EspañolPresident of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro said he plans to sue a newspaper Saturday, October 8 for publishing information about the supposed financial crisis facing the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Maduro did not release the name of the newspaper, but did call it “trash,” saying that it was a small one operating out of Miami, Florida that reaches around two thousand readers.
- Read more: South American Leaders Shun Venezuela’s Undemocratic Regime
- Read more: Venezuela’s Summit Fails to Rally the World’s “Non-Aligned” Leaders
“I know that those headlines, that nobody reads that newspapers, because it only has numbers around 2,000,” Maduro said during a graduation ceremony of medical policemen in Caracas. It doesn’t bother men, because it forms part of a campaign and those that are in that campaign have to face justice.”
“Sue them to the bone!” Maduro said to the Minister of Gas and Mining Eulogio del Pino.
Maduro said he had given the order against what he called a dirty campaign against Venezuela and its financial institutions, all of which violated the country’s constitution.
“They are dasterdly,” Maduro added. “They want to destroy PDVSA and the country. They believe that out of the ruins of Venezuela will come a new government.”
Minutes later, the newspaper El Nuevo País announced through Twitter that the lawsuit was against them.
¡ATENCIÓN! Maduro ordenó en cadena demandar a El Nuevo País por información publicada hoy sobre PDVSA. pic.twitter.com/kPkYjVsehI
— El Nuevo País y Zeta (@enpaiszeta) October 8, 2016
Editor of the paper Rafael Poleo said on his Twitter account that Maduro sent judges to “close the paper” and that this would not be the first publication closed by the dictatorship.
Maduro, en cadena nacional, ordena a Del Pino demandar a El Nuevo País por reproducir informe de Bloomberg sobre PDVSA.
— Rafael Poleo (@PoleoRafael) October 8, 2016
Pueden cerrarlo, pero el nuevo pais reaparecera y maduro no sera sino un recuerdo vergonzoso hasta para el chavismo.
— Rafael Poleo (@PoleoRafael) October 9, 2016
Al escogerla como tema para cerrar EL Nuevo Pais, Maduro llama la atencion mundial sobre la situacion de PDVSA. Estupido!
— Rafael Poleo (@PoleoRafael) October 9, 2016
Sources: El Nuevo País; El Nuevo Herald.