Venezuela – Comedian Laureano Marquez has poked fun at politicians for decades without getting into trouble with the law, so he didn’t think twice about writing a tongue-in-cheek newspaper opinion article based on a satirical dialogue between President Hugo Chavez and his 9-year-old daughter.But Marquez and a publishing company that printed the column in the Tal Cual newspaper are now facing fines imposed by a local court for “violating the honor, reputation and private life” of Rosines Chavez Rodriguez, Chavez’s youngest daughter.
Marquez – one of Venezuela’s leading humorists – denies any wrongdoing and argues that the $18,600 fine imposed on the Mosca Analfabeta publisher is part of a government initiative in which pro-Chavez prosecutors and judges are being used to silence critics.
Source: Buffalo News
