The National Assembly unanimously approved this Tuesday to recognize and exalt the work of the country’s journalists, and congratulate them for contributing to the task of allowing citizens to freely express their opinion.
This is expressed in the agreement approved in plenary on the occasion of the celebration this June 27 of National Journalist’s Day.
After expressing his congratulations to the journalists, the deputy Juan Arias, in charge of presenting the draft agreement, made a historical tour that began with the first edition of the Correo del Orinoco “initiative of the Liberator Simón Bolívar to counteract the Gaceta de Caracas, the media scoundrel at the service of the Spanish crown,” he said.
Likewise, the parliamentarian recalled that it was the revolutionary Guillermo García Ponce who proposed the date of June 27 as Journalist Day, which was later ratified by the Law on the Exercise of Journalism.
In his speech, he quoted the words pronounced by Commander Chávez on the exercise of journalism on June 27, 2010: “In this battle of ideas, the journalist must wield powerful weapons: ethics and justice,” recalling several communicators who wielded those weapons such as Fabricio Ojeda, José Vicente Rangel, William Lara, Earle Herrera, Héctor Mujica and Eleazar Díaz Rangel.
In his speech before the plenary, Deputy Arias highlighted the importance of practicing journalism with commitment as a social obligation, and of denouncing false objectivity and neutrality. In addition, he affirmed that the people reject the attempts of a journalism that does not entail rigor.
“Today is a day to renew our commitment to our peoples, let us feel proud to do militant journalism, let’s militate in the truth of Venezuela, let’s militate in the enmacipatory and liberating communication,” he said at the end of his words.
For his part, deputy Gustavo Villapol intervened in plenary to recall that in Venezuela for more than 60 years the media were in less than six families, which decided what was said and what was not said in them.
He assured that it was the 1999 Constitution that guaranteed fundamental rights that were curtailed in the Fourth Republic, when media outlets were bombed and journalists disappeared.
He also pointed out that it was the blockade that threatened freedom of the press and freedom of expression, by limiting, for example, access to paper.
“The real crime against freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Venezuela was generated by the government of the United States and those who called for the blockade and sanctions,” he sentenced.
Villapol also stressed that there should be important discussions on the news of journalism on issues such as artificial intelligence and the crisis of journalism when it is in the hands of large companies such as Meta, Amazon and Google.
Finally, he joined the congratulations of the journalists “who are no longer persecuted or killed, and there are no longer closed media,” he said.
Appointment of the ambassador to Nigeria
Deputy Gilberto Jiménez presented the Report of the Permanent Commission on Foreign Policy, Sovereignty and Integration, through which the citizen Nicolás Maduro Moros, Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is authorized to designate the citizen Alberto Efraín Castelar Padilla, as Extraordinary Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela before the Federal Republic of Nigeria, concurrent with the Republics of Chad, Sierra Leone and Liberia, in accordance with the provisions of articles 187 numeral 14 and 236 numeral 15 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
On the other hand, the deputy GJ Jesús Suárez Chourio presents the Draft Agreement in commemoration of the Two Hundredth Second Anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo and Day of the Bolivarian Army
