Detention of journalists | They denounce the arrest of …

The National Union of Venezuelan Press Workers has denounced the fact that the government of this country has a total of 5 press employees: two French journalists, two Colombian journalists and a Spanish journalist. At the same time, two Chileans were expelled Wednesday after spending 14 hours in the custody of the authorities.

Nélida Fernández, Venezuela's press director, was arrested Wednesday in Caracas for three journalists from the Spanish news agency EFE and a biker in her service. They are Colombians Leonardo Muñoz (photographer) and Mauren Barriga (cameraman), as well as Spanish journalist Gonzalo Domínguez, who arrived in Caracas from Bogotá on 24 January.

Today, the European Union (EU) has called for the release of all journalists detained for no reason in Venezuela, European Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said Thursday in Bucharest. "The EU calls for the release of all journalists arrested for no reason," Mogherini said at a press conference after an informal meeting with the defense ministers of the country. block.

Barriga and Domínguez were in the hands of agents of the Bolivian intelligence services (Sebin) who were waiting for them at the hotel where they were, said Fernandez.

French diplomatic sources confirmed that French reporters Pierre Caillé and Baptiste des Monstiers de Quotidien, a highly-rated TV show from TMC, were shortlisted on Tuesday as they recorded footage around the Miraflores presidential palace.

Its producer, Rolando Rodríguez, has been arrested with them, according to the National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) of Venezuela. "The contact was lost with them" while they were covering a wake of support to President Nicolás Maduro, the union added. "It's hard to say more at the risk of worsening their situation, we think of them," Daily's Twitter account reported.

On Tuesday evening, two journalists from the Chilean TVN channel, Rodrigo Pérez and Gonzalo Barahona, were arrested around Miraflores, accompanied by Venezuelan journalists Maikel Yriarte and Ana Rodríguez.

The Maduro government ordered the expulsion of Pérez and Barahona after "14 hours of unexplained detention," said Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero. Yriarte and Rodríguez had already been released.

Yriarte said the authorities claimed that the reporters were in a "safe area". "That's what dictatorships do: trample on freedom of the press," Ampuero wrote on Twitter.