On Monday, 14 June 2010 IPI reported that Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Guillermo Zualoga, the owner of Globovisión television station, and his son on charges of conspiracy and usury.  Zualoga and his son were charged with business malpractice, after 24 new Toyota SUVs were found at one of their homes during a raid in May 2009, reports said.  The authorities claim that the vehicles were illegally acquired, and were going be sold for profit.

Zualoga, who owns a number of car dealerships, told reporters that the charges were meant to intimidate him, news reports said.  He said the cars were at his home for safekeeping, because one of the dealerships had been robbed.

In January this year, six television stations were closed for refusing to air Venezuelan Bolivarian President Hugo Chávez’s speeches when required. All except cable station RCTVI have since resumed broadcasting.  Globovisión is now Venezuela’s only remaining anti-Chávez news broadcaster.

In a joint open letter sent to President Hugo Chávez, the Global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, including the International Press Institute (IPI), condemned the arrest and denounced “the outrages committed by [Chávez’s] government against freedom of the press and free speech”.

The letter can be viewed below.

June 14, 2010

H.E.
Hugo Chávez
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Miraflores Palace
Caracas, Venezuela

Mr. President,

The Global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations at its meeting held in Paris, France, on June 14, 2010 unanimously agreed to condemn the order for the arrest of journalist Guillermo Zuloaga, president of the Venezuelan television network Globovisión, and his son, Guillermo Zuloaga Siso.

We view with extreme concern that coincidentally the arrest warrant issued on Friday last week was drawn up shortly after you publicly criticized the privately-owned company and in particular described Zuloaga as “bourgeois,” attributing to him the ability to “rob or kill.”

In this new action, while put to Globovisión by a different process, without doubt amounts to limiting and intimidating its editorial policies and news coverage, just as has happened in another 40 legal and administrative proceedings against the television channel, among them Zuloaga being charged in April this year with disseminating false information and offending and vilifying the president following the remarks he made during the Midyear Meeting of the Inter American Press Association in Aruba.

The Coordinating Committee also wishes to express to you its strong condemnation of the actions of your government against freedom of expression and the right to information enshrined in Articles 57 and 58 of the National Constitution and in international treaties on human rights and press freedom.

At the same time we herewith inform you that this Coordinating Committee will continue denouncing the outrages committed by your government against freedom of the press and free speech, as it has in the past expressed its condemnation of the closure of RCTV in May 2007 and subsequently the forced shutdown of 34 radio stations and five television channels.

For these reasons, and in accordance with the public’s right to information, we request that you leave without effect all kinds of administrative actions against Globovisión and those that could cause the courts to act against journalist Guillermo Zuloaga, which, in light of the circumstances described here, seek only to curtail freedom of the press and of expression.

Sincerely,

International Association of Broadcasting
WAN-IFRA
Committee for the Protection of Journalists
World Press Freedom Committee
International Press Institute
Inter American Press Association