A lot of stories about Venezuelan corruption/authoritarianism just seem bizarre. If you're going to up and make someone a political prisoner, why allow the press access to them?
The age of outright authoritarianism has passed in Latin America. Or at least, we are not currently in a time when you can simply operate as an outright dictator. That's why Chavez is always working around the fringes of what's constitutional/legal and holding constitutional conventions/referenda/etc. to expand his legal powers. You can fine, harass, imprison journalists, but you can't actually seize and shut down a newspaper. You can arrest a judge, but you can't actually suspend the entire judicial system. It's just ... not done anymore.
A lot of stories about Venezuelan corruption/authoritarianism just seem bizarre. If you're going to up and make someone a political prisoner, why allow the press access to them?
ReplyDeleteThe age of outright authoritarianism has passed in Latin America. Or at least, we are not currently in a time when you can simply operate as an outright dictator. That's why Chavez is always working around the fringes of what's constitutional/legal and holding constitutional conventions/referenda/etc. to expand his legal powers. You can fine, harass, imprison journalists, but you can't actually seize and shut down a newspaper. You can arrest a judge, but you can't actually suspend the entire judicial system. It's just ... not done anymore.
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