Saturday, November 20, 2010

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101120/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_anti_chavez_tv;_ylt=AmLz.xO41Zry85BWhYP.P3.3IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTMxYzN1YmZoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTIwL2x0X3ZlbmV6dWVsYV9hbnRpX2NoYXZlel90dgRwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNjaGF2ZXpkZW1hbmQ-


Though Hugo Chavez is a democratically elected leader, his actions are progressively becoming more and more like those of a dictator. Now he is trying to shut down last remaining television channel that opposes his actions as president. Though Chavez did rid his country of the corruption that drove democracy out of Venezuela, he brought a new kind of democracy that has degenerated over time. Now he silences his opposition, falling into the classic model of a dictator. I've read very little on Chavez before today, when I read an online biography. It's really interesting to me that he has been re-elected so many times. The article didn't give much information on the circumstances of the elections, i.e. how equally each party was advertised in society or whether the polls were fair. The article said the elections were overseen by two noninterest groups, one of them being the Carter Center, run by Jimmy Carter himself. If the elections had nothing rigged, it makes me wonder about the people's impressions of him and of the opposition running against him. Either way, he is still around now in 2010, nearing 2011. This will make his twelfth year as president. His actions seem to have become more suppressive as time has gone on, evident by this most recent shut down. A population that can't have a balanced view of the their ruler can't have choice of their ruler, and I am personally disgusted by this most recent development.

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