CARACAS, Venezuela – A worker at a state-supported farm was wounded in a shooting and a member of a TV crew is suspected, the Venezuelan government said Thursday.
The incident involved a TV crew from the channel Globovision, which takes a critical stance toward President Hugo Chavez's government.
Vice President Elias Jaua said in a statement that the shooting happened Tuesday at a farming project in north-central Aragua state.
A Globovision crew entered the farm and was approached by a group of workers who demanded that they leave, the statement said. A farm equipment operator was then wounded in the neck by a gunshot, which Jaua said was apparently fired by a member of the TV crew.
Globovision said in a statement Wednesday night that it was cooperating with authorities and does not condone an employee being armed during journalistic work.
The channel said its team "was impeded in their work by presumed local workers who attacked them with blunt objects." It also said details of the incident remain to be determined by the authorities who are investigating.
Chavez has ordered a rapid investigation to identify "those directly and indirectly responsible for this criminal attack," Jaua's statement said.