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Chavez's "Softer Tone" - Is Opening the Door to IAPA Appeasement?
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
See also Jan 2, 2008:
Reconciliatory Chavez Grants Amnesty to Jailed Coupsters, Opponents
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071231/073627.html
Chavez's "Softer Tone" for 2008: Amnesty for Coup-Plotters
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071231/073659.html
[The Inter-American Press Association is a virulently anti-Cuban,
anti-socialist press organization that has also, not unexpectedly, been
very anti-Chavez. It's interesting that they, and apparently Editor &
Publisher, are attributing the fact that IAPA has found a venue in
Venezuela for its March, 2008 meeting to the December 2 defeat of the
Reform Referendum. It's delusional, and silly, but not surprising that
the IAPA along with other anti-Bolivarian groups are interpreting the
December 2 vote as sup****t for their own political agenda.
They might believe there is a connection between the Referendum's
defeat and Chavez's less combative tone recently, but it seems unlikely
that the savvy Chavez is making the same mistake Nicaragua's Daniel
Ortega made during the 1980s. The monster in the North cannot be
appeased by concessions.
It's a risky game to give coup-plotters, CIA mercenaries and the
likes of IAPA -- all sources of destabilization -- more room to
maneuver, but it also deprives anti-Venezuelan forces one of their
major lines of propaganda. And, if they feel more comfortable and
emboldened, they are also more likely to show their hand. "Welcome to
my parlor," said the spider to the fly. -NY Transfer]
Editor & Publisher - Jan 2, 2008
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003690479
APA Finally Lands Site For Venezuela Meeting
By E&P Staff
CHICAGO--Last fall, as Venezuela neared a vote on constitutional changes
to give even more power to President Hugo Chavez, the Inter American
Press Association (IAPA) was finding no room at the inn for its
long-planned 2008 mid-year meeting in March.
One after another, hotels in Caracas and other locations first agreed
to host the meeting, and then suddenly found reasons they could not be
the venue for the press freedom association of newspapers and other
media in the hemisphere. IAPA leaders suspected pressure from the
anti-American government.
But now, after Venezuelan voters on Dec. 2 narrowly rejected Chavez's
"reform" package, IAPA has found a hotel willing to accommodate the
meeting -- which it said will not follow the usual mid-year format, but
will be "a special program designed to provide strong sup****t to
Venezuela's news media."
>From the start, IAPA President Earl Maucker, editor of the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, said the group was determined
to meet in Venezuela. He went ahead with a "study mission" of an IAPA
delegation two weeks before the constitutional vote -- even when the
pro-Chavez legislature voted nearly unanimously to ask the government
to declare the delegation, and the entire mid-year meeting, "personas
non grata."
Maucker even made a side trip during the study mission to explore the
possibility of holding it in an unlikely spot -- to a mountain top
German-style village about 40 miles from Caracas.
Wednesday, Maucker said he believes there's been a "subtle ****ft in
attitude" by those who successfully opposed the constitutional changes.
[NOTE: They didn't "successfully oppose" the changes. The pro-Chavez
forces simply didn't turn out in sufficient numbers to prevent a
microscopically thin victory by the "No" voters. -NYTr]
"First thing we need to understand is that I am no authority on
Venezuelan politics -- not by a long shot," he said. "But, having said
that, there did seem to be a change in attitude by the 'No' vote on the
reform. A subtle ****ft in attitude that provided a bit of confidence by
those opposing the reforms and perhaps less of a feeling of retaliation
by opponents of the reform movement."
In addition, there have been none of the demonstrations, some of which
turned violent, there were in the run-up to the referendum.
By going on our mission and showing our unity and strength, I believe
we sent a very strong message to the Venezuelan press bloc that we were
firmly behind them and our sup****t never wavered," he added. "That
should translate well in our upcoming meeting. The press group in
Venezuela were encouraged by that demonstration of sup****t and are
thrilled to host this meeting in March which has been in the planning
stages for several years."
The meeting will be held March 28-30 at the Caracas Palace Hotel in the
capital city's Altamira district.
IAPA actually went on two study missions to Venezuela in 2007, the
first when the government denied a broadcast license extension to the
politically independent [sic; this means "anti-Chavez,
pro-oligarchy"] RCTV, on the grounds that it had sup****ted an the brief
coup against Chavez in 2002.
"This is what the IAPA is all about -- to advance freedom of expression
and of the press and for us as an organization to show sup****t and
publicly demonstrate that sup****t wherever and whenever possible,"
Maucker said. "Venezuela is a perfect example of how it should work, in
my opinion."
Separately, Maucker issued a year-end statement in which he said "IAPA
has been both a major player in and a witness to the advances and
setbacks in freedom of the press in the Americas."
He noted that IAPA "organized and/or participated in 49 activities,
among them missions, conferences, forums and seminars, that mobilized a
total of 646 persons -- including members, journalists, media
executives, lawmakers, judges, politicians and civil society leaders --
to mark its presence in almost every country and region of the Western
Hemisphere."
Maucker also noted the hemisphere's death toll, with 13 journalists
were murdered in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras,
Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the United States. Four re****ters
disappeared in Mexico and are still missing.
And violence extended even to circulation workers, with three massacred
apparently because of narcotic traffickers displeasure with their
newspaper
"And, when addressing this serious matter of violence we cannot fail to
mention Cuba, a country we continue calling upon to free 27 imprisoned
independent journalists [sic], several of them in ailing health,"
Maucker said.
*
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