[pessimizer]

>the government controls all media outlets and suppresses campaign ads from opposition parties, nationalizes huge chunks of the economy and turns employees working in those areas into public sector employees who are required to vote for the incumbent, further buys hundreds of thousands of votes with giveaways

Citation needed. These are the same criticisms that Romney had about Obama, and for the majority of Chavez's presidency, the Venezuelan (and American) media was entirely and hysterically anti-Chavez.

>Not for nothing, but the notion that the opposition is calling for violence has been reported as Maduro propaganda:

I'm not referring to that criticism (why is all criticism propaganda when someone that one doesn't like is delivering it?) but just the fact that these are traditional upper-middle-class "law and order" protests.

If they win, the white terror will begin.

[tptacek]

This comment is embarrassing. Venezuela nationalized the country's largest television station. The media wasn't fervently pro-Chavez; it was pro-Chavez by government mandate.

[hansjorg]

Really? Which television station was that?

[tptacek]

RCTV.

[hansjorg]

That's simply not true. You are propagating falsehoods.

[glurgh]

https://en.rsf.org/venezuela.html

http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/venezu...

Suggesting some sort of similarity between press freedom in the US and Venezuela seems pretty absurd.