(IPYS/IFEX) – On 15 August 2004, seven reporters and photojournalists from several media outlets faced obstacles while reporting on voting in a presidential recall referendum. The incidents occurred in southwestern Venezuela. Journalist Edwin Rosal Vásquez, of “Nueva Prensa de Guayana”, was verbally assaulted by a Plan República military official. The two got into a heated […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 15 August 2004, seven reporters and photojournalists from several media outlets faced obstacles while reporting on voting in a presidential recall referendum. The incidents occurred in southwestern Venezuela.
Journalist Edwin Rosal Vásquez, of “Nueva Prensa de Guayana”, was verbally assaulted by a Plan República military official. The two got into a heated discussion after the official blocked the journalist’s way. Plan República is the entity responsible for guarding and keeping the peace at voting stations. Rosal told IPYS that his identity documents were taken away from him for a half hour when he tried to enter the Miguel Marmión School in San Félix. The military officials returned his documents after the journalist reported on the problem live on the air. Rosal encountered similar difficulties throughout the day.
A number of other journalists were forced to work without any accreditation from the National Electoral Council (Consejo Nacional Electoral, CNE), as these documents were not handed out until 11:00 a.m. (local time) on 15 August and were only available at some locations. Brigadier General Alberto Betancourt Nieves, chief of the National Guard’s Eighth Regional Command, issued an order stating that journalists who lacked accreditation but had their press credentials would be permitted to report on events. However, not all officers received the order and a number of journalists encountered difficulties as a result.
Two correspondents were briefly detained after taking photographs inside the Federico R. Chirinos education centre, in El Palmar municipality. Frank Reyes, of “El Diario de Guayana”, and William Pérez, of “El Progreso”, told IPYS that Plan República officials claimed that it was forbidden to take photographs inside the school. The two journalists were briefly detained for failing to have CNE accreditation. They were asked to hand over their photographs to the officials, but refused to do so.
Mónica Rojas, of the daily “El Guayanés”, and photojournalist Juvenal Rodríguez were called “fascists” by an individual who was waiting to vote at a school in San Félix. “This individual was ordering another person to approach the voters and find out how they had voted,” Rojas told IPYS. She said the indvidual threatened them when they tried to photograph him. The journalists were forced to erase the photographs or risk having the camera broken.
Rojas and Rodríguez were also prevented from going inside the voting station by a military official who asked for their CNE accreditation.
In addition, a “El Diario de Guayana” news crew, made up of Daniela Saidman and Críspulo Cuéllar, was prevented from entering four schools in Ciudad Guayana.
