On Tuesday, Aug. 28, a news team from the newspaper El Nacional was detained by Venezuelan National Guard officials while trying to report on a large fire in the oil refinery of Amuay, in the state of Falcón, reported El Nacional.
Journalist Adriana Rivera said that National Guard agents stopped the journalists' vehicle and took their IDs, and were about to transfer the team to a military control post, when another news team appeared in the area, according to the organization Espacio Público.
Journalist Juan Eduardo Peraza also reported on his Twitter account about the alleged cutting of electrical cables that feed radio stations J98.5 FM and Festiva 101 FM. Both stations had been characterized via social media of being "alarmists" and "creators of collective panic" for reporting about the Amuay oil refinery disaster, reported Espacio Publico.
According to Peraza, although many calls were made to the only entity authorized to repair the radio stations' electrical shortage, nothing has been done yet.
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.
