MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

IAPA denounces arbitrary detention of journalists in Venezuela

“Venezuelan authorities have flagrantly violated basic human rights,” Rock argued

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) Wednesday condemned the arrest by the Venezuelan regime of news teams covering the crisis in that South American country. The Miami-based guild also rejected the terrorism and incitement to hatred charges filed by Caracas' Attorney General against four reporters as well as the arbitrary arrests and censorship.

“We are facing a scenario in which Venezuelan authorities have flagrantly violated basic human rights enshrined in the Constitution, with special emphasis on the severe restriction of freedom of expression and press freedom,” IAPA President Roberto Rock said in a statement.

These remarks came after the arrests of Yousner Alvarado, photojournalist in Barinas; Paúl León, cameraman of VPI TV in Trujillo; Deisy Peña, photojournalist in Miranda; and José Gregorio Carnero, journalist and political leader in Guárico. Venezuela's National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) and IPYS Venezuela said they were charged with allegedly committing terrorist acts and incitement to hatred.

Opposition leader and journalist Rolando Carreño was arrested on Aug. 2 and charged with alleged “acts of violence and hatred,” in addition to the incarceration since Feb. 2021 of Ramón Centeno and of Carlos Julio Rojas since April. According to the SNTP, the number of newspeople under arrest would thus amount to seven.

IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Chairman Carlos Jornet highlighted Venezuela's “systematic repression against journalists and media that face aggressions, censorship, and judicial harassment without due process, which leads to arbitrary detentions.”

“For those who continue to speak of Maduro's regime as democratic, this is a clear proof of error, naivety or complicity: to inform, to express an opinion, to denounce irregularities is not terrorism; it is freedom,” he stressed.

In IAPA's words, “it is clear how dangerous for a dictatorship, for a tyranny, the freedom to think, to express oneself and to inform” freethinking audiences.

All these arbitrary maneuvers take place in a scenario where the social platform X and the instant messaging application Signal have been banned. In addition, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has denounced 18 cases of access restrictions, 30 acts of intimidation and threats, nine expulsions of foreign journalists, and four physical attacks, among other acts of censorship.

According to the Venezuelan NGO Conexión Segura y Libre, at least 62 media outlets have been blocked by the main Internet service providers, affecting 86 domains and totaling 431 active blockages. In addition, nine websites of human rights organizations were also blocked, with a total of 41 active blocks.