(IPYS/IFEX) – On 10 February 2006, journalists José Gregorio Jaén and Milagros Márquez, of the regional television stations NC Televisión and Telecaribe, respectively, were assaulted by a group of hooded assailants who identified themselves as members of the student movement “Conciencia 333”. The group led a protest against the journalists’ attempt to cover an academic […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 10 February 2006, journalists José Gregorio Jaén and Milagros Márquez, of the regional television stations NC Televisión and Telecaribe, respectively, were assaulted by a group of hooded assailants who identified themselves as members of the student movement “Conciencia 333”. The group led a protest against the journalists’ attempt to cover an academic activity at the University of Carabobo in the city of Valencia, located two hours outside of Caracas, the nation’s capital.
The anonymous assailants held Jaén captive, together with a mayor and various student leaders, for close to three hours. The assailants demanded that the journalist surrender to them a video he had been shooting, on which the faces of some of the assailants were revealed. Upon receiving the tape, they released the journalist.
In addition, the aggressors – who bore firearms, sticks, and bottles – tried to coerce Márquez into filming an interview with them, threatening to destroy her equipment if she refused. During this exchange, they struck her in the face. Nonetheless, the group eventually dispersed, to be absorbed in the larger crowd of students amid the general confusion. The journalist and her camera operator escaped into their work vehicle.
