VENEZUELA: 2ND UPDATE: Chavez Defends Arrest of Critical TV Owner For "Offensive" Remarks.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/ 27 MARZO UPDATE/    President Hugo Chavez is defending the recent arrest of Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of the TV channel Globovision, for remarks deemed "offensive" to Chavez. Zuloaga allegedly criticized the Chavez government for limiting freedom of expression at a meeting of media executives in Aruba.  Authorities released Zuloaga and prohibited him from leaving the country. Chavez calls him a criminal and denied the government is carrying out an assault on press freedom.

VENEZUELA: Chavez Critic Arrested For "Crime Of Opinion."

AP/ MIAMI HERALD/   Opposition politician Oswaldo Alvarez Paz was arrested and charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting violence for comments he made on a TV show. But the opposition is calling the 67-year-old former Zulia state governor a political prisoner.  Alvarez Paz claimed that Venezuela turned into "a center of operations that facilitates the business of drug trafficking." He also said that the government had cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and the FARC.