Posted without comment, other than "Ha! look at the socialist dictatorial paradise!"Wall Street Journal wrote: MARCH 25, 2010, 7:23 P.M. ET
TV Chief Critical of Chavez Is Arrested
By DARCY CROWE And DAVID LUHNOW
CARACAS, Venezuela—Intelligence agents arrested the president of Venezuela's only remaining independent television station on Thursday, leading to concerns that freedom of speech is ending in this oil-rich nation.
Guillermo Zuloaga, president of Globovision network, was arrested over comments that were deemed "offensive" to President Hugo Chávez, according to Venezuela's Attorney General Luisa Ortega. Mr. Chávez, who has been in power for more than a decade, has recently stepped up a campaign against critics of his socialist government.
Mr. Zuloaga was detained at a small airport in northwestern Venezuela as he prepared to board his private jet for Holy Week holidays in Bonaire, a Caribbean island. He was then flown to Caracas for questioning by judicial authorities, officials said.
The move against Mr. Zuloaga came just days after former state governor and presidential candidate Oswaldo Alvarez Paz was arrested for comments he made during an interview with Globovision about Mr. Chávez's government. Mr. Alvarez Paz, 67, is currently in jail and has been charged, among other things, with conspiracy. The charge doesn't allow for bail and carries a sentence of eight to 16 years.
The latest arrest was seen by critics of Mr. Chávez, whose popularity is sliding amid a recession and electricity shortage, as a signal that the government is ratcheting up pressure on the president's political foes and the country's few remaining critical media outlets as Mr. Chávez prepares for key legislative elections in September.
"They want to scare anyone who has an opinion," said Miguel Henrique Otero, editor of El Nacional, a leading daily newspaper. "It's as if every Venezuelan is on parole and could be arrested at any moment."
Ms. Ortega said Mr. Zuloaga is being charged with spreading false information, an offense could bring two to five years in prison. She said he was planning on fleeing the country, an accusation that Mr. Zuloaga denied in comments to his own television station, which he called as he was arrested.
"I had no intention of leaving the country," he said. "I was simply going on holiday."
The remarks by Mr. Zuloaga that were considered offensive were about the erosion of free speech in Venezuela. The country recently passed laws forbidding citizens from making comments that could be seen as causing instability, a broad phrase critics say can be used against anyone who speaks against Mr. Chávez.
Mr. Zuloaga spoke Sunday at a forum in Aruba sponsored by the Inter American Press Association, or IAPA, which groups some of the most influential news outlets in the hemisphere. The group aims to defend press freedoms and has been critical of Mr. Chávez's encroachment on Venezuela's media.
At the meeting, Mr. Zuloaga said: "It's impossible to talk about media freedom in a country where the government uses force to close media."
A day after the IAPA meeting, Venezuela's National Assembly, dominated by pro-Chávez lawmakers, called on the attorney general's office to investigate Mr. Zuloaga. On Thursday, they applauded the arrest. "If they're so brave to talk, they should be just as brave to assume the consequences," said National Assembly head Cilia Flores.
Officials in Mr. Chavez's government deny they are cracking down on freedom of speech and say they are simply enforcing the country's laws.
IAPA reacted with dismay. "We are deeply worried to see that something we have warned about for so many years is seen in such a graphic way," IAPA President Alejandro Aguirre said in an interview.
Human-rights' groups condemned the arrest. "For years, Chávez has been pushing legislation to restrict free speech. Now we seem to be entering a darker period in which he is enforcing these draconian laws," said José Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas for Human Rights Watch, a rights organization.
With the exception of Globovision, which can be seen only on cable TV outside the capital, Caracas, most other independent television stations have been taken off public airwaves by the Chávez government. Newspapers have largely been exempt from the crackdown, although newspaper owners fear they are next.
"That's where this is all going," said Mr. Otero, the head of El Nacional. "They are very scared about the fall in his approval ratings and they want to frighten opinion leaders and the opposition."
Added Mr. Aguirre of IAPA: "They are sending a clear signal that there is only one way of thinking in Venezuela: the one that Chávez wants."
This week's events bring to a head a longer-running showdown between Mr. Chávez and the media. When Mr. Chávez first began moving the country dramatically to the left after becoming president in 1999, the media launched anaggressive campaign against the president, leading to mutual hostility that never faded.
During a brief ouster of Mr. Chávez in 2002, the media didn't report on massive pro-Chávez demonstrations that eventually helped to force the coup plotters to allow Mr. Chávez back into office only days after his ouster.
In 2007, Mr. Chávez declined to renew the broadcast license of RCTV, the country's oldest and most popular broadcaster. The station transferred to cable television. In January of this year, regulators suspended RCTV after ruling that the domestic broadcaster was obliged to carry Mr. Chávez's hours-long speeches. The station had refused.
Following the RCTV incident, other television stations softened their coverage of the government, with the notable exception of Globovision.
The government has also canceled the broadcasting licenses of dozens of radio stations for what the government deemed regulatory infractions.
Earlier this month, Mr. Chávez urged prosecutors to act against Noticiero Digital, a news Web site popular with his opponents, and called for the regulation of the Internet. He later denied his government had plans to regulate the Internet.
Thursday's arrest wasn't the first time Mr. Zuloaga, the Globovision head, had come under government scrutiny. In June, police searched his home for hunting trophies they said could be illegal under environmental-protection laws. He was also charged separately for allegedly improperly storing 24 new cars from dealerships he owns.
Edit: Comment edited.
