US embassy cable - 05CARACAS839

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 000839 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
HQ USSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: TOUGH TALK, BRAVE FACES, AND SELF-CENSORSHIP IN 
VENEZUELAN MEDIA 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ABELARDO A. ARIAS FOR REASON 1.4 (D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (U) Three months after President Hugo Chavez signed the 
"Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television" (the 
content law), the GoV phased-in the second tier of 
requirements on March 7.  Regulations have yet to be 
published, and the telecommunications regulatory agency 
(CONATEL) is finalizing the "technical norms" for the four 
articles that are newly in effect. Most of the new legal 
structures to monitor and regulate Venezuelan media are now 
nonetheless in place.  Media continue to complain about the 
ambiguity of the law and lack of written regulations, while 
agreeing that the GoV will use small infractions, not related 
to news, to damage their companies financially. Aside from 
the content law, some private media have been hit by 
record-setting anti-trust fines and personal tax 
investigations of their board members.  Former Miranda State 
Gov. Enrique Mendoza told the Ambassador March 11 that media 
owners' opposition to Chavez has not changed, but they were 
not willing to risk being shut down completely.  End Summary. 
 
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RULES NOT WRITTEN, BUT YOU BETTER NOT BREAK THEM 
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2. (U) As of March 7, four more articles of Venezuela's 2004 
Social Responsibility in Radio and Television Law came into 
effect.  These articles provide for: the enforcement of 
schedule blocks for content (all-user, supervised, and 
adult); government access to the broadcast spectrum; 
"democratization" of the broadcast media (regulating the 
nationality of programming and music); and advanced 
publication of the broadcast schedule.  Broadcasters who 
transmit inappropriate content (for language, sexual content, 
or violence) during all but the adult hours are subject to 
stiff fines and, eventually, suspension of license. 
Government television channels must also now be included in 
all subscription television services.  Additionally, the law 
requires radio stations to play an as yet unspecified portion 
of Venezuelan music between 7:00 am and 9:00 pm.  The 
majority of the law's remaining provisions are to be 
phased-in at the six month (June) and nine month (September) 
markers. 
 
3. (C) Executives at three of the most important private 
television stations (Venevision, RCTV, and Globovision) 
called the law and the lack of regulations "ambiguous, 
insecure, and arbitrary" to describe the language of the law 
and its lack of regulations.  They discount ineptitude or 
lack of readiness on the part of state telecommunications 
regulator CONATEL, instead seeing "design" in the vagueness 
of the law.  Several believe that CONATEL will either never 
publish the regulations or publish them only after many 
months of delay. In their opinion, the government's strategy 
is to leave the requirements as vague as possible, thus 
making it easier to "catch" and punish the stations for 
violations of the law. 
 
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REGULATING BODIES UP AND RUNNING 
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4.  (C) The GoV completed appointing the board which monitors 
complaints lodged against the broadcast media February 17. 
Representatives from the Ministries of Communication & 
Information, Education & Sports, and Culture, the National 
Commission on the Rights of Children & Adolescents, the 
National Institute of Women, and the Institute for the 
Protection & Education of Consumers) form the majority of the 
Directorate of Social Responsibility.  Two representatives of 
the "user committees" (status approved by CONATEL) plus one 
representative for the universities, and one for the 
religious organizations represent civil society on the board. 
 The primary representative for the religious groups is from 
the Union of Christian Churches (pro-Chavez and partially 
funded by the GoV) while the substitute member represents the 
Evangelical Church Light of the World. 
 
5. (U) The selection of the ecclesiastical members was 
 
 
preceded by several meetings of various Venezuelan churches, 
under the auspices of CONATEL, according to press reports. 
Absent from the final selections were representatives of 
Judaism and the Roman Catholic church.  The Jewish 
representative sent a letter to the election meeting, 
proclaiming that the Jewish community was confident the 
gathered members would represent Jewish values. No 
representative of the Muslim faith attended the meetings. 
 
6. (C) Cesar Emilio Torres, the media director for the 
Venezuelan Episcopal Council, told PolOff his church's lack 
of participation in the Directorate should not be 
over-interpreted.  He explained that their representative 
(who, along with him, had attended previous meetings) missed 
the selection because he was caught in a traffic jam. He also 
said that while not directly involved in the board's actions, 
the Catholic church expects to have influence over the 
decisions taken by the ecclesiastical representatives. 
Torres said "The Catholic Church will not commit a sin of 
omission. We will have a presence in governing boards, we 
will try to influence the writing of the regulations, and we 
particularly hope to convince CONATEL to change the static 
religious representatives to a rotation." 
 
7. (C) As of February 24, CONATEL reported the registration 
of 360 User Committees.  According to CONATEL director Alvin 
Lezama, the committees' jobs are to "promote and defend the 
communication rights of Venezuelans" before the appropriate 
administrative bodies, and to participate in the process of 
formulation, execution, and evaluation of public policy 
relating to the broadcast media. One of their primary roles 
is to file complaints with CONATEL regarding perceived 
violations of the media law. 
 
