{"id":110075,"date":"2026-01-06T17:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=110075"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:45:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:45:54","slug":"venezuelan-security-forces-detain-journalists-as-armed-police-patrol-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=110075","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan security forces detain journalists as armed police patrol streets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 14 members of the press were detained in Venezuela on Monday as they were covering the aftermath of the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro by US forces.<\/p>\n

The union representing media workers in Venezuela said all but one of those detained were employed by foreign news organisations and were released later on Monday, with one reporter deported.<\/p>\n

Foreign news media have long faced restrictions in Venezuela, with very few being granted visas to work in the country.<\/p>\n

Their detention came as Delcy Rodr\u00edguez was sworn in as the interim president and shortly after she said that she was willing to co-operate with the Trump administration, which has said it would \u201crun\u201d Venezuela.<\/p>\n

The union said the media workers were detained by Venezuelan security forces at the National Assembly and its environs, and in the neighbourhood of Altamira \u2013 all in the capital, Caracas.<\/p>\n

At least two of them were seized by agents working for Venezuela\u2019s military counterintelligence agency, while others were detained by Venezuela\u2019s intelligence service.<\/p>\n

They said they had their equipment searched, their phones checked and their social media posts and messages read, the union statement added.<\/p>\n

A Colombian and a Spanish reporter were also detained at Venezuela\u2019s border with Colombia near C\u00facuta.<\/p>\n

The two reporters were held for hours incommunicado before being released back into Colombia, the statement said.<\/p>\n

The union called the incidents \u201calarming\u201d and called for the release of 23 media workers who remain in detention in the country.<\/p>\n

The repression has not been confined to media workers.<\/p>\n

One community leader in the neighbourhood of Petare, in Caracas, told BBC Mundo that there were \u201chooded men with guns patrolling, checking people\u2019s WhatsApp statuses\u201d.<\/p>\n

Caracas resident Jos\u00e9, 60, said that people were not able to talk freely about what was happening, with a heavy police and military presence on the streets, as well as pro-Maduro armed groups, known as \u201ccolectivos\u201d, wearing masks.<\/p>\n

A 33-year-old masseuse, who did not want to be named, said there was \u201cso much fear in the streets and in our homes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Members of the government appeared keen to show that the security forces were visible in communities, with the Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, posting a photo of himself on Monday night posing with armed police.<\/p>\n

Their presence has struck fear in people critical of the government.<\/p>\n

One woman described how there are \u201cmilitary people on every corner and groups of armed civilians supporting the government who are causing fear among the population\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another person who asked to remain anonymous told the BBC that \u201cthe regime is not allowing news to come out of here.\u201d They added that \u201cthere are uniformed personnel on the streets stopping people and checking their phones\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Venezuelan
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello (shown right-of-centre wearing a black cap with red writing) posted this photo on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The journalist detentions come at a volatile time in Venezuela, where just days ago the country\u2019s leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and his wife were seized by US forces in a pre-dawn raid in which dozens of his bodyguards and security detail were killed.<\/p>\n

While the seizure prompted celebrations among Venezuelans who oppose Maduro and who have left the country, there were no public displays of joy in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Opposition Venezuelans have long denounced the repression they face if they speak out against the Maduro government.<\/p>\n

More than 2,000 people were arrested during protests in the wake of the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n

The government-dominated electoral council declared Maduro the winner of that election but voting tallies collected by the opposition and verified by independent media suggest that it was won by the opposition candidate.<\/p>\n

In the crackdown which followed the election, members of the security forces checked people\u2019s phone for messages critical of Maduro, prompting many Venezuelans to erase their social media accounts and message history.<\/p>\n

Many of those arrested at the time were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences after being sentenced for \u201ctreason\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to pressure group Foro Penal, there are more than 800 political prisoners being held in Venezuela as of 5 January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"VenezuelanAt least 14 members of the press were detained in Venezuela on Monday as they were covering the aftermath of the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro by US forces. The union representing media workers in Venezuela said all but one of those detained were employed by foreign news organisations and were released later on [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1910,2759,10,9,9475],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-media","category-politics","category-popular","category-venezuela"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}