Actually RCTV is the only privately owned TV station left in Venezuela who has been openly critical of Chavez's administration and his policies. Just goes to show how tolerant socialists are of criticism as long as it is not levied at them.

Shutting down alternative views is a bad idea for too many reasons to fully list.
Libertarians don't fear alternative views because the comparison is very instructive. And if I were to suspend the writings of Stephen Lenderman because I disagreed with his views and socialist opinions the libertarian message would be far more damaged than the socialist message.
This is what has happened to Chavez and the Venezuela government. By getting away with the silencing of criticism they have guaranteed their failure. Economically, politically and morally they will be bankrupt. The moment Castro dies the old agreements will die with him and things will change dramatically. I suspect that Venezuela and other countries that have gone down the socialist totalitarian road will quickly follow Cuba’s decline.
But until then, Stephen Lenderman’s opinions will be published here for us all to have access to a mind that helps us understand the thought process behind such thinking. Of course Stephen’s support of Chavez and the central planning he represents will be defended to the death no matter what is done in defense of this philosophy, and we need to witness it and comment when motivated to. But I see no difference from a libertarian perspective between the top down “Comply or Die” mentality of Chavez when compared to Bush’s central planning.
Stephen is a seasoned and committed socialist that is not likely to change his views much. But I hope his readers are exposed to enough information here on FreedomsPhoenix to understand why libertarians welcome the comparisons between the different philosophies given a voice here and understand how simple it is to see that you either own yourself or someone else does. Chavez and Bush are very certain that they know what is best for the people they claim to be theirs to control and regulate. Sending you to a Free Speech Zone or taking your TV Station away puts you in the same collectivist club that individual empowerment through technology and humanity’s experience with just about every form of collective the bad guys have come with. The latest “Do What We Say,.. or we’ll kill you” justification for control over populations in the form of some new mindless and faceless gang of “Rulers” will continue until these “Gangs with a Flag” are made irrelevant in the minds of individuals.
The evolution of the mind of humanity is certain. The more individuals are able to be informed, the more that information becomes realtime, the more technology provides for self sustaining off grid living and the more we all understand the corrosive effect of coercive governments, the sooner we’ll all see what the future holds for us. And if we can’t find freedom on this planet,… the universe is a very big place to look. And humanity is always looking.
Ernest Hancock – Publisher - FreedomsPhoenix