Por Isabela Fraga
The city of San Fernando, in the Venezuelan state of Apure, removed the Friday, June 8, edition of the weekly magazine Notisemana from circulation for not having a filed registration with the city's Autonomous Tax Service, reported Globovisión. The National Association of Journalists (CNP in Spanish) of Apure-Amazonas criticized the city's actions, which it considered arbitrary.
Notisemana's publisher, José Vázquez, said to the Venezuelan Press and Society Institute that he possesses the service records of the Autonomous Tax Service offices. Public officials told the journalist that they didn't have time to deal with him and that he should instead wait until the audit, which never happened.
According to the news site Reportero24, the general secretary of the CNP of Apure-Amazonas, José Ramón González, criticized San Fernando's actions and said that the city mayor had previously threatened the magazine publicly on TV.
Attacks against newspapers and other news media outlets in Venezuela are increasing as the date for presidential elections approaches in the country. Three news media outlets were attacked in only one week during the beginning of this month, June 2012.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
