CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan prosecutors have charged a government opponent with conspiracy and other crimes after he said on a television program that the country has become a haven for drug trafficking.
The former governor of Zulia state is accused of spreading false information and publicly inciting violation of the law.
Critics accuse President Hugo Chavez of growing increasingly intolerant and of using the judicial system to harass and in some cases imprison opponents.
Chavez denies holding sway over prosecutors and insists Venezuela has a democracy where multiple viewpoints are welcome. But, he's taken a hard line in demanding scrutiny of Globovision, the channel on which the governor spoke and the lone stridently anti-Chavez outlet on the television airwaves.
