Venezuela fighting 'media war'

The imperialist war on Venezuela is being fought on the battleground of the media, Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said on Monday.

Speaking at a military ceremony in Caracas attended by international solidarity delegates, Mr Villegas said: “Today the war is fundamentally informational, and peace is fundamentally informational.

“The main contest is in the field of communications,” where the mainstream media “have demonised our leaders before the world.”

“Solidarity with Venezuela is solidarity with all the peoples of the world in their struggles,” Mr Villegas said, adding that the anti-imperialist movement was “sending a message to the North.”

He said the opposition had “broken the mould of treachery” by urging US and EU sanctions against their own country.

Brandishing his mobile phone, Mr Villegas said: “We are nostalgic for print newspapers, but in our hands we have a very powerful tool of communication.”

Later Mr Villegas met alternative media journalists and writers to discuss coordinating efforts and sharing material.

After the meeting he told the Morning Star: “The interest of the Venezuelan is for their truth to be told in the most transparent way in every part of the world so nobody can doubt there is a great and systematic manipulation.

He said the mainstream narrative had produced “a single global media train of thought” his country. “Take out the names of the reporters and it's exactly the same.”

“Confronted with this global media cartel the solidarity of the peoples is necessary – not only with Venzuela... because what is rehearsed in Venezuela presages what is going to occur in other parts of the world” – pointing to the media “demonisation” of British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

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