Venezuelan conspiracy theories a threat to critics

[Zorro]

Roderick Navarro was in class when he got the news that a high-ranking minister had accused him of plotting to assassinate Venezuela's president.

His first thought was, "Not again."

The 26-year-old student leader had already been accused by the ruling socialist party for collaborating with the U.S. to overthrow Venezuela's then-leader Hugo Chavez in 2010. But as messages from friends lit up his phone, Navarro began to worry that it was more serious this time. The denunciation came on live TV, with orders to appear before the national intelligence service.

Announcements of foiled coups and plots against the government have long been a part of the Chavista discourse. A study by the Caracas-based newspaper Ultimas Noticias counted 63 alleged assassination plots between when Chavez took office in 1999 and his death in 2013. Since then, such claims have come even more frequently. President Nicolas Maduro's government has denounced more than a dozen purported plots since coming to power 15 months ago, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelan-conspiracy-theories-threat-critics-040208318.html

[Bacchus4.0]

1. Was just gonna post the same story

a bit more:

It was a bizarre tableau even by Venezuelan standards, prompting a popular television comic to create a 10-minute spoof. His show was shut down days later in what fans believe was a reprisal, a reminder that the accusations may not be believed by government critics, but can't be laughed off either.