Chavez says radio stations to be seized could be turned over to Venezuela’s socialists

Chavez eyes handing radio stations to socialists

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that hundreds of radio stations his government plans to seize for allegedly operating illegally could be turned over to Venezuelans who share his socialist vision.

“We are going to retake control of the radio waves,” Chavez told a crowd of supporters.

Chavez said his government isn’t planning to take control of radio frequencies “to give them to the bourgeoisie” — a term he frequently uses to refer to his political adversaries. “A popular radio in the hands of the people must be created,” he said.

The leftist leader has endorsed a move to revoke the licenses of 240 radio stations — about 40 percent of the country’s stations — after officials said they didn’t update their registrations with the telecommunications commission.

Tensions between Chavez and Venezuela’s privately owned media are on the rise.

Officials have launched investigations that could lead to the closure of Globovision, an opposition-aligned television station that is the last over-the-air TV broadcaster strongly critical of Chavez’s policies. The government has also endorsed plans for a proposed law that would punish as-yet-unspecified “media crimes.”

The Paris-based media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders warned Venezuela’s government Tuesday against making any moves that would stifle dissent.

“Regulations and laws changed or reinterpreted by a government to impose what it sees as the only possible media truth are just the instruments of an ideological crusade that is already well under way,” the group said in a statement. “We urge the government to shelve steps contrary to fundamental constitutional principles and inter-American jurisprudence on freedom of expression.”