Radio studio with a close-up of a microphone. Photo: Pixabay.
On Monday, October 31, during a press conference of the National Directorate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the party’s vice president, Diosdado Cabello, asserted that there has been more freedom of expression in Venezuela since the Bolivarian Revolution.
“There has never been so much freedom of expression in Venezuela as in times of Revolution. Never, never, ever!” emphasized Cabello.
He said that many radio stations in the country have been closed by their owners. These closures have occurred in response to local media trends suggesting that frequency concessions will be revoked.
“Many of these stations have been closed for a long time, the owners themselves closed them… They turned off the transmitters, and CONATEL, the local agency in charge of telecommunications, is reviewing each one and has even updated the documents of many,” he said.
Cabello, who was the head of CONATEL for many years, explained that radio concessions have a fundamental characteristic. “The lawyers call them intuitu personae. They are very personal; they cannot be sold without authorization from the regulatory entity because the frequencies belong to the State, they do not belong to a person, they are given a permit to operate on that frequency when they [station owners] go to CONATEL. If they sold it or the business owners left Venezuela and someone else has it [the concession], or the person died and the children believe it is inheritable, they can inherit the station but not the frequency.”
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He stressed that CONATEL is reviewing each case of the frequencies because “we know that in the interior of the country the radio is very powerful, that is why we want there to be radio stations to correct those who had these [concessions] and abandoned them. Ah, now that Venezuela is being fixed [Venezuela se arreglo], they are coming back, but the station spent three years turned off.”
He criticized opposition leaders and supporters, who have used the media to lie and to carry out coups.
“They say that here in Venezuela, there is a dictatorship, and nobody puts them in jail, imagine! Freedom of expression does not belong to the media; it is a mistake to think that freedom of expression belongs to the owners of radio, television and newspapers. Freedom of expression belongs to the citizen and, thanks to the constitution, Venezuelans have more voice in this country,” he pointed out.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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