Chavez is not a fascist because fascism means an alignment between corporate interests and state control of government. He is no more of a dictator than Bush was.

Here's the problem. The CIA and certain shadowy figures in the State Dept. of the US
are trying to do to Chavez what they tried to do to Castro. They pour propaganda money into Venezuela to influence right-wing values into the media. Chavez is reacting to this in the only way he knows how.

It's not the democratic ideal that we have here, (which hypocritically many in the Congress, Senate, Executive Branch (hopefully this will change) and Supreme Court ignore in favor of
an authoritarian right-wing ideology.)

Chavez is caught between a rock and a hard place. To keep Venezuela from becoming another "banana republic" he is forced into a corner as was Castro.

The solution is to present an alternative approach using real democratic ideals instead of political grandstanding by the US media.

This alternative approach means lowering the anxiety that these countries feel about the encroachment of American corporate interests and right-wing ideologies in their political systems.

The American mainstream media is part of the problem. It has biased reporting by Faux News, CNN, NBC and the like controlled by ideologues such as Murdoch.

When the fear of Corporate takeover by American firms is lessened, you will probably see a lessened restriction on media in Venezuela.