President Hugo Chavez's clampdown on opposition television stations widened Monday as police used rubber bullets and tear gas on demonstrators protesting what they called an attack on free speech.
Venezuela levied charges against US cable network CNN for linking Chavez to Al-Qaeda terror network headed by Osama bin Laden. The move came just hours after the shutting-down of the country's oldest television station, the openly anti-government Radio Caracas Television network.
The government also accused Venezuelan TV network Globovision of encouraging any would-be assassins of the president.
Information Minister William Lara showed at a news conference what he said was CNN footage of Chavez juxtaposed with images of an Al-Qaeda leader.
"CNN broadcast a lie which linked President Chavez to violence and murder," Lara said.
I'm sure our Left is just jealous that Fox News still broadcasts here.
Seriously, the television news seems to show some serious unrest. We shall see if this is a spasm and dies out; and if it doesn't die down, if Chavez orders the security forces (either military or his militias) to use deadly force to quell the disorder; and if Chavez does order his forces to shoot-to-kill, whether the military stands by and lets Chavez get away with murder.
Chavez won his first election yet is going forward with the old dictator rule of "one man, one vote, one time."
