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Telesur Already Driving them Crazy

Submitted July 19, 2005 - 1:24 am by Al Giordano
Six days before it even begins broadcasting, Telesur has the oligarchs of South America - unaccustomed to see or hear anything other than their own echo chamber on the airwaves - freaking out over the prospect of a different kind of TV station.

According to this Reuters report, the Secretary of State of Colombia - his name is Camilo Reyes - threw a fluffernutter:

Colombia on Monday berated a new Venezuela-based television station championed by President Hugo Chavez for featuring the leader of its deadliest rebel group in a promotional trailer.

"I just want to say, Mr President, that it was very painful for Colombia that out of the 44 million decent Colombians, Telesur should choose 'Sureshot' for its first two seconds of broadcasting," Deputy Foreign Minister Camilo Reyes told Chavez during a summit of Andean leaders in Lima.

"Sureshot," whose real name is Manuel Marulanda, is the veteran leader of the 13,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist group that has been fighting a socialist revolution for more than 40 years.

Colombian media have slammed the appearance of the FARC leader in the promotional video aired in May, and Chavez said "the war against Telesur has already begun."

...The trailer offered a probe into Washington's multibillion-dollar aid program to Colombia aimed at battling drug trafficking and leftist rebels but which critics like Chavez say has spearheaded U.S. military intervention in the region.

Reyes twice told Chavez that Colombia had been upset that Telesur had featured the FARC leader.

"That demands a reply," countered Chavez. "This is about historical events and a bit more sense is required," he added.

Telesur said the image of "Sureshot" was used for one second in an hour-long trailer promoting a documentary series.

Telesur Managing Director Aram Aharonian, a Uruguayan journalist, blasted the Colombian criticism as "ridiculous."

"Do they think 'Sureshot' doesn't exist? I don't know whether this is censure or denial," he told Reuters, adding: "We've never had so much free publicity."

Okay. Fasten yer seatbelts. Expect more free publicity as the upper caste illusion that the airwaves belong only to those who rent them go stark raving mad in the coming weeks...

Countdown to broadcasting...

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