(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested the fact that around one dozen journalists working for the privately-owned press have been attacked or injured since 27 February 2004, mostly by security forces. The series of attacks came during a crackdown on violent demonstrations organised by the opposition, both in Caracas and in the provinces, to demand a […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested the fact that around one dozen journalists working for the privately-owned press have been attacked or injured since 27 February 2004, mostly by security forces.
The series of attacks came during a crackdown on violent demonstrations organised by the opposition, both in Caracas and in the provinces, to demand a referendum on President Hugo Chávez’s leadership.
“Even though the media take sides against President Chávez, on occasion outrageously, this can never justify the use of force against their reporters,” said the organisation.
RSF called on the authorities to condemn the attacks and to open a separate investigation into each one. The organisation appealed to all sides to restore calm and not to resort to violence. Six people have been killed in clashes.
The organisation recorded more than 80 attacks and threats during 2003, most of them targeting the anti-government press and committed during the general strike called by the opposition from December 2002 to early February 2003.
On 2 March 2004, National Guard officers used their rifle butts to beat journalist Juan Carlos Aguirre, a reporter for CMT television station, when they saw that he and his cameraman were filming police suppressing a demonstration. They also seized the crew’s camera. The same day, government supporters reportedly aimed their weapons at Paula Andrea Jiménez of Televén television station.
On 1 March, Janeth Carrasquilla, who works for Globovisión in Valencia, Carabobo State, suffered wounds to the face from stoning while she covered a clash between opposition demonstrators and security forces.
The same day, in Caracas, Johnny Ficarella, of Globovisión, was thrown to the ground when he was hit in the chest by a tear gas canister. In Baruta neighbourhood, government supporters attacked a Globovisión truck with sticks and stones. The crew, led by journalist Carla Angola, was forced to pull out of the area.
Earlier in the day, reporter Edgar López and photographer Henry Delgado, of the daily “El Nacional”, were beaten by members of the National Guard while covering the unrest in Terrazas de Ávila, east of Caracas. The two journalists managed to escape, but their vehicle was attacked by presidential supporters.
On 29 February, journalist Felipe Izquierdo, of Univisión, a United States-based Spanish language television station, was shot in the foot while covering clashes between security forces and residents of the Altamira district, northeast of Caracas. It is not known who fired the gunshot.
According to the Lima, Peru-based press freedom organisation Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), Bernabé Rodríguez, a photographer for the daily “El Tiempo”, published in Puerto Cruz, northeastern Venezuela, was hit in the face by a Molotov cocktail while covering clashes between opposition demonstrators and security forces.
On 27 February, during the first day of demonstrations organised by the opposition, Luis Wladimir Gallardo, a Caracas-based correspondent for the daily “El Impulso”, was hit in the face by a pellet, most likely fired by the National Guard. Elsewhere, Carlos Montenegro, of Televén, received a gunshot wound in the left leg and Berenice Gómez, of the daily “Ultimas Noticias”, was beaten by suspected pro-government militants.
The Venezuelan opposition called on its supporters to come out on the streets on 27 February when the National Electoral Council (CNE) challenged the validity of more than a million signatures it had collected to press for the holding of a referendum on the resignation of President Chávez.
In a 2 March statement, a number of Venezuelan organisations, including human rights organisation Provea, condemned the “disproportionate use of force by the National Guard and the political police (DISIP), during the crushing of demonstrations.” They also condemned the police’s behaviour in opposition-controlled municipalities for its “direct involvement in building barricades” and for “failing in its duty to provide security.” The non-governmental organisations also called on the media to “promote tolerance and refrain from publishing anonymous statements and calls for violence.”
In a report published in April 2003, RSF concluded that “the press freedom situation has become more sensitive since the bulk of the privately-owned press openly took sides against the government. Although that is its undeniable right, the excesses to which it was led by its partiality has weakened press freedom (. . .) It should be noted that the government station gave way to the same excesses, or even worse,” said the report, before stressing, “President Hugo Chávez and his government bear the main responsibility for the deterioration in press freedom” (see IFEX alert of 11 April 2003).
