The incident took place in a subway station in Caracas after journalist Cristian Fuentes took several photographs in order to publish them on a blog.
(IPYS-Venezuela/IFEX) – Cristian Fuentes, an independent journalist, was detained and threatened by members of the National Police on 1 November 2010. The incident took place in a subway station in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, after the journalist took some pictures he wanted to publish on a blog.
According to Fuentes, a member of the Bolivian National Police addressed him aggressively, demanding that he delete the photographs. When Fuentes agreed to delete one of them, but not the rest, the policeman called for reinforcements.
After the arrival of the reinforcements, Fuentes continued to refuse to delete the photographs and was subsequently taken elsewhere in the station, where his identity card was seized. Fuentes demanded that the officers identify themselves and attempted to leave the station when they failed to do so, but he was then threatened by the policemen.
Another patrol arrived at the station with three officers who identified themselves as Yefri Marines, Juan Carlos Becerra, and Ramón Pérez. Approximately 45 minutes later, the policemen returned the journalist’s document and let him go.
IPYS-Venezuela condemns the excessive measures of the police and the aggressive nature of the actions against the journalist.
