Guyana's president has banned an opposition television station from broadcasting for four months after authorities accused it of airing a slanderous comment about a close presidential associate.
The announcement by leader Bharrat Jagdeo late Friday means CNS TV-6 will stop airing its mix of Indian-Hindu programs, opposition call-in sessions and Bollywood movies starting late Sunday.
The station had accused Bishop Juan Edghill of being a government sycophant and of doublespeak. Edghill leads the government's ethnic relations commission.
The TV station will not be able to broadcast as the South American country prepares for general elections expected by year's end.
The station is owned by perennial presidential candidate C.N. Sharma and has been operating since the 1990s. Sharma said he was able to lower the original eight-month sanction to four after concerns arose that he would have to lay off staff and leave bills unpaid.
It is the second time the government has banned the station from broadcasting.
Officials shut CNS TV-6 down for four months last year after the station broadcast footage showing Jagdeo dancing at a party and saying he was celebrating while much of the city and the coast were flooded by record rains.