8. (U) CONATEL began accepting applications from radio and TV 
producers for "National Independent" (NIP) status as required 
by the media law in early February.  The board which governs 
the registration and management of the NIPs is the only body 
created under the content law that includes a representative 
of the broadcast media.  Television executives noted that (as 
with many other aspects of the law), the regulations 
governing the composition of the NIP board are as yet 
unwritten, and they are therefore unsure how their 
representative will be chosen. They say the representative 
would ideally be selected by a vote within the Venezuelan 
Federation of the Television Industry (or a similar industry 
association).  They believe, however, it is possible that the 
representative would be designated from state-owned VTV or 
Radio Nacional. One of their chief concerns with the NIP 
provision is that they will be assigned programming by 
particular NIPs, rather than being able to choose from 
CONATEL's NIP register. 
 
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"WE ARE NOT SELF-CENSORING, BUT..." 
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9. (C) TV executives say they are not and will not censor 
their broadcasts to comply with the government.  Nonetheless, 
several high profile and controversial TV commentators have 
left the airwaves in the months following the law's passage. 
On March 8, CMT television canceled prominent opposition 
personality Asdrubal Aguiar's four-year-old program, without 
stating a reason. The week before, on March 4, Televen 
canceled a political talk show hosted by provocative 
opposition journalist Marta Colomina.  Other politically 
themed programs canceled recently include Napoleon Bravo's on 
Cisneros-owned Venevision (replaced by a tarot card reader), 
and Idania Chirinos' on CMT. 
 
10. (C) Former Miranda State Gov. Enrique Mendoza told the 
Ambassador March 11 that Aguiar's situation was a blow to 
Chavez opponents.  Aguiar's family has left Venezuela for 
Argentina, and the one-time opposition spokesman will now 
divide his time between the two countries.  Mendoza asserted 
that the media owners' opposition to President Hugo Chavez 
had not changed, but they were not going to risk getting shut 
down.  Mendoza noted that the anti-trust fines levied against 
Venevision and RCTV were a hard, warning blow (see paragraph 
13).  Separately, Venevision Vice President (and mother of 
opposition mayor Leopoldo Lopez) Antonietta Lopez (protect) 
told PolOff, "We are a business and have to survive. It is 
better to stay out of trouble for now, to not allow ourselves 
 
 
to be taken-over by the government or a private front 
operation, and to remain alive and here for the day we are 
needed.  And we will be here." 
 
11. (C) Outside Caracas in early February, a special CONATEL 
commission accused Television Andina de Merida (TAM) of 
violating the law by broadcasting images of bodies being 
carried in flood waters caused by the carnival rains.  TAM 
broadcast the images "hot" -- that is not "live," but 
unedited -- the moment the tape was brought in from the 
field.  According to TAM, CONATEL representatives agreed that 
the scenes were appropriate, seemingly absolving the station 
of violations, but refused to leave any proof of the finding 
in writing.  TAM believes this leaves the station vulnerable 
to future accusations over the same event, and might be used 
to threaten station management in the future. 
 
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DEATH BY ONE THOUSAND CUTS 
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12. (C) The heads of private broadcast media told Emboffs 
they believe the GoV will not punish their companies for 
violations related to news or criticism of the government 
because it would be seen by the international community as a 
violation of press freedoms.  Instead, they said, the GoV 
would fine them for entertainment, advertising, or technical 
violations, whenever possible.  For this reason, Venevision 
executives say that those enterprises which feature a 
mixed-format (entertainment and news) are more vulnerable 
than all-news radio and TV stations.  One radio commentator 
told PolCouns he expected the GoV to hit on things such as 
the failure to translate English titles of songs into 
Spanish. 
 
13. (C) In March, Procompetencia (the GoV's anti-trust 
agency, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of 
Production), hit Venezuela's two largest private TV stations, 
Venevision and RCTV, with record-setting fines.  The fines 
stem from a complaint lodged by Televen in 2003, alleging 
that the larger stations colluded to fix advertising rates. 
Both stations claim the $11 million fine is disproportionate 
to the size of their companies and to the alleged misconduct. 
 
14. (C) Aside from the media law, the GoV has begun special 
tax investigations of members of the boards of Globovision, 
Venevision, and RCTV.  The Directors have been asked to prove 
the legitimacy of all assets, including homes and vehicles. 
RCTV, the station most at odds with the government and least 
willing to bend, recently experienced a week-long fire 
inspection of their headquarters.  The exhaustive search for 
fire code violations covered every inch of the building, 
according to executives. Company president Marcel Granier 
reports being told by an embarrassed fire inspector that 
their orders were to "find violations." 
 
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COMMENT 
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15. (C) Like other segments of the opposition, the owners and 
managers of the private media regard one another and one 
another's motives with suspicion. They do, however, concur in 
several important beliefs, among them:  that the law is 
deliberately vague, that it will remain so for the 
foreseeable future, and that the GoV will use the law to ruin 
or take-over any station which fails to come to heel. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA00839 - CONFIDENTIAL