"Venezuelan authorities are clearly seeking to prevent citizens from being informed about the government's abuses of power with the arrest and charging of journalists covering anti-government protests" - CPJ
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 15 January 2025.
Venezuelan authorities should immediately release journalist Leandro Palmar and his assistant Belises Salvador Cubillán, who were detained January 9 in the western city of Maracaibo while covering anti-government protests, media outlets reported, and ensure they can do their jobs without fear of reprisal, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday.
A criminal court on January 11 ordered Palmar, news director of the University of Zulia’s Luz Radio station, and Cubillán to remain in detention on preliminary charges of terrorism, conspiracy, inciting hatred and disturbing public order, according to the local chapter of the National Association of Journalists (CNP).
“Venezuelan authorities are clearly seeking to prevent citizens from being informed about the government’s abuses of power with the arrest and charging of journalists covering anti-government protests,” said CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator, Cristina Zahar, in São Paulo. “Journalism is not terrorism and Leandro Palmar and Belises Salvador Cubillán must go free.”
Palmar and Cubillán, who are being held at a National Guard base in Maracaibo, were denied access to private lawyers and have been assigned a public defender, according to Venezuela’s National Press Workers Union.
The arrests of Palmar and Cubillán come amid ongoing protests against President Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn-in for a third consecutive six-year term despite evidence publicized by the team of opposition candidate Edmundo González that he lost last year’s presidential election.
Ahead of Maduro’s inauguration, at least 18 people were detained, including Carlos Correa, a journalist and director of the Caracas-based free speech organization Espacio Público. Correa has not been heard from since he was apprehended by hooded individuals on January 7. CPJ and 29 press freedom and advocacy organizations have called for his immediate release.
CPJ’s phone calls to the Attorney General’s office and to the Defense Ministry, which controls the National Guard, were not answered.
