Venezuela Blocks CNN en Español Over Report on Passport Fraud<br />In the program, which was broadcast on Feb. 6 and Feb. 8, CNN said it had obtained an intelligence document, during a yearlong investigation,<br />that linked Vice President Tareck El Aissami and others to more than 150 Venezuelan passports and identification papers that were issued to people in the Middle East.<br />Today, the government of Venezuela pulled our television signal, denying Venezuelans news<br />and information from our television network, which they have relied on for 20 years." The network said it could still be seen free on YouTube.<br />15, 2017<br />QUITO, Ecuador — The Venezuelan government blocked CNN’s Spanish-language channel on Wednesday about a week after the network<br />broadcast an investigation naming Venezuela’s second-in-command as being among officials involved in passport fraud.<br />The network said American officials had been aware of the scheme "for more than a decade." The passports<br />allow entry into 130 countries without a visa, including 26 in the European Union, the network said.<br />The CNN report, which described a passport-for-cash racket run out of the Venezuelan Embassy in Baghdad, appeared to have little overlap with the accusations<br />that led to the sanctions, but one came after the other in a one-two punch that left Venezuela’s government reeling.<br />Then Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro went on state television to accuse the network<br />and American government officials of plotting to set President Trump against him.
