(IPYS/IFEX) – On 28 October 2005, a team of reporters for the newspaper “El Siglo” in the state of Aragua, 99 km from Caracas, was threatened and assaulted by a group of demonstrators who detained them for more than five hours in an attempt to force the Aragua governor Didalco Bolivar to hand over the […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 28 October 2005, a team of reporters for the newspaper “El Siglo” in the state of Aragua, 99 km from Caracas, was threatened and assaulted by a group of demonstrators who detained them for more than five hours in an attempt to force the Aragua governor Didalco Bolivar to hand over the deeds for some lands in exchange for the journalists’ release.
Journalist Kenny Aguilar and her photographer Yorman Pérez were headed towards a state prison to cover the death of an inmate and a group of women who were protesting on the La Villa – San Francisco de Asís motorway, when they were intercepted by the protesters.
Aguilar told IPYS that she tried to persuade the demonstrators to let them go, but all her attempts were useless. The demonstrators even threatened to use the journalists as shields if the police intervened. Moreover, they threatened them with broken bottles and verbally attacked them, accusing them of lying.
Once the demonstration was broken up by the police and the National Guard, the journalists left the place unharmed, but they were not able to cover the events in the prison.
