At least 14 members of the press were detained in Venezuela on Monday as they were covering the aftermath of the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by US forces. The union representing media workers in Venezuela said all but one of those detained were employed by foreign news organisations and were released later on Monday, with one reporter deported. Foreign news media have long faced restrictions in Venezuela, with very few being granted visas to work in the country.
The union said the media workers were detained by Venezuelan security forces at the National Assembly and its environs, and in the neighbourhood of Altamira – all in the capital, Caracas. At least two of them were seized by agents working for Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency, while others were detained by Venezuela’s intelligence service. A Colombian and a Spanish reporter were also detained at Venezuela’s border with Colombia near Cúcuta.
The two reporters were held for hours incommunicado before being released back into Colombia, the statement said. The union called the incidents “alarming” and called for the release of 23 media workers who remain in detention in the country. The repression has not been confined to media workers. One community leader in the neighbourhood of Petare, in Caracas, told BBC Mundo that there were “hooded men with guns patrolling, checking people’s WhatsApp statuses”.
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