By Ingrid Bachmann
The government offensive against the channel Globovisión isn't stopping. The Venezuelan president warned he could expropriate the television station's shares, increasing pressure against the last opposition channel in the country, reported Reuters.
The government took over the Banco Federal, owned by Nelson Mezerhane, for what were described as liquidity problems. Mezerhane also is 20-percent owner of Globovisión, whose main shareholder, Guillermo Zuloaga, fled to avoid an arrest warrant, explained EFE.
According to Chavez, the shares could be expropriated as collateral to meet the depositors of the bank if Mezerhane does not return to the country to present himself for trial, added El Universal.
The news channel's lawyer, Perla Jaimes, told El Nacional that the government cannot appropriate the shares of Globovisión, a business independent of the bank that was taken over. Meanwhile the station's workers supported in a press release the channel's editorial line and assured Chavez that “journalism that is exercised with honesty cannot be expropriated or confiscated."
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
