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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Energy & Infrastructure

Armed groups detained journalist for reporting gasoline scarcity in Trujillo

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • A journalist in Venezuela's Trujillo state was detained by armed individuals after reporting on gasoline shortages.
  • The journalist, Pablo José Mujica Rodríguez, was held for three hours and interrogated about who pressured him to publish the story.
  • Authorities allegedly forced the journalist to publish an official narrative to downplay his report, drawing condemnation from press freedom groups.

The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) in Venezuela has denounced the detention of journalist Pablo José Mujica Rodríguez by armed individuals in Trujillo state. The incident occurred shortly after Mujica Rodríguez, a reporter for the digital outlet Noticias La Voz de Valera, published a report detailing the severe gasoline shortage affecting the Andean region.

The journalist Pablo José Mujica Rodríguez, reporter of Noticias La Voz de Valera, was intercepted by armed subjects, detained and taken against his will to a police station in La Beatriz, Valera, Trujillo state, on Monday #1Jun. He remained detained for…

— SNTPAnnouncing the detention of the journalist on Twitter.

According to the SNTP, Mujica Rodríguez was intercepted in public and taken to a police station in La Beatriz, Valera. He was held incomunicado for approximately three hours. During his detention, he was interrogated by officials who allegedly warned him that his reporting on the fuel scarcity had displeased the governor of Trujillo state. The SNTP stated that police officers pressured Mujica Rodríguez, demanding to know "what politician was pressuring him to publish" these stories and explicitly ordering him "not to report on the topic again" through his journalistic platforms.

The harassment continued even after his release. The same night, the journalist was reportedly contacted by security agents and coerced into disseminating a press release crafted with an "strictly officialist narrative" to mitigate the impact of his original report. This forced dissemination aimed to obscure the reality of the fuel crisis he had initially exposed.

what politician was pressuring him to publish

— SNTPDescribing the nature of the interrogation faced by the journalist.

The journalistic community has strongly condemned the actions of state security forces, labeling the incident a blatant violation of democratic guarantees, the free exercise of the journalism profession, and the constitutional right of citizens to be informed about matters of significant public interest. The SNTP has classified the event as an alert, highlighting the ongoing risks faced by reporters in Venezuela.

not to report on the topic again

— SNTPDetailing the direct order given to the journalist regarding fuel scarcity reports.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Nacional in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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