Caracas, Aug 5 (EFE).- At least 10 violations of the right to freedom of expression were recorded in Venezuela in July, a “month marked by harassment and acts of censorship by officials and state agencies,” he said. this Saturday the NGO Espacio Público.
According to a press release from the organization, journalists and the media “were the main victims of violations of freedom of expression” last month.
He also assured that these ten violations “were perpetrated by three State institutions, two officials and a media manager.”
Among the victims, he continued, “there are three media outlets, two journalists/reporters and one individual”, who is an “indigenous citizen”, who “was intimidated by a military official and forced to apologize (… ) for a complaint he made about the burning of some equipment” used for “illegal mining in the state of Amazonas (south)”.
Espacio Público also mentioned that, in a protest by the LGBTI population in front of the main headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office, in Caracas, “police officials photographed and intimidated activists”, who rejected the recent “arbitrary detention, judicial persecution and exposure of 33 men ” Prisoners in a gay bar in northern Venezuela.
According to a report by the NGO, at least 217 violations of freedom of expression were registered in the Caribbean nation during the first half of 2023, an average of 1.2 attacks per day against the exercise of journalism or the right to protest.
In 2022, 227 violations of freedom of expression were registered, a decrease of 7% compared to 2021, according to the organization. EFE
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