Owner of anti-Chavez TV channel flees Venezuela, leaving station to uncertain future

Owner of anti-Chavez TV channel flees Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — The majority owner of Venezuela’s only opposition-aligned TV station has left the country to avoid an arrest warrant as multiple cases brought by authorities leave Globovision facing an uncertain future.

Associates of Guillermo Zuloaga confirmed Tuesday that he had left the country but didn’t say where he went. His flight means two of the company’s owners are out of the country.

A Globovision minority shareholder, Nelson Mezerhane, is in Florida, where he happened to be when the government announced Monday it was taking over his bank for alleged financial problems. Mezerhane told CNN he would not return to Venezuela for now.

Another minority shareholder, former station director Alberto Ravell, insisted Globovision will survive what he called the government’s effort to strangle the station.

“The more they batter it, the more it lifts its head,” Ravell told The Associated Press.

He confirmed that Zuloaga was in exile and said that in the meantime the channel will be headed by Maria Fernanda Flores, a member of the board of directors, along with Carlos Zuloaga, a son of the owner.

Ravell said Globovision is in no way financially dependent on Mezerhane’s bank.

Leftist President Hugo Chavez has often accused Globovision of conspiring against him and trying to undermine his government. He has denied holding sway over prosecutors who have brought charges against Zuloaga, or over officials who seized control of the bank.

“I don’t have anything to do with this,” Chavez said Tuesday. “It’s their fault for running a bank in an irresponsible way.”

The government’s moves against Globovision’s owners have raised tensions between Chavez and the opposition ahead of September legislative elections.

The channel has recently been reporting on a scandal that erupted after authorities discovered more than 2,300 shipping containers holding expired or decomposing food in government storage. It also has recently been replaying clips of Chavez threatening the channel in the past.

“It’s the only channel that reports about the containers of rotten food. It’s the only channel that talks about the corruption,” Ravell said, calling that the reason Chavez’s government is trying to crack down.

A court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Zuloaga and one of his sons, also named Guillermo. Prosecutors want Zuloaga jailed while he awaits trial on charges of usury and conspiracy for keeping 24 new vehicles stored at a home he owns.

Zuloaga, who also owns several car dealerships, has called the charges bogus and says prosecutors are acting on orders from Chavez.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega denies the case is politically motivated.

Announcing the takeover of Banco Federal, officials said Monday they detected serious financial problems that led them to intervene, including inadequate capital in accounts. Mezerhane told Globovision that the takeover was purely political retribution.

On Tuesday, the bank regulatory agency said it had seized three other financial companies related to Banco Federal, while the attorney general’s office said one bank executive, Luis Laplana Martinez, was arrested at Caracas’ airport on several charges including fraudulent use of public funds.

The attorney general’s office said a court barred 21 executives of the banking group, including Mezerhane, from leaving Venezuela.

The attempt to arrest Zuloaga has drawn criticism from press freedom groups and the U.S. government.

Chavez has long clashed with Globovision and other private media outlets. Globovision has been the only stridently anti-Chavez channel on the air since another channel, RCTV, was forced off cable and satellite TV in January. RCTV had been booted off the open airwaves in 2007.