Venezuelan opposition journalist detained in crackdown

A journalist working for Venezuelan opposition news site La Patilla has been detained by the country’s secret police.

Ana Guaita Barreto was seized at her home near the capital, Caracas, her family said.

The trade union representing media workers say she is the sixth journalist to be detained in the aftermath of the presidential election on 28 July, which the government-dominated electoral authority says was won by the incumbent, Nicolás Maduro.

The disputed result has triggered mass protests and a wave of arrests, many of which human rights groups have described as arbitrary.

Ms Guaita was not told why she was being detained but her trade union said she had been targeted because she works for an opposition news site and both her parents are opposition politicians.

Rights activist Tamara Sujú said Ms Guaita’s family had not been told where she had been taken.

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) is among the organisations which has denounced the “systematic repression” of journalists in Venezuela.

It said members of the media faced “aggressions, censorship, and judicial harassment without due process, which leads to arbitrary detentions”.

The government says it has detained more than 2,400 people in the aftermath of the election, some of whom it has accused of “terrorism”.

Many are being held without access to independent lawyers and without being allowed to contact their families.

The United Nations human rights chief last week warned of a “climate of fear” caused by the arbitrary detentions.

Venezuela’s Communist Party (PCV), which broke ranks with the Maduro government last year, said on Tuesday that public workers were being hounded out of their jobs for speaking out against Mr Maduro.

In a news conference, PCV leader Jacqueline López said that workers who had spoken out openly against Mr Maduro or had expressed “reasonable doubts about the results announced by the electoral council” were threatened and persecuted.

She said that they had received reports of illegal sackings and forced resignations at state-run companies such as oil firm PDVSA and the electricity provider Corpoelec.

Ms López also expressed concern about the passing of a law last week which gives the government a tighter control over non-governmental organisations.

Her concern was echoed by rights organisations including Amnesty International which said that the law “blatantly violates freedom of association and the right to participate in public affairs”.

“It marks yet another crackdown by Nicolás Maduro’s government against those fighting for human rights in Venezuela,” Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas Director said.