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Venezuelans contribute to help Globovision pay gov't imposed finesCaracas, Jun 13, 2009 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Venezuelan civil and political sectors launched Saturday a two-day operation to collect money in the streets to help opposition TV network Globovision pay two fines totaling millions of dollars that were imposed by the Venezuelan government. The so-called "globopotazo" is taking place in cities around the country and was organized by the opposition party Alianza Bravo Pueblo, or ABP, with the support of groups from civil society, Oscar Perez, one of it leaders, said Saturday. Members of the opposition have placed pots on Caracas streetcorners to collect donations for Globovision, threatened with closure by the government of President Hugo Chavez, who says it "poisons the minds" of Venezuelans. "This is a civic response to a government that wants to fine us unjustly," the head of the private news network, Alberto Federico Ravell, said in Plaza Altamira on the east side of Caracas, one of the collection points. He said that even in poor western Caracas neighborhoods like 23 de Enero and Catia, usually known as bases of the ruling party, people are helping the network pay two fines adding up to $2.5 million. According to Ravell, surveys show that "75 percent of Venezuelans reject closing down the channel," which means that even some Chavez supporters are against the measure. The money collected in the streets between Saturday and Sunday will be deposited in a Globovision bank account opened last June 6 by opposition party ABP. Globovision faces three administrative investigations by telecommunications regulator Conatel that could lead to a temporary 72-hour closure or having its license revoked for transmitting on open-signal TV, which is granted by the government as administrator of the radioelectric spectrum. The network has broadcast since 1994 on open-signal television only in the cities of Caracas and Venezuela, reaching the rest of the country on pay TV via cable and satellite. At the beginning of this month, Globovision was fined twice for a total of almost $2.5 million by the Seniat tax office and Conatel for cases going back to 2002 and 2003. At the same time its president, Guillermo Zuloaga, faces two judicial investigations on charges of "generic usury" and "environmental crimes" opened in the last two weeks by the nation's Attorney General's Office. EFE gf/cd |