CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez said yesterday he would put a representative on the  board of opposition television station Globovision, the leftist  leader’s boldest move yet against his fiercest media critic.

The move is likely to revive concerns over press freedoms  in the Latin American oil-producing nation. Chavez was widely  criticized by media rights groups after he refused to renew the  concession for RCTV in 2007, accusing Venezuela’s oldest  private station of supporting a coup against him.

His government, which runs several state newspapers and TV  channels, revoked the licenses of numerous radio stations last  year. Globovision, openly partisan and a platform for  opposition politicians, has long been in Chavez’s sights.

The president, faced with a slide in his popularity in part  because of poor management of an economic crisis, has lashed  out at a number of enemies in the last month as he prepares for  parliamentary elections in September.