Venezuela

A man believed to have gunned down Venezuelan journalist Orel Sambrano in 2009 in reprisal for his reporting on drug trafficking was arrested on Sunday, the local press reported. Venezuelan investigative police, known as CIPC, arrested former police officer David Antonio Yánez Inciarte during a police drug raid in the city of Moron, department of Carabobo, according to local press reports. Yánez...

Venezuelan regulators have ordered cable and satellite operators to stop carrying one of the country’s best known broadcasters, RCTV International, along with five other stations, alleging that the broadcasters violated a requirement to air President Hugo Chávez’s speeches., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On orders from the National Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL)...

A court in the western Venezuela state of Táchira has ordered that journalist Gustavo Azócar should remain in custody despite ordering the annulment of a criminal case against him, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). He is the only journalist currently in prison in Venezuela. Reporters Without Borders said it feared that the journalist was being hounded for his critical stance towards...

The Director of Venezuela's National Commission on Telecommunications (CONATEL), has announced that 29 unidentified radio stations will soon be forced to cease operations. the move, which will bring the number of closures in the last couple of months to 63 radios and TV stations, was announced Saturday last by Minister Diosdado Cabello. CONATEL has said that all the cases involve stations whose...

There has been rapid progress in the investigation into an attack on 12 journalists employed by the Cadena Capriles press group in Venezuela capital Caracas on August 13. The employee of a parastatal foundation was arrested two days later and the prosecutor-general’s office said nine other people were being sought on the basis of statements by victims and video and photos taken during the attack...

Suspected government supporters attacked a dozen journalists in Venezuela on Thursday. The journalists were protesting an education bill that, they claimed, would restrict press freedom. Alleged government supporters hit and kicked the journalists, according to international news reports. At 2 p.m., several journalists from the Caracas-based dailies Últimas Noticias, El Mundo and Diario Líder...

The Venezuelan government has withdrawn the licences of 34 radio and TV stations, 13 of which already stopped broadcasting earlier. When the authorities announced the withdrawal of 34 broadcast media licences on August 2, they warned that 200 other radio and TV stations could suffer the same fate. Diosdado Cabello, the minister who supervises the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel)...

A group of more than 30 armed pro-government activists riding motorcycles stormed the premises of private broadcaster Globovisión on Monday and set off tear gas, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local reports. A Caracas police agent suffered minor injuries during the 1 p.m. attack, Globovisión reported. No station employee was reported injured, and no extensive...

Dozens of regional daily newspapers in Venezuela are at risk of having to halt their presses due to government delays in providing foreign currency needed to import paper, a Canadian Press report has said. The National Union of Press Workers said in a statement Wednesday that more than 50 dailies across the country "are on the brink of ceasing operations due to the lack of paper." Some details: [...

President Hugo Chávez Frías is damaging Venezuelan democracy by continuing to threaten private media with reprisals and making unwarranted accusations against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has alleged. On Thursday, Chávez demanded that Attorney-General Luisa Ortega Díaz, Minister of Public Works and Housing Diosdado Cabello, and the Supreme Tribunal of Justice take action