(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 August 2003, camera operator Efraín Henríquez, of television station Globovisión, was attacked while carrying out his job. Henríquez suffered injuries to his eyes after being pepper sprayed by a government supporter when he was covering a march organised by the opposition Democratic Coordinating Committee (Coordinadora Democrática). The event was organised to […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 20 August 2003, camera operator Efraín Henríquez, of television station Globovisión, was attacked while carrying out his job.
Henríquez suffered injuries to his eyes after being pepper sprayed by a government supporter when he was covering a march organised by the opposition Democratic Coordinating Committee (Coordinadora Democrática). The event was organised to deliver signatures on a petition calling for a referendum to remove President Chávez.
Henríquez told IPYS that he was inside the television station’s vehicle with journalist Gabriela Perozo filming protests by Chávez supporters, when they noticed an individual who was attacking a women and trying to take her camera. Henríquez stated that “when we noticed this, we got out of the car to record what was happening. Suddenly, the same man startled me from behind, first spraying my left eye and then my whole face. At that moment, I could not see and felt like I was suffocating and so my colleagues had to take me to the Méndez Gimón Clinic, where I stayed for a day.”
The camera operator is currently recuperating, but due to his injury he will have to use corrective lenses.
Officials from the Criminal Investigations Unit (Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC) visited Henríquez at the clinic to begin investigating the case. The camera operator stated that he also plans to present his case to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Although Henríquez was injured, he did manage to capture his attacker on film. However, at the time of this alert’s publication, the perpetrator still had not been identified.
