Venezuela’s Chavez Renews Threats Against Businessman Zuloaga
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Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is renewing his threats against fugitive television station owner Guillermo Zuloaga, telling him that if he doesn’t return to Venezuela to face justice the state will take legal action against the station and his other properties.
Zuloaga is the controlling shareholder in Globovision, the last remaining major television station in Venezuela thanks to the would be Bolivarian nationalization plan, a station that has been highly critical of Chavez. Chavez is an elected, socialist leader who has been in control of this oil-rich nation for nearly 12 years, during which his government has managed to remove from the airwaves most programming that is critical of him and now wildly claims Zuloaga has been collecting money to have him assassinated.
Alejandro Aguirre, the President of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) rebutted on Monday that the attacks launched by Hugo Chávez’s government on Venezuelan media and reporters and made special reference to the criminal cases against the owners of the private TV news channel Globovisión.
“We have made a broad request to different governments and international organizations to defend Guillermo Zuloaga and Nelson Mezerhane, two of the owners of Globovisión in Venezuela,” Aguirre said during the opening session of the 66th General Assembly of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) held in Merida, Mexico.
In June, Zuloaga fled to the U.S. after an arrest warrant was issued for a 2009 accusation of irregularities related to a car dealership owned by him and his family. Zuloaga denies those charges and has said he won’t return to Venezuela while Chavez remains at the helm because he is certain he wouldn’t receive a fair trial.
Chavez, speaking Sunday at a rain-soaked rally of student supporters, suggested Zuloaga might also soon be charged with treason, claiming the businessman is trying to convince U.S. authorities to stage some type of overthrow of his government.
“This gentleman (Zuloaga) should come here and show his face,” Chavez told his supporters. “But he’s in Washington, asking the U.S. to intervene in Venezuela… this situation cannot continue like this.”
At a public forum in Washington last week, Zuloaga called Chavez a threat to democracy in Latin America.