"This opposition campaign now continues with Chavez being falsely accused of having accused Twitter of terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole purpose of Chavez's TV speech was to calm things down not to inflame them, urging the opposition to abide by democracy and the rule of law."

By Francisco Dominguez

The story that is being circulated widely internationally of President Chavez referring to Twitter as 'terrorist' and that he would have announced legislation against Twitter is a complete fabrication.

As with the story that went round a couple of weeks ago charging President Chavez with having publicly alleging that the Haiti earthquake was deliberately caused by the U.S. through underground atomic tests, the Twitter story uses the same methodology: President Chavez says something about the Haiti earthquake and the US. This is then completely distorted and sent around the world - this version is then picked up by the the corporate media around the world and so forth.

In reality, the President never said anything about the US possessing a special weapon that would have caused the Haiti earthquake (see http://www.borev.net/2010/01/venezuela_rocked_by_72_magnitu_1.html for more useful information on this story,) yet this did not deter mainstream Spanish Conservative newspaper 'El Abc' (http://www.abc.es/20100119/internacional-/chavez-acusa-provocar-seismo-201001191332.html) form their take on the story. Nor did it deter Fox News, who reported, ' Chavez mouthpiece says US hit Haiti with Earthquake Weapon'' (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583588,00.html.) This allegation was then repeated by the Russian News TV Channel adding that twist, 'Chavez: US Playing God by Testing Weapon that Caused Quake'(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9QtZkT8OBQ&feature=player_embedded).  So the story around the world then became 'Chavez Accuses the US of Having Caused the Eathquake in Haiti.' A similar pattern has now occurred with the Twitter story.

The Truth About What Chavez Actually Said About Twitter:

At present the Venezuelan opposition have launched a number of violent demonstrations aimed at created a sense of chaos, insecurity, violence and disorder in the country. The intention is to create conditions similar to those in 2007 when a government's proposed constitutional referendum was defeated by the narrowest of margin (less than 1%), in teh run up to Assembly elections in September.

The opposition campaign includes a frenzied media campaign of actively spreading wild lies about the government among which, in a repeat of the 2007 media campaign, the most prominent charges are that:
* the government brutally represses students and opposition demonstrations
and
* the opposition media have been, if not completely gagged, almost completely neutralised, and, therefore, the opposition activities are being effectively organised by Twitter and Facebook (See: El Nuevo Herald, Desde Twitter opositores hacen la guerra a Chavez, by Casto Ocando -a well known Venezuelan anti-Chavez activist- 28 January 2010 http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america_latina/venezuela/story/640822.html). Hence the false allegation that Chavez claimed "Twitter criticism of the president 'is terrorism' and that the 'protesters are seeking death' (Gene Healy, South of the Border, the cult of the president, The Washington Examiner, 2 Feb 2010 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/South-of-the-border_-the-cult-of-the-presidency-83288617.html#ixzz0eqyBOTGz).

This is exactly what President Chavez said on 27 January 2010 on VTV (national TV) and which has been the source of so much distortion:

"I call upon these groups, these people, these Venezuelans, that they practice politics, if you wish to get me out of the government [...] there is the constitution, there is our constitution which includes the the recall referendum. I sometimes have told you jokingly but I tell you seriously now, instead of provoking violence seeking that some people die [from government repression - ed], for the love of God, filling frequently the population with anguish through your media terror tv channels, terror media radio stations, media used to generate anguish, instead of utilising a group of young people, snipers, guarimbas [street blockages], here in the motorway and they tried to block the Panamerican highway, why instead of doing that don't do politics and why don't you go and make use of the constitution and start collecting signatures peacefully and demand a recall referendum?

Aren't your advisors and your polls saying that I'm finished, that I'm on the floor, well then take advantage of the fact that I'm finished. You could do this in three, four months. That's what political logic should dictate, but they are excited by the coup d'etat and think they can do the same over here. Now look here this text I was given, one of the many thousands they are sending everywhere spreading rumours, which I call a campaign of [psychological] terror. I call upon the Venezuela people, you man, woman who are listening and who are watching, young people, who atre in hour homes, relaxed, baseball games, culture, family gatherings, watching a film, having healthy entertainment, going to work, tomorrow early doing the homework, studying, everyone to do what they have to do individually, and collectivelly, productive work, fruitful life, for a fruitful homeland, is what the majority of us are doing. Here we are a this late hour, working, twleve, fourteen hours a day, we rest a few hours and continue working tomorrow. Come on! Everyone in their trenches labouring for the homeland, for democracy, for the state of social justice and right, for the peace of the country, for the stability of the country. Well, here I have one of these messages, it says the following

"Chavez has disappeared, his advisors are hiding him, because of the appointment of six Cubans that Fidel sent, hence the resignation of the Vice-President, intelligence of the ex DISIP (Venezuelan Intelligence) has hard information about a military movement that is being prepared for today at dawn, things now are really ugly; I also now that the plan Sure Socialism has been activated which is headed by Nicolas Maduro and is led by Lina Ron in all the neighbourhoods of Caracas. Take all precautions! Spread this information, democracy is at stake!!"

This is terrorism, for which they use Twitter, Internet, using mobile text messages, using everything. Nobody should fall in this game of the destabilisers.."

In other words, President Chavez went on national TV on January 26 in order to denounce the psychological campaign of destabilisation and terror that has been unleashed by the opposition through the media, involving the spreading of a campaign of rumour which goes from the now customary false charges of gagging the opposition media, or the government using violence in a dictatorial manner against peaceful demonstrations, to adding the new novel claim of charging Chavez, Maduro and Lina Ron with planning a military coup!

This opposition campaign now continues with Chavez being falsely accused of having accused Twitter of terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole purpose of Chavez's TV speech was to calm things down not to inflame them, urging the opposition to abide by democracy and the rule of law.

So in reality, there is no "terrorist" story worthy of the name. What is true however is that opposition students are not prepared to request permission to march -which is always granted all the same- and have decided to use twitter and other forms of electronic media as the mechanism to stage surprise demonstrations. As reported by BBC Mundo Yolanda Valery (http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2010/01/100128_2205_venezuela_marchas_twitter_internet_jrg.shtml) students were able to hold a rally right in front of the national TV station, VTV. Once there the VTV authorities welcomed them and listened to their concerns which the students were grateful about (http://www.aporrea.org/educacion/n149636.html) - a rather important event not reported by Valery!

Footnotes:

1) For your information, the most extravagant versions of the Twitter story are:
* El Heraldo: The Venezuelan government has launched a technological offensive against Twitter so as to neutralise the effects the opposition campaign is having (28 January 2010, http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america_latina/venezuela/story/640822.html)
* The Washington Examiner: President Twitter criticism of the president "is terrorism," and the protesters are "seeking death." (2 Fewb 2010 http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/South-of-the-border_-the-cult-of-the-presidency-83288617.html)
* Mashable: "Venezuela's Chavez: Twitter Messages are Terrorist Threats" (ND but probably beginning of Feb http://mashable.com/2010/02/05/venezuelas-chavez-twitter-terrorism/)
* Fox News: "Terrorist" Twitter Threatens Hugo Chavez Stranglehold on Media" (http://current.com/1nri44c.) When you try to play the video you get a message telling you that it has been withdrawn (http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?hl=en&q=Chavez%20Twitter%20terrorism&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#hl=en&q=Chavez+Twitter+terrorism&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv&view=3&qvid=Chavez+Twitter+terrorism&vid=169323206354235575)
2) You can see the aforemntioned video clip here: