{"id":2453,"date":"2017-08-27T16:34:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T16:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armando.info\/?p=2453"},"modified":"2017-08-27T16:34:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T16:34:59","slug":"the-officer-who-ordered-being-on-active-duty-in-a-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armando.info\/en\/the-officer-who-ordered-being-on-active-duty-in-a-newspaper\/","title":{"rendered":"The Officer who Ordered Being on Active Duty in a Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A \r\ncolonel has arrived in the newsroom,\" was the message circulating between \r\njournalists and employees of the newspaper Notitarde when army officer Ram\u00f3n \r\nJos\u00e9 Carrasco Oropeza arrived that first half of 2015 and took over the reins to \r\nlead the newspaper based in Valencia , capital of the state of Carabobo, to the \r\ncenter of the country. Never before had a military man been seen - in all the \r\nyears of the so-called Bolivarian Revolution - at the helm of an information \r\nmedium.

The two years following the death of President Ch\u00e1vez in March of \r\n2013 were marked by the change of owners in some media, both in the Venezuelan \r\ncapital and in the interior of the country. Buying-selling processes that were \r\nmostly opaque, showing evident changes in editorial lines, efforts to censor \r\njournalists, reduction of investigative units, resignations, unjustified \r\ndismissals and self-censorship. The case of Notitarde was no different, with \r\nsymptoms of the socialism of the 21st century, praised by \r\nChavismo<\/I>, and military men holding from political to business \r\npositions.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Carrasco as Secretary of Health in Vargas State<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

While \r\nowned by the Carabobo businessman Ricardo Degwitz, Notitarde became the second \r\nnewspaper with the highest circulation in Venezuela, according to the Media \r\nCertifying Committee (Ccmaf) of the National Association of Advertisers (Anda) \r\nand the Venezuelan Federation of Advertising Agencies (Fevap). It is a double \r\nmerit if taking into account that it was achieved in a city of provinces, \r\nalthough important and with great economic activity until not long ago. Whatever \r\nhas been the formula for that success, it was lost in the hands of Carrasco. The \r\nnewspaper circulates less and less and journalistically speaking, it has become \r\na little more than a propaganda media of the management of Francisco Ameliach, \r\nalso a former military officer, who recently left his position as governor of \r\nCarabobo to join the National Constituent Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

The \r\nname of Ram\u00f3n Carrasco comes out three times when checking the list of companies \r\nin the National Register of Contractors \u2014a database that has been downloaded by \r\nthe team of Armando.info for a series of reports, including this one\u2014 against \r\nthe names of the military men in the public administration provided by Vendata, \r\na project to release information from the Official Gazette of \r\nVenezuela.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

His \r\nthree companies have as business purpose the administration of media: \r\nInversiones La R\u00eda, where he appears as director; Publicaciones Degal, C.A., \r\nwhere he is vice president, and Editorial Notitarde, C.A., where he appears as \r\nvice president from the purchase in 2015, until he assumed the position of \r\npresident at the shareholders\u2019 meeting held on December 9, 2016. The last two \r\ncompanies are based in the same building in Valencia. While the military man \r\nmanages a newspaper in the first stories, ha has a printing company of magazines \r\nin glossy or matte paper in the last \r\nstories.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil\u2019\u201d seems to be the new standard of the newspaper\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

None \r\nof these companies has contracts with government companies but they do contract \r\nwith each other and with private companies. For example, Editorial Notitarde, \r\nC.A. is a customer of Publicaciones Degal. In these companies, the names of \r\nentrepreneurs Juan Manuel Tome Fernand\u00e9z, Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez and Fabi\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez \r\nV\u00e1squez are common.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

In \r\nthe first meetings that Carrasco had with the editorial team of Notitarde, he \r\nsaid that, although his work experience was limited to the administrative and \r\nmilitary areas - or perhaps for that reason -, his desire was to learn from the \r\njournalists. However, two years after his arrival, it seems that the workers of \r\nthe medium were the ones who learned: orders follow-up, no right to dissent, \r\nlinear hierarchy, strict compliance of schedules and fast resolutions regardless \r\nof reason and consequences. \u201c\u2018See no evil, hear no evil, say no evil\u2019\u201d seems to \r\nbe the new standard of the newspaper,\u201d says one of the former editors of the \r\nnewspaper.<\/EM><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Carrasco while he was Secretary of Health in the State Government of Vargas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Journalism at Will<\/h2>\n\n\n

\"We \r\nwant to work with our own people,\" Carrasco said in July 2015, shortly after his \r\narrival, when he asked chief editor of the correspondent in Caracas Lucy G\u00f3mez \r\nto relinquish her position. The phrase was repeated over time, until the \r\ncorrespondent was virtually dismantled and the number of workers at the \r\nheadquarters in Valencia was considerably \r\nreduced.<\/p>\n\n\n

Carrasco has always been the visible face of the new management of the newspaper \r\nbusiness<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

The \r\norder was simple: everyone who did not follow the new policy of the newspaper \r\nwas given a golden parachute<\/I> (a dismissal plan with incentives) \u2014enough \r\ncompensation to go without problems. And Carrasco Oropeza, as a good military \r\nman, was the ideal manager to implement this plan.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

In \r\nthe incorporation papers of Editorial Notitarde, C.A., the sale was formalized \r\nat the shareholders' meeting held on February 10, 2015, where Corporaci\u00f3n \r\nNoti-libre C.A. sold all its shares to La R\u00eda Comunicaciones, a company \r\nregistered on December 12, 2014, just two months before the purchase, and \r\nrepresented by Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez \u00c1lvarez, an entrepreneur known in Valencia for \r\nowning the Hesperia, one of the most renowned hotels in the city. According to \r\nthe incorporation papers of the publishing company, Carrasco began as a \r\ndirector, then went to the Vice Presidency, and finally assumed the presidency \r\nin late 2016.<\/p>\n\n\r\n\n

However, \r\nregardless of his role defined in the incorporation papers, Carrasco has always \r\nbeen the visible face of the new administration of the newspaper business. \r\nRodr\u00edguez only appeared at the beginning, as the new owner, but his presence was \r\nlimited. During 2017, there have been rumors in the newsroom of a new sale \r\nwithout even a paper confirmation.<\/p>\n\n