Venezuelan Newspaper Shut, Executives Charged

New York, August 24, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of the Venezuelan newspaper 6to Poder after a judge ruled on Monday that the weekly cease distribution. The newspaper's owner and a top executive were charged with incitement to hatred, insulting a public official, and publicly denigrating women after the paper published a satirical article on government officials, local press reports said.

"The closing of 6to Poder and the serious charges against its executives are nothing but censorship and an attempt to intimidate other media from indulging in satire," said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The authorities should lift the injunction banning the newspaper, and all charges against its staff should be dropped." On Saturday, the weekly published an article titled "Las poderosas de la revolución bonita" (The Powerful Women of the Beautiful Revolution), in which several high-ranking female judges and officials in President Hugo Chávez's administration were described as having specific functions in a "cabaret directed by Mr. Chávez," press reports said. The story was accompanied by a photo montage that superimposed the officials' heads onto the bodies of cabaret dancers.