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Venezuela Tax Agency Fines Anti-Chavez TV Station
By Rachel Jones
Caracas (AP) — Venezuela's tax agency ordered
an anti-government news network to pay $2.3 million
in back taxes on Friday, a day after its president
was charged in a separate investigation and troops
raided his home.
A statement from Venezuela's tax agency said
Globovision owes taxes on airtime it donated to
non-governmental organizations six years ago. It
said public networks are taxed on potential revenue,
regardless of whether they charge advertisers or
others.
"We have to keep fighting against impunity, whatever
those who are affected might say," President Hugo
Chavez told state media. "They have to comply with
the laws."
Tax officials arrived at Globovision's Caracas
studios to notify its executives of the fine on
Friday — a tense exchange that the network broadcast
live.
Globovision now owes 5 million bolivars, or $2.3
million, including unpaid taxes, fines and interest,
said Fanny Marquez, a tax official.
The all-news network has been the only anti-Chavez
channel on the open airwaves since 2007, when Chavez
refused to renew the broadcast license of another
opposition channel, Radio Caracas Television. That
network, which moved to cable, also owes back taxes
on airtime it donated to NGOs in 2002 and 2003,
Marquez said.
Globovision dismissed the claim against it on
Friday, saying the fine was intended to silence its
criticism of Chavez and to intimidate his opponents.
Station director Alberto Federico Ravell called it
"judicial, fiscal and governmental terrorism."
The airtime in question was given to NGOs during a
2002-2003 strike intended to oust Chavez,
Globovision lawyer Ana Cristina Nunez said. Human
rights groups and political parties broadcast
regular messages throughout the stoppage.
Chavez has long accused Globovision and other
private media of conspiring against him, but
tensions have flared recently. State television now
runs short ads that label Globovision as "sick" and
urge viewers to: "Turn off the illness."
Chavez last week asked the attorney general and
telecommunications chief to take action against
non-state media or resign.
Telecommunications chief Diosdado Cabello on Friday
said he'd asked prosecutors to open a criminal
investigation into news outlets including
Globovision. He said the government also plans to
amend a telecommunications law regulating cable
television, which until now has been exempt from
some rules, including those that require public
networks to carry all of Chavez's speeches live.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged Globovision
president and owner Guillermo Zuloaga with usury,
alleging unlawful markups at two Toyota dealerships
he jointly owns. Days earlier, they opened a second
investigation on "environmental crime" claims
related to wild animals he hunted and has mounted in
his Caracas home. Dozens of National Guard troops
accompanied prosecutors to his home to gather
evidence.
Broadcast regulators are also investigating
Globovision for inciting "panic and anxiety" during
its coverage of a minor earthquake last month, when
station head Ravell criticized the government for
its slow response.
Separately, the Supreme Court rejected a Globovision
petition seeking the nullification of 2003
regulators' ruling that led to a $270,000 fine.
Free press groups including the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists have voiced concern
about what they call "unwarranted accusations
against the press" in Venezuela. |
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