Groups of chavists, beatings, robberies and "five seconds" to escape from life: the odyssey of a Swedish journalist in Venezuela

The Swedish journalist Annika Rothstein She was arrested by paramilitaries, beaten and threatened with death, in addition to stealing her equipment. She recounted her odyssey on Twitter.

"I am already in Caracas," said the first of his messages. In short, but with a huge implicit burden: to be in Caracas meant that He had overcome his worst nightmare.

"The road between Táchira and Caracas has been long and I am now moved by the emotions of what happened.As therapy, I would like to talk to you about it, so get ready for a thread. Venezuela, "he says.

The following is the detail of how February 24th was abducted by Chavist groups, threatened with death, targeted with weapons and stolen The most valuable thing that a journalist possesses: the material obtained during the trip.

Your story in the first person:

Because the roads leading to the border were all blocked by the army, we took the secondary roads. We were guided by locals, but as soon as the buses left, they appeared. They were 10 to 15 years old, masked and heavily armed.

They take out their weapons and tell us to throw themselves on the ground. They put guns on the back of the head and learned how the insurance had been removed. In the meantime, our bags are open and everything is thrown to the ground. They find my cameras and they start screaming again.

They are shouting to me that I am infiltrating Venezuela and that I am trying to destroy the country and that what I am doing is illegal. I'm scared and all I can say, it's "ok". One of them, obviously high ranking judging by his eyes, wants my jacket.

He pulls it but he can not pull it out because I have a shirt on top. He gets angry and hits me in the face. I did not say anything. I'm just taking off my shirt and my vest. But it is not finished. He smiles and makes a gesture towards my shirt, he likes it too. Only because it is possible.

They take all my stuff: cameras, computer, money, clothes and tell me in the face that it's confiscated because it's smuggling. I think they're about to let us go, but I hear screams …

They found a license in the car, which belongs to the driver, but there are no weapons and buses go crazy. "Where is the weapon?" They scream and push us back to the ground, showing us their heads. Now, I'm sure we're all going to die.

The one who is obviously the boss says the craziest not to shoot. Then there is a brief silence. I can not breathe. Suddenly, one of them tells us to get up and shout "You have five seconds, then you die" and yells "ONE … TWO".

We hit the car and the buses started to shoot in the air and I felt like I was still not breathing as we were accelerating. The shots are made on the side of the car and I hear them scream behind us. But it is not finished.

Five minutes later, locals stopped us on the road to San Antonio del Táchira and told us that another gang of gangs was firing on the road. These inhabitants, to whom I owe their life, hide us in their hangar where we stay for at least an hour, during which shots are fired on both sides.

The threats, robberies and beatings suffered by Rothstein have become a recurring practice in Venezuela. In fact, according to the National Union of Venezuelan Press Workers, at least 50 Venezuelan journalists would be stranded in Colombia after President Nicolás Maduro's government was shut down on the border between the two countries. The balance included 21 cases of violation of freedom of expression and digital rights.

Lenin Danieri, a Telocuentonews reporter, was wounded in the arm and his face was shot. Pascual Filardo, a Lara Press photographer, was shot in the leg by a tear gas bomb and RT Redfish reporter was wounded after being hit by a car driven by opposition activists.

The journalist Grégory Jaimes and the cameraman David Guacaran of the digital portal Venezolanos Por la Información (VPI) were arrested by civilians for more than 30 minutes and their transmission equipment, telephones and bank cards were stolen.

Maryné Glod, a journalist in Venevisión, and her cameraman were also stolen and badaulted by armed civilians. Marcos Salgado, correspondent for the German agency Ruptly, was kidnapped and held incommunicado for about eight hours.

Alonso Centeno, TVVenezuela's cameraman and VIVOplay, was threatened by armed people.

The 24 Horas channels and the national television of Chile have been removed from the air; Radio Caracol, Colombia; Antena 3, Spain and NatGeo, USA; the portal of the newspaper El Tiempo de Colombia has been blocked.