By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 12, 2007
Venezuela’s government has blocked the Spanish pop singer Alejandro Sanz from using Poliedro Stadium in Caracas for a scheduled Nov. 1 concert because he criticized President Hugo Chávez three years ago. Responding to questions about Mr. Chávez before a 2004 recall referendum, Mr. Sanz said: “I don’t like your president. I don’t like those from other places, either.” Higher Education Minister Luis Acuña, who disclosed the stadium ban, did not explain why the government had initially agreed to the concert.

This article was in the NYT Americas section. I found it really sad that even in musical and artistic expression as we have been discussing in class couldn't be a proper outlet because of a singer's outdated comments. Even if the government feared what he stated, his music wasnt directly offensive and they are taking away his personal expression, and because he's a popular artist, odds are other people related to it as well. I guess this is an indicator of the state of Venezuela's political situation currently.