Via Universal (Venezuela):
The Cuban government appointed journalist Rogelio Polanco as the new ambassador to Venezuela, announced in an official statement. The position was occupied during 15 years by sociologist Germán Sánchez. Polanco, the editor of newspaper Juventud Rebelde, one of the two state-run nationwide newspapers, “has accomplished important missions linked to Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution” over the past five years, according to the statement published in the Cuban official newspaper Granma. The political career of the new ambassador began with the Union of Young Communists (UJC), where he was a member of the National Bureau (1994-1998) and of its National Committee (1994-97). In 1997, Polanco organized the World Festival of Youth and Students held in Havana, AFP reported.
While in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, the government has a growing monopoly on the media. According to the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Open Source Center (OSC), which said in a new assessment (pdf): The Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chavez “is moving forcefully to silence critics by introducing a Media Crimes bill that would give it sweeping authority to jail journalists, media executives, and bloggers who report on anything that the government considers to be harmful to state interests.”