The move against Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision network, follows the arrest of an opposition politician earlier this week and is likely to fuel criticism that the Chavez government is increasingly stifling dissent.
Venezuela’s socialist leader says he will not tolerate illegal incitement in the media or on the Internet, and accuses opponents of an increasingly desperate campaign against him in the run-up to a legislative election in September.
Zuloaga told his channel he had been about to fly in his private jet to the Caribbean island of Bonaire from Punto Fijo in western Venezuela when officials detained him.
“I have no intention of leaving Venezuela. I was going to Bonaire for Easter Week,” he said. “This is an aggression that has been coming since the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) … my comments are so innocuous.”
Zuloaga, whose network has a history of disputes with Chavez, told the recent IAPA meeting in Aruba about what he described as restrictions on civil rights in Venezuela.
“You cannot talk about freedom of expression in a country when the government uses force to close media,” he said, according to a version of his comments carried by state media.
“President Chavez won elections and has legitimacy in his origins, but he has focused on being the president of one group of Venezuelans and trying to divide citizens.”
The National Assembly, which is dominated by Chavez supporters, called this week for Zuloaga to be investigated for making “false and serious” accusations against Chavez that the lawmakers said had damaged the government’s reputation.
Attorney-General Luisa Ortega Diaz confirmed yesterday that authorities were pushing ahead with that probe.
“They (the legislators) consider that the expressions made in an international forum against the President of the Republic are offensive and disrespectful to the head of state,” she told private TV station Venevision.
Zuloaga said officials were due to fly him back to Caracas from Punto Fijo. It was unclear whether he would be charged once he arrived in the Venezuelan capital.
His TV station takes an aggressive, anti-government stance in its news-heavy programming. But it struggles for ratings among Venezuelans who tend to prefer the frothy soaps and lifestyle shows that crowd the airwaves.
The move against Zuloaga came three days after the jailing of a former state governor and presidential candidate, Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, who had accused the government of links to subversive groups in a Globovision interview.
The opposition politician’s detention on charges of conspiracy, spreading false information and inciting hate brought a torrent of protests, including from Venezuela’s opposition parties and Washington.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner called that arrest “the latest example of the government’s continuing assault on freedom of expression.”
Alvarez and Zuloaga join a list of several dozen Chavez opponents now in jail, living in exile or facing probes in the South American oil-exporting country.
While foes say Chavez is turning Venezuela into a socialist dictatorship, supporters argue that their president is a victim of propaganda and a US-led campaign of vilification.
For them, he is taking on Venezuela’s traditional elite and reversing decades of exploitation in the OPEC member nation through policies for the poor, like free clinics and schools.
Chavez’s traditionally high popularity has suffered this year, as Venezuelans endure a recession and the impact of a severe electricity crisis. But while the opposition senses an opportunity to hurt him at the vote in September, most analysts expect Chavez to retain his majority.
