Reporters without Borders (RSF), a nongovernmental organization based in Paris that advocates freedom of the press, asked on Friday what "is still allowed to say" about Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chávez, following the arrests of the former Zulia state governor Oswaldo Álvarez Paz and Guillermo Zuloaga, the owner of the TV news channel Globovisión for making statements critical of the Venezuelan situation and the President.

"The arrests of two well-known opponents of President Hugo Chávez for statements made in public, together with the government's recently declared intention of regulating the Internet, have raised serious concerns about the future of free speech in Venezuela," the RSF said in a statement, as reported by Efe.

RSF said that the Venezuelan authorities describe any "criticism or verbal attack as an act of conspiracy against the state." Then one wonders "what is allowed to be said about the country and its president."