UN General Assembly
2002

of expression and the freedom of the press, supported the putsch and manipulated society. The most appalling thing was that, when the people reacted against the dictatorship, the popular reaction was silenced and broadcasting was stopped and nobody knew what was happening in Venezuela. I think this is a special case of ethics in media communications that deserves to be studied. A little while ago, a great intellectual and Latin American writer, the Uruguayan Eduardo Galeano, author of Open Veins of Latin America spoke of the question of mass media around the world and said this great truth: Never have so few deceived so many.' We need to tackle this with courage as we face the beginning of this century. The elitist perpetrators of the putsch used the mass media and think they can continue to use them. They used police terrorism and military terrorism and achieved a very powerful alliance that was successful in overthrowing the Government and succeeded in taking me prisoner and keeping me incommunicado for many hours on a Caribbean island. This fascist coup eliminated the