(IPYS/IFEX) – On 11 August 2004, a Globovisión television news crew was attacked by ruling party supporters while covering a government event outside the Vice-Presidential Office in Caracas. The area around the Vice-Presidential Office is considered a high security zone and is protected by the National Guard. The television crew, comprised of reporter Ana Karina […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 11 August 2004, a Globovisión television news crew was attacked by ruling party supporters while covering a government event outside the Vice-Presidential Office in Caracas. The area around the Vice-Presidential Office is considered a high security zone and is protected by the National Guard.
The television crew, comprised of reporter Ana Karina Villalba and technicians Tony Vergara and Juan Camacho, was stopped as it was setting up its broadcasting equipment. The assailants carried pipes, chemical irritants in aerosol spray cans and firearms.
The technicians were cornered and forced out of their vehicle. Using pipes and other objects, the mob partially destroyed the body of the vehicle and smashed all of its windows. At the same time, the mob insulted the technicians and sprayed them with the chemical irritants.
Both Camacho and Vergara were robbed of their valuables, including money, wallets and mobile phones, as well as their identification documents and some of the broadcasting equipment.
“We were covering the government event, in which they were giving assurances that the referendum [on President Hugo Chávez’s leadership] would be peaceful, when about 15 people attacked us with firearms and pipes and sprayed my colleagues with acid,” Villalba reported.
National Guard officers, who were stationed nearby, failed to intervene until the mob started to move in their direction. Only then did they launch tear gas to try to control the situation.
In addition to the items that were taken from them, members of the news crew suffered minor injuries. Their broadcasting equipment and vehicle were severely damaged.
