President Nicolas Maduro had earlier said he wanted the US-based CNN news channel "out" of the country, where state media dominate (AFP Photo/Juan BARRETO)

Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela pulled CNN's Spanish-language television channel off the air on Wednesday, accusing it of spreading "propaganda" about an alleged visa racket at the country's embassy in Iraq. U.S.-based 'CNN en Espanol' became unavailable on Venezuela's major cable providers minutes after a statement by telecommunications regulator Conatel announcing the suspension. Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez also lambasted CNN, saying the whistle-blower in the passports' story was an opposition-linked Venezuelan working for "imperialist" agencies. She branded one of the channel's sources in the report, embassy employee Misael Lopez, a "delinquent." She branded one of the channel’s sources in the report, embassy employee Misael Lopez, a “delinquent.” CNN en Espanol on February 6 broadcast a report alleging that Venezuelan passports and visas had been sold at the Baghdad embassy to Arabs who the channel said may have been linked to terrorism. The spat with the network has come at a delicate time in U.S.-Venezuelan ties after Washington this week blacklisted Maduro's Vice President Tareck El Aissami on drug charges in the first bilateral flare-up under new U.S. President Donald Trump. Rodriguez said the CNN report was “based absolutely on falsehoods.”

The channel “has launched an operation of psychological warfare, a war propaganda operation,” she said. The U.S. sanctions against El Aissami and his right-hand man, businessman Samark Lopez, target 13 companies, including five in the United States. On Sunday the socialist president said in his own television program: “I want CNN out of Venezuela.”

The US Treasury department froze the US assets of El Aissami and Lopez Bello, and banned US nationals from doing business with them.
Venezuela bans CNN en Español, CNN's 24-hour Spanish language television channel, after accusing it of spreading propaganda.