Venezuela-led TV Channel Angers US

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US actor Danny Glover attends the launch of Telesur in Caracas. (Reuters)
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Telesur, a Spanish-language station formed by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, began transmissions with round-table commentary from the station's officials and an advisory board of international left-wing intellectuals and celebrities, Reuters reported Monday, July25 .

Chavez, an outspoken left-wing nationalist who often accuses US President George W. Bush of plotting to topple him, said the channel was drawing viewers from around the region and that even Bush was “glued to the television watching Telesur.”

“Telesur depends on no government, no line, it is free to pave the way toward integration,” said Chavez, who sees the network as a means to foster regional unity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Based in Caracas with 160 employees, Telesur - Television of the South - will have correspondents in nine countries: Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and the United States.

The company is capitalized with $ 10million, and is 51 percent controlled by Venezuela, 20 percent Argentina, 19 percent Cuba and 10 percent Uruguay.

Its advisory board includes American actor Danny Glover, Le Monde diplomatic editor Ignacio Ramonet and Argentine filmmaker Fernando Pino Solanas.

Telesur, which made its first test broadcast in May, will initially offer limited programming for four hours a day but plans to move to a 24 -hour format later this year, showing news, documentaries, films and cultural events.

“Al-Jazeera Model”

But just days ahead of the launch, a member of the US House of Representatives accused Chavez of launching “his own television network patterned after Al-Jazeera to spread his anti-American, anti-freedom rhetoric.”

Connie Mack, a Republican representative from Florida, authored a bill adopted by the House of Representatives last week, authorizing the US to broadcast radio and television programs at Venezuela which would counter Telesur's alleged anti-Americanism.

Nicknamed the CNN of the Arab world, the Doha-based Al-Jazeera could be the most-watched channel in the Arab world. Launched in1996 , Al-Jazeera ranked the fifth most influential global brand in an annual survey by brandchannel.com.

“Hugo Chavez is an enemy of freedom and of those who support and promote it,” Mack said when the bill was passed.

Chavez reacted sharply, saying he was ready to enter an “electronic war” and jam the transmissions from the US in the same way Cuban President Fidel Castro did when the US set up Cuba-directed Radio Marti in1985 .

“The United States has threatened us with broadcasts to neutralize Telesur. We have scored the first goal,” Chavez said in a telephone call to the channel during the launch.

Relations with the United States, the top buyer of Venezuela's oil, have deteriorated since Chavez first won office in 1998 and strengthened relations with Communist Cuba.

The United States gets around 15 percent of its oil imports from Venezuela, the world's No. 5 crude exporter.

http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-07/26/article01.shtml