Attacks against press and freedom of expression in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are less serious than violations occurred in Mexico, Colombia and Honduras, said Roberto Viciano, a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Valencia (Spain), in a meeting of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) which is held in the Spanish city of Cádiz. Participants in the meeting discussed "The new Latin American constitutions and their impact on press freedom," Efe reported.

"With regard to communication, the contents of the Venezuelan, Ecuadorian and Bolivian Constitutions are similar to those of any of the most advanced democracies in the world," Viciano said.

Meanwhile, Allan Brewer Carías, Adjunct Professor, Columbia Law School, questioned the legitimacy of the Venezuelan Constitution because according to him it was created within a framework of "absolute centralization of power," by a constitutional assembly that "was monopolized by one political group."

Brewer Carías added that "the drafting of laws" issued from those Constitutions should be evaluated. He said that Hugo Chávez's government has created "a parallel State to the Constitution."

"As a result, we have a president who at the beginning of the 21st century says: 'I am the law; I am the State'," Brewer Carías asserted. The Venezuelan attorney stressed that the closure of TV network RCTV and other TV channels was directly promoted by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice and Chávez's administration.