Vzla: When will the media stop killing people?

State news agency VENPRES reports Communication & Information (MINCI) Minister Jesse Chacon as saying that an anti-government campaign conducted incessantly by Venezuela's private media is encouraging violence and hatred ... and it has violated the human rights of those people who were injured, killed or kidnapped at their homes during the riots that took place last week.

Chacon accuses the private print & broadcast media of launching two different kinds of campaigns. One that encourages hatred and one that defends human rights by accusing the government of violating them.

However, he says that no matter how much the media distorts information, the facts remain that 9 people died, 30 were arrested and all of the cases are currently in the hands of the Venezuelan courts.

“The government is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of those people who were arrested ... everyone who was arrested is charged with committing a crime under the penal code (COPP) ... anyone who says that Carlos Melo is a political prisoner is wrong, he was arrested and charged with the illegal possession of two automatic rifles.”

If Chavez doesn't suppress the free media who knows how many will be injured, killed, or kidnapped in Venezuela! Who knows what they might reveal about government human rights abuses! Who knows what kind of reporting they might do about the numbers taken political prisoners! Before the people of Venezuela can realize they're being injured, killed, kidnapped, and oppressed, Chavez ought to erode the freedom of the press. Ooops! That's happening already. My bad.