By EFE
Aug 17, 2024, 4:57 PM EDT
Venezuela’s National College of Journalists (CNP) has denounced an increase in “repression” against the media and press workers in the nation following the July 28 presidential elections, in which electoral authorities declared Nicolás Maduro the winner.
“With great alarm, the national board of directors of the National College of Journalists raises its voice in protest against the growing repression towards the media and our colleagues that has been generated since July 29,” it said in a statement published in X.
The CNP said that in recent weeks there has been a “brutal and systematic escalation of repression” against journalists, photojournalists and photographers, as well as against any citizen who “dares to dissent from the official narrative regarding the election results.”
“Since the post-election protests, there have been 88 cases of violations of freedom of expression, ranging from arrests of citizens, journalists, media workers, expulsion of journalists and blocking of media outlets, further accentuating censorship in the media,” he added.
On August 7, the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) reported that four journalists were charged in Venezuela with the crime of “terrorism” after being detained during protests against the official result of the presidential elections.
Through X, the union warned of an “illegal and arbitrary use of anti-terrorism laws (…), especially against journalists and photojournalists detained during post-election protests.”
On August 14, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) rejected the accusation of this crime and condemned the increase in arbitrary arrests, censorship and blockades against the press in the Caribbean nation.
According to Nicolás Maduro, more than 2,400 people have been arrested in the context of the protests unleashed after the elections of July 28, in which, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, 25 deaths were recorded.
Continue reading:
- Opposition welcomes OAS request to publish Venezuelan minutes
- Venezuela: Australia launches world’s first protest over electoral fraud
- Venezuelan government approves law against NGOs amid complaints of arbitrary arrests