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Venezuela army detains journalists

August 19, 2016

Venezuela's national press union has condemned the detention of two journalists who were detained while reporting outside the presidential palace. The pair were working for foreign media outlets.

https://p.dw.com/p/1JlIq
Venezuela Soldaten Militär Armee
Image: Getty Images/F. Parra

The Venezuelan national journalists' union (SNTP) on Thursday said the reporters had been taken to military intelligence headquarters and held for four hours.

The pair, Andreina Flores, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale and Colombia's RCN Radio, and Jorge Perez Valery of Colombian network Red Mas, were reportedly accused of recording in a "presidential corridor."

"First they detained us in El Calvario (in central Caracas). Then they took us to an army post. Now we're at Fort Tiuna (a military installation)," Perez Valery wrote.

The SNTP condemned the detentions as "an act of intimidation," with the pair apprehended close to the offices of President Nicolas Maduro. Media rights groups have criticized Venezuela for violating freedom of the press, with one group, Espacio Publico, registering 286 incidents last year.

In the hours they were detained, the journalists said they were interogated. The SNTP sent a lawyer and another journalist to the installation to verify the credentials of Flores and Peres, and to accompany them on their release.

"How is it possible that were are put through this procedure for taking a photograph, an image on video of an area of Caracas that is iconic?" Flores told RCN.

The country currently ranks 137th out of 180 on the worldwide press freedom index.

rc/kl (AFP, EFE, LUSA)