Spanish Judge is a Clown, Says Chávez Ally

The Venezuelan government has launched a blistering attack on the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, calling him a coward, a mercenary and a clown, after he voiced concern about freedom of speech in the Latin American country.

Judge Garzón, who rose to prominence by issuing an arrest warrant for the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, has been feted by human rights campaigners and the left. However he fell foul of President Hugo Chávez's socialist government this week by stepping into the row over the non-renewal of a broadcast license for an opposition television station, RCTV.

Speaking to reporters during a conference in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, the judge said that "closing a medium of communication was not the best means for guaranteeing freedom of speech".

The decision to pull the plug on the channel last month has been widely criticized internationally and triggered street protests in Venezuela. The government claimed that RCTV had backed a coup which briefly ousted Mr Chávez in 2002.

Mr Garzón's intervention prompted a furious response. The deputy president, Jorge Rodríguez, told a rally that the judge was a "clown" who spoke on behalf of privately owned media organizations. The foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, said the judge's comments were "cowardly and sad", and echoed anti-Chávez propaganda from Washington. "It appears he has become a mercenary."

The president of Venezuela's supreme court, Luisa Estella Morales, said Mr Garzón lacked ethics and morals.

The strength of the response reflected official sensitivity about criticism of Mr Chávez, even if indirect and from a figure who would normally be considered on the same side of the ideological fence.