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Hugo Chavez Changes Revolutionary Tune, Joins Twitter

by Amar Toor on April 28, 2010 at 09:50 AM

A few months ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez went on a media shut-down rampage, closing opposition TV stations, retaliating against student protests, and, most notably, taking aim at Facebook and Twitter, a hotbed of anti-Chavez sentiment. Recently, however, Chavez decided to slap on some flip-flops, and take a major plunge into the social media pool. Posting under the 'chavezcandanga' handle, Chavez's first tweeted (translated from Spanish), "Hey how's it going? I appeared like I said I would: at midnight. I'm off to Brazil. And very happy to work for Venezuela. We will be victorious!!"

According to Bloomberg, the Venezuelan President joined Twitter as a way to wage war against what he considers to be a vast, right-wing media conspiracy intent on overthrowing his presidency. Sure, Chavez already writes a weekly newspaper column, commands his own radio show and has been known to broadcast Sunday lectures that last up to seven hours. But the U.S.-controlled conservative media is so overwhelmingly powerful, apparently, that the Prez had no choice but to add Twitter to his tool box of propaganda. And, according to his cronies, the sky's the limit. Diosdado Cabello, the chief of Venezuela's telecommunications regulation body, firmly believes that Chavez will "break records for numbers of followers." Ashton Kutcher couldn't be reached for comment.

Although he's been known to rule his wing of the media with an iron fist, Chavez says that this time around, things are going to be different. "I'm going to have my online trench from the palace to wage the battle. I'll provide information and even respond to my enemies," Chavez said back in March. It's always hard to take any theatrical, megalomaniacal world leader at his word, but, if Chavez drops the battlefield metaphors and actually uses the platform to fuel substantive political dialogue, it could be an encouraging sign of change. Then again, though, that is a big "if." [From: Bloomberg, Twitter and The Huffington Post, via: CNN]

Tags: censhorship, government, Hugo Chavez, HugoChavez, politics, socialnetworking, top, twitter, venezuela, web

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