Foreign journalists and media employees detained in Venezuela

On Monday, a total of 14 journalists were detained in Caracas, Venezuela, as they were reporting inside and outside the National Assembly building, where Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodriguez was being sworn in. 

The detentions happened days after the United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” that captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the early hours of Saturday. 

The detainees included 13 members of international media organizations and one from a Venezuelan television network. While the majority of them were released soon after, one journalist was deported and another remains in the custody of intelligence services, the Venezuelan National Union of Press Workers (STNP), the country’s media workers’ union, said in a statement.

STNP, which advocates for press freedom and ethical press guidance, demands the freedom and release of 23 journalists and media workers in Venezuela who, according to the organization, remain detained.

“This is an alarming toll in the face of which we reiterate our demand for guarantees for the free exercise of journalism, an end to the persecution, and the freedom of the 23 journalists and media workers in Venezuela who remain detained for trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression, the STNP said. 

Following this, other freedom of the press advocates, including the Association of Media Publishers of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean (EditoRed), released statements in support of international journalism. 

On Tuesday, EditoRed demanded the immediate cessation of the persecution of the media and the restoration of the free exercise of journalism. 

“Freedom of the press is the thermometer of a nation’s democratic health,” the association said in a statement released today. 

The organization also declared its support for Latin American journalists and editors. “They are not alone; the Euro-Latin American publishing community recognizes and supports their titanic effort. Truth cannot be a bargaining chip or a currency. Without free journalism, there are no citizens, only subjects,” the organization stated.

When it comes to the journalists and media workers detained on Venezuelan soil on Monday, the STNP said the journalists' phones were confiscated and their contacts, conversations, voice notes, Instagram accounts, emails, and documents were reviewed and searched. 

Univision also reported that its journalist Luis Carlos Vélez and his television crew were briefly detained by the Venezuelan National Guard at the border between Venezuela and Colombia. Vélez, who was born in Colombia, said the guardsmen seized their cameras and erased some videos. 

Two additional Colombian news teams were also briefly detained at the border and it was unclear if any had valid journalist visas, as initially reported by The Guardian. 

It is still unclear who the remaining detained journalists are. 

CALÓ News will continue to follow the story.