygen of democracy," he said.
The broadcaster has filed charges on Saturday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
"We have filed suit before the commission against Venezuela for violating the freedom of speech," RCTV vice president Oswaldo Quintana said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS