US, Spain demand Venezuela lift TV station ban
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| Published on Saturday, June 2, 2007 |
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MADRID, Spain (Reuters): The United States and Spain demanded on Friday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reopen an anti-government television station he banned and accused him of repressing free speech.
Chavez took opposition TV channel RCTV off the air on Sunday on the grounds it backed a 2002 coup against him.
That silenced a critic of Chavez's push for nationalisations and his increased control of the military and courts in the OPEC member country.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the move isolated Venezuela in a region where most countries are free and democratic.
"We called on the Venezuelan government to reverse course and reopen the independent TV station there and cease these attacks on the free press," Rice said at a news conference, after talks with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
"Minister Moratinos and I agreed this station has to stay on the air and this was an anti-democratic act," Rice said during an interview on Spanish state television.
Chavez this week widened his attack on opposition media to another news channel, Globovision, which he accuses of inciting political violence. The media crackdown has provoked international criticism and street protests in Caracas.
Moratinos said Spain and the United States would pool their diplomatic weight in Latin America to promote democracy and free speech in Venezuela and Cuba.
Moratinos and Rice differed on their approach to Cuba but agreed Chavez should not close television or radio stations that spoke out against him.
"We have expressed our wish that Venezuelans regain their access to information, their guarantees to information and expression," Moratinos said.
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