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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Culture & Society

IPYS Denounces Continued Persecution of Journalists, Demands End to Censorship

From El Nacional · (13m ago) Spanish Critical tone

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Venezuela's press freedom organization, IPYS, denounced the ongoing persecution of journalists and demanded an end to censorship.
  • IPYS highlighted that many journalists have adapted their work to operate within imposed limits, affecting the stories they can cover.
  • The organization cited numerous aggressions against journalists, including detentions, coverage impediments, and media closures, as documented by the National College of Journalists (CNP).

The Institute for Press and Society (IPYS) in Venezuela has issued a stark warning, denouncing that the "persecution" of journalists in the country has not ceased and demanding the dismantling of what it terms "structural censorship mechanisms." On World Press Freedom Day, IPYS underscored the grim reality faced by Venezuelan reporters, many of whom now practice their profession within "certain margins" to continue informing the public, while others no longer even sign their bylines. This adaptation, IPYS argues, means the impact of repression is measured not just in documented aggressions but in the stories left untold and the questions left unasked.

the persecution against journalists has not ceased

— IPYSIPYS denounced the ongoing repression faced by journalists in Venezuela.

IPYS detailed a disturbing pattern of aggressions, including detentions during coverage, forced deletion of material, physical and verbal assaults, media closures, and public warnings against news outlets. These actions, the NGO stated, demonstrate that documenting and disseminating information continues to carry immediate risks, even during periods of high visibility. The organization called for a "democratic reconstruction" that includes the cessation of judicial persecution, the full release of detained journalists, and the elimination of mechanisms that sustain structural censorship. This encompasses unblocking digital media, restoring broadcast concessions, ensuring effective access to public information, and ending surveillance and intimidation tactics against journalists and citizens.

the dismantling of structural censorship mechanisms

— IPYSIPYS demanded an end to what it describes as systemic censorship in Venezuela.

Adding to this grim picture, Venezuela's National College of Journalists (CNP) reported 87 aggressions against journalists and media outlets between January and April of this year. These incidents included 18 arbitrary detentions, 16 instances of coverage being impeded, 15 deportations of foreign correspondents, 11 "direct attacks," 10 instances of material being deleted, 9 cases of harassment, 4 intimidations, and 4 media outlet closures. Venezuela's dire press freedom situation was further highlighted by its ranking as the last among 23 countries in the 2025 Chapultepec Index on Freedom of Expression and Press, according to a report by the Inter American Press Association (SIP). The SIP report categorizes Venezuela, alongside Nicaragua, as a country "without freedom of expression."

more than eight out of ten journalists recognized having modified their way of working in response to an environment that imposes limits

— IPYSThis statistic highlights how journalists have adapted their reporting due to restrictive conditions.
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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