Venezuela’s parliament head Diosdado Cabello has sought a travel ban on some media bosses he is suing for slander over reproducting a story from a Spanish newspaper accusing him of running a drug ring.
Local media said the court hearing the case had granted the request against 22 senior journalists.
Vice president Cabello sued opposition-leaning newspapers El Nacional and Tal Cual and website La Patilla for picking up an article by Spanish newspaper ABC alleging his former security chief had fled to the United Sates with evidence the Socialist Party’s No. 2 controlled a military-run drug cartel.
Officials call them unfounded smears that are part of a wider, US-led campaign to end 16 years of socialism in the OPEC nation.
«They accused me of being a drug trafficker without any proof,» said Cabello, a former soldier, on his late-night Wednesday television show. «I’ve requested, as a victim … that they be prohibited from leaving the country.»
A Venezuelan judge earlier this month imposed the travel bans as a cautionary measure, according to journalists, a lawyer and the national press workers’ union.
Miguel Otero, El Nacional’s editor, said he and his peers had also been ordered to report to court weekly.
«This is part of a government strategy to silence independent journalism,» added Otero in an interview from Miami, saying he left Venezuela three weeks ago but would return in days. «I’m not running away.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald