Here's a story I did yesterday on the live-launch of Telesur, a new Latin American-startup news channel promising an alternative to CNN, with a distinct Latino perspective.

It was nice to bounce back from my bird-flu weekend with that one. 'Got to hang out and interview hot Argentinian newscasters while they rehearsed at Telesur's new studio, an annex at Venezuela's state-run Channel Eight, "Venezolana de Television."

See, Telesur's largest sponsor at this point is the Chavez government. Its president is the former Minister of Communications.

Hm.

As the story reports, I asked Telesur's news director about any, cough, conflicts of interest this might pose. He asserts there's more independence under this model than under the pressures of private/corporate sponsorship. Maybe there's an argument there, but with Chavez? Really? ...the jury's still out.

He said they haven't received any gov't pressure, but then again yesterday was just their first day and the Chavez-related stories were, well, less-than-critical. I dunno.

Oh, and I was so proud when I understood each and every word the news director said during our interview. Then I learned he was Colombian. Figures. These effing Venezuelans, I swear...


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I had a blast on the way to the station, though, cheating death on a mototaxi - the best way to get anywhere in this overcrowded, perma-gridlocked city when you need to get somewhere fast. That's my third time on the back of one of those death traps and I gotta say, it's the one dangerous aspect of Caracas that's actually fun.

Part of it's that you're on a motorcycle, sure, but it has more to do with the mototaxi drivers, whose suicidal tendencies fluctuate depending on the time of day. Yesterday we nearly killed three pedestrians by my count, played chicken with an oncoming bus, almost clipped a car on the open freeway, and I nearly lost my kneecaps while Evil Knevil maneuvered between lanes.

Next time you feel like going to Six Flags, book a flight down here and grab a mototaxi across town. Trust me, there's no comparison.