Two Twitter users -- a 35-year-old woman and 41-year-old man -- were arrested last week in Venezuela, accused of using the social network site to spread "false rumors" in an attempt to "destabilize the national banking system" after the take-over of Banco Federal for liquidity problems, reported El Nacional and EFE.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez upped his verbal attacks against opposition television station Globovisión, and reiterated that the government could confiscate the channel's stock in order to recuperate the money he alleges the station owners stole, reported El Universal and the Associated Press.
The prosecutor's office believes it has sufficient evidence to charge Guillermo Zuloaga, president of the news station Globovisión, the only channel critical of the government still on the air in Venezuela, reported El Universal.
Journalists throughout Venezuela celebrated Day of the Journalist on Sunday, June 27. In Caracas, journalists took to the streets, fighting for freedom of expression and an end to attacks against the media, reported El Universal.
As Venezuela prepares to celebrate the Day of the Journalist on Sunday, June 27, journalists in that country have found themselves confronting in the past two weeks numerous challenges to the freedom of expression, according to an analysis in El Tiempo.
The government offensive against the channel Globovisión isn't stopping. The Venezuelan president warned he could expropriate the television station's shares, increasing pressure against the last opposition channel in the country, reported Reuters.
Violence against journalists in Honduras and Mexico and government actions against the media in Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba, and Colombia were discussed this week at a U.S. House panel on press freedom in the Americas, The Dallas Morning News and AFP report.
Guillermo Zuloaga, the fugitive owner of Venezuela's 24-hour news channel Globovisión, has accused President Hugo Chávez of ordering his arrest to silence his criticism of the government, Reuters reports.
Carmen María de Finol, a reporter for La Mañana newspaper, says she and photographer Yunior Lugo have received anonymous phone calls threatening to take legal action against them. The calls came after the two had reported the burning of tons of expired food that the government had purchased abroad to distribute to the poor, El Nacional and Europa Press report.
A group of people in a car threw five Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of the Capriles newspaper chain, one of Venezuela's leading media conglomerates, Tal Cual and Últimas Noticias report.
Reporter Elisa Mejías and photojournalist Miguel Carrera, both of the newspaper La Prensa of Barquisimeto, died over the weekend when the car in which they were traveling overturned while they were being closely followed by another vehicle whose occupants presumably wanted to rob them, La Prensa and El Informador report. Two other journalists from the same newspaper were seriously wounded.
The government's new so-called "situation agency" has the power to suppress "any information" deemed of national interest and will likely be seen as a further restriction by the Chávez administration of anti-government news, before legislative elections on Sept. 26, AFP reports.