BBC: Venezuela orders arrest of TV owner critical of Chavez

BBC:

The Venezuelan authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a private television channel fiercely critical of President Hugo Chavez.

Prosecutors accuse Guillermo Zuloaga, who owns the Globovision channel, of business irregularities.

Mr Zuloaga’s supporters say the warrant is an effort to silence him. The government says all due legal procedures have been followed.

Opposition groups accuse Mr Chavez of trying to control the media.

‘Completely irregular’

The BBC’s Will Grant in Caracas says members of the national intelligence police are searching for Mr Zuloaga, a millionaire businessman who is one of the highest profile opposition figures in Venezuela.

Video grab from Globovision shows pro-Chavez activists attacking  the station Globovision’s offices were attacked by Chavez supporters last year

A warrant has also been issued for his son.

So far neither of the two men have been found or arrested but their home in Caracas has been cordoned off by the police.

A lawyer for Mr Zuloaga denounced the arrest order as “completely irregular”.

Mr Zuloaga’s supporters say the warrant is politically motivated, after President Chavez recently referred to comments made by Mr Zuloaga at an international press forum earlier this year.

At the conference, Mr Zuloaga suggested that Mr Chavez was responsible for most of the deaths which occurred in April 2002 during a short-lived coup.

“How is it possible that he can accuse me of such things and still walk free?” the Venezuelan leader asked during a recent televised address.

But the state prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, said on state television that the men were being sought over alleged irregularities in two car dealerships of which they are the main shareholders.

The government has repeatedly denied any persecution of Mr Zuloaga for his political views.

Our correspondent says it insists that crimes have been committed within the car dealerships and both Guillermo Zuloaga and his son must answer the charges against them.

See also

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Scotland on Sunday Online Venezuela issues arrest warrant for TV boss critical of Chavez – 4 hrs ago
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NEWS.com.au Chavez targets critical media mogul – 20 hrs ago
ABC News Venezuela Orders Arrest of Anti-Chavez TV Boss – 24 hrs ago
Houston Chronicle TV channel owner ordered arrested in Venezuela – 24 hrs ago

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

4 Replies to “BBC: Venezuela orders arrest of TV owner critical of Chavez”

  1. Venezuela, how’s that leftist stateworkin’ out for ya?

    Time to join the 21st century.

  2. I will never see anything written, produced or directed by OliverStone again. He is a true enemy of the USA. HE worships Chavez, Castro and planned to make a film on Yasser Anaimalfat before he died of AIDS.

  3. It boggles ones mind the demonic love affair that the Hollywood left has for dictators, despots, and tyrants. They will be the first ones to be eliminated or tossed aside when a clampdown on individual rights is advanced in any country.

  4. I guess Cameron will have to eat his words, or pay for the arrested TV owner’s lawyer. Yes james, Venezuela is just as free as the US! Retard.