CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - A U.S.-based press freedom group said Wednesday that President Hugo Chavez is using the courts and legal reforms to weaken journalists critical of his leftist government. Wrapping up a three-day visit to Venezuela, delegates from the Inter American Press Association expressed concern that threats to press freedom under Chavez could increase as Venezuela prepares for presidential elections in December.
"The different branches of government appear to have a strategy to weaken the work of the independent press," IAPA President Diana Daniels of The Washington Post Co., told a press conference. "We are worried that, far from improving press conditions in the country, freedom could be further restricted before and after the election."
Chavez denies curbing press freedoms, and frequently points to the private media's strident criticism of his government as evidence of freedom of expression.
Gonzalo Marroquin, head of the IAPA press freedoms commission, said the most serious threats were new laws allowing the government to close media outlets that violate strict broadcasting norms and reforms increasing prison sentences for libel and slander.
Criminal investigations involving several Venezuelan journalists—most of them outspoken Chavez critics—seem aimed at intimidating the media, said Marroquin, publisher of Prensa Libre of Guatemala.
Several high-profile journalists, including newspaper editor Patricia Poleo and TV host Napoleon Bravo, are facing criminal charges for offenses ranging from libel to homicide.
The journalists claim government-friendly prosecutors and judges have targeted them with trumped-up charges to silence their criticism. Government officials deny the allegations, countering that Venezuela's justice system is completely autonomous.
