Several foreign journalists held in Venezuela -Euronews

Two French television reporters have been arrested in Venezuela, according to the French embassy in the country. Meanwhile two journalists working in the country for a Spanish news agency have also reportedly been held by the authorities, as Euronews reported today. The French reporters — named as Pierre Caillé and Baptiste des Monstiers — work for the "Quotidien" programme broadcast on the TV channel TMC. They were detained on Tuesday evening (29 January) as they filmed the presidential palace in Caracas. Their producer in the country, Rolando Rodriquez, was also held, the main Venezuelan journalists' union the SNTP added. The French foreign affairs ministry has asked for the right to "consular protection" according to the Vienna convention and the right to visit. "Quotidien" tweeted that to say more risked aggravating the journalists' plight. The head of the Caracas bureau of the Spanish news agency EFE, Nélida Fernández, told AFP on Wednesday evening that two of her colleagues had also been arrested: a Colombian video producer, Mauren Barriga, and a Spanish journalist, Gonzalo Domínguez. A Colombian photographer working for EFE, Leonardo Muñoz, was also detained on Wednesday as he was about to cover an opposition demonstration in Caracas, the agency added. The SNTP also said that two television journalists from Chile, arrested on Tuesday night, had been expelled from the country. The Chilean foreign minister Roberto Ampuero accused Venezuela of trampling on press freedom, as to Euronews. Venezuela's foreign minister Jorge Areaza has blamed foreign journalists for entering the country without having secured work permits. The organisation Reporters Without Borders has denounced "violence by security forces against journalists" from Venezuela and abroad. It comes as the US envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams has cautioned socialist President Nicolas Maduro for acting against the self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaidó. Abrams said the US will keep the pressure on Maduro to step down by applying further sanctions and search globally for assets. "The security of interim president Guaidó is a concern," Abrams told a group of reporters. EURONEWS