(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC condemns the difficult situation faced by community-based radio stations in Venezuela. The organisation urges the government to ensure that measures are implemented so that journalists can safely carry out their work. The Lima, Peru-based organisation Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) has documented a number of cases involving […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC condemns the difficult situation faced by community-based radio stations in Venezuela. The organisation urges the government to ensure that measures are implemented so that journalists can safely carry out their work. The Lima, Peru-based organisation Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) has documented a number of cases involving attacks on radio stations in February and March 2004. In the latest incident, Radio Llovizna, which broadcasts out of Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar, came under attack. According to the Venezuelan Community Media Network (Red Venezolana de Medios Comunitarios, RVMC), an AMARC associate, the station’s personnel was threatened for a number of hours during the night of 6 to 7 March.
According to Juan Martorano, a lawyer and reporter for community-based media, at approximately 10:00 p.m. (local time) on 6 March, a group of individuals armed with shotguns and automatic rifles went to the station and held up staff members who were entering and exiting the station. “The assailants continued to threaten and point their weapons at the station’s personnel until 2:00 a.m.,” Martorano said.
