Is the Associated Press in Venezuela a Religion?

Recently Colombia accused Venezuela of providing three anti-tank rocket launchers to the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).  President Chávez has repeatedly denied the charge.

On August 5, Chávez held a special news conference with the international press that lasted several hours.  He presented evidence that the rockets were among five that were stolen from the Venezuelan armed forces on February 25, 1995, when a military base was attacked by Colombian guerillas.  This was four years before he became president.

In an Associated Press article with the byline of Christopher Toothaker published on the Internet on August 9, mention was made of Colombia's accusation and that Sweden confirmed the sale of the weapons to Venezuela  (which happened in the late 80s).  It also said that, "Chávez denies aiding the FARC."  But the article did not say anything about the weapons being among those taken in 1995.

So I called Mr. Toothaker to ask why he omitted that.  He replied that he didn't "believe" that they were the weapons that were stolen. He added that Chávez said the weapons involved were taken by the ELN, (the National Liberation Army in Colombia). That was pretty much all of our conversation.

Afterwards I was thinking that maybe the weapons that the Colombia government retrieved were taken from the ELN and not the FARC.  It is difficult for me to trust anything coming from the Colombian government. I thought about calling Mr. Toothaker again to ask about that possibility, but decided not to do so.  I felt I would just receive another of his beliefs.

I, too, have beliefs and I often express them in my writing.  But I write commentaries.  The Associated Press is supposed to present facts in their news stories, not beliefs.  Unless, that is, it is a religion and its readers are supposed to accept whatever it says as an act of faith.  The fact that Chávez called a special press conference to explain the source of those rockets seems to me to be a rather important fact that should have had a place in Mr. Toothaker's article.

It ought to be noted that the Associated Press in Venezuela has its offices in the building that is home to El Universal, one of the major opposition newspapers.  Having offices there is like trying to grow beautiful smelling roses in a hotbed of onions.  Not exactly the best place for a news service that is should be presenting balanced reporting.

In contrast to the AP story, it was interesting that Eleazar Díaz Rangel, editor of the Venezuelan daily Ultimas Noticias, devoted almost a third of a page to the rocket matter. He said that President Uribe of Colombia had run throughout Latin America telling the world his own story about the rockets.  And, "Naturally the international agencies spread this story, and in hundreds of media in Latin America that is what was published and, you can be sure, that version is what is believed to be true."

Rangel ended his comments by saying that it was once again proof that "lies don't have such short legs."

On August 28, UNASUR met in Argentina for a special meeting about the installation of U.S. military bases in Colombia.  Colombia requested that the meeting be televised in its totality.  In Venezuela, it was broadcast completely and TELESUR did so also.  President Uribe used the event to speak for about forty-five minutes.  I am sure he wanted to use the meeting as a media platform to defend his actions and to again toss accusations against other nations.

To the credit of the Associated Press, Michael Warren did a good job in reporting on the event.

Unfortunately, it was hard to find his article on the Internet.  I found Mr. Toothaker's article on the opening page of Yahoo the day it appeared.

Mr. Warren was recently named to a new position with the Associated Press overseeing AP operations in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.  Judging from this article, that's good news.  I just hope he examines carefully the information that he receives from the AP office in Caracas.  Its reputation for balanced reporting is not a good one.

Searching for truth is not easy in Latin America in the midst of a war of words.  Or, better, a war of ideologies.

Charles Hardy is author of ­Cowboy in Caracas:  A North American's Memoir of Venezuela's Democratic Revolution, published by Curbstone Press.  Other essays by Hardy can be found on his personal blog, www.cowboyincaracas.com.  You may write him at cowboyincaracas@yahoo.com.