(IPYS/IFEX) – On 28 October 2005, a team of journalists for the regional paper “Notitarde” was assaulted by students from the University of Carabobo (UC) in the state of the same name, 200 km from Caracas. The team had been sent to the area to verify the presence of explosive devices which had allegedly been […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 28 October 2005, a team of journalists for the regional paper “Notitarde” was assaulted by students from the University of Carabobo (UC) in the state of the same name, 200 km from Caracas.
The team had been sent to the area to verify the presence of explosive devices which had allegedly been found in the university’s Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. They were working on a report near university premises when they noticed a fight had broken out among some youths identified by witnesses as UC students and started to photograph them. When the students realized what was going on, they pulled out guns and ran after the photographer but were unable to catch him.
They then surrounded the car where journalist Alecia Rodriguez del Valle was waiting with her driver. They threatened her with a gun, demanded that she show some ID and that she hand over the photographer and his camera. She claimed she worked for a newspaper from another state and was allowed to go.
The driver, however, was detained for several hours. When Rodriguez managed to contact him via cell phone, the students demanded that she bring the photographer and his camera or risk being beaten. After a long negotiation, the driver and his car were freed.
