The Minister of Communication and Information Willian Lara insisted, in an official communiqué, that the TV open signal of channel 2, currently operated by TV network RCTV, will be rescued by the nation, "without any need to expropriate anything from anybody."

Lara repeated a phrase President Hugo Chávez used last January 13 at the National Assembly when submitting his annual report: "This signal belongs to Venezuelans and will be nationalized for Venezuelans."

According to Lara, as of next May 28, channel 2 will operate for the whole Venezuelan people, under the legal form that is the most adequate among all of the forms available.

"The State, which is the administrator of the radio spectrum, on behalf and lawful representation of the nation, abiding by the constitutional and legal rules, in an act of full sovereignty has decided to take all the relevant steps for this signal to be used as an instrument contributing to harmonic development of the population, as provided for under the Constitution," the official said.

Regarding the statements of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference -following its 87th Ordinary Assembly- about the case of RCTV, Lara claimed that widespread publication of such a document is an overwhelming signal of the high degree of freedom of expression that characterizes Venezuela.

He added that President Hugo Chávez' move not to renew the broadcasting license to RCTV echoes the stance of many in the Catholic Church who for years have slashed out at the TV contents in Venezuela. "The TV contents the Catholic families have demanded for a long time is the one we are going to develop following May 2."