The Chavez revolution continues.

By Alex Kennedy

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez plans to put the nation's most popular TV network off the air this weekend, accusing the broadcaster of ``coup-mongering'' and causing ``moral damage'' with violent, sex-filled programming.

Chavez is refusing to renew the license for Radio Caracas Television, known as RCTV, whose mix of news, soap operas, comedy and reality programming makes Venezuela's oldest private network also its most watched. At midnight May 27, RCTV stands to become the country's first network to lose its license.

This is perhaps the most telling quote:

``We were outgunned before,'' Chavez said in a May 18 speech. ``Now the state is liberating itself from civil society and its media.''

Note the elevation of the state not just over the individual, but over society and society's institutions.