Venezuelan faces fines for satire

Comedian Laureano Marquez has poked fun at politicians for decades without getting into trouble with the law, so he didn't think twice about writing a tongue-in-cheek newspaper editorial based on a dialogue between President Hugo Chávez and his 9-year-old daughter.

But Marquez and a publishing company that printed the column in the Tal Cual newspaper now face fines imposed by a local court for ``violating the honor, reputation and private life'' of Rosines Chávez Rodriguez, Chávez's youngest daughter.

Marquez -- one of Venezuela's leading humorists -- denies any wrongdoing and argues the $18,600 fine imposed on the Mosca Analfabeta publisher is part of a government initiative in which pro-Chávez prosecutors and judges are being used to silence critics. Marquez must separately pay a fine of a yet-to-be-determined amount.

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