The socialist Chavez has often taunted Mezerhane for his role at Globovision.

So Globovision had been an outlying, aggressive voice for the opposition on television.

The bank was closely linked to anti-government TV station Globovision.

This year he has increased pressure on Globovision.

Slideshow (3 images) So Globovision had been an outlying, aggressive voice for the opposition on television.

Anti-government activists, glued to Globovision for years, are quickly turning to other venues such as webcasts of Capriles events.

Venezuela's national guard arrested Hermagoras Gonzalez close to the border with Colombia on Saturday, the television station Globovision reported.

A Globovision employee who declined to be named said management described the business as "economically, legally and politically inviable".

The move against Banco Federal comes just days after the attorney general issued an arrest warrant for another Globovision director, Guillermo Zuloaga.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the Globovision news channel an enemy of the state just days after closing down another provate station.

When Alberto Ravell, a founder and news director of Globovision, quit in February, the station blamed internal differences and denied negotiating with the authorities.

Venezuela's only opposition TV channel, Globovision, said on Monday it had accepted a buyout offer because of financial troubles and frequent tangles with the government.

Images broadcast on Globovision, an opposition channel, showed tens of thousands of people gathered outside the CNE offices in Merida, while tanks guarded the fringes.

They asked him who he was and he began to tell his story, Elisio Guzman, the director of Miranda police, told private TV station Globovision.

The only terrestrial TV station still openly critical of the government, Globovision, was heavily fined for tax evasion and broadcasting on unauthorised frequencies in 2009.

Globovision said its directors would provide more details in the coming hours.