Published at: 02/09/2026 09:00 PM

COMMANDER CHÁVEZ GIVES HISTORIC INTERVIEW TO JOSÉ VICENTE RANGEL

(THE NEW COUNTRY, AUGUST 31, 1992)

“Everyone has the right to express their thoughts out loud or in writing and to make use of any means of dissemination for this purpose, without prior censorship; but expressions that constitute a crime are subject to punishment, in accordance with the law. Anonymity is not allowed. Nor will war propaganda, that offends public morals or that which aims to provoke disobedience of laws, be allowed, without this limiting the analysis or criticism of legal precepts (Article 66 of the National Constitution of 1961)

• On August 30, 1992, from the Yare Dignity Prison in Los Valles del Tuy, Commander Hugo Chávez, Chief of the Military Civic Rebellion of 4F, recorded a historic exclusive interview to be broadcast by Televen on the Sunday opinion program “José Vicente Hoy”, which was banned and taken off the air by government of Carlos Andrés Pérez II.
• Never before has a government censored, in Venezuela, the transmission of an opinion program and established a communication fence against a political figure in contradiction with the principles of freedom of thought and expression enshrined in the then current constitution.
• However, José Vicente Rangel did not miss the opportunity and showed the full video of the banned interview to the press, revealing the unknown details and details.
• In this regard, Rangel reported:
  1. “They prevented the interview because they are afraid of Chávez... far from keeping Chávez quiet, they gave him more relevance.”
  2. “Censoring the Chávez interview is a coup against freedom of expression...”
  3. “Every day more and more, President Pérez remembers the Great Dictator, this character of Charles Chaplin, a harsh caricaturization of Adolf Hitler, which shows a government with an authoritarian air, but which is nothing more than a corrupt antics, where the ravines and the court of serviles rule in Miraflores.”
  4. “The Televen cameras scroll through the description of the Yare Prison, then they reveal an artist and poet Chávez.”
  5. “Then the popular poll that expresses the people's sympathy with the rebel commander comes on the screen.”
  6. Chávez warned, in the interview, that if there are no changes, society will once again use the path of rebellion.
• Rangel recalls the interview in his article “My friend Chávez”, dated March 7, 2016:
  1. “While imprisoned in Yare prison, I interviewed him twice, breaking security measures. The programs were censored and the government opened an investigation before the military courts. In those interviews, he defined his project as patriotic and revolutionary, inspired by the ideals of Simon Bolivar, and announced his decision to continue the fight once he was released...”
  2. “Their ability to communicate is unprecedented in Venezuela. His words were nourished by readings, popular experiences and the ability to translate the most complex subjects into plain language. He knew how to reach the people with the truth in front of him and the transparency of his approaches. His identification with the common one was unparalleled. I interviewed him for television, for 20 years, 17 times, at times of acute tension, and these dialogues highlight the coherence of his thinking, the continuity of his political actions and his loyalty to principles. In one of those interviews, in the gardens of the Miraflores Palace with the Mountain Barracks in the background, where he was in his command post on February 4 and now his remains rest -surrounded by popular fervor-, he told me: 'Every morning I drink the first coffee of the day and reflect looking at the Mountain Barracks. ' He added: 'You should always have a constant reference, which ties you to a higher commitment, in which past and present converge, to know if you are really consistent with what you promise. '”
  3. “His image is growing day by day. Not as a cult, but as a sincere devotion to someone who relentlessly dedicated himself to the task of redeeming a people. Time passes and he continues to live in the hearts of millions of compatriots. It's not a myth: it's a vital current that emanates from deep within the nation. Chávez is a crowd. It's a daily presence, and not just a memory. The political scavengers who strove to destroy him while alive persist in their efforts and try, in vain, to destroy his memory. Three years after his departure, he is more present and active than ever. Chavez always!

Analysis of the environment for August 1992:

Seven months after 4F, the crisis worsened. Government deafness is a rock. The president is holed up within his power environment. He presides over inconsequential opening events, whose presence is laughable.

The scandals and outrages follow one after the other, in a successive chain of presidential abuses:

• The Turpial Case: The president's head of personal security, General Iván Carratú Molina, implicated in the theft of several million dollars.
• The Secret Game: 17 million U$D lost along the way, which were taken from the offices of the Differential Exchange Regime (RECADI), in cash to the presidential office, and disappeared.
• On October 12, 1992, during the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery, at the inauguration of a binational hospital, the president's escorts shot down three indigenous people of the Wayú ethnic group, in Paraguaipoa, Edo. Zulia, injuring 7 children.
• Cecilia Matos used a charitable foundation for “protection for the Warao ethnic group” as a front for trafficking in gold bars. Mrs. Matos personally made the helicopter trips for the armed forces to steal gold clandestinely from Bolivar state.
• Meanwhile, the first lady, Blanca de Pérez, was handing out wheelchairs. Alms, crumbs and leftover charity for the impoverished people.
• The sewer of administrative corruption and the looting, with full hands, of the coffers of the national treasury, executed with impunity in the light of festivities and banquets, were spilling all over the corners of the government quadrangle.

Mazo News Team