Controversial Venezuelan Network Telesur May Soon be Available on Mexican Cable
 Associated Press
| | An opponent of Hugo Chavez's government shouts slogans during a rally in Caracas. (AFP/Andrew Alvarez) |
Mexico City – Mexican viewers may soon be able to watch Telesur, a TV station backed by Venezuela's government that promises a Latin alternative to large media outlets like CNN, the network's general director said Friday.
Uruguayan national Aram Aharonian said the station is negotiating with Mexican cable networks and hopes to make the channel available in a few weeks, first to viewers in Mexico City, then across the country.
Backed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, the Spanish-language Telesur began broadcasting July 24 and is now seen in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Based in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, the governments of Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay are also helping to finance the network, which offers news programs, opinion shows, documentaries and Latin American films.
It has drawn concern in the U.S. Congress, where House members last month approved a measure to transmit radio and television broadcasts to Venezuela to ensure citizens receive "accurate news."
Chavez has ridiculed the U.S. plan and has said Venezuela is prepared to jam the broadcasts. He also said his country would prevent any signals from interfering with Telesur's programs.
In Mexico's capital to drum up support for the channel, Aharonian said at a news conference that Telesur's top priority will be broadcasting in all of Latin America, but that plans to expand to the United Kingdom, the Middle East, Russia, Spain and Italy were also in the works.
"Telesur is a channel that will build new bridges," he said, adding that the network allows "us to get to know one another in our eyes, look at ourselves in different perspectives: our own." |
Vallarta Weddings
News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2005 
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