Venezuela plans to block CNN Spanish-language websites

CARACAS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The government of Venezuela said Thursday it would block CNN's Spanish-language websites in the country as the news channel "slandered" the country and its institutions.

"We are already coordinating with the Internet service providers...to make the blocks," said Andres Eloy Mendes, the president of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) in a TV interview.

On Wednesday, Conatel announced an immediate suspension of CNN's Spanish-language transmissions inside Venezuela.

No schedule has been given for the website blocking but Conatel was spurred into action by CNN's report accusing Venezuelan Vice President Tarek El Aissami of participating in a passport trafficking ring.

Conatel said CNN failed to sufficiently back up its revelations, which included allegations that the ring sold 173 passports to Arab nationals with links to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, with the consent of El Aissami.

This came after the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted El Aissami on accusations of drug-trafficking on Monday.

Mendez said that CNN in Spanish had become "an instigator of racial, social and political hatred."