Copa America - No protesting where people will see you

Venezuela has outlawed protesting near stadiums, airports, highways or hotels during Copa America which starts next Tuesday (26 June).

Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said Tuesday that "all the protests staged near stadiums, airports, highways and hotels are not permitted, and the state's security forces will have act diligently to break them up."

This move is to prevent opponents of President Hugo Chavez from disrupting the tournament, but it could pave the way for a very disturbing backdrop. If the opposition decides to go ahead and stage mass protests across the country and the Chavez government does confront them, it will get mighty violent, mighty fast and at some point FIFA will have to decide if continuing the tournament is appropriate.

With the increase media that will be in country to cover the games, the world will be watching, so it will also be interesting to see if reporters are kept on a short leash or not.