RCTV to go off the air again

In a bad case of déjà vu all over again we are getting ready to see the signal of RCTV go off our cable TV system tomorrow. The discombobulated legal mechanism used by the government cannot hide that the real reason why RCTV is going off the air is because Chavez wants so.

There is no Chomskyan grandeur anywhere in here (Chavez is now the most powerful media mogul of our history); there is no desire to create a true public service TV here (the new TVes, the ersatz to substitute RCTV on open signal has already established itself as a subservient Chavez propaganda tool); there is not even the slimmest desire to make a deal and let the opposition with a small space in the hertzian kingdom (the government has not offered any UHF to RCTV, nor to any other TV station that cannot be verified as a pro Chavez joint).

No, there is just the naked desire to shut up one of the only two TV systems where critics of the government can express themselves freely, even if only on cable or satellite. In a country where pay TV does not even reach 25% of the country, that 10% of the people at a given time might chose to watch something else than a Chavez speech is simply unbearable for our local kinglet wanna-be.

You doubt me? Look at today's speedy decision form the high court of Venezuela where it refuses to consider the petitions of RCTV. We read this gem:

...it is of public knowledge that the said business continues to operate as a broadcast station that can transmit its information and entertainment contents, using its its tools and technical material, which leads one to presume that it is fulfilling its contractual and financial commitments.

That is right, you read it it perfectly: the high court of Venezuela, because RCTV TODAY is showing up on cable is saying that it has suffered of no prejudice and that its complaint against a CONATEL ruling has no basis. That for almost two months RCTV was off the air and still kept is staff did not cause any prejudice to RCTV coffers; that it cannot reach a quarter of its previous audience anymore because of its cable only presence does not affect its business performance; that its transmission equipment has being seized by the government without any form of compensation causes no financial loss to RCTV.

But what else can you expect form a judicial system where the president, Luisa Estela Morales, has been herself fired from a tribunal until recovered from chavismo to become the president of the judicial system of Venezuela? Such judges can only rule in favor of the daemon that allowed them to reach the top in a new Faustian bargain. On their work and merit only these judges would have never reached exalted positions where such merits are measured, evaluated and compared. No wonder the Venezuelan judicial system today is an active participant in the lynching of RCTV. But history is rich with examples of morally corrupt judges who erased with stupefying ease from their vocabulary words such as fairness, due process, impartiality.

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