(IPYS/IFEX) – On 16 June 2007, a group of supporters of Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Unidos de Venezuela, PSUV) threatened freelance cameraman Marcelo Otárola with death and damaged his car as he was attempting to cover the collection of signatures calling for the removal from office of pro-government mayor Franklin Gonzáles, of the […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 16 June 2007, a group of supporters of Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Unidos de Venezuela, PSUV) threatened freelance cameraman Marcelo Otárola with death and damaged his car as he was attempting to cover the collection of signatures calling for the removal from office of pro-government mayor Franklin Gonzáles, of the municipality of Padre Pedro Chien, state of Bolívar, in southern Venezuela.
According to Otárola, he was filming the confrontation between the mayor’s supporters and the promoters of his removal from office, when the assailants – dressed in PSUV t-shirts – smashed his car’s windows and threatened to kill him.
The cameraman requested the assistance of the municipal police but they did not come to his assistance.
The confrontations of political opponents resulted in one person’s death; seven more were wounded.
