PrintDecember 26, 2010
Hugo Chavez's New Power Grab
Like the canary in a mine shaft who dies at the first sign of toxic gasses, journalists are often the first creatures to suffer when a totalitarian dictator is ascending to power. There are few developed nations in the world that show the methodical approach to smothering free speech, but Venezuela's "great leader" is demonstrating the process in our very own hemisphere. Since other leftist heads of state are watching with dreamy eyes, it might be a good preventative measure if we all start paying attention to his techniques. Signaling darker days ahead for that county's free press, Venezuela fell from 124th to 133rd out of 178 countries in the 2010 version of the Press Freedom Index (http://www.rsf.org/). In 2008, they were ranked in 113th place and they held 77th place as recently as in 2002. That was early in the Chávez reign, but he has grown with the job. To prevent any misunderstanding, I should clarify the Press Freedom Index ranking system: Just like a golf...(Read Full Article)
