Media body criticizes Venezuela's Chavez

Members of the Inter-American Press Association attend a meeting in Caracas, Friday, March 28, 2008. Newspaper executives from across the Americas opened the meeting aimed at reviewing threats to press freedoms Friday amid tensions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

CARACAS, Venezuela—Newspaper executives from across the Americas accused President Hugo Chavez on Saturday of harming press freedoms in Venezuela, warning that he is using "attacks and intimidation" to curb criticism of his government.

The Inter American Press Association opened the second day of its midyear meeting in Caracas with stinging criticism of Venezuela's stance toward the media, even as Chavez supporters attended a parallel, government-organized "Latin American Meeting on Media Terrorism" just a few blocks away.

IAPA delegates cited Chavez's threats to close down Globovision -- one of two Venezuelan TV channels that remain critical of his government -- while faulting the socialist leader for severely restricting the independent media's access to government information and sources.

Several of Venezuela's most widely viewed television networks have curbed their criticism of the government since Chavez decided last year not to renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television, which now airs only on cable.

"Chavez's government denies media outlets that are not subordinate to his hegemony access to public information," said David Natera, publisher of Venezuela's Correo del Caroni newspaper.

Chanting anti-IAPA slogans and calling the press association's delegates "fascists" and "liars," several hundred Chavez supporters protested the IAPA's presence in Venezuela during a peaceful demonstration outside the hotel that hosted the gathering.

"If there were no freedom of expression in Venezuela, these information terrorists would not be here in Venezuela," said Lucia Rios, a 23-year-old university student.

Chavez praised the counter-forum in a speech Friday night, denouncing what he called a "manipulating media campaign" against his government. Referring to Globovision, he said: "That sewer pipe should be left open" to show that total freedom of expression exists in Venezuela.

Speakers at the government-sponsored forum rejected the IAPA's findings on Venezuela and alleged that news outlets use slanted reporting in a smear campaign against Chavez.

Newspaper executives have "turned the media into political tools" that constantly attack the president, said Marcos Hernandez, leader of a government-friendly group called Journalists For Truth.

"Journalism is at risk in Venezuela because the population doesn't believe in the media," he said.

IAPA president Earl Maucker, who is editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, denied the Miami-based group is unfairly singling out Venezuela. He said the group has also expressed concern about free press issues in the United States, especially cases where journalists have been jailed for refusing to reveal their sources or where the government withholds certain information.

Elsewhere in the Americas, about 30 journalists have recently been threatened in Colombia and 25 others are jailed in Cuba -- a "shame for our hemisphere," said Gonzalo Marroquin, head of the association's press freedom commission.

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Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo in Caracas contributed to this report.