CARACAS, Tuesday April 24, 2007 | Update
Spanish European Parliamentarian for political leftwing party
Izquierda Unida (IU) asked Tuesday respect for a controversial
decision made by the Venezuelan government not to renew a
broadcasting license for private TV channel Radio Caracas
Televisión (RCTV).
"During the coup attempt undergone by President Hugo Chávez
in 2002, that broadcaster cooperated with coupsters and hid
information. In this way, it went on the fringes of the constitutional
lawfulness," Meyer said in a press release.
"The Venezuelan state is entitled to renew or not the licenses
to use the broadcasting space. Therefore, there is need to
respect the decisions of Chávez Executive," Efe reported.
RCTV CEO Marcel Granier met Tuesday at the European Parliament
with members of political parties European People's Party,
Socialist Party and The Green to brief them on the non-renewal
of a license that will expire on May 27th. In his opinion,
such a move runs counter to freedom of expression.
The deputy underscored in his communiqué that neither
the European Parliament nor any other European agency had
taken any official stance in this regard.
04:17 PM. Western Hemisphere. "Damned empire; I curse you one thousand times; some day you will be finished off and wrecked. I curse you one thousand times, empire." This is the least that President Hugo Chávez has uttered to refer to the US government. In urging the Bolivarian Armed Forces to prepare for war, he said that a US raid on Venezuela through Colombia would trigger and spread over the region "the 100-year war."