Venezuela: State media makes up fake White House staffer to silence critics

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/venezuela-state-media-makes-fake-white-house-staffer-silence-critics-1505500

The Venezuelan government and state-run media have gone to great lengths to combat critics. According to a new report by BuzzFeed News, President Nicolás Maduro and his supports have even gone as far as inventing a fake White House staffer to cite in state-run media reports and by members of parliament.

The alleged staffer, named Jim Luers, was first quoted by Caracas weekly Quinto Día denying allegations by Spanish newspaper ABC that the President of the National Assembly Diosdado Cabello had been tied to international drug trafficking. Luers's comments regarding the allegations were picked up by both pro-government politicians and state-run media, BuzzFeed News reported.

Rodulfo H Peréz H, the vice minister of education, tweeted about Luers's comments denying Cabello's involvement. "According to Jim Luers (American spokesman) the accusations of Leamsy Salazar (a traitor to the nation) against @dcabellor are FALSE! Poor people".
The made-up denunciation was picked up by two government-owned TV channels, VTN and AVN, BuzzFeed reported. The story, which was titled "White House looks down on denunciation against Cabello," was eventually removed by AVN.

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El Nacional, which was one of the newspapers criticised by Cabello and the National Assembly, began to investigate Luers and discovered he was not who the media portrayed him to be. Katherine Vargas, the White House's Director of Hispanic Media, told the newspaper that there was no one by that name working for the White House or the State Department.