(RSF/IFEX) – On 21 November 2002, RSF condemned a recent attack on a television crew by anti-government supporters and called on the authorities to guarantee press freedom and punish those who prevent the media from doing its job. “The government must urgently put an end to such attacks, wherever they originate,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 21 November 2002, RSF condemned a recent attack on a television crew by anti-government supporters and called on the authorities to guarantee press freedom and punish those who prevent the media from doing its job.
“The government must urgently put an end to such attacks, wherever they originate,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to Interior and Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello.
He also called on the leaders of a planned indefinite strike against the government to give clear instructions to their supporters not to target journalists working for pro-government media.
On 19 November, reporter Zaida Pereira and cameraman Eduardo Escalona, both from the state-owned television station Venezolana de Television (VTV), were attacked by supporters of a group of soldiers who have declared that they are staging a “legitimate campaign of disobedience” against the government. The group has occupied Caracas’ Francia de Altamira Square since 22 October, calling for President Hugo Chávez’s resignation.
As the VTV crew arrived at the square to cover an opposition march, they were stopped by Arturo Vilar, a press spokesman for the soldiers. Escalona was hit and his camera was seized by a dozen supporters of the rebel soldiers. The camera was later returned to him but the film of the attack had been removed. Pereira noted that city hall had granted her the right to report from the square.
