I was doing a bit of reading into Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, particularly about the media aspect, and I couldn't help but be struck by how much America really hates these guys! I mean, okay, sometimes Chavez can be a bit nuts. "Alo Presidente", where he hosts a talk show on the state channel that has no definite time limit and requires his cabinet to attend is more than a little unorthodox - but hey, it's got positives too. It's probably a damn sight more entertaining than a party political broadcast, and the President speaks directly to the public every Sunday.

But liek... looking at it from a neutral, third-party perspective, the reaction of the US is just ridiculous. Three days before TeleSUR (a pan-Latin American station based in Venezuela, designed to provide an alternative to external stations like CNN en Espanol and TVE) went on air, a Republican congressman from Florida introduced an amendment to a resolution, authorising "to fund activities which support political parties, the rule of law, civil society, an independent media, and otherwise promote democratic, accountable governance in Venezuela". And I'm like... what? If anything they're doing that already by setting up another TV station! The Venezuelan ambassador's response was apt. "In Venezuela there are 48 channels of free access to anyone with a television set and a small antenna. Only two of them belong to the government. You can also receive more than 120 channels from four continents." Crapsake, man, these people get more terrestrial channels than we get here in Ireland, and you're saying they don't have an independent media?! There was a Canadian filmmaker filming a documentary in Venezuela about the issue, and he said it was easier to film there than it would be back in Canada!

And then when they found out that TeleSUR was doing business with Al-Jazeera, who, might I add, are based in Qatar, which is one of the friendly Arabian states (Bahrain and the Emirates nearby even have rounds in the F1 world championship), of course the Americans went batshit! The very same congressman, Connie Mack IV, started going on about how TeleSUR and Al-Jazeera are "creating a global television network for terrorists and other enemies of freedom", although at this stage I'm wondering about his definition of "freedom" when he's trying to stop a TV station from broadcasting and conducting deals with other TV stations. On top of that, journalists from TeleSUR have been persecuted by revolutionaries in other countries just for going about their business! And you're seriously claiming that a news agency going about its normal work, and doing a bang-up job of it too - they were covering things like the 2009 coup in Honduras where other news agencies dared not to go!

As for the man himself, right-wing Americans can't get enough of him. Pursuing Bolivarian Missions to eliminate disease, malnutrition, illiteracy and poverty and promoting co-operation between the world's poorer countries, particularly Latin American ones. A threat to democracy indeed! Here's a man who cites Noam Chomsky, Simon Bolivar and Jesus as some of his influences, and, like, even independent regulation on the Venezuelan elections isn't enough to prove that they actually did vote the guy in.

Lastly, about his decision not to renew the terrestrial licence of RCTV (RCTV is still available on satellite and cable, so it's hardly shut down), take a minute to think about this; RCTV had a role in the 2002 coup that deposed Chavez's government for about 2 days, including now infamous case of footage of Chavistas firing offscreen; RCTV, along with the opposition in Venezuela and the White House at the time, said they were firing at a peaceful demonstration, when what actually happened, and this can be verified by two Irish documentary makers who happened to be in Venezuela filming a documentary about Chavez at the time when the coup started, was that the pro-Chavistas were being shot at and the clip that wasn't shown was their target; an empty street with armoured vans, where they thought the shots were coming from. Additionally, if the Teabaggers suddenly turned violent and Fox started actively encouraging people to rise up against the legitimately elected Obama government like RCTV actively engouraged people to rise up against the legitimately elected Chavez government, wouldn't they have an excuse to take Fox down a peg in response? That's what FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) thought! They even suggested that such an action would be even more harshly retaliated to in a western government!

No, it seems truth isn't enough to convince some people.