JANUARY 14, 2005
Posted: February 2, 2005
Daniel Ortiz Millán, "En Positivo"
ATTACKED, THREATENED
Ortiz, a radio host with the Geomar 105.1 FM station in the city of Punta de Mata, in the eastern state of Monagas, was attacked by supporters of the local mayor after he discussed an electoral dispute on the air. He also received threats from unknown callers.
Ortiz told CPJ that a crowd of people supporting Mayor Àngel Centeno blocked him from entering the station around 7 a.m. They said they wouldn't allow him to do his radio program because he was broadcasting information that was disrupting public order. They pushed him and threw paint at him, he said.
He said the attackers threatened to take him to Plaza Bolívar, about four blocks from the station, and subject him to what they called "people's revolutionary justice." Ortiz said police came, cordoned off the area, and took him to a police station.
The day before the attack, Ortiz discussed on the air local news reports that Venezuela's Electoral National Council (CNE) had given Centeno a deadline to present evidence of his party's alliance with the ruling Movimiento Quinta República (MVR) party. Centeno, a leader of a small evangelical party who ran as the candidate of a pro-government coalition, narrowly defeated an opposition candidate in the October 2004 regional elections. The CNE is considering an appeal by Centeno's rival, who claims that Centeno shouldn't have received the votes cast for the MVR.
Ortiz hosted the opinion program "En Positivo" (In Positive), which aired from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and discussed the news covered in national and local papers each day. He said his guests included politicians, priests, and community leaders in Punta de Mata. He produced the show on a time slot leased from the station.
At the request of the station's director, Ortiz said, he took his program off the air temporarily. Since the attack, he said, he has received threatening text messages on his cell phone, and unidentified callers have left threatening telephone messages at the station.
Later the day of the attack, Ortiz filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office in the city of Maturín, the state capital, and gave a statement to the police. He said he had identified two of his attackers by name.
JANUARY 31, 2005
Posted: February 4, 2005
Patricia Poleo, El Nuevo País
LEGAL ACTION
The Attorney General's Office announced that Poleo, a columnist and director of the Caracas daily El Nuevo País, would be prosecuted on charges of illegally obtaining and disclosing sealed case documents and violating anticorruption legislation. Poleo was accused of publicizing confidential information in the investigation into the November 2004 murder of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. The leak has been attributed to police officers.
Acting on a court order, police and prosecutors raided Poleo's home on January 28, searched through computer diskettes, and took photocopies of documents that prosecutors allege were leaked. Poleo has said that prosecutors are hiding information that could embarrass the government, and she has vowed she will not disclose her sources.
Poleo is a high-profile journalist who has supported the opposition in her work. El Nuevo País is owned by her father, journalist Rafael Poleo. In December 2004 and January 2005, she reported that case documents linked Anderson to an extortion ring that included several lawyers and prosecutors.
Anderson was in charge of investigating the alleged involvement of several businessmen, politicians, and former government officials in the April 2002 coup that briefly deposed President Hugo Chávez Frías. He was blown up while driving his car in Caracas in November 18, 2004, in what some government officials termed a "terrorist act." The police have detained three men suspected of carrying out the murder, but two other suspects are fugitives. Prosecutors continue looking for those who planned Anderson's murder. In the wake of Anderson's assassination, some government supporters called for the enactment of "antiterrorism" legislation.
During December 2004 and January 2005, the local press reported statements by a Caracas councilman who said that the police found a large amount of money during a search of Anderson's apartment. The councilman, Carlos Herrera, alleged Anderson was linked to an extortion ring of lawyers and prosecutors that sought money in exchange for halting investigations.
But Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez has said prosecutors are focusing on three theories that point to retaliation against Anderson for his prosecutorial work. Rodríguez has blamed the press for focusing on the extortion allegations with the intent of deflecting attention away from those responsible for the murder of Anderson.
JUNE 12, 2005
Posted: June 30, 2005
Frontera
ATTACKED
Masked assailants attacked the offices of the daily Frontera in the city of Mérida, in the western state of Mérida, in apparent retaliation for a news report.
About 30 people arrived in a stolen bus at around 11:30 p.m., while the paper was being printed, and tried unsuccessfully to enter the premises, according to Benigno Villegas, the paper's managing assistant. When they threw Molotov cocktails, the paper's staff summoned state police. The attack caused minor damages, but no injuries. Police provided protection for five days.
The newspaper attributed the attack to a report Frontera published that day on the slaying of a University of los Andes student. The report described the circumstances of the student's death, noted he had a criminal record, and listed crimes for which he had been investigated.
On June 13 and 14, about 40 people rioted and burned a vehicle in Mérida to protest the death of the student and demand justice, according to local news reports. The protesters demanded that Frontera apologize publicly and retract its report, which was based on police sources.
In a June 14 editorial, Frontera said that armed groups operating within the Universidad de los Andes were responsible for the attack on the newspaper.
Villegas said that criminal police, which operate separate from state police, did not investigate the attack and did not come to Frontera's offices. Newspaper officials did not file a formal complaint with police, he said, because they did not know the specific group behind the attack and feared an investigation would blame Frontera's report for provoking the attack.
JULY 27, 2005
Posted: August 8, 2005
El Universal
LEGAL ACTION
The Attorney General's Office opened a criminal investigation against the Caracas-based daily El Universal after it published an editorial that criticized the prosecutor's office and the judiciary. The probe was launched under desacato (contempt) provisions, which criminalize expressions deemed offensive to public officials and state institutions.
In its July 25 edition, El Universal published a front-page editorial titled "Justicia arrodillada" (Justice on its Knees), saying that the criminal justice system had become politicized, had lost its autonomy, and had grown ineffective. As a result, the editorial argued, the Attorney General's Office and Venezuelan courts were losing legitimacy.
On July 26, the Attorney General's Office issued a press release rejecting charges of politicization of the justice system and accusing El Universal and Venezuelan media in general of engaging in unethical practices and biased coverage.
A day later, the office announced it had opened a criminal investigation to determine whether the editorial constitutes a crime. The editorial, the office said, "offends the Attorney General's Office and the Judiciary, exposes them to public contempt, and allegedly disrespects them."
JUNE 29, 2005
Posted: August 9, 2005
Juan Carlos Neida, El Nuevo País
ATTACKED
Neida, a photographer with the Caracas-based daily El Nuevo País, was beaten and abducted by unidentified attackers while he was on assignment.
Around 8 a.m., Neida went to the Caracas district of Las Mercedes to take photographs for an article about a motorcycle accident involving Eliécer Otaiza, director of the National Land Institute and former director of the Venezuelan intelligence agency, Neida told CPJ. Neida got into a taxi after taking a couple of pictures, but a jeep and another vehicle blocked his taxi's path. Four men dragged him out of the taxi, beat him, and insulted him, he said. They took his digital camera and removed its memory disk. The men also took some money and his cell phone.
The men then handcuffed him, forced him into the jeep, and took him around Caracas until they released him about eight hours later in an isolated area east of the city. He said police found him close to a road, removed his handcuffs, and took him to the police station, where he gave an account of the assault.
Neida said he tried to show his attackers his press credentials, but they punched and kicked him and said he didn't have the right to take photographs. One of the attackers dropped a badge that identified him as a military intelligence agent, Neida said.
Neida said the next day he tried to file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office but wasn't allowed to enter its building. He tried again the next day, this time with his supervisor, but to no avail, he said.