John Bolton, US Top Diplomat, Shows His Ignorance

Here is what John Bolton, the un-confirmed US representative to the United Nations, had to say about the dust-up on 42nd Street yesterday:

I understand that President Chavez of Venezuela had some interesting things to say in the General Assembly this morning. You know it's a phenomenon of the United States that not only can he say those things in the General Assembly, he could walk over to Central Park and exercise freedom of speech in Central Park too and say pretty much whatever he wanted. Too bad President Chavez doesn't extend the same freedom of speech to the people of Venezuela. That's my comment on his speech.

Too bad no one had the balls or knowledge to challenge that completely false statement, that he repeated twice, proving it was well cooked up in the State Dept. lab. If there was an instance of restricting freedom of speech in Venezuela every American would know about it. If a journalist has ever been threatened or killed (like what happened in US lapdog state Guatamala last week) we would know. There are no such restrictions and in fact the Government faces one of the most hostile press in the world. Read their major papers, watch their major TV, internet, etc - there is nothing but anti-Chavez slant and open disrespect for the social revolution. Any talk of repression is just plain ignorance. No one is in jail, no one muzzled, no one facing any sort of presecution at all (unlike this US blogger)-- except the couple of folks who took US money and took part in an overthrow of the Government in 2002.

Even the vehemently anti-Chavez, anti-leftist organization Reporters Sans Fronteres - admits that the press in Venezuela is more free than that in Israel.