The secretary general of the National College of Journalists (CNP), Edgar Cárdenas, reported that between January and August of this year, 204 attacks against journalists, press workers and media outlets were recorded in Venezuela. Of these, 102 occurred in the period between July 28, the day of the presidential elections, and August 29, which represents 50% of the total incidents reported to date.
The most common violations included harassment (50 cases), obstruction of coverage (28), arbitrary detentions (18) and deportations of foreign journalists trying to cover the electoral process (15). These actions accounted for 54% of the cases recorded.
Cárdenas said that in seven months of the year at least 18 journalists and other press workers were arrested, 12 of them while they were carrying out their reporting work. In addition, six communicators linked to social and political activism were arrested, including Roland Carreño, Carlos Julio Rojas, Alejandro Camero, Gabriel González, Luis López and Biaggio Pilieri.
The union leader lamented the critical situation facing the press in Venezuela and warned about the increase in persecution of journalists and media outlets.
“We have been denouncing a State policy that seeks to silence information, which prevents society from receiving pertinent and timely informative content,” said Cárdenas.
He also expressed concern about the increase in arrests of journalists, noting that many of the charges are based on hate speech, terrorism and criminal association, which criminalises journalistic work.
With information from 800 News
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2024-09-01 12:41:18
