(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 10 July 2003, journalist Patricia Poleo was assaulted while her radio programme “Cuéntamelo todo” was being broadcast from the city of Barinas, in southwestern Venezuela. Poleo and her production team were in Barinas reporting on location, near the former residence of President Hugo Chávez’s parents. A group of protesters, […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On the morning of 10 July 2003, journalist Patricia Poleo was assaulted while her radio programme “Cuéntamelo todo” was being broadcast from the city of Barinas, in southwestern Venezuela.
Poleo and her production team were in Barinas reporting on location, near the former residence of President Hugo Chávez’s parents. A group of protesters, believed to be Chávez supporters, who had kept a vigil at the site since the previous evening, threatened and insulted the news crew and prevented them from airing the programme.
The crew was forced to return to the studios of Barinas 880 radio station, via which Poleo’s programme was to be broadcast nationally. A group of demonstrators, presumably Chávez supporters, arrived at the station in municipal government vehicles and began shouting insults and throwing rocks and sticks.
The windows of a number of business establishments were broken. According to Poleo, she invited some of the protesters to speak on the programme. They refused and continued to insult and threaten the radio team. Poleo and two of the programme’s guests were struck by the demonstrators.
Poleo, the programme’s guests and radio station employees remained inside the studios for more than two hours, as the area was surrounded by demonstrators. The journalist estimates that more than 200 people were involved.
State police and National Guard officers arrived at the site two hours after the violence erupted. According to Poleo, the security forces did nothing to restore order.
The state police offered to accompany the journalist to the airport so she could return to Caracas, where she lives. Poleo declined the offer and remained in Barinas one more day to broadcast a second edition of the programme.
Members of the non-governmental organisation Gente del Petróleo had been invited to speak on the programme. The organisation is mostly made up of individuals who work in the petroleum industry and were fired by the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela following the national civic strike. The strike was waged between December 2002 and January 2003, by the Chambers of Commerce Federation (Fedecámaras), the Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV) and the opposition Democratic Coordinating Committee (Coordinadora Democrática).
On 12 March 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called for precautionary measures in support of Poleo and three other Venezuelan journalists, after the journalist received telephone and written threats against her and her young daughter (see IFEX alert of 25 March 2002). Besides hosting the “Cuéntamelo todo” programme, Poleo is also the director of “El Nuevo País” daily. Recently, she has been noted for her opposition to the national government.
