IAPA calls for probe into attack on Venezuelan paper

At around 10:00 p.m. last night (Monday) the newspaper and a neighboring shopping mall lost power when the electricity lines into the two buildings were sabotaged. When  reconnection was attempted, there was a loud explosion and a larger area of the city blacked out. Power was restored early this morning.

The newspaper’s editor, David Natera, told the IAPA that it was  “a terrorist act that might be linked to other attacks this newspaper has suffered.” Natera was referring to a decision by pro-government Bolívar state lawmakers to cancel the newspaper publishing company’s operating license and begin proceedings to evict it in a move to silence criticism of the city and state administrations.

Today is the29th anniversary of the newspaper’s founding and the sabotage appeared to be an attempt to prevent the printing and circulation of a special edition marking the occasion. However, “thanks to our people’s will to work we were able to bring the anniversary issue out,” Natera said.

The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, called the incident an action “clearly intended to intimidate and create a climate of fear at the newspaper and other Venezuelan news media that have demonstrated their independence in reporting the news.” He called on the relevant authorities to carry out an exhaustive investigation into what had occurred so that it would not go unpunished.

IAPA officers, headed by President Diana Daniels and Gonzalo Marroquín, plan to visit Venezuela on July 18 to investigate the Correo de Caroní’s situation and meet with federal officials concerning recent actions seen as attacks on press freedom.         

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