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Venezuela criticizes `interference' from abroad in TV furor

Venezuela's foreign minister warned that President Hugo Chavez's government would not tolerate any outside interference in its decision not to renew the license of an opposition-aligned television station.

"Be sure that any international organization, country or group of countries that tries ... to interfere in the internal affairs, in the sovereign decisions ... of the Venezuelan government will receive an overwhelming response," Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said on Friday.

Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) is due to go off the air at midnight next Sunday when the government says its license expires -- a move that has sparked criticism from international press freedom groups, Amnesty International, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States and the Roman Catholic Church.

"This is our affair ... we know very well how to defend our country," Maduro told reporters on Friday. "Anyone in the world that tries to intervene, judge our country's sovereign decisions, will get a response because our country is sovereign and democratic."

The channel and its supporters argue Chavez is trying to silence criticism, while the government says it will be replaced by a public-service station and that freedom of expression is being respected.

RCTV is Venezuela's oldest private network founded in 1953, broadcasting a mix of news, talk shows, sports, soap operas and its own version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Venezuela's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the first of a series of petitions made by RCTV and its employees to remain on the air.

The Supreme Court said it was up to the National Telecommunications Commission to decide on the issuing, renewal and revocation of broadcast licences. The court left open the possibility that the channel could seek redress through other legal means, and other challenges are pending before the court.

RCTV's top executive, Marcel Granier, said on Friday he expected those challenges would succeed. He expected the court to rule shortly on whether Chavez may have overstepped his authority in the decision.
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