CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s powerful parliament head Diosdado Cabello has sought a travel ban on some media bosses he is suing for slander over reproducing a story from a Spanish newspaper accusing him of running a drug ring.
Local media said the court hearing the case had granted the request against 22 media figures.
Cabello sued opposition-leaning newspapers El Nacional and Tal Cual and website La Patilla for picking up an article by Spanish newspaper ABC alleging his former security chief had fled to the United Sates with evidence the Socialist Party’s No. 2 controlled a military-run drug cartel.
Opposition leaders and U.S. officials have for years made accusations of money-laundering and drug-trafficking against the governments of President Nicolas Maduro and predecessor Hugo Chavez.
Officials call them unfounded smears that are part of a wider, U.S.-led campaign to end the OPEC nation’s 16 years of socialism.
