This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” June 1, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: The violence continues in Venezuela today. Adam Housley is live in Caracas. He’s got the breaking details — Adam.
ADAM HOUSLEY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That’s right, Alan. It’s breaking news tonight as 24 students, we’re being told, were hurt in the city of Morcaiba (ph). That’s about a two hour flight from here.
They had gone to a sit-in at the stadium. There’s a game there tonight between Venezuela and the national team of Canada in soccer. President Chavez was supposed to have been there.
The students had a massive sit-in. The national guard had to come in and remove them. Once outside, they were attacked by Chaveztas.
And speaking of Chaveztas, they also had their first rally today since Sunday. They, of course, are the supporters of President Chavez. They were out, about 500 or so, rallying in a plaza here in the city.
And then, of course, the traditional protests that are happening every day also took place as about 10,000 students and professionals marched towards those Chaveztas. They got within about 450 yards before police turned them to the right, and they ended up at a Catholic college here.
All this comes as RCTV, which of course, in the wake of the shut-down last Sunday has been the reason for all these protests. RCTV, the last independent television station in this country, continues to get its broadcast out.
They’re doing it through the Web site of Radio Caracas Television . So the students want Radio Caracas to be back again.
COLMES: What if Chavez doesn’t listen to them? What happens next?
ALONSO: Of course Chavez doesn’t listen. He’s not going to listen. So something drastic is going to happen, sadly. You know, I know that the students are being very peaceful. I know that they have been few very incidents with certain students outside of the capital.
There are a few students that are in critical condition. But, you know, they don’t talk about that. They are demanding what was taken from us, which was the closure of Radio Caracas Television, because the government said that, you know, it was doing a lot of propaganda against the government. And it has done a lot of bad things through the years.
You know, it seems that is what they know how to say best, which is lies.
COLMES: As we all know the hallmark of a democracy is a free press, and this is the worst thing you can do in a government that was elected. — He got 60 percent of the vote. People question the veracity of the election, but nevertheless, he was democratically elected.
So the question is can he retain power if he continues this kind of action?
ALONSO: We go again with you! He was not democratically elected .
COLMES: He was elected — there was a democratic election. There were observers. There were 700 observers.
ALONSO: Oh, please, yes, right! Listen, when — when Rosales , who was the candidate of the opposition — I was there in Caracas in October. And I was going with Rosales. I was talking against Chavez and pro-Rosales.
Then I found out certain things. We don’t have to time now to talk about that — that’s for another program — about Rosales and about how this was just to let the world believe that it was democracy. And I just figured…
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Maria…
ALONSO: What?
HANNITY: Maria, we love having you back on the program. If there is freedom and liberty back in Venezuela, you will be a big reason why that has happened.
You know, I’m a big fan of yours. You’ve been very outspoken about this man. I want you, if you can, to explain to our audience what life is like under this brutal dictator, what he has done. This is only the most recent example.
ALONSO: People hate each other — we have never had that before. If you’re white, the blacks hate you. If you are black, the whites hate you. If you’re an Indian everybody hates you, and you hate everybody. People live in fear of speaking out.
All the students are amazing for us to follow what they are doing because, you know, when you are that young, you feel you are invincible.
So right now we all have to feel with our hearts and spirits, our mind as we — like the youngsters are fighting, really, for the freedom of our country.
HANNITY: Maria…
ALONSO: The economy has gone down. There are more — more deaths than ever in Venezuela. You know, he owns 65 percent of the media of Venezuela.
HANNITY: Now he owns it all!
Maria, let me ask you this, because you have been such a force and such a freedom-fighter in our time and it’s so important. I’m as inspired as you are. And I want to show as much solidarity for these students and their protesters in their quest for freedom here.
But I want you to address something that you and I discussed on the Sunday night show [FNC’s ‘Hannity’s America’]one night. And that is Harry Belafonte just in the last week got an 18-million-dollar commitment from Hugo Chavez to produce a movie. Harry Belafonte has been there.
ALONSO: No, it wasn’t Harry. It was Danny Glover, unless you know something I don’t know!
HANNITY: It was Danny Glover —$18 million. And Harry Belafonte was there as he denounced his own country.
ALONSO: Unless you know something that I don’t.
HANNITY: Cindy Sheehan was there as he said, “Down with the USA.” What do you want to say to them tonight, knowing what we now know, that he is silencing opposition and he has proven himself to be a Castro-style dictator?
ALONSO: I’m just telling them why don’t they move 100 percent — why don’t they move to Cuba? Why don’t they move to Venezuela and live there and forget the United States?
Forget the freedom that you have here to speak up and to choose to do what you want to do with your life and to be a better human being or not? You know, but it’s just stay there. Lead the way.
COLMES: Leave the country rather than exercise our free speech? We should leave the country?
HANNITY: Support dictators.
ALONSO: Well, if you are speaking against United States and you are in favor of Chavez and Fidel Castro, then.
COLMES: I don’t support what Chavez is doing. But we do have a First Amendment. We’re allowed to speak up in this country. We can’t lose that freedom here.
ALONSO: Of course not.
COLMES: Or be told we should leave. We want to speak up here. But we love having you on our show, Maria.
ALONSO: No, no, no. I’m not saying for them not to speak up. You have to live in there to see exactly what is going on. Once you live there…
COLMES: We’ve got to run. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it very much.
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