The National School of Journalists demanded the immediate freedom of 18 social communicators arrested for exercising their informative work. Alert about the critical situation of press freedom in Venezuela
The National College of Journalists (CNP), Capital District Section, documented 88 aggressions to journalists and media between January and August 2025, “which shows a pattern of systematic aggressions to restrain the informative work,” the organization said.
This Tuesday, September 2, the CNP directive issued an urgent alert on the critical situation of press freedom in Venezuela, taking into account the results of the aggressions report to journalists and media.
According to the report, the most recurring aggressions are:
- 26 cases of coverage impediment.
- 16 cases of harassment.
- 8 cases of threats
- 11 arbitrary arrests
The guild stressed that “the tactics to block work on the ground have become the main tool of informative control” and the “criminalization of professional practice.”
The general secretary of the CNP-DC, Edgar Cárdenas, described the situation as “critical and alarming.” He pointed out that the aggressions report «is the portrait of a painful reality. Each figure represents an attack on the truth and an attempt to give up those who seek to inform society, ”he said.
Closure of media and journalists arrested
The CNP-DC also denounced aggressions against media infrastructure, such as the closure of four radio stations and a television channel. Cárdenas considered that these arbitrary closures deepen the already worrying “informative desert” that extends through the country.
The guild highlighted the deportation of two foreign correspondents of the millennium Mexican medium, who were inadmitted upon arrival in the country in August to cover tensions between Venezuela and the United States.
Another prominent incident in the report was the vandalian act at the headquarters of the CNP-DC, where unknown subjects stole a gigantography with the faces of arbitrarily detained journalists.
The most serious cases
In the report, the guild said that the aggressions to the press are not isolated, but are part of a systematic policy of intimidation. At this time, there are 18 prisoner journalists. The CNP demanded its immediate freedom.
The detainee communicators are: Carlos Julio Rojas, Ramón Centeno, Carlos Marcano, Juan Pablo Guanip López.
Among the most serious cases, according to the guild are:
- Ramón Centeno: With more than three years of detention, prostrated in a bed with his health in frank deterioration, he faces a judicial process with delays and violation of rights.
- Carlos Julio Rojas: With a year and a half imprisoned, this CNP-DC manager has been isolated for 30 days and without the right to visits, despite his delicate health.
- Biagio Pilieri: with more than a year imprisoned in the helicoid, without the right to family visits or access to lawyers, and without knowing their health.
- Rory Branker: With more than six months detained, without knowing his place of seclusion.
With press note information
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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