CARACAS, Nov 28: The Cable News Network issued an apology on Wednesday over a video mix-up on its Spanish-language channel that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said appeared to be a public call for his assassination.

Hugo Chavez, who is under pressure at home ahead of a weekend referendum, accused the US channel of possibly seeking to “instigate a political assassination” and said he would order Venezuelan prosecutors to open an investigation, according to a statement from his office.

“It’s strange ... I will have to order an investigation because it obviously looks like a call for a president’s assassination in Venezuela,” he said.

He was referring to a video news bulletin CNN in Spanish broadcast on Tuesday which showed Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, over which was the headline, “Who killed him?”

The cable network’s senior vice-president for Spanish, Christopher Crommett, issue a statement apologising for what he said was a simple on-air error.

He said the caption had been meant for an item on the death of a US football player, Sean Taylor, but the images of Chavez and Uribe were mistakenly shown instead.—AFP