Venezuela accuses CNN of seeking to foment coup
VENEZUELA: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Monday accused
US-based news network CNN en Espanol of working to promote a coup d'etat
as part of a wider media war against his socialist government.
"CNN en Espanol is a network controlled by those seeking
destabilization, which openly urges people to carry out a coup d'etat in
Venezuela, and which is delivering a distorted version of our nation's
political and social life," Maduro said in an address carried on
national television.
The Spanish-language US network is part of a wider campaign of
"brutal psychological warfare" led by the "fascist right-wing" seeking
his government's demise, Maduro said.
"CNN en Espanol has become the spearhead for promoting intervention
against our nation," Maduro warned, charging "it is broadcasting 24
hours a day not to tell what's going on in the world but rather to make
Venezuela look bad." Maduro -- who won a disputed presidential poll held
last month following the death of leader Hugo Chavez -- has been enraged
by reports of splits within the ruling party leadership, maintaining
that they are false.
Last week he denounced a leaked audio recording that purports to show
a power struggle among key followers of Chavez, who lost a long battle
with cancer in March.
In the recording, which has set off a sensation since it was made
public by an opposition lawmaker, a well-known government newscaster is
heard accusing National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello of conspiring
against Maduro.
AFP
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