How is ViVe different from other TV channels?
To understand how ViVe is different, you have to understand how Venezuelan television was before the revolution. Venezuela is a country with lots of oil, and so there was a huge presence of the US and the oil multinational companies up to 10 years ago, when we changed this by the nationalising the oil reserves. The new constitution of 1999 said all the oil and gas under the ground now belongs to the Venezuelan people. It was a constitutional decision that was important and explains a lot about the new situation. Along with the old economic and political influence of US corporations, there was cultural domination as well. Our commercial television was based on the model from Miami, with beauty contests and variety shows. But it demobilised our people; keeping them glued to the TV so that they didn’t react to the slow invasion of North American culture. The TV in the private media features sensationalised crimes shows that are typical of capitalism. This is the same everywhere. Since Hug
