Six men attacked a group of journalists seeking information pertaining to the killing of a 16-year old girl.
(IPYS-Venezuela/IFEX) – On February 3, 2012 six men attacked a group of journalists seeking information pertaining to the killing of a 16-year old girl. This happened outside of the Ave de Paraiso funeral home in the city of Maracaibo, Capital of the State of Zulia, western Venezuela.
Once they saw the journalists’ cameras, the relatives of the victim beat Maria Jose Urdaneta, a journalist with “Versión Final” newspaper and also smashed the windshield of her vehicle. Journalist Angel Romero and photographer Dickson Solano from the online paper Notizulia were threatened with death.
Danny Parra, a photographer with “Qué Pasa” newspaper, was also attacked by three men who grabbed him by his shirt and threw him to the ground while attempting to steal his camera and memory stick. He got several bruises all over his body from said attack. Journalist Romel Puche was with him, luckily enough he was “only” insulted.
Romero told IPYS-Venezuela that, even if they had tried to reason with the relatives of the deceased before the attack had occurred, they still had to leave quickly as they saw that one of the men grabbed a stone and threw it at their vehicle.
All this happened in front of an office of the Police of the State of Zulia. The police officers recommended that the journalists leave before things got worse and more journalists were hurt.
Some of the victims reported the incident to the Department of Police Forensics and the Prosecutor’s Office.
