In Venezuela, a journalist and photographer were attacked by city police Nov. 30, reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange reported Wednesday, Dec. 7. The victims, journalist María Fernanda Soledad and photographer Jesús Urea, are members of the press team for the mayoral candidate of the capital city of Caracas, Antonio Ecarri.
The journalist said she was pushed and insulted and the photographer was electrically shocked, according to the Press and Society Institute (IPYS in Spanish). Police also confiscated the photographer's equipment and memory card. The reporting duo was held at the police station for four hours, and not released until the candidate intervened.
Soledad and Urea were covering a complaint that residents of the neighborhood El Silencio presented before the Social Comptroller's Office. Police identified the journalists as "opposition groups" and attacked them, according to IPYS.
