CARACAS — Venezuela asked Interpol to arrest opposition Globovision TV boss Guillermo Zuloaga, who ran afoul of President Hugo Chavez earlier this year for allegedly slandering him.

"We've placed a request with (international police agency) Interpol for an international arrest warrant against Mr. Guillermo Zuloaga and his son," Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami told reporters.

Zuloaga, 67, has disappeared since a Caracas court issued an arrest warrant last week in connection with what his lawyer said was a May 2009 charge of illegally storing 24 vehicles to resell at higher prices.

Owner of the fiercely critical Globovision TV network, Zuloaga in March was arrested for statements he made in the Dutch island of Aruba, and charged with offending Chavez and spreading false information. He was ordered not to leave the country.

"We're going to enforce the laws and the constitution... the times when the high and mighty could commit crimes against our national interests are over," said El Aissami.

He called Zuloaga and his son "fugitives... cowards who don't want to show their faces."

Although at large, Zuloaga in a recent telephone call to Globovision refused to turn himself in and said both he and his network were victims "of injustice and persecution by the Chavez government."

Zuloaga's arrest warrant is criticized both here and abroad. The US State Department on Monday said it was "seriously concerned" and called the warrant "the latest example of the government of Venezuela's continuing assault on the freedom of the press."

Chavez recently rejected the criticism and stressed that the court's decision to go after Zuloaga had nothing to do with his network's editorial stance.

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