The independent US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Thursday issued a press release to reject President Hugo Chávez' threats to block the renewal of broadcasting licenses for privately owned television and radio stations that oppose his government.

"We urge President Chávez to refrain from making these kinds of menacing statements which could have a chilling effect on the press," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper, AFP reported. "The allocation of broadcast frequencies should be based on technical considerations not politics."

CPJ underscored the statements made by Venezuelan Information and Communication minister William Lara, who said that the Venezuelan government was legally entitled to refuse license renewals to stations whose behavior it deemed "to be in violation of the law." He said he had "noticed a systematic tendency to violate the law."