Venezuelan regulators revoked the broadcast rights of 34 radio stations on Friday, deepening a rift between President Hugo Chavez’s government and the private media.
Diosdado Cabello, who heads Venezuela’s telecommunications regulatory agency, said some of the stations failed to update their registrations or let their concessions expire, while others held licenses granted to an operator who is now deceased.
The affected radio stations “will have to end transmissions once they are notified,” he said.
Chavez’s government has increasingly clashed with private media in recent months and is slowly tightening its grip over the industry, raising concerns among watchdog and human rights groups that accuse the government of trying to stifle dissent.
But Cabello denied that the government wanted to limit freedom of expression or punish political opponents by revoking licenses.
“It’s not to persecute anyone,” he said.
But Chavez has said the concessions could be handed over to operators who share his vision for a socialist Venezuela.
Another 200 radio stations are under investigation for failing to update their registrations.
Regulators have also opened a series of probes that could lead to the shutdown of opposition-aligned Globovision — the only TV channel fiercely critical of Chavez that remains on the open airwaves.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, are discussing legislation that would punish yet-to-be defined media-related crimes with up to four years in prison.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega said on Thursday that the law would punish media that had attempted to “cause panic” or “manipulate the news with the purpose of transmitting a false perception of the facts.”
David Natera, the president of Venezuela’s Association of Newspapers, on Friday called the proposed law a violation of the Constitution that aims to limit freedom of expression.
Its approval “would close the final window of democracy” in Venezuela, said Natera, whose organization represents the country’s principal newspapers.
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