A majority of Venezuelans support student protests over the closure of an opposition television channel, a poll showed on Sunday, despite President Hugo Chávez insisting the demonstrations were part of a US plot to topple him. Chávez replaced RCTV, the country’s oldest broadcaster, with a state network last month. Since then, there have been regular protests by thousands of students accusing the president of undermining democracy.
A Datos poll of 600 Venezuelans across social classes found 56.2 percent supported the students, with only 23.8 percent opposed to them. Of the rest of those surveyed, 19.3 percent had no strong opinion and 0.7 percent said they did not know or did not want to reply. The poll, published in newspapers on Sunday, was conducted on June 8-10 and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Chávez, a frequent and vocal critic of the United States who was reelected by a landslide in December on the back of his generous social spending, dismissed the poll in his weekly television show on Sunday. “This is all part of the conspirators’ plan,” he said. “This is an attempt to incite them.”
Chávez has accused the students of being part of a US-backed “soft revolution,” saying they are trying to model their protests on the 2004 “Orange revolution” in Ukraine. His supporters argue the students are using gestures seen in the ousting of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 and Georgia’s 2003 “Rose revolution,” giving flowers to police and spelling out “Freedom” with their bodies.
Chávez’s critics argue his moves against the media are further evidence of centralization after the president politicized the military, judiciary and oil industry. Chávez is considering indefinite reelection, has won powers to rule by decree and is forging a single governing party to steer his self-styled socialist revolution.
The Datos poll found 66.9 percent of respondents opposed the closure of RCTV. This chimed with a survey from Datanalisis in April that found nearly 70 percent opposed the shutdown, often citing the loss of their favorite soap operas.
Chávez also has threatened to muzzle Globovision, Venezuela’s last remaining mainstream opposition channel, if it does not stop inciting protests.
The Datos poll found 75 percent would oppose Globovision being pulled off the air. Only 7.6 percent of respondents thought the main pro-government state channel, praised by Chávez, was “good” or “very good”. Datos found 81.1 percent of viewers thought it was “bad” or “very bad.”
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)