(IPYS/IFEX) – On 3 November 2003, an RCTV television station news team was harassed by officers of the security police (Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención, DISIP) and prevented from carrying out its work. Journalist Yamile Jiménez and camera operator Jesús Molina were trying to obtain information about the medical condition of a […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 3 November 2003, an RCTV television station news team was harassed by officers of the security police (Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención, DISIP) and prevented from carrying out its work. Journalist Yamile Jiménez and camera operator Jesús Molina were trying to obtain information about the medical condition of a DISIP official. In early November, the official was injured in an incident that occurred in the San Antonio area, Bolívar municipality, Táchira state, in southwestern Venezuela.
At around noon (local time) on 3 November, the RCTV news team went to the clinic where the injured official was hospitalised. A DISIP officer, who refused to identify himself, struck Molina’s video camera, insulted the camera operator and the journalist and pointed his machine gun at them. Without providing an explanation, he also threatened to have the news team detained if they did not leave immediately.
Other DISIP officials who were near the clinic entrance did not intervene and instead made derogatory remarks about the work of journalists in general.
