Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1918 — America Defied By Venezuela [ARTICLE]

America Defied By Venezuela

At Instigation of Germans Newspapers Are Suppressed and Editors Jailed. MOST ATTACK THE ALLIES Only Consideration Under Which MeWspapers May Continue —Propaganda Favoring Central Powers Spread Over Country. Barranquilla, Colombia.—-The government of Venezuela, at the instigation of German commercial interests, Is openly campaigning for the central powers by suppressing pro-ally newspapers and putting their editors and directors in prison without any explanation. In this mariner was suppressed El Fonografo (the Phonograph) of Caracas, and at the same time the suppression was Ordered of the paper of the same name in Maracaibo, state of Zulia. oh its thirty-eighth- JLnnjyer--eary. The governor of tha t state, however, refused to obey the order of the 4'aracas administration, stating that no reason existed therefor; but in permitting the paper to continue publican

tion he counseled its editors not to print anything offensive to the Germans. When the British minister at Caracas protested againsfthe suppression of El Fonografo. on the ground that El Eco Aleman (the German Echo) of that city, was allowed free rein to carry on* an extensive propaganda against the allies, the Venezuelan government retorted by suppressing the pro-ally paper La Iguildad (Equality) of Ciudad Bolivar, and made El Correo de la Tarde (Afternoon Mail) of the same city, a German propagandist newspaper, Its official organ. El Luchador Suppressed. Later El Luchador (the Wrestler) of -Ciudad Bolivar, a newspaper‘of ten years’ existence, the only influential newspaper in all eastern Venezuela, was suppressed because it reproduced an article of an American In Venezuela upon the policy of the United States in Latin American countries which had been published in pamphlet form, and contained absolutely nothing at which the Venezuela government could take offense. The article paid a high tribute to General Gomez, which Is necessary in any article that is printed in a Venezuelan newspaper, but simply refuted claims printed in the numerous GJrman newspapers and periodicals to the effect that the United States government was entering upon a policy of imperialism and for that reasou was seeking to browbeat the Latin American republics iftto severing relations with Germany. This has left El Fonografo of Mara-

caibo the only paper in Venezuela, and this solely because the central government cannot enforce its authority Tfi the extreme western state of Zulia, which always has been noted for its Independence and refusal to submit to what it considers undue assumption, of authority by the Caracas administration. In order to insure in an indirect manner the suppression of thisfc journal, which is n thorn in the tiesli of the Germans and consequently of the Venezuelan government. th& latter has established a prohibition duty- un- paper and imposes ui>on all users thereof the keeping of a daily record of amounts Imported qnd consumed, which is to be inspected by officials appointed for the purpose. A refund of a portion of the duties will be made after consumption of thje paper under supervision of the government for purposes satisfactory to it. ' This means that after the exhaustion of its present supply of paper El Fonografo cannot afford to import more and will have to suspend. Moreover, the government will not permit the stock of paper left on hand in Caracas, when El Fonografo of that city was suspended, to be serit to Maracaibo for the use of the paper there of the same name and under the same management. . While newspapers which sympathize

with the allies are thus ruthlessly being suppressed by the Venezuelan government, openly when possible, and by underhand means when openness fails, German propagandist publications are allowed and aided to carry on, upon a large scale, a campaign of abuse and vinification of the entente allies. The most important of these journals is El Echo Aleman (the German Echo) of Caracas, a weekly magazine. This magazine is made up exclusively of extracts and fictitious extracts of articles attacking the allies, taken from real and imaginary publications all over Latin America and from the press of Germany and Austria and the neutral countries of Europe. El, Echo Alemflji is distributed gratis throughout Venezuela and all the countries of northern and western

South America and in Central America. Its weekly issue is 130,000 copies. It is filled with vile abuse of the allied governments, particularly of the United States, and seeks by all means to prejudice L«tin Americans against President Wilson, casting constant reflections upon his motives in leading his country into the war. This Insidious propaganda in a nominally neutral country is thus openly carried on by the Germans, abetted by the Venezuelan government.