Venezuela Blocks CNN en Español Over Report on Passport Fraud
In the program, which was broadcast on Feb. 6 and Feb. 8, CNN said it had obtained an intelligence document, during a yearlong investigation,
that linked Vice President Tareck El Aissami and others to more than 150 Venezuelan passports and identification papers that were issued to people in the Middle East.
Today, the government of Venezuela pulled our television signal, denying Venezuelans news
and information from our television network, which they have relied on for 20 years." The network said it could still be seen free on YouTube.
15, 2017
QUITO, Ecuador — The Venezuelan government blocked CNN’s Spanish-language channel on Wednesday about a week after the network
broadcast an investigation naming Venezuela’s second-in-command as being among officials involved in passport fraud.
The network said American officials had been aware of the scheme "for more than a decade." The passports
allow entry into 130 countries without a visa, including 26 in the European Union, the network said.
The CNN report, which described a passport-for-cash racket run out of the Venezuelan Embassy in Baghdad, appeared to have little overlap with the accusations
that led to the sanctions, but one came after the other in a one-two punch that left Venezuela’s government reeling.
Then Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro went on state television to accuse the network
and American government officials of plotting to set President Trump against him.
