Claim: Proposed law targets anti-Chavez TV station

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ

CARACAS, Venezuela

A representative of Venezuela's sole remaining anti-government TV channel claimed Monday that proposed changes to the country's telecommunications law are aimed at rescinding the station's license.

The changes, which could be approved as early as this week, would force the owners of all TV and radio stations to reregister with Venezuela's telecommunications commission -- in person. If they fail to do so, the bill says, they will immediately lose their broadcast license.

Globovision TV is the last remaining television station in Venezuela that is openly critical of President Hugo Chavez. The station's majority owner, Guillermo Zuloaga, recently fled the country after a court issued a warrant for his arrest. Authorities have charged him with usury and conspiracy for storing 24 new vehicles at one of his homes.

Zuloaga, who owns several car dealerships, has called the charges bogus, and says that prosecutors are acting on orders from Chavez.

Given his legal situation, it would be impossible for Zuloaga to appear in person before the telecommunications commission, Ana Cristina Nunez, a legal adviser to Globovision, told The Associated Press. Nunez said she doesn't expect Zuloaga to return to Venezuela.

Lawmakers who support Chavez introduced the bill. If the predominantly pro-Chavez National Assembly passes it as expected, it will force Globovision off the airwaves, Nunez said.

Globovision, a 24-hour news network, takes a consistent anti-government stance. It has been the only anti-Chavez channel on the air since another opposition-aligned station, RCTV, was forced off cable and satellite TV last January. RCTV had been booted off the open airwaves in 2007.

Other privately owned TV channels have curbed their criticism of Chavez in recent years, raising concerns about self-censorship.

The proposed changes to the law also would limit the reach of some channels by allowing them to broadcast only on cable or satellite, even in areas where they have permission to use the open airwaves. Globovision has authorization to broadcast on the open airwaves in the capital and the city of Valencia, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Caracas.

The proposed changes to the law have drawn criticism from numerous media groups and watchdogs, including the Miami-based Inter American Press Association and the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

"The danger is that the government is going to decide which radio and television stations citizens can listen to or watch," IAPA president Gonzalo Marroquin said. "The intention is government control of the flow of information."