Hugo Chavez is in the news again, this time for suppressing news. His government has ordered RCTV and six other cable tv channels off the air. Chavez came to power promising free goodies for the poor which has made him hugely popular and got him a second term easily. However, it is easy to promise free goodies but continuing it forever has bankrupted Venzuela, an oil exporting nation. To divert responsibility he has been blaming banks, private companies and even butchers for uncontrolled price rises and now blames the tv companies for showing piles of dead bodies in a city morgue because of an explosion of violent crime. Like any despot he sees free speech as his enemy. No wonder his best friend is Ahmadinejad of Iran whose Basij thugs kill and rape opponents. Meanwhile the ANC, which is the party of President Jacob Zuma, proposes a Media Appeals Tribunal to control the press. It also proposes to bring greater amount of news concerning the government under official secrets to prevent ' distortion of truth.' Well Mr. Zuma has managed to escape punishment, like all politicians, for alleged corruption and rape and, like Chavez, has been elected by promising goodies to the poor but is now finding that it is easy to dance at your fifth, or is it tenth, wedding but impossible to dole out money unless the poor control their birth rate. In India too the government wants to monitor all internet, mobile calls and messaging, the excuse being terrorism. Yet India is so vulnerable to terrorists because we have vulnerable borders, conduct business with enemies and turn victories into losses. Who is responsible? The government, who else.