Yes, the situation is tense in Venezuela... and is getting more
dangerous as U.S. officials believe that Chavez is supporting Middle
East terrorists. There was an excellent report in U.S. News and World
Report last week about the situation. Unfortunately, there is no real
balanced information coming from that country on shortwave. Ecos del
Torbes and Radio Tachira are owned by a Chavez supporter. The governor
of the state of Tachira is also a "chavista" and can be heard with his
rhetoric daily on Radio Tachira. There have been several reports here
in Puerto Rico that an anti-Chavez group is setting up a shortwave or
50 kw AM station in the Dominican Republic. It's called Radio Bolivar,
La Verdadera Voz del Libertador, according to the reports. The DR
government is strongly opposed to Chavez, who cut off oil supplies a
few weeks ago following President Hipolito Mejia's pro-U.S. stance.
(By the way, he caused a great concern when he announced after his
election in 2002 that he had U.S. citizenship.) Anyhow, anti-Chavez
forces have been working to overthrow this administration from the DR.
The situation on radio should be getting interesting in the next few
months.