Wave of repression against journalists after Venezuelan presidential elections

A journalist was arrested on Sunday in Caracas, amid the political crisis unleashed after the elections and the questionable re-election of Nicolás Maduro. In total, twelve journalists and press workers have been behind bars, three of them women, since the election on July 28.

According to what was reported on social network X, National Union of Press Workers (SNTP), “National Police officers took journalist Carmela Longo and her son”

The SNTP, which had previously reported the raid on Longo’s home, said that the agents seized “computer equipment” and released a video in which Longo and his son are seen entering a patrol car without resisting.

Authorities have not reported any measures against the journalist. The union warned, however, that police officials confirmed that she would be charged with “inciting hatred” and “terrorism.” She would be brought before the courts on Tuesday, according to the report.

With the arrest of Longo, a journalist specializing in entertainment, Eight arrests of reporters or media workers have been recorded in Venezuela since the July 28 elections, in which the electoral authority declared Maduro the winner amid allegations of fraud by the opposition. Among those arrested are two journalists dedicated to political activism.

“I note with concern the arrest of the journalist Carmela Longo. “The repression against journalism continues,” Pedro Vaca, special rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), published in X.

The protests that erupted following the election results have left 27 dead, nearly 200 injured and More than 2,400 detainees, whom Maduro has called “terrorists.”

Longo’s arrest comes after the journalist announced last Tuesday that she had been fired from the pro-Chavez newspaper Últimas Noticias, where she had worked for almost two decades.

At the same time, the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office has summoned this Monday the former presidential candidate for the opposition, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who is charged with “usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of laws, computer crimes, criminal association and conspiracy.